[Hyde00]

Nitsch Pietus Maximus with MultiBit DAC ordered -- 'will report back once I received it.

Thanks again @Hyde00 for your advice and time!

I hope you enjoy it! Let us know what you think!

 

[kumar402]

Schiit had their booth this time. I’ve seen Pietus Maximus there too. Forgot where.

It was in ZMF room

 

[288920]

I would love to hear thoughts from anyone who has direct experience with both a Pietus Maximus and a FiiO K9 Pro. I am thinking of getting the Nitsch to use with my Arya Stealth and DCA Aeon Closed; currently have the FiiO.

 

[twigfarm]

Hi folks! Have any owners of the PMax noticed a sonic difference between the 3 gain settings like there is with the 2 Piety gain settings (low gain-warmer, more tube-like & high gain-more SS-like - a little more upfront & dynamic)? I've had the PMax now for about a month now and am yet to investigate if there is, having used it in only medium gain since I got it. And are you more apt to use a gain setting where the volume control is between 7:00 and 12 or 12:00 and 5 for comfortable listening?

 

[cats4cans]

Hi folks! Have any owners of the PMax noticed a sonic difference between the 3 gain settings like there is with the 2 Piety gain settings (low gain-warmer, more tube-like & high gain-more SS-like - a little more upfront & dynamic)? I've had the PMax now for about a month now and am yet to investigate if there is, having used it in only medium gain since I got it. And are you more apt to use a gain setting where the volume control is between 7:00 and 12 or 12:00 and 5 for comfortable listening?

It’s hard to hear differences in the gain modes because they’re each used in different use cases. I primarily try to leave myself with a generous useable range. With IEMs I never even reach noon in low gain. While low gain can still drive a lot of headphones, the pot ramps up quickly past 3 o’clock. Even Sundara (probably my least sensitive option) can get unpleasantly loud in low gain. Mid gain is much better for all my headphones and as a pre into a Gjallarhorn. Volume sits about high noon most of the time. I haven’t had a reason to use high gain beyond brief tests. I guess all my stuff is too sensitive to have a useable range on high. There’s typically increased noise as well, which I think can be more bothersome than slight tonal variations.

 

[Tbone289]

Thanks, I look forward to it!

I finally tried the Pietus Maximus as a preamp over the weekend in my office 2.1 rig. This is my most revealing system, so I figured it would be the best for comparison. In short, it is excellent. It's good enough that I'm actually considering also replacing Gumby A2 with Modius E or BF2 to reduce the footprint on my desktop. I felt that the internal ESS9028 DAC was very close in performance to SE out of Gungnir and would use that if it weren't for the need for more than just the single USB input.

The main differences between Pietus Maximus and Freya-N in buffer mode can be summed up pretty easily I think. Pietus Maximus' tonality and clarity are on par with Freya-N, but it has a noticeably "wetter" euphonic bloom in the midrange, where Freya-N is more neutral and "drier". Due to this I actually find it more fun to listen to than Freya, and I don't feel I'm losing much of anything at all. With Freya in the chain there is a slightly improved transparency and increase in detail and a slightly blacker background, but honestly I think that mostly can be attributed Gumby's outputs and the switch from balanced with Freya-N to SE with Pietus Maximus. That is picking nits, as Pietus Maximus is also very quiet. I didn't directly compare Pietus to Freya-N in tube mode.

Now I know why it pairs so well with my Beyerdynamic DT-880/600--the dry midrange signature is synergizing well with Pietus' midrange presentation.

 

[twigfarm]

It’s hard to hear differences in the gain modes because they’re each used in different use cases. I primarily try to leave myself with a generous useable range. With IEMs I never even reach noon in low gain. While low gain can still drive a lot of headphones, the pot ramps up quickly past 3 o’clock. Even Sundara (probably my least sensitive option) can get unpleasantly loud in low gain. Mid gain is much better for all my headphones and as a pre into a Gjallarhorn. Volume sits about high noon most of the time. I haven’t had a reason to use high gain beyond brief tests. I guess all my stuff is too sensitive to have a useable range on high. There’s typically increased noise as well, which I think can be more bothersome than slight tonal variations.

