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Bitzie first impressions

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Graham Slee View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Graham Slee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jan 2016 at 6:18pm
The Lautus "Power Wire" is pictured here:



Used with any USB 5V power source other than the computer it sounds better to us and others who have tried/bought it. It can be used with a phone charger, in-seat USB power, and I even tried it with my Satnav charger. Our DIY website (which is being built) will also feature a "big" power supply for 5V apparatus at some point.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote morris_minor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jan 2016 at 7:18pm
Originally posted by Graham Slee Graham Slee wrote:

Our DIY website (which is being built) will also feature a "big" power supply for 5V apparatus at some point.
. . .hmm . . Maybe good for a Raspberry Pi streamer? Ermm
Bob

Majestic DAC/pre-amp
Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V
Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50
2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Benja Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jan 2016 at 11:12pm
Thanks Graham for the answers. I do found the sound of the Bitzie on the warmish side. hopefully it will get more transparent with a better usb cable.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Graham Slee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jan 2016 at 1:24am
Always best to use the loaner program even if a secondhand purchase is being considered. The "bundle" (Bitzie & Lautus USB) could have been auditioned together and if they passed your taste-test at least you'd have a reference to go on. I take it that the seller hasn't made any mods?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ash Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jan 2016 at 9:20am
I once used Lautus USB and Bitzie into Lautus phono-XLR, Proprius pair and AKG K1000. This signal chain was how I first tested the K1000 and it was a phenomenal performance! It pretty much embodied everything I had been trying to achieve with headphone audio. The Bitzie did not hold the reproduction back in any way I could hear. I only really went up to the Majestic for the increased connectivity options and a linear power supply. Majestic probably enhances the sound further than the Bitzie but I won't pretend that I was able to tell the difference, nor did I do a side-by-side comparison. Had to pay a lot more for it but that's what the customer has to do if they want to see a cottage industry stay afloat.

Bitzie and Majestic both make some small noises when you connect and disconnect cables. When powering down the Majestic connected through to my MA speaker cones, I have to remember to turn down the volume pots on my Proprius because as soon as I hit the mains switch off, there is a roughly 2 second delay before a noise artefact is fed through to them, making the cones move. The movement is tiny if I turn the pots down first but can sometimes result in significant cone movement if I leave all the pots up with high gain. I'm overly cautious and even though I doubt the movement is enough to damage the driver, I turn it down anyway. I never like to see clearly visible excursions in cone drivers, especially not expensive ones. This is probably my only nitpick of the Majestic DAC; struggling to find something else to criticize...

Edited by Ash - 15 Jan 2016 at 9:39am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Benja Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jan 2016 at 11:28am
Originally posted by Graham Slee Graham Slee wrote:

Always best to use the loaner program even if a secondhand purchase is being considered. The "bundle" (Bitzie & Lautus USB) could have been auditioned together and if they passed your taste-test at least you'd have a reference to go on. I take it that the seller hasn't made any mods?


That's what i intently wanted to do loan a bitzie and lautus usb cable. But then i found a Bitzie for a very good price on ebay and i tought if i don't like the bitzie i sell it again. If i did loan a bitzie and lautus usb i also had to pay the shipping costs.
I surely hope so that the seller didn't do any modifications.... i did not ask.  i have no idea how to see if he openend the bitzie?

I have a feeling that he bought the bitzie from Son Video.




Edited by Benja - 15 Jan 2016 at 11:35am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Drewan77 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jan 2016 at 12:06pm
I own both a Bitzie and Majestic, transparent and neutral and as Ash mentions, quite similar sounding which is a real compliment to something as small as the Bitzie. Although they are very analogue-like, I would not describe that as 'warmish' by any means. In both cases they are fed via the appropriate GSP Lautus cables

A couple of weeks ago I attended a local 'bake-off' with members of another audio forum & took along the Bitzie, fed by FLAC files from an iPhone 6 (this was without the benefit of a GSP Lautus, just a short USB A-B cable via an Apple lightning camera connector. Below is a comment posted by the host

"....Drewan had also brought along a Graham Slee portable DAC fed from an ipod which in my view performed better than others of the same type id heard....."

We played the same music via CD from his multi £££ transport/DAC immediately afterwards and it wasn't much different!

Older than I once was, younger than I'll be
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Andrew
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