New Schiit Audio Equalizer –*Loki (Mini)

[Puma Cat]

Schiit Audio just released their 4-band equalizer, aka tone control, named Loki (or Loki Mini depending on who you talk to) yesterday.

Interested folks can check it at Schiit's web site under the Preamps and Controls heading.

I know there are "puritan" high-end audio views about the (legitimacy of) use of tone controls in audio reproduction, but the facts are 1) they are universally used when mastering recordings and 2) not all recordings are mastered the same, or even mastered well, and sometimes its nice to tune the system to be more musical, pleasant, and engaging. I personally use a passive tone control called "The Delicious One" for some recordings that have been mastered a little hot or forward.

From all reports and reviews, and reading Jason Stoddard's chapter in "Schiit Happened" about the development of Loki, this looks to be very well-thought out and implemented equalizer; they spent a full year in developing Loki. And for only $149.

[jdandy]

Stephen.......Well, Schiit. I may have just changed my mind. .

The Schiit Loki Mini is a very interesting EQ product. I like the sealed Alps pots, as well as the complete bypass capability, and the passive design. You sure can't beat the price.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6oyxHGJbsM

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Stephen.......Well, Schiit. I may have just changed my mind. .

The Schiit Loki Mini is a very interesting EQ product. I like the sealed Alps pots, as well as the complete bypass capability, and the passive design. You sure can't beat the price.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6oyxHGJbsM

Yep, saw Jude's video yesterday morning. Impressive. AFAIK, it's not a passive design, as it uses a 16V linear power supply wart.

Eitr is an absolute knockout for sound quality, punching way, way, way above it's price class, and my guess is Loki is, too.

BTW, I have the original Loki, the trickster God of DSD-only DAC, which sounds quite amazing when fed from a Sonore microRendu, and can confirm that the bypass is completely transparent (Loki had a bypass so you could also use it in conjunction with your PCM DAC).

My guess is the new Loki will sound great and the bypass will be completely transparent, as well.

[PHC1]

Seems like a very effective and inexpensive product to fix some of the room anamolies and or system shortcomings, on the way to that elusive perfect setup which requires much time, expenditure, experimentation, room treatments, etc. Once there, (unlikely ) it can be bypassed and only applied to some of the poorer recordings that still find their way into your speakers from time to time because you like the music. For the price, which is less than most spend on a pair of RCA cables, it should be a worthwhile addition to many systems.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Seems like a very effective and inexpensive product to fix some of the room anamolies and or system shortcomings, on the way to that elusive perfect setup which requires much time, expenditure, experimentation, room treatments, etc. Once there, (unlikely ) it can be bypassed and only applied to some of the poorer recordings that still find their way into your speakers from time to time because you like the music. For the price, which is less than most spend on a pair of RCA cables, it should be a worthwhile addition to many systems.

Exactamundo.

From Jason's e-book chapter on Loki:

"And, well, when you got down to it, a tone control could also help with room problems. Because even with a great recording and great transducers, rooms sometimes got in the way of reproducing the Sacred and Original Recording. Especially when those rooms collided with real life—real lives that included screens and comfy furniture and shelves with important mementos and family knick-nacks and stuff that you couldn’t just declare, “Dear, I’m gonna throw alla this stuff out, okay, and add some bass traps and reflection damping.”

Yeah."

[trponhunter]

Not a general fan of analog eq's or electronic crossovers- more cables,more contacts, more connectors, and additional analog circuitry to pass the signal through. Every one of these things lowers your resolution.If you feel eq is needed, investigate what is available digitally (personally the best digital eq's I find to be truly transparent and the best thing you can do to improve most systems).

[Rodney Gold]

The freqs the EQ of the loki works on are way to far spaced and gross acting to do anything meaningful in respect of low bass room correction or any room correction at all.
20Hz, 400Hz, 2kHz, 8kHz.... ????

A $205 miniDSP 2x4hd will kill it in this regard...

[trponhunter]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Yep, saw Jude's video yesterday morning. Impressive. AFAIK, it's not a passive design, as it uses a 16V linear power supply wart.

Eitr is an absolute knockout for sound quality, punching way, way, way above it's price class, and my guess is Loki is, too.

BTW, I have the original Loki, the trickster God of DSD-only DAC, which sounds quite amazing when fed from a Sonore microRendu, and can confirm that the bypass is completely transparent (Loki had a bypass so you could also use it in conjunction with your PCM DAC).

My guess is the new Loki will sound great and the bypass will be completely transparent, as well.

I could not possibly imagine that in a high resolution system that it could be transparent. I have not found any $15,000 analog pre amps that are truly transparent

[PHC1]

The problem with many digital domain eq’s is that they rob music of life. Hard to explain exactly why but very audible to many. Not one should be looking or expecting perfection from any EQ but an analog or passive EQ seems to preserve the life of music way better. I’ve never personally heard any digital domain eq that does not alter the music and not leave it bleached sounding

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by PHC1

The problem with many digital domain eq’s is that they rob music of life. Hard to explain exactly why but very audible to many. Not one should be looking or expecting perfection from any EQ but an analog or passive EQ seems to preserve the life of music way better. I’ve never personally heard any digital domain eq that does not alter the music and not leave it bleached sounding

If you've read the comments by Jason Stoddard about digital domain EQ's; he would agree with you.