Another take on the Schiit Loki Max

[Zuman]

I recently bought a Schiit Loki Max EQ and I'm very smitten by it in the short time I've had it in my system.
My assessment is that the Loki Max is a highly effective sound quality solution for many of those who who have constraints on their listening spaces and budgets. I'm quite sure that there are many alternative approaches to the eternal search for a "straight wire with gain" outcome, and some of those may outperform any kind of EQ. However, for those whose listening room cannot be ideally configured dimensionally, with treatments, aesthetically, and in terms of speaker placement, I believe that the Loki Max is a very good way to custom-tailor the sound that reaches their listening chairs.
I've been surprised by how small my adjustments via the Loki Max have needed to be in order to get me to where I'm happy. I've found one EQ profile that suits the large majority of my recordings, and that essentially corrects most room deficits and matches my speakers to the room. I've had Roon since it came out and have not been able to use its EQ to the same effect. I was also not happy with the profiles I created on a miniDSP (which I felt added some congestion or veiling). I'm sure that I'll also create profiles on the Loki Max to try to address various types of poor recordings, but I haven't done that yet.
For those who have greater resources, it would of course be preferable to stay as "pure" as possible. For the rest of us, I believe the Loki Max is a wonderful asset. While I can't hear any transparency or imaging loss with the Loki in my system, I certainly wouldn't argue with people who have better ears or gear and claim otherwise. For me, the improvement in frequency balance that the Loki Max provides delivers such a pleasurable and revealing listening experience that everything from soundstage to tonality sounds better.
The rest of my system:
-Clearaudio Performance DC turntable with Tracer arm and Hana ML cartridge
-Modwright PH 9.0XT phono stage
-NAD M50.2 digital player/server with dedicated custom NUC running Roon ROCK
-Okto Research dac8 Stereo DAC
-Modwright KWH 225i hybrid integrated amp
-Custom 2-way tower speakers with ScanSpeak and Morel drivers and high-spec crossovers, supplemented by TakeT Live supertweeters and TakeT WHDPure woofer enhancers
-REL S/5 subwoofer
-M101, Hapa Audio, and Audio Art cables.
Room: 20' x 20' x 9' with built-in tv, sofa, love seat, two chairs, coffee table. Windows at opposite end of room to speakers.

 

[wil]

I recently bought a Schiit Loki Max EQ and I'm very smitten by it in the short time I've had it in my system.
My assessment is that the Loki Max is a highly effective sound quality solution for many of those who who have constraints on their listening spaces and budgets. I'm quite sure that there are many alternative approaches to the eternal search for a "straight wire with gain" outcome, and some of those may outperform any kind of EQ. However, for those whose listening room cannot be ideally configured dimensionally, with treatments, aesthetically, and in terms of speaker placement, I believe that the Loki Max is a very good way to custom-tailor the sound that reaches their listening chairs.
I've been surprised by how small my adjustments via the Loki Max have needed to be in order to get me to where I'm happy. I've found one EQ profile that suits the large majority of my recordings, and that essentially corrects most room deficits and matches my speakers to the room. I've had Roon since it came out and have not been able to use its EQ to the same effect. I was also not happy with the profiles I created on a miniDSP (which I felt added some congestion or veiling). I'm sure that I'll also create profiles on the Loki Max to try to address various types of poor recordings, but I haven't done that yet.
For those who have greater resources, it would of course be preferable to stay as "pure" as possible. For the rest of us, I believe the Loki Max is a wonderful asset. While I can't hear any transparency or imaging loss with the Loki in my system, I certainly wouldn't argue with people who have better ears or gear and claim otherwise. For me, the improvement in frequency balance that the Loki Max provides delivers such a pleasurable and revealing listening experience that everything from soundstage to tonality sounds better.
The rest of my system:
-Clearaudio Performance DC turntable with Tracer arm and Hana ML cartridge
-Modwright PH 9.0XT phono stage
-NAD M50.2 digital player/server with dedicated custom NUC running Roon ROCK
-Okto Research dac8 Stereo DAC
-Modwright KWH 225i hybrid integrated amp
-Custom 2-way tower speakers with ScanSpeak and Morel drivers and high-spec crossovers, supplemented by TakeT Live supertweeters and TakeT WHDPure woofer enhancers
-REL S/5 subwoofer
-M101, Hapa Audio, and Audio Art cables.
Room: 20' x 20' x 9' with built-in tv, sofa, love seat, two chairs, coffee table. Windows at opposite end of room to speakers.

I tried to Loki Max recently and did not find it brought anything positive to my system. I tried it on some problem recordings, but it couldn’t do anything other than dull them down a bit where the cure is worse than the disease!

I’m glad it’s working for you and I know it works really well for many people.