Adventures in USB - Schiit Unison Upgrade

[Mrppv]

Was never interested in USB for digital audio; seeing the plethora of add-ons, de-crapifiers, and virtual hoops that audiophiles were jumping through was a turn off. Also I don’t have any DSD files, so didn’t need that extra capability.

Using the SPDIF BNC connection between my Schiit Yggdrasil and Bryston BDP-2 seemed the best choice, especially since Bryston had their unique Audio Device output card which is SPDIF only. Mike Moffat, designer at Schiit even said, “friends don’t let friends use USB”.

Sent the Yggdrasil in for the analog upgrade a couple years ago, and had them install the Gen 5 USB at the same time, because, why not since it’s there, but continued to use SPDIF.

Unison USB upgrade was announced earlier this year; around the same time, I got curious and tried a cheap printer cable (didn’t own an audio one) with the Gen 5 and was surprised it sounded as good as it did. On Schiit’s site, they stated that Moffat now preferred Unison to SPDIF, which piqued my interest even more, so I ordered the upgrade board.

Luckily there are detailed DIY instructions online pertaining to installing G5 and I followed these for the Unison swap. It wasn’t too difficult... mostly a lot of screws to remove.

Here is the Unison card before and after installation, and the Gen 5 for comparison.

Also found a better cable. German-made Intona Premium, which is their entry level.

After putting a lot of hours on both the new card and cable, I compared it to SPDIF connection. I ended up feeling that there was a little more info and a better soundstage with USB (I’m not good at describing things I hear). At the very least, USB was doing no worse than SPDIF, which is kind of remarkable since USB isn’t the BDP-2’s forte.

The only downside - which I didn’t notice with G5 - is that when skipping tracks rapidly, there’s occasionally a “bzzrt” sound between every third / fourth one, or so. It’s not real loud and not a real issue for me.

So I’ve sold my $$$ Tombo Tron reference BNC cable. It makes me wonder what kind of difference there might be with a music server that’s actually optimized for USB output. Or whether something like the Innuous Phoenix would be a good addition... but that’s just adding another USB device which I originally didn’t want to do.

Anyway, it ended up being a bit of a surprise. Anyone considering the Unison upgrade, I’d say go for it.

 

[Puma Cat]

Was never interested in USB for digital audio; seeing the plethora of add-ons, de-crapifiers, and virtual hoops that audiophiles were jumping through was a turn off. Also I don’t have any DSD files, so didn’t need that extra capability.

Using the SPDIF BNC connection between my Schiit Yggdrasil and Bryston BDP-2 seemed the best choice, especially since Bryston had their unique Audio Device output card which is SPDIF only. Mike Moffat, designer at Schiit even said, “friends don’t let friends use USB”.

Sent the Yggdrasil in for the analog upgrade a couple years ago, and had them install the Gen 5 USB at the same time, because, why not since it’s there, but continued to use SPDIF.

Unison USB upgrade was announced earlier this year; around the same time, I got curious and tried a cheap printer cable (didn’t own an audio one) with the Gen 5 and was surprised it sounded as good as it did. On Schiit’s site, they stated that Moffat now preferred Unison to SPDIF, which piqued my interest even more, so I ordered the upgrade board.

Luckily there are detailed DIY instructions online pertaining to installing G5 and I followed these for the Unison swap. It wasn’t too difficult... mostly a lot of screws to remove.

Here is the Unison card before and after installation, and the Gen 5 for comparison.

Also found a better cable. German-made Intona Premium, which is their entry level.

After putting a lot of hours on both the new card and cable, I compared it to SPDIF connection. I ended up feeling that there was a little more info and a better soundstage with USB (I’m not good at describing things I hear). At the very least, USB was doing no worse than SPDIF, which is kind of remarkable since USB isn’t the BDP-2’s forte.

The only downside - which I didn’t notice with G5 - is that when skipping tracks rapidly, there’s occasionally a “bzzrt” sound between every third / fourth one, or so. It’s not real loud and not a real issue for me.

So I’ve sold my $$$ Tombo Tron reference BNC cable. It makes me wonder what kind of difference there might be with a music server that’s actually optimized for USB output. Or whether something like the Innuous Phoenix would be a good addition... but that’s just adding another USB device which I originally didn’t want to do.

Anyway, it ended up being a bit of a surprise. Anyone considering the Unison upgrade, I’d say go for it.

Great post and thanks for the photos...

Now that you're using USB, consider renting in or getting a demo of the Shunyata Alpha USB cable. Installing mine was a component-level upgrade.

I should consider getting my Gungnir upgraded to Unison at some point.

Cheers.

 

[Mrppv]

Great post and thanks for the photos...

Now that you're using USB, consider renting in or getting a demo of the Shunyata Alpha USB cable. Installing mine was a component-level upgrade.

I should consider getting my Gungnir upgraded to Unison at some point.

Cheers.

Thanks - will check out the Alpha at some point. Have a couple of Shunyata PCs.

 

[Elberoth]

The modularity of the Shiit DACs and the fact they actually DO offer upgrades is pretty remarkable in my book.

There has beed a tremendous progress in USB input boards quality in the past 5 years and many reference DACs that are only 3 or 5 years old are now obsolate, only 'cos their designers never went this route.

 

[Mr Peabody]

My ACS10 is only USB out, I've learned they go through a lot to make sure it's a high quality USB output signal. The ACS is a Linux based product.

I also learned my USB input chip in my 526 was programmed to work with Windows/IOS. You may have read a post where I was having hand shake issues. Levinson was surprised to learn that the two pieces even worked together.

So is Linux that unusual to use or do most DAC's work with any input? Sorry to piggy back but it sounded like you guys might know.

 

[Mrppv]

Think Bryston uses a Linux OS, and my previous Auraliti PK100 file player did too. The Yggdrasil DAC requires a driver download (which I didn't need) to work with Windows. I've had no experience with Windows based products; don't know which is more prevalent overall.