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Loki Mini+

High Quality 4-Band Tone Control

Finish
AC Adapter

$149.00

Ships 1-3 days

Description

Specs

FAQ

Reviews

Downloads

Yes, tone control. As in, equalizer. And yeah, we know that tone controls have kinda fallen off the planet for the last few decades. But we decided to bring them back with the original Loki Mini. And now, with the Loki Mini+, we’ve boosted the performance—pushing the boundaries super-high-fidelity, low noise, single-discrete-gain-stage, LC-filtered, affordable equalizers even further. 

Making Imperfect Recordings Sound…A Whole Heckuva Lot Better
Let’s face it. Is everything you listen to recorded perfectly? Of course not. Some recordings aren’t paragons of tonal purity. And your system…let’s be honest. Some speakers and headphones are a bit bright or a bit dark. Loki Mini+ lets you adjust for these imperfections.

It’s OK to Want
Forget correcting for bad recordings or imperfect systems. Go ahead and make your system sound exactly the way you want it. Pounding bass? Sure. Crystalline highs? Absolutely. Don’t spend thousands on cables and tube amps—just turn a knob and make your system sound exactly the way you want it. 
 
The Silent and Transparent Companion
Loki Mini+ transforms your system without getting in the way, or making itself known. Forget noisy, bad-sounding equalizers you may have used in the past. Loki Mini+ uses a single, discrete, current-feedback gain stage, coupled to passive LC filters for 3 bands, plus a gyrator for the bass. It also uses sealed Alps potentiometers with rational adjustment ranges to allow for fine control. Coupled with a 100% passive bypass setting, Loki Mini+ offers the transparency and flexibility you need.
 
Designed and Built in the USA
By “designed and built in the USA" this is what we mean: the vast majority of the total production cost of Loki Mini—chassis, boards, assembly, etc—goes to US companies manufacturing in the US. Our chassis are made in California. Our PCBs are made in California or Nevada, and it all comes together in our Corpus Christi facility.

2-Year Warranty, 15-Day Easy Returns
Loki Mini is covered by a 2-year limited warranty that covers parts and labor. And if you don’t like your Loki Mini, you can send it back for a refund, minus 15% restocking fee, within 15 days of receiving it.

Frequency Response: 20Hz-20Khz, -0.1db, 2Hz-800KHz, -3dB

Maximum Output: 10V RMS into 10K ohms

THD: Less than 0.0008%, 20Hz-20KHz, at 2V RMS in/out, pots centered, active stage enabled, less than 0.005% at any potentiometer setting
 
IMD: Less than 0.001%, CCIF
 
SNR: Greater than 114db, unweighted, referenced to 2V RMS
 
Crosstalk: -80dB, 20Hz-20KHz
 
Output Impedance: 75 ohms
 
Input Impedance: 47K ohms
 
Bands: 20Hz, 400Hz, 2kHz, 8kHz
 
Adjustment: +/-12dB at 20Hz and 8kHz, +/-6dB at 400Hz and 2kHz
 
Topology: fully discrete, all-bipolar, symmetrical current-feedback design with matched parts throughout, driver stage, DC coupled, and DC servo
 
Filtering: capacitor-gyrator for 20Hz, capacitor-inductor (LC) for all other bands
 
Power Supply: “Wall wart” style 14-16VAC transformer, regulated +/- 15V rails 
 
Power Consumption: 4W
 
Size: 5 x 3.5 x 1.25”
 
Weight: 1 lb
 

Wait a sec. Equalization? As in, tone controls? Really? Why?
Wow, that’s like 4 questions in one.

You know what we mean. Just answer it. 
Why EQ? Because we live in an imperfect world, and because individuals have individual preferences. Nobody can say their speakers or headphones are ruler-flat. Nobody can say that all of their recordings are audiophile-quality. Loki Mini+ provides a way to adjust for imperfect systems and imperfect recordings. 
 
But…buuuuttt…is this true to the original recording? Is it what the artist intended?
If it sounds good to you, who cares?
 
Aieeeee! You’re making my head hurt! I don’t like options!
Cool. Then don’t get a Loki Mini+. Nobody’s making you buy it.
 
Well, if I do get it, can I bypass it?
Yes. There’s a switch on the front to completely bypass the tone control stage—as in, a relay connects the input and output directly, no active devices in the signal path at all.
 
Wow, so I guess you guys really think this is transparent, if it’s that easy to A-B the input and output.
Yes, we do think Loki is very transparent.
 
Let’s talk tech. What kind of EQ is this? Parametric? 
No. Technically, Loki Mini+ is a single-gain-stage active EQ with non-constant-Q passive filtering. In more English-y terms, that means that each band varies from broad to narrower as its gain is increased—small turns of the knobs result in broad, shallow changes, and bigger turns result in more narrow-band changes. 
 
Whoa. Wait a sec, are you saying you’re giving us a discrete, single-gain-stage, passive LC-filtered EQ, the most purist approach to tone controls…for $149? Are you nuts?
We do like high value, but we’re not crazy. At least not as an official diagnosis.
 
What if I want a constant-Q EQ, or a parametric EQ?
That’s cool. There are some of those out there. They just won’t be Loki Mini+.
 
What about software EQ?
If you’d like to use software EQ (supplied with many playback software packages these days), that’s certainly an option—and you can probably get your parametric EQ there, if that’s what you want. However, you may prefer Loki Mini+…and once you get away from a computer source, an external hardware EQ is necessary if you want tone control.
 
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.
 
You guys are kinda smartasses, right?
You got us in one!
 
So this Loki Mini+ name…are there other Lokis coming?
Maybe. But who knows? We play with lots of stuff, and a lot of it doesn’t go anywhere. So maybe not. But to be a bit more serious, yes, we are open to expanding the line. It just has to make sense. Soooooo…we’ll see!
 
What about the name?
Loki is the trickster god in Norse mythology. And it’s a neat name for a tricky little product, don’t you think?
Schiit Audio Loki Mini Equalizer
The Absolute Sound, Robert E. Greene

"And in the case of the Loki Mini+, it costs very little. In the context of high-end prices, the Loki is almost free. To say the Loki is recommended would be a real understatement. You would have to be an absolute mossback not to try it. And once it is in, it will probably never leave your system."

Read Full Review ->

Schiit Loki Mini+ Review
Just Push Start, Grant Gaines

"Even outside of gaming I used Loki Mini+ to bring about some of my favorite songs and found some settings that really brought the experience to life. Now I could really experience the bass, bring out the intended dialogue or really get the feel for some of the lesser parts without really thinking about it. Surprisingly, fiddling with the control and then bypassing often resulted in a massive difference in sound, making it clear it actually does its job and it does it well."

Read Full Review ->

NEW Loki Mini Plus Review Absolute Schiit Show
BadSeed Tech

NEW SCHIIT, the LOKI MINI+ Equalizer
Steve Guttenberg Audiophiliac

Schiit Loki Mini+ – I EQ, Do U?
Headphonesty, Trav Wilson

"Some might think that the Loki Mini+ is only suitable for entry to mid-level setups. I disagree. Any open-minded audiophile, whether a user of headphones or a full-sized stereo, is bound to find much to like in the sound control offered by the Loki. It's a flexible, effective, and surprisingly affordable way to fine-tune the sound of your system."

Read Full Review ->

New Schiit Loki Mini Plus Review: Analog EQ Knobs of Goodness!
Gus Gonzalez

Loki Mini+ Manual