Schiit Modius E Balanced DAC Digital to Analog Converter D/A Converter (Black)

This is a great, low-cost DAC. No noise, fuzz, or flutter into recordings (I do primarily recording from streaming audio - I have not done instrument or electronic keyboard recording yet). My only issue is that I have to reboot periodically - otherwise my computer can introduce "static" and crackling into the recording. Always comes back. I bought this a while back, but I'm sure that whatever's replaced this is high quality as well. Plug and play, great quality, low noise - you can't go wrong.

My first DAC experience was the Modi from schiit audio. I noticed a difference in the sound quality right away. I had that for about almost 3 years. And because of operator error I short-circuited it. I called, emailed because I wanted to upgrade to the next model. But never got a call back or an email. So I went and bought a PS audio preamp DAC. For quite a bit more money. My whole system changed the sound was incredible. Then I had that11 months and went to turn it on. No sound came out. So I sent it in for repair. In the medium I figured I would try a couple other DACs. So I bought an Emotiva preamp DAC. The sound from that did not even come close to the PS audio. So I sent it back and ordered another DAC from schiit. I Had schiit send me a modius. It is a happy medium in between the PS audio and the Emotiva. I will use the modius for my second system. Good solid unit. It is not a preamp and I understand that so I'm only comparing the DAC. You can't get a better one for the money. May the force be with you!

Now that I'm retired I've been downsizing my office and have retired my custom built tower computer and replaced it with a refurbished laptop and docking station. I had grown accustomed to playing my extensive digital music collection through a vintage Onkyo stereo and a pair of Panasonic CS607 speakers but noticed a significant reduction in sound quality when playing from my laptop. It turns out that laptops are notorious for this due to the proximity of the power lines, hard drives, fans, etc to the onboard DAC chip. A friend suggested getting a external DAC and so I started researching. Prices range from less than a hundred to thousands of dollars! I found this Modius from Schitt, manufactured in Texas, at a very reasonable price and after reading a lot of reviews, threw my money down and bought one. It arrived very promptly (~72 hrs) and in great condition. All new, solidly built, and had it connected in less than 5 minutes. Very simple. Restarted my Dell 7470 and booted into Linux Mint 21.3 which immediately recognized the Modius. Wow, what a difference! Full, warm, detailed sound with the depth and character I'd been missing. Highly recommended! If you've converted your music collection to 1's and 0's and are playing them from a computer, you gotta get one of these.

This is a great quality DAC. Sound quality is really impressive as compared to other products I’ve used. I wish it had a volume control. That would’ve made it perfect for me. But for anybody looking for simply a great quality digital to audio converter, this is it.

This device is a great upgrade for elderly CD players which have a digital output. Works well sounds great. Oddly enough it's actually manufactured in the United States especially being affordable Electronics. Kudos to this manufacturer.

After all the lauditory reviews online, I expected a lot more. But for the price I guess I can’t be faulted. For classical music the dated DAC in my Sony SACD player sounded much better. It was also handedly beat by Marantz ND 8006, which admittedly cost $1500 new, so for the price I guess it’s good. But if you listen to a lot of classical music, especially with complex full orchestra, I would look elsewhere.

Found out the hard way, and after doing a little googling that these models have issues with the "jittering" when running optical connections from a PC. On optical from PC or TV ---> this box the audio cuts out every ten seconds for a few seconds :(. I was able to solve the issue by adding an HDMI line from my video card to a 20 dollar audio extractor and then out that to this box and now it works fine. My original goal was to have the best sound from a PC. I wanted to convert the digital signal to analog and run it to a balanced connection to my headphones. Ended up having 3 boxes now, DP-->HDMI coupling-->hdmi audio extractor-->modius box-->DAC-->headphones... more than I wanted to have plugged in but I guess thats the price of the highest quality audio for headphones. I am not dissapointed with my purchase overall, I just wish they used the old chips that weren't so picky about optical connection.

Good looking high quality dac. -1 star as the device is quit light and can easily be bumped around or moved by the tensions of cabled plugged into it.