Neck Deep in Schiit: Gungir Balanced DAC and Mjolnir Balanced Amp Announced!

Hey all, 
 
It's that time--time for our first balanced components. Meet Gungnir and Mjolnir, our "midrange" balanced DAC and amp. We're putting "midrange" in scare quotes because you really should compare these to end-game gear, despite the mid-range price. 
 
Since we've had some (ahem) product introduction delays in the past, we're not doing a pre-order at this time--just interest lists. We expect to be shipping Mjolnir in June and Gungnir in August, and we're much more confident we can meet those dates than in the past. We've spent much of the past 6 months simply expanding, so we can relegate backorders to a thing of the past (we hope.)
 
Here's the links you're looking for:
 
Gungnir DAC
Mjolnir Amp
 
Thanks to everyone for your support, interest, and enthusiasm.
 
All the best,
 
Jason Stoddard
Co-Founder
Schiit Audio
 
PS: We're still expecting to announce the "statement" products and ship by year's end. Development is proceeding at a rapid pace now that we've addressed our operational issues. Sorry, no other info is available on these. They're really, really different than anything else out there.
 

Gimme!

NICE!!!

looks great. looking forward to the statement amp.

Are the prices on these pages switched? I'm guessing the price with USB is supposed to be on the DAC page not the amp page.

Also it should be 899 not 849 unless you want to sell the usb part cheaper

This ought to be fun.

it seems that we are not the only ones having problem with the names of these two awesome production. LOL...
 
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kstaken said:

Are the prices on these pages switched? I'm guessing the price with USB is supposed to be on the DAC page not the amp page.

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maxvla said:

Also it should be 899 not 849 unless you want to sell the usb part cheaper

Click to expand...

Looks like it's the same as the Bifrost, $100 if you order it with it or $150 later.

they just updated the price (even if on the amp page). it should be the $100 whether you order with it or later. It looks like the same USB board on the Bifrost. 
 
Quote:

defiant00 said:

Looks like it's the same as the Bifrost, $100 if you order it with it or $150 later.

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Quote:

kstaken said:

Are the prices on these pages switched? I'm guessing the price with USB is supposed to be on the DAC page not the amp page.

Click to expand...

Yep, fixing that now . . .
 

You guys need to come up with an equipment exchange program!

I dunno, they look a little ostentatious to me...
 
Cheers!
-HK sends
 
PS - Planning to save my pennies for both...

The new products look really interesting. I'll probably be the only one to say it, but their price points seem low to me for balanced components - I'd be a little less wary if they were each ~$1K (or more).
 
I have a few questions if you wouldn't mind answering:
1 - Does the Mjolnir amp come with a visually-matching PSU? If not, why not?
2 - Does the Gungnir DAC offer any significant advancements over the Bifrost (i.e., to make it sound better), aside from being balanced?
3 - Why should someone choose the Gungnir over one of the other popular ~$1.5K balanced DACs currently on the market (like the Wyred4Sound DAC-2 and Anedio D2, for example, also made in the USA btw)? (Ignoring price which is an obvious reason.)
4 - Will pics of the back panels of both pieces be available later?
5 - Not that you have to answer this one, but if the Mjolnir and Gungnir both seem cheap to someone for what they are, what would you say to persuade that person that they aren't cheap and represent something new & unique? And will the "statement" amp & DAC have a true "cost no object, maximum sound quality" approach?
 
No offense intended here but I owned the Asgard and Lyr and wasn't really impressed with either of them. So what I'd like to know is, do you think the Mjolnir/Gungnir would be more up the alley of someone like me, or would you recommend waiting for the future statement products? I don't intend to be critical - I want to hear your marketing spiel for, let's say, high-end audiophiles.

There are several cost saving measures in place with these units, including similar chassis design and carry over technology from the Bifrost such as the USB DAC board means one less thing to redesign. The other factor regarding price is that Schiit has always maintained they were looking to make and sell quality at a reasonable price, no gouging. So their profit margin is probably smaller than most audio companies in this niche, but their quantity of sales makes up for it. Last I heard they were nearing #1300 on Bifrosts and that was a couple months ago. Who else do you know of that sells 1300+ DACs in 3-4 months?

As for your list:

1 - I was just talking to Jason about this (separate power supplies in general), and also Drew at Moon Audio (about a different amp) and they said (paraphrasing) that they weren't worth it in most cases. I doubt any Schiit products will ever have a separate PSU.
2 - Don't know for sure, but possibly not. Balanced does bring some inherent advantages, and since it seems they are doing completely separate channels (double the parts) the price is in line with a doubling of the Bifrost.
4 - The images you see are computer generated. I doubt any of these units are fully cased and ready to use yet. This has been the case in the past with Schiit, and real pictures do come later, including the rear. I too am interested in the rear, I'd like to see Schiit start to include the rear computer generated image in their initial picture layout such as now.
5 - Read the pages. They talk about methods and such that are new and unique. The statement products have been billed to be even more unique from the start. We can only guess at this point.

I too have not been impressed with the Asgard or Lyr (or Valhalla), though I never owned them. I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket though and will be picking up the Bryston BHA-1 to pit against the Mjolnir and if the Bryston wins, eventually against the statement amp as well. I have really enjoyed my Bifrost, so I fully expect the Gungnir to be excellent also. Schiit came along at a great time for me, since I was beginning my journey from mid-fi to higher-fi. Changing my DacMagic for the Bifrost was a lateral change in price, but sound quality was improved. Now I plan on stair stepping to their top products, but I'm also not going to blindly follow. I'm bringing in competing gear and seeing who wins. Right now I'm a fan of their DACs but not their amps, we'll see if that changes.

Perhaps Jason will respond, himself, but these are things I've noticed having followed Schiit from the beginning.