Schiit Lokius anyone?

Nice unit even better than the old 4 band which I found very useful in some applications

Always find analog domain tone controls less sterile sounding, than digital or dsp based ones.

Cheers George

"...even better than the old 4 band...."

Agreed and the price still seems reasonable for what you get.

There's a new 4 band as well now called the Loki+. Wonder how much better it is than the original 4 band.

Bands: 20Hz, 120Hz, 400Hz, 2kHz, 6kHz, 16kHz.
I like this.

Hello @sanvara -
You are absolutely right. Visited the site to look at Loki delivery times and got sidetracked once I saw the Lokius. Did not even register that the Loki Mini+ was a new model.

From the Schiit Loki Mini+ FAQ

So wasn’t there a Loki Mini, no “Plus,” that you introduced like 5 minutes ago?
Yep, if 5 minutes actually means “more than three years ago.” We decided it was time to make it even better—and keep the price the same, as we are wont to do. We brought out the original Loki Mini because we’re kinda contrarian. Tone controls have become virtually verboten over the last three decades in high-end audio. For those of you who remember some crappy tone control and EQ implementations, including dull, veiled, nasty-sounding knobs on the front of receivers and noisy, truly awful-sounding banks of 10 to 30 sliders (usually fixed in a death-grin), you know that there’s a good reason tone controls went away. But we decided to take a look at it and see what we could make with a single gain stage (rather than 10-30 op-amps in a row) and using passive LC (inductor-capacitor) filtering wherever possible. And we found that we could create an extremely transparent equalizer that allowed for some very nice control over tonal characteristics, without the downside of traditional tone controls or EQs. So we decided to make it and see if you find it interesting as well.

So how is this better than the original Loki Mini?
A number of ways. The biggest thing is a new gain stage with drivers before the output to increase linearity, as well as matched devices throughout. In addition, there’s a new power supply that dramatically reduces noise (already inaudible at like -100dB, but hey, let’s go nuts a bit, right? Plus some tweaks to get maximum THD down, even when you’re really tweaking the knobs.

Measurements are fine, but does this actually sound better?
Absolutely. Or at least we think so.

Not this week.

If this trend keeps up they might actually put some controls back on the preamps/integrateds themselves. Quelle horreur!

Tellement vrai!

(Mon français avec l'aimable autorisation de Google translate.)

I waited over 3 months for my +.
Got it a few weeks ago.
Added it between my pre and amp using the same type high quality interconnects.
I like it!  The wife likes it!
I feel it was a good addition to my system...

Just purchased a Lokius this morning, looking forward to setting this up! 

I sent my Loki back 5 months ago. I didn’t like the 20hz frequency control as I wanted something in the 60hz range. Bought the Bellari instead which had 60 hz low frequency.  

Man, that lokius looks awesome!  I bet it will be 2-4 weeks for a few months tho, aint that some schiit

Actually I ordered my lokius on July 15, online said ships in 2 to 4 weeks, received it yesterday July 23. Haven’t "hooked it up" yet. Glad I have a preamp with a tape loop, first time I will have used it.

Nice looking unit, ordered in silver.

Jetter..report back, please!

Will do, but have houseguests so may take a few days.

Ordered a Lokius July 14. Shipped via FedEx from Schiit TX. Was supposed to arrive Mon July 19 but got held up in TX over the weekend at a FedEx facility. Arrived yesterday the 22nd.

Got it installed yesterday. Ran the XLO test and burn in CD track 9 for about 4 hours before doing any listening. Equipment involved: Prima Luna Prologue integrated, Gungnir MB, Aries Mini, TEAC CD-3000, Silverline Prelude Plus speakers. Some observations...

1) In my system/to my ears the Lokius is completely transparent. Whether processing signal or not, can’t hear a difference [of course that’s so long as the tone controls are at ’0’ (i.e., straight up 12 o’clock position) when in the loop!]

2) No hum. Given space constraints in my equipment console it’s sitting on a small bamboo cutting board atop an APC power conditioner. With nothing playing and with the Lokius in the signal path, there is NO hum to be heard with ear just a few inches from the speaker drivers. And that’s with the volume knob of the Prima Luna Prologue turned all the way up (not something I like to do for any length of time). Dead silent.

3) If you don’t like the "power on" LED of other Schiit components you ain’t gonna like the LED on the Lokius. Same as on the Freya, Gungnir and Eitr I have. Doesn’t bother me at all but some find it annoyingly bright.

4) The Lokius allows two inputs (one XLR and one RCA). Worked well for me as I was able to run an XLR cable out of the Gungnir (easily listen 80+% to ripped CDs and Tidal) and an RCA cable out of the TEAC using both as inputs to the Lokius. Flip a little toggle to select between them. During this listening the RCA outputs to the Prima Luna (has RCA jacks only) were used but XLR out is also available though I’m not certain whether this represents a true balanced signal (see the Lokius FAQ on the Schiit website).

