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Bitzie first impressions

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Fatmangolf View Drop Down
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    Posted: 23 Feb 2013 at 9:21am
I plugged the loan Bitzie DAC and USB cable into my work computer to burn it in and Windows loaded a driver straightaway. I had a quick listen to some lossess files I had with me. They, and therefore the Bitzie, sounded great through my Klipsch X10's. I showed a colleague who commented on the small size and neatness of the Bitzie.
 
Some hours later I connected the Bitzie to my home PC with the Bitzie USB cable. Straight forward auto-install of software to enable listening to start. The music came through with the clarity and full sound I am used to with other top hi-fi I have heard. It is a fine USB DAC with excellent sound quality reflecting the digital and analogue sections being very good. It is one of the most natural sounding DAC's I have heard, I can hear every instrument and sound clearly, with no harshness/"glare" and the music is listenable.
 
Bitzie includes a very good headphone output. It drove my X10's to high levels, my HD280's went pretty loud and so did my LCD-2's which are less sensitive but very good orthodynamic headphones.
 
Connection to my hi-fi amps and speakers was easy with the enclosed adaptor. The same clear and involving sound made the music I played sound great. Room filling sound with a wide and deep soundstage, in short as big as the recordings! It is hard to believe it is a USB DAC.
 
I haven't used the Bitzie's SPDIF output yet but it's a real bonus to have a USB to SPDIF thrown-in, especially with galvanic isolation.
 
As I wrote last night: it is excellent.
 
Jon

Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC.
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mitch65 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mitch65 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Feb 2013 at 9:30am
Originally posted by Fatmangolf Fatmangolf wrote:

I plugged the loan Bitzie DAC and USB cable into my work computer to burn it in and Windows loaded a driver straightaway. I had a quick listen to some lossess files I had with me. They, and therefore the Bitzie, sounded great through my Klipsch X10's. I showed a colleague who commented on the small size and neatness of the Bitzie.
 
Some hours later I connected the Bitzie to my home PC with the Bitzie USB cable. Straight forward auto-install of software to enable listening to start. The music came through with the clarity and full sound I am used to with other top hi-fi I have heard. It is a fine USB DAC with excellent sound quality reflecting the digital and analogue sections being very good. It is one of the most natural sounding DAC's I have heard, I can hear every instrument and sound clearly, with no harshness/"glare" and the music is listenable.
 
Bitzie includes a very good headphone output. It drove my X10's to high levels, my HD280's went pretty loud and so did my LCD-2's which are less sensitive but very good orthodynamic headphones.
 
Connection to my hi-fi amps and speakers was easy with the enclosed adaptor. The same clear and involving sound made the music I played sound great. Room filling sound with a wide and deep soundstage, in short as big as the recordings! It is hard to believe it is a USB DAC.
 
I haven't used the Bitzie's SPDIF output yet but it's a real bonus to have a USB to SPDIF thrown-in, especially with galvanic isolation.
 
As I wrote last night: it is excellent.
 

Wow Bob, I've been sitting here for the last hour or so thinking about the Bitzie and looking through previous posts about how it would connect to my laptop/hifi. You have pretty much answered my questions. It all looks very exciting and I am looking forward to trying it out and comparing to my current arrangement.Thumbs Up

EDIT :Sorry Jon don't know where I got Bob from! Embarrassed


Edited by mitch65 - 23 Feb 2013 at 12:12pm
Greg

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mrarroyo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Feb 2013 at 10:55am
While the loan unit is on its way I would like to be reminded if the 1/4" out is controlled by the volume pot. I recall the volume pot controls the output of the 1/8" output but not sure on the 1/4". Basically I am asking if the 1/4" is your typical fixed output line out. Thanks.
Miguel
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Fatmangolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Feb 2013 at 12:07pm
The volume control affects both analogue outputs.
I think the 3.5 mm and 1/4 inch sockets are in parallel. I could run headphones or line out from both of them, simultaneously using various adaptors. A quality 1/4 inch to left/right phono adaptor comes with the Bitzie. It's a very flexible and ingenious unit. And sounds great!
Jon

Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote morris_minor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Feb 2013 at 1:20pm
This all sounds very exciting! I look forward to giving the Bitzie a workout with my kit...
Bob

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Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Graham Slee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 2013 at 8:31pm
Thank you Jon, The Bitzie USB DAC seems to be doing exactly what we 'said on the can' by the looks of things.

We've had the prototypes and pre-production units working flat-out here for months as we busily tried numerous tweaks.

There's a lot of information 'not written' between the lines of digital i.c. manufacturers data sheets, but it is 'there to be read' if you get my meaning?

It makes a lot of difference once that 'non-information' is understood, and I guess it can be quite misleading to those 'still wet behind the ears'.

So I guess all those years (from 1982) spent working on other manufacturers stuff with some great electronics engineers, didn't go amiss.

Perhaps it should be a lesson to all those who 'think they can' that these data sheets are written like that for a purpose? Wink
That none should be able to buy or sell without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suggs Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Feb 2013 at 12:31pm
The Bitzie has now landed in snowy France and is instantly available to anyone in Europe who wishes to borrow it on the GSP Loaner scheme. Please PM me with your details and it will be on it's way to you shortly Clap
Derek
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