First, the Schiit is very well-built. The tray is solid, more like my Wadia, not the plastic-y feel of the Oppo 105. The relief for CD placement is a little shallow so you have to feel around a bit to make sure the CD is properly placed - this will take some getting used to. Nice remote (with icons that can only be seen with the help of optical devices) but a nice size and heft otherwise: a solid, brushed aluminum bar (no idea how you replace the battery or batteries in it - no visible openings). The transport itself is a no brainer to operate. Select your input and press play.
So, the set up is the Urd connected to the Benchmark dac3 b via coax (.5m Wireworld Starlight 8), to Primaluna Dialog Premium integrated, to ML SL3s with a Rythmik L12 sub.
My immediate impressions are the soundstage is noticeably bigger and the highs have a lot more space and sparkle compared to the 105D. These are not a subtle differences (and I have very bad hearing from too many years in front of amplifiers). The mid-bass though seems a bit muddled or undefined. For example, with Nathan East signing along with his playing on solos its a little hard to pick up the string attack of the bass from his voice. The 105 presented this better I think.
Now having said that, I adjusted my sub volume down a bit and cranked up the Primaluna integrated (the wife isn't home at the moment) and, wow, yeah, I can do this! I think I just needed to fill the space; it's a big room, 17x28x10. The sound is concert-like. You can pick who you want to concentrate your listening on in the performance, puts you right their shoes, and you can feel/hear everything they're doing. At lower volume the system sounds small, if you know what I mean.
I can't tell you which component did what to the sound because, in a very poor example of scientific method, a changed multiple variables at the same time. I can only say that the Benchmark and the Schiit play well together in my system- better than Oppo with it's internal dac. It was worth the upgrade.
