Gumby finally arrives!
 

I was sitting in my office doing the usual work emails this morning as I looked at the fresh blanket of snow from last night. I contemplated going out to clear the driveway of the 1/2”, but decided it’s warming up enough this week so it’ll soon melt on its own. Just as I am contemplating this, the FedEx driver pulls to the end of my driveway and drives off. I was sure he decided to reschedule my delivery because he didn’t want to deal with the snow in my driveway. Crap! Maybe I should have cleared it after all! Five minutes later he returns, backs up my drive and walks to my back door with a white box sealed with Schiit packing tape! It’s here! My Gungnir, upgraded to a Gumby has finally arrived!



I carefully unpacked it, placed it in its normal spot and connected it back up. I then fired up my pc and immediately hear familiar Windows sounds even before the new USB drivers were installed. Windows then asks me to restart to complete the installation. I obliged and once restarted, I opened JRiver 23 and played a few familiar songs to test the upgrade.



Although the Gumby is literally still cold from it’s ride in the FedEx truck, I immediately noticed positive differences to my Sony HAP-Z1ES, which was standing in for the Gungnir while it was being upgraded. There was a slight harshness I noticed in some songs on the Sony that isn’t present on the Gumby. Overall the sound stage seems to have opened up and playing Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon with my eyes closed, it sounds like Frank is on stage in front of me! On Beck’s Heart Is A Drum, I can hear the bass strings clear as a bell.



Although the mids seem a tad bit hollow right now, Schiit must have burned it in for a while and I know it’ll only get better as I burn it in. This is some good Schiit!

Mike.......I am happy to hear the good news. A hundred hours or so should take care of the majority of the break-in. You made a wise choice to upgrade Gungnir to a Gumby.

Gumby finally arrives!
 

I now have just over 150 hours of nonstop file burn-in on the Gumby. I used a mix of various sample rate and bit rate files for the burn-in. Along the way, I gave it a listen now and then. However, I also made a few changes to my system while the Gungnir was off getting updated. Ivan gave me a deal on a pair of JL Audio F112 v2’s that I couldn’t resist. Then today, a new CR-1 crossover was delivered.

I can’t really do a proper review on the Gumby since there were some other, significant changes to my system. But suffice it to say, the aggregate of the Gumby upgrade, the addition of the two F112 subs and in my opinion, the addition of the CR-1 in particular, stepped up my game more than I could have imagined. :smoking:

I love this hobby and now, I hate my slush fund account balance.

Congrats on the upgrade!

Good stuff Mike! Gumby is a great performer without breaking the bank. Enjoy! :music:

I have had the Gumby in my home theater setup for 6 months, and love the sound quality.

Took about 2 months to fully break in.

Just got a second Gumby for main system streaming with Amazon Music HD.

The second Gumby is still breaking in after 3 weeks of use.

Paint me ignorant but DAC that needs break in? Sounds like hocus pocus to me. Its a computer chip and a few transistors or tubes depending on the model. If tubes there is some break-in, if transistors break-in is a few minutes..... If you cant measure with an oscilloscope the ears can't either.

You really couldn’t be more wrong; furthermore we don’t permit trolling here.

Gumby finally arrives!
 

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Gumby finally arrives!
 

I started this thread to talk about my newly updated Gungnir DAC; not the virtues of (or lack there of) burn in.

Please start a new thread if you would like to debate the burn in topic.

Thanks!

Mike