I believe this is relevant here:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/601151/schiit-owners-unite/10620#post_11886081
Or, to make it easier:
It's my understanding that warranties imply a guarantee for an acceptable lifetime of normal use. Items that are sold used exceed that "normal" lifetime because another user is involved. Also, there's no way to track "normal" use across multiple owners. Was it defective because the original owner abused it and then sold it, or was it defective from the start? No real way to answer that without tearing it apart and looking, which does cost the manufacturer money.
It's a slippery slope that basically prevents the manufacturer from guaranteeing their items forever.
Bingo. Schiit, like most consumer electronics manufacturers, provide a warranty for the original purchaser only. However, there are several key differences (which I will get to.)
Why? It's simple. When you buy from us, or from an authorized distributor, we
know what you're getting. It's been through our QC, it has been burnt in, and it has passed many tests. However, if you buy from someone else, it could be abused, modified (this happens VERY often with inexpensive equipment), damaged by improper packing, etc. In this case, we
don't know what you're getting, and hence a warranty does not apply.
We choose to limit the costs associated with dealing with abused, modified, and other equipment of unknown provenance for the same reason we don't do sales, don't have dealers, don't have fancy packaging, etc: to provide much higher value. This is why Stereophile said of the Bifrost: "this is the highest-value product we have
ever seen." This is why, if you look inside an Asgard, or Magni 2, or pretty much any product and compare it to products at the same price (or frequently much higher price points), you'll see much, much more for your money. That's what we concentrate on. If you want no-fault all-user warranties, fancy packaging, or 100% return refunds including shipping, you should be looking elsewhere--because that is not us.
(Plus, I have seen infinitely transferrable warranties eat more than one company alive.)
Now, the differences:
1. Schiit warranties, especially on our $249 and up gear, are very generous when compared to the competition. This is because we want you to be happy with the gear you buy from us for a long time.
2. There are many things we do that go above and beyond the stated warranty, including rapid exchange of defective or DOA products (we ship before we receive yours in return).
3. Most out-of-warranty repairs (within the original warranty period) are free. If a product is unmodified and unabused, we frequently don't charge for out-of-warranty repairs. Even if it is dirty/modified/etc, the charge is usually nominal.
I hope this clears a few things up.