Schiit Loki DSD companion DAC $149

This made component of the week at the LVAC.

http://lasvegasaudioclub.blogspot.com

 

Im tempted to buy this, just because it's cheap and made by Schiit (and I love my Bifrost). But really I have no use for it at the moment, so I guess that would be foolish. For now I guess I'll just watch and wait to see what develops in DSD.

 

According to Gus Skinas at the SACD Center, Steve Jobs was a big SACD fan. Not surprising given his love of analog.

 

Isn't it a bit of a contradiction to say that 1) jazz, classical, and "tired" audiophile rock albums won't sell outside of a niche market and yet 2) cult bands will sell product? By definition, cult bands are a niche market that don't really move product...

Perhaps I'm worng here, but I'm gonna guess that you don't much care for classical, jazz, or classic rock and that's really what's driving your observation.

 

I don't like him, but Jack White sells a lot of albums. If the poster had said "If they don't make Wesley Willis' entire catalog available for DSD download RIGHT NOW this format will never go anywhere," I would say you have a point. But Jack White? He's huge. His last album went to #1 on the U.S. charts and was a top ten entry across the globe.

 

And that's a bit of a contradiction as well to lump Jack White in with "cult artists". Artists that enter the charts at #1 are also by definition not a cult act. Maybe he once was, but so was Led Zeppelin in 1969.

Regardless, if you look at the top sellers on HDTracks, it's classic rock (I put 20 yr old bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam & 9 Inch Nails in this category), jazz, and classical. At a glance, the only new artists I see are Daft Punk, Neko Case (sort of new) and John Legend (sort of new) even though there is a decent amount of newer, alternative stuff available there.

 

There are still no lossless downloads available from the iTMS, much less any hi-res, much less any DSD. I am cautiously optimistic this will happen one day.

 

Daft Punk has been around for 20 years so they are not new artists either.

Did not know Neko Case has albums up on HD Tracks. Great, more money for me to burn!!!

 

I hope it happens.

 

DSD will remain a niche even within the hi-rez niche. Forget about the mass market.

What might happen is that lossy formats disappear, because people need no longer care about file sizes or download times. Today, an important reason download stores have for sticking with MP3 (often offered at 320kbs) is that it's the only file format that plays on every device on the market. Once all the players support FLAC, 16/44 FLAC could become the standard format.

 

The consumer electronics manufacturers are beginning a big push towards hi-res audio this year. They are going to try to make it a new revenue stream as they did with HDTV.

 

Thanks for the "heads up"...

 

Sony seems to be the first onboard . . .

http://www.sony.com/SCA/company-new...uces-high-resolution-audio-products-whi.shtml

 

Here's CEA's press release re: hi-res audio:

http://www.ce.org/News/News-Release...nces-Expanded-Support-of-High-Resolution.aspx

 

These folks can issue all the press releases they feel necessary. It's just too little, too late, in my small opinion. The content and means of playback have left the barn.

 

I agree, too little, too late, but I nonetheless welcome the effort to commercialize hi-res. I mean, bringing greater visibility to hi-res won't make music sound any worse than it already does.

 

Agree with BB. This could really get a head of steam.

 

Only if it is like my neighbor. Eazy and cheap...

 

As usual, a lot of supposition, off-topic comments and inaccurate information about the Schiit Loki. But not much in the way of two important concepts: facts and data.

As I actually own a Schiit Loki and have some native DSD file content that I can compare to PCM, here are some real-world facts and data....just in case you're interested.

The Loki is a DSD-only DAC that has an analog output stage specifically optimized for DSD. It seems that the requirements for optimal DSD D-A conversion and playback are not the same as for PCM. Given that the data structures are completely different, this does not come as much of a suprise. Loki accepts the DSD over PCM (DoP) USB packet spec, where real DSD is sent over USB without conversion to PCM. It then unpacks and reassembles the actual, bit-for-bit perfect DSD datastream with custom Schiit code implemented on a 32-bit Microchip controller. Loki has single-ended outputs and inputs so you can hook the outputs of your existing PCM DAC to it and when you want to use your PCM DAC, you can by-pass the Loki's DSD internal circuitry by the press of a button on the front panel. Loki is bus-powered so there is no need for wall-warts or power cords.

