Is Schiit Modi 3/Multibit USB input as bad as people say?

There's no such thing as a 'bad USB input' in the sense that it sounds like you (or rather these couple commenters) mean. To see what those people are reporting would come down to A) a design flaw which we can rule out since most people report no such problem, B) a manufacturing defect which is what it is, C) a software issue on the source end which would be effectively operator error, D) or a bad observer. I'm personally leaning toward D.

Stuff like this pops up in the audiophile world from time to time. One guy gets a DAC with a bad solder in the USB connection, switches to optical rather than RMA'ing the unit, complains on a forum, and the next thing you know tons of people from that forum are running around talking about how every one of those units has a 'bad USB input'. Give it a few more months and there will probably be an entire submarket of vendors touting the superiority of optical cables over spotty USB connections for the optimal synergy of source to DAC signal transmission, and boneheads believing it and buying the things to boot.

I admit I have not heard the Schiit multibit DACs, but I have heard nothing but good things about the Modi MB. I actually plan to get one myself, and while I'll probably try A/B'ing optical versus USB for shits and giggles, I have no expectation I'm going to find a difference (other than that optical is annoying to work with where USB is an option).

/r/HeadphoneAdvice Thread