Almost a year ago to the day we reviewed and DAR-KO awarded the Schiit Jotunheim (US$399) – the Californian company’s modular headphone amplifier that wrapped balanced and single-ended inputs and outputs around Jason Stoddard’s Pivot Point gain-stage circuitry to leave space for one (optional) US$100 input board: MM phono OR delta-sigma AK4490 D/A converter. We went with the MM phono for our review.

This week, Schiit make good on the promise of the Jotunheim’s modularity with the announcement of a new Multibit USB DAC input board that combines an Analog Devices AD5547 chip with SHARC DSP-hosted digital filter and “cheap-ass” balanced (CAB) signal handling.

In other words, the Modi Multibit as a Jotunheim module offers a fifty buck saving on the standalone unit and calls for no additional wall-wart or analogue interconnect.

Says Schiit’s other half, Mike Moffat, “One of the most popular orders at Schiit.com is a Modi Multibit and a Jotunheim. We’re now putting this capability in a single, convenient box.”

The new board is available now at US$200 – contact Schiit for upgrade details – or specify its inclusion in a new Jotunheim for US$599…

…or have it factory-fitted in Schiit’s third-generation hybrid headphone amplifier, the Lyr 3 (above), that’ll alternatively accommodate Jotunheim’s MM phono card or the (subsequently reworked) AK4490 delta-sigma DAC board.

Lyr 3 introduces two new technologies: “The first, Coherence™, is a new way to put tubes and transistors together which eliminates interstage coupling capacitors and controls everything precisely with an operational point servo. The second. Continuity™, is a constant transconductance output stage that virtually eliminates one of the bugaboos of every Class AB amp—transconductance doubling.”

Lyr 3 pricing starts at US$499.

Schiit also says that we may see this modular approach applied to an Asgard 3 (down the line). Stoddard (left) and Moffat (right) provided further details on where they’re headed at a Schiitr-based Multibit board and Lyr 3 launch event, Facebook streamed for y/our viewing pleasure:

Further information: Schiit Audio