Loki is referred to as a companion DAC; it is not meant to replace your PCM DAC, it is designed to be used in addition to it. To answer one of the member's questions about USB connectivity: if you have a USB PCM DAC, then yes, you will have one USB cable going from your computer to that DAC, and another, separate USB cable to Loki, also from your computer.

When using Loki with music players e.g. Audirvana on a Mac, for example, you have to change the settings of the output DAC in the Audio Midi Setup Control panel to select Loki as the output device, and you also have to change the settings in the Audio Systems tab in the Prefs panel for Audirvana so that Audirvana knows which DAC is the output device. You also have to change the Active Audio Device drop down button from Automatic to DSD over PCM standard 1.0. Once you do this, the DSD 64 text will light up green in the Built In Output area of the control panel window. As iTunes will not pass native DSD files directly, you have to use Audirvana to create proxies of these files in iTunes so that you can access the native DSD files using iTunes as a database/content manager for selecting tracks. This is easily managed in Audirvana. What I do is keep my DSD files in a separate folder than my iTunes Music folder, import the file names into Audirvana using the Add Files to iTunes menu selection with the slider all the way to the left indicating Proxy Only, No Sound. This creates the proxy (think of it as an alias) that links to the actual file in your DSD content folder.

You then simply select the DSD track you want from within iTunes, press play, and Audirvana will stream native DSD to Loki. Once Loki has DSD-file "signal lock", the second LED on the front panel lights up, and the music starts to play.

Now, how does it sound? While I've only had three days to listen to it, overall I have to say that I am very, very impressed with the sound quality. I've owned Schiit Bifrost, and I presently use a Wadia 121, and I would say that Loki compares very, very favorably in sound and musical performance to the 121. While the 121 is not the be-all and end-all of DACs, it's no slouch either, and is roughly 10X the price of Loki. The DACs are going to first-class C-J electronics (CT-5 and LP-70S) in the amplification chain, and Shunyata noise suppression power cords and power distribution throughout the system (including a Triton power distributor), so this system has sufficiently high resolution and very low noise floor to make meaningful inferences.

In the limited listening I've done to date, the native DSD files have a depth, spaciousness, "hall ambience", micro-detail, and transient leading edge resolution yet smoothness that the same album as 24/192 PCM files lack, and the 24/192 stuff is PFG. I only have a limited data set at this point, but I'm starting to form the hypothesis from the listening that I've done so far that streaming native DSD files is the closest to analog reproduction that I've yet heard.

Bottom line is that the little Schiit Loki is just stupidly good at $149. Can Loki compare to the mega-buck DSD DACs? IMHO, the answer is an unequivocal YES. I'm very, very impressed with Schiit and with Loki. Those boys at Schiit sure know what they're doing.

Are there better DSD capable DACs out there? Sure there are. The Playback Designs, the Ayre QB9DSD, etc. But the idea of Loki is that it's affordable enough that pretty much anyone can dip their toe into the DSD waters and find out for themselves if it's a format for them. It certainly has worked for me...

Hope this helps and provides some answers to questions and insight....

Cheers,
PC

 

That is one nice review. I bet it sounds terrific. I will still wait it out for the Oppo one box solution, though.

 

Thanks! The more I listen to Loki, the more impressed I am with it. Frankly, I am rather astonished that it sounds as good as it does for something that costs $149. This product has one of the highest performance vs price ratios I've ever encountered.

How about a picture?

Here's Loki sitting on my Wadia 121....the 121 is feeling a little inadequate lately...

 

It's too bad that this will fail so badly. While I personally love the idea behind this, I fear that this may represent one last hurrah for very high-quality audio in the mass market. Most people are more than happy to listen to crappy 64kbps MP3s, and wouldn't recognize great sound if it bit them in the ass.

But I'll do my part and will be sure to support this movement, even though I know that it will ultimately prove futile.

 

Neat! Have you tried playing PCM (PCM converted to DSD) with the Loki?

 

When I first read about this unit my knee-jerk reaction was: "What a joke, who'd want that tiny thing!" Now I'm seriously considering buying one myself...

 

Thanks.

No, haven't tried PCM converted to DSD, and am not clear why someone would do that when you could just use a PCM DAC.

For me specifically, I bought Loki so I could access the native DSD files that are rapidly becoming available at SuperHiRez and Channel Classics.