While Schiit Audio didn’t participate in any Black Friday Deals, the company is resoundingly known for providing big value at some of the lowest price tags in HiFi without special occasion. To that end, the latest update to the Schiit $99 darling Modi 3+ DAC now incorporates the trickle-down USB Unison tech from its more spendy family upstream.
Previously, the least costly product Schiit made with Unison specs was the $200 balanced Modius in a slightly larger footprint. The Modi 3+ sits on a desk in only 5 x 3.5 inches, and also completes the dubbed “Schiit Stack” when paired with the California-based company’s $99 Magni headphone amplifier or 4 band EQ module Loki.
It’s a fan favorite among many of the personal audio enthusiasts, often considered the starting point for many audiophile journeys across the hobby. The latest update really fills out the company’s offerings across the price points from $100-$1000. This includes both solid state and tube topologies.
From the company website:
“Modi 3+ sounds simple,” Mike Moffat, Schiit’s Co-Founder, and head of digital development, said. “It’s a Modi 3…with Unison USB, our own USB interface that took two person-years of development to complete. But it also has a few more tricks that improve performance even more than Modi 3—so it’s our highest performing Modi, ever.
“Schiit’s Unison USB is a unique UAC2 interface, developed over two person-years to deliver the highest-performance digital interface for PCM audio. Debuting on Schiit’s more expensive True Multibit DACs, from Bifrost 2 to Yggdrasil, Unison USB recently appeared on the $199 Modius is now standard in the $99 Modi 3+.
“Unison USB is designed to do one thing very well,” said Mike Moffat. “And that is to transport PCM audio over USB using UAC2, the accepted standard for USB audio transmission. It is plug and play with literally all modern operating systems.”
The Schiit Modi 3+ with Unison USB is available today for $99 from the company’s direct-to-consumer site.
More info: https://www.schiit.com/products/modi-1