[ev666il]

Really excited about this digital Schiitrmeet

 

[Khronos]

SchiitrMeet, COVID Edition, Episode 2
Jason Learns About Digital

Hey all, it's time for another safe, socially distanced, watch-us-blather-on-video event direct from the Schiitr. Yes, we'd much rather be doing blind listening, but hopefully we will get back to that some day. In the meantime, this is your chance to have your questions about digital answered by Dave and Ivana, two of our digital superstars. I'll be asking the questions, because I'd like to learn about some of this stuff too.

What questions? We'll be covering some of the inquiries I couldn't answer from the last event, and new questions you might have. That can include more details on the transport, the Gadget, our whole True Multibit thing, or anything else pertaining to digital. Hopefully you can get some answers, and I can learn a thing or two at the same time.

So, if you'd like to ask us something, please email denise@schiit.com directly. I'm sure we'll also be taking some live questions during the event as well. The video will be streamed on our Facebook page, and, of course, it will be archived for viewing afterwards, and available on other platforms.

Aaaaaaand, for those of you who haven't read the million or so words in the ever-growing book, Ivana is the person who is responsible for algorithms and firmware, such that you may have heard in Unison USB™. She's also the person to ask about the Gadget. Dave is the person who does much of our firmware, as well as digital design, implementation, and layout. You can ask both Dave and Ivana about the Transport, since they're both working on it.

So, join us at:

The (Virtual) Schiitr
(Actually the real Schiitr, just via video)

Wednesday, October 21
4PM PST

And let's see what Dave and Ivana have for us!

Next up: maybe I can drag Tyler and Naomi or some of the other people here into this, so you can learn a bit more about how we do things.

See you soon...

All the best,
Jason

Hi Jason. I've got a question. Will Schiit ever do a PCIE USB Card like the Matrix Element H or the JCAT Femto?

 

[Varejao17]

Hi Jason. I've got a question. Will Schiit ever do a PCIE USB Card like the Matrix Element H or the JCAT Femto?

 

[Ripper2860]

So it's still possible, then.

 

[wout31]

Hi Jason. I've got a question. Will Schiit ever do a PCIE USB Card like the Matrix Element H or the JCAT Femto?

With Unison USB™ output like on the transport you mean?
I would like that, but maybe the transport has a "pass through" option for that?
Maybe could be a good question for the the virtual SchiitrMeet next Wednesday

 

[SMOTOJO]

Amazon is one company I just don't do business with. Full stop.
Easy

Likewise-and they definitely know to SUCK!!!

 

[DougD]

Hi Jason. I've got a question. Will Schiit ever do a PCIE USB Card like the Matrix Element H or the JCAT Femto?

My immediate reaction to this was "Heck NO", but upon reflection ... it's actually a very interesting idea.

Schiit has deep USB knowledge, plus serious engineering chops in digital design and efficient production. Controlling both ends of the USB transmission should allow the mitigation of everything that is theoretically possible to attack.

Or maybe just ignore USB altogether and output just digital coax and AES. That would make it a somewhat niche product.

Either way, this only targets people who use desktop computers as their main repository of digital music. (Like me.) And some gamers.

 

[tincanear]

My immediate reaction to this was "Heck NO", but upon reflection ... it's actually a very interesting idea.

Schiit has deep USB knowledge, plus serious engineering chops in digital design and efficient production. Controlling both ends of the USB transmission should allow the mitigation of everything that is theoretically possible to attack.

Or maybe just ignore USB altogether and output just digital coax and AES. That would make it a somewhat niche product.

Either way, this only targets people who use desktop computers as their main repository of digital music. (Like me.) And some gamers.

(sorry to rain on your parade)
the PC USB card is more software / driver development than hardware. and potential software maintenance nightmares with each subsequent version of Windows 10 (e.g 1508 vs 1704 vs 1708 vs 1903 vs 1906 vs 2004). doesn't matter how fast / good the USB chip on the card is if the OS and streaming source doesn't have the bandwidth / processor speed / task prioritization to prevent data underruns to the DAC.