5) It won’t turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse as witness some of the atrocious sounding tracks (e.g., Wah-Wah) on All Things Must Pass. Some (not all) sound like they were multi-tracked waaaay too many times resulting in music embedded in a thick layer of white noise and distortion. Lokius couldn’t fix those although reducing high frequency and treble made things a little less aggravating.

6) Older digital recordings that lack bass or were recorded (remastered!) with the treble a little too hot is where the Lokius shines. Found listening to Genesis’ Wind & Wuthering more enjoyable and engaging after applying a little reduction of treble and a little addition to bass and lower midrange with Lokius.

7) It provides a good measure of fine tuning capability and most often the desired effect was achieved with less than a +/- 90 degree rotation of any given knob from the 12 o’clock/neutral position. It is possible to be ham-handed and over do but I found the Lokius effects easy to manage and appropriately subtle.

8) The lines marking the position of the adjustment knobs in a lighted room were tough to see without the help of a flashlight.

9) You can make yourself crazy jumping up and down to A-B and make adjustments rather than just listening to the music. Hoping with more experience, the necessary adjustment will be arrived at with less experimentation.

I think it’s a keeper. I’ve other recordings in mind that are candidates for sonic remediation and am looking forward to learning about how best (and more efficiently) to use the Lokius. It seems a reasonably sharp scapel offered at a great price.

Maybe, just maybe, a few of the "no tone controls" manufacturers will pick up on this. A few, like Luxman, have been doing this a long time and I'm sure at least some of their sales were because of the inclusion of tone controls. Viva tone controls!

Hi secretguy, I would say ghosthouse’s excellent description of the lokius more than covers anything that I could ever write.

Big ditto on it is invisible to your system when on and all the tone controls in their neutral position, just wonderful.

My main reason for getting it was because I wanted to add just a "touch" of extra highs to my speakers presentation on some music. I really do mean just a touch, as I dislike anything approaching an excess of treble. My speakers are an unknown brand in the U.S., they are made by a Danish company called Avance International. They use all Scanspeak "classic" series drivers, including the silk dome tweeter. I now have the ability to add just the right sparkle to my highs at will. Hope this helps.

@jetter 

I'd certainly be interested in reading about your experience with the Lokius if you are ever inclined to write something up.  I share your aversion to "an excess of treble".    

I waited literally months for my Loki+.  
Excellent packaging and impressive looking build quality.
Hooked it up in and out with high quality Audio Quest King Cobra interconnects.
Plugged it in to my dedicated 12/2 20amp quad set of Audio Quest hospital grade, cryo treated 20 amp outlet.
Turned it on... immediately a bad hum occurred, it also runs hotter than my C-J premier 17 ls tube pre amp.  
Shut it off or bypass and the hum disappears.
Contacted C.S.  Took 5 tries to get a R/A to ship back for them to look at.
Wish me luck.....

Good luck! Quincy. Hope you get some satisfaction. I know someone else that recently (minus the hum issue) had the same experience as you with their Loki+: Long wait to get the unit, it ran hot, and took multiple attempts before finally getting an RA. Not sure what’s going on with Schiit.

FWIW, and not to be an apologist for Schiit, - the Lokius is completely silent (even though in proximity to a power conditioner) and only runs warm, not at all hot. If the Loki+ hasn’t turned you off completely, maybe be an option if you still want an equalizer. Nicely effective unit.

Totally agree with ghosthouse, if you can swing it I would go for the Lokius.  Great unit, mine is on all the time and barely warm.  

Thank you guys for your review on this unit. I´m pretty interested in an EQ very simply to be used, as I have a krell amplifier which is absolutely great, but it does not have Tone Controls, and sometimes in some songs, I would like to have the possibility of touching them a bit.

Best!

Sounds like big bug.

Hi ebm, really? did you have the chance to test it with your gear? I´ve read good things about it, not only here. Thanks.

Has anyone tried the Loki Max?

I added a silver Lokius in my main system (higher end Yamaha/Klipsch) last year and was and still am mightily impressed. I now wonder why I waited so long? It was the missing ingredient that I didn't know was missing until I installed it. So recently, I put together a desktop streaming only head-fi system, consisting of an ifi Zen Stream, Schiit Bifrost 2, Jotunheim 2, and of course another Lokius. These are all in black. Listening in with Klipsch HP-3 cans. Sounds terrific! Highly recommended the Lokius is!

I have the Loki max. I just love it. I use to be a purist, but know more. I particularly, like to bass boast when listing at low levels. The fact that I can make changes from my chair is a huge plus. I even like the Loki better that the tone controls on my Mac MA352. It works so well it seems to change more of the characteristic of the speaker then change the music. It’s really very good and a wellcome addition to my system. 

The Lokius is an excellent device, especially for the price.  I wish it had a remote but the price jump to the Loki Max is significant. 

 

My only quibble has to do with the factory wall-wart.  Initially the device did impart some background static noise.  I replaced it with a linear power supply and ever since the background has been silent.