Thanks for the info!
With my HD6XXs I find in mid gain I have to have the volume pot at around 2-3:00 for comfortable listening levels and around 10:00 in hi gain and was wondering if people found a "sweet" spot or area for the pot if there is such a thing. And, again, if anyone has noticed a sonic difference between the settings (low, mid, hi).

Thanks again.

 

[Hyde00]

And, again, if anyone has noticed a sonic difference between the settings (low, mid, hi).

I find low gain kind of dull sounding.

I like mid and high better, though I don't think I noticed too much difference between mid and high.

 

[Tbone289]

Thanks for the info!
With my HD6XXs I find in mid gain I have to have the volume pot at around 2-3:00 for comfortable listening levels and around 10:00 in hi gain and was wondering if people found a "sweet" spot or area for the pot if there is such a thing. And, again, if anyone has noticed a sonic difference between the settings (low, mid, hi).

Thanks again.

I don't have anything that will work with the low setting. I use high gain for HD650 and DT-880/250&600, and mid as a preamp. I find that, if there is a difference, it's not as noticeable as the difference between low and high on Piety. Likewise, as @cats4cans mentioned, I also find it difficult to compare the gain settings when I have to level-match in-between.

 

[dbull12]

Curious if anyone's had ears on both the Pietus Maximus and Cayin iHA-6 with ZMFs, particularly Verite Open? Would love to hear any comparisons. iHA-6 has the higher output impedance from the SE outputs which seems beneficial for something with a ton of mid-bass like the Atticus, but I'm not sure if it's really as crucial when it comes to synergizing with Verite

 

[thingwfeathers]

Deleted.

 

[freeryder05]

I have been loving my Pietus so much that I decided to get the ESS DAC card. I opened up the unit, installed the DAC card, switched the card to SE and tried to run it and have been having so many issues.

1. The DAC card is only recognized by my macbook pro while it's open and plugged directly into my mac. If I try to plug it into my usb hub I get a power draw error and it shuts down the USB hub. If I try to have my computer in the docking station and plugged into either my hub or the computer directly the DAC doesn't show up at all

2. The power draw error is kicking in that their might be something actually broken on the DAC

3. It seems to force my computer to upsample to 192/24. Instead of being decided by me in midi settings it keeps upsampling.

Anyone have any ideas why it might be doing this?

 

[Hyde00]

If I try to plug it into my usb hub I get a power draw error and it shuts down the USB hub.

A little bit surprising because generally speaking the internal card draws power from the PMax itself.

Unless the card is somehow not getting the power it needed. In that case it might be faulty?

Maybe check to make sure PMax is turn on first before plugging into computer.

Otherwise as others have said maybe it's faulty? Might want to reach out to Schiit to see if they had this issue before.

 

[freeryder05]

A little bit surprising because generally speaking the internal card draws power from the PMax itself.

Unless the card is somehow not getting the power it needed. In that case it might be faulty?

Maybe check to make sure PMax is turn on first before plugging into computer.

Otherwise as others have said maybe it's faulty? Might want to reach out to Schiit to see if they had this issue before.

Yea I reached out to them, but haven't heard back so I figured I'd ask. For some reason, it only works with one of my USB C cables and I can't get it to work with anything else. Hopefully they get back to me today. I'll prob make a video of it doing the power draw thing tonight.

Thanks for the response.

 

[Hyde00]

Yea I reached out to them, but haven't heard back so I figured I'd ask. For some reason, it only works with one of my USB C cables and I can't get it to work with anything else. Hopefully they get back to me today. I'll prob make a video of it doing the power draw thing tonight.

Thanks for the response.

Oh oddly enough I didn't have this issue on my older phone, but my new phone is picky about USB C cable.

The longer USB C cable is buggy, while the shorter ones never have issue.

I wonder if it's similar to this. Never run into this with USB B / Mini B / Micro B cable though. Very odd.....