CD transport will have guaranteed quality vs any real-time off the internet streaming. (or cache the music files locally onto an SSD, then play back with other PC tasks stopped / minimized)

 

[DougD]

(sorry to rain on your parade)
the PC USB card is more software / driver development than hardware. and potential software maintenance nightmares with each subsequent version of Windows 10 (e.g 1508 vs 1704 vs 1708 vs 1903 vs 1906 vs 2004). doesn't matter how fast / good the USB chip on the card is if the OS and streaming source doesn't have the bandwidth / processor speed / task prioritization to prevent data underruns to the DAC.

CD transport will have guaranteed quality vs any real-time off the internet streaming. (or cache the music files locally onto an SSD, then play back with other PC tasks stopped / minimized)

I wasn't considering streaming, only accessing locally stored digital files, but certainly if windows drivers or software dev is involved, Schiit does not want to go down that path, for good and understandable reasons.

As the OP of this idea listed, there are already a few purportedly high-performance USB audio cards available on the market, so the niche is not totally unserved.

 

[tincanear]

I wasn't considering streaming, only accessing locally stored digital files, but certainly if windows drivers or software dev is involved, Schiit does not want to go down that path, for good and understandable reasons.

As the OP of this idea listed, there are already a few purportedly high-performance USB audio cards available on the market, so the niche is not totally unserved.

i downloaded some 24/96 files for the HD Audio Challenge, but Windoze 10 does not allow me to send those to my Bifrost OG via USB unmolested. having a $$ USB card wouldn't help me in this situation-- the bottleneck isn't the hardware, its the OS.

 

[rkw]

i downloaded some 24/96 files for the HD Audio Challenge, but Windoze 10 does not allow me to send those to my Bifrost OG via USB unmolested.

Bit-perfect exclusive mode should be possible. What player were you using?

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

SchiitrMeet, COVID Edition, Episode 2
Jason Learns About Digital

Hey all, it's time for another safe, socially distanced, watch-us-blather-on-video event direct from the Schiitr. Yes, we'd much rather be doing blind listening, but hopefully we will get back to that some day. In the meantime, this is your chance to have your questions about digital answered by Dave and Ivana, two of our digital superstars. I'll be asking the questions, because I'd like to learn about some of this stuff too.

What questions? We'll be covering some of the inquiries I couldn't answer from the last event, and new questions you might have. That can include more details on the transport, the Gadget, our whole True Multibit thing, or anything else pertaining to digital. Hopefully you can get some answers, and I can learn a thing or two at the same time.

So, if you'd like to ask us something, please email denise@schiit.com directly. I'm sure we'll also be taking some live questions during the event as well. The video will be streamed on our Facebook page, and, of course, it will be archived for viewing afterwards, and available on other platforms.

Aaaaaaand, for those of you who haven't read the million or so words in the ever-growing book, Ivana is the person who is responsible for algorithms and firmware, such that you may have heard in Unison USB™. She's also the person to ask about the Gadget. Dave is the person who does much of our firmware, as well as digital design, implementation, and layout. You can ask both Dave and Ivana about the Transport, since they're both working on it.

So, join us at:

The (Virtual) Schiitr
(Actually the real Schiitr, just via video)

Wednesday, October 21
4PM PST

And let's see what Dave and Ivana have for us!

Next up: maybe I can drag Tyler and Naomi or some of the other people here into this, so you can learn a bit more about how we do things.

See you soon...

All the best,
Jason

The Transport? Sounds good. Is this where you will present the Eitr II? The Eitr is such an amazing gizmo (what will I do if / when it self-destructs?)

 

[tincanear]

Bit-perfect exclusive mode should be possible. What player were you using?

@rkw Windows Media Player (can this set exclusive mode??)

 

[adydula]

Questions sent to Denise!!!

Alex

 

[SnowRang3r]

@rkw Windows Media Player (can this set exclusive mode??)

No Windows Media player wont cut it.

You'll need something like one of these: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-windows-music-players-hi-res-audio/

Foobar2000's interface looks from well, the year 2000 but for a free player works. You'll have to add in the plugin/component "WASAPI output support"

I'm on a 30 day trial of Audirvana and digging it so far (being able to use TIDAL and local files in 1 interface, plus does a few things better than the native TIDAL app). It also does Qobuz but no Qobuz up here in Canada yet. Probably going to pay for the license once the trial is up.