Apparently the concept of equalizers is working well for Schiit Audio since the introduction of the affordable Loki Mini (and Mini ) and Lokius. The company decided to take the approach further and offer remote control, allowing users to adjust the frequency response of their system from the listening chair, and added relay potentiometers for precision matching between channels and repeatable settings. All discrete, with no ICs in the signal path or, as the company says, "our shot at making the best EQ possible, with maximum transparency and minimum compromise. It’s an EQ that can look straight at the storied EQs of yesteryear and say, “Yeah, we got that... and remote control.”
“Loki Max is the completion of our family of tone control products,” says Jason Stoddard, Schiit Audio’s co-founder. “It’s the cost-no-object, completely-bonkers, super-high-end version, intended to stand with the best of the high-end equalizers. It is the only relay-ladder-potentiometer, remote-control, all-discrete, LC-filter equalizer on the market today.”
Loki Max offers full remote control and preset equalization profiles for particular system or recordings, allowing users to access either option from the remote control. The supplied milled-aluminum handheld remote allows direct access to all 6 frequency bands, input select, bypass, and presets. Definitely not for anyone listening to vinyl, and needs to stand constantly to clean and turn the record over.
This remote control turns motorized potentiometers that indicate the position of the adjustments, but the actual potentiometers used in Loki Max are far more sophisticated. Each band uses a bank of 10 relays to create 31 precision matched steps per channel, for a perfect “zero” level, and 15 selectable levels of boost or cut. These relay potentiometers are far more complex than relay attenuators, and require custom firmware and microprocessor control.
Loki Max also goes all-out in terms of filtering. It is a 100% inductor-capacitor (LC) filtered, variable Q equalizer, including 4 custom 80% nickel-core inductors made specifically for Schiit. LC filtering eliminates the need for a gain stage per band, allowing Loki Max to use a single, discrete, current-feedback gain stage, driven by a two-stage, load-invariant “superbuffer” for a simple signal path and extremely low noise floor. Loki Max is also fully discrete, from input summers to output Nexus differential stage.
For power, Loki Max includes an internal linear supply with 48VA transformer and quad voltage rails of +/-16V and +/-32V, each dual-regulated for very low noise. A separate high-current 5V supply drives the microprocessor and 72 relays.
“Despite these heroic specs and unique capabilities, Loki Max is still priced within reach of many audiophiles,” adds Jason. “We are proud of being able to production-engineer such a unique product and produce it without a car-like price tag — and to make it here in the USA.”
Loki Max was designed and built in California, with the vast majority of cost going to US companies making parts in the USA. Schiit’s chassis, transformers, inductors, and PCBs for Loki Max are all made in California. Schiit maintains production facilities in Valencia, CA and Corpus Christi, TX.
www.schiit.com
