New Balanced Schiit Amps? The information and anticipation thread.

[Edoardo]

Quote:

wow wait a second here...
 
Are we talking about a headphone amp here or a power amp?
 
It's my understanding that very few headphone drivers are balanced. I thought for the most part it was simply a 4 conductor cable to eliminate common ground for crosstalk etc at the cable segment. Or even worse it's simply bi-wiring BS.
 
I can understand a headphone amp with balanced +4 dBu inputs but balanced outputs to the drivers?
 
I believe even the LCD-2 doesn't have balanced inputs into the driver. I think that's called "balanced drive" right?
 
Sorry for my headphone ignorance guys!

You are right, in fact headphone balancing is seen as a marketing gimmick by many; for those, technical justifications supporting it seem "meh".
 
To me... It depends from the circuit. For instance there are few some current-output amps that seem to be FTW, and that cannot work unbalancedly.
 
Jason stated that "it won't be just another amp sending an inverted signal"... So I'm very curious and waiting.

 

[Kremer930]

We must be getting close to the intermediate release date....
 
I dont know too many specifics but the statement amp will certainly have a feature that I have not seen in any headphone amp to date,  The statement Dac will use some commercial technology...  
 
There is very little doubt on my behalf that Schiit will rewrite the top end value for money equation.
 
I am just hanging out to see what the new case looks like for the intermediate gear.  I am guessing just a bigger Lyr/Bifrost look but could be interesting.
 
 

 

[Edoardo]

I hope they will look alike. The Schiit amps so far are SO BEAUTIFUL. I really can't stand knobs "in the middle", really...

 

[Jason Stoddard]

There won't be any knobs in the middle.
 
I hope to have word for you shortly on what the first balanced amp will be, but please bear with us. We have spent the last 4 months simply scaling up our operation to meet demand. We've moved into a larger space, started doing 2x-5x larger product runs, brought on new people, etc--all the stuff a growing company has to do.
 
And it's now starting to pay off. As of next week, all products will be in stock for the first time, I think, ever. And I believe we can keep up with demand now, barring parts surprises.
 
However, because of all this work, engineering time for the new products has been limited. We're behind, I admit. However, we are now making rapid progress since the transition to a new office. 
 
So . . . you should hear from me soon!
 

 

[Kremer930]

Awesome.  Very pleased that your quality, value, design and service is paying dividends for you.
 
All this waiting is bad for my savings plan but great for my audio inventory.....

 

[HiroPro]

That's great to hear in this economy Jason and I tip my hat to your sourcing morality and in house fabrication!
 
Would you perhaps ever use your industry contacts to release a power amp at a decent price al la Emotiva XPA line price points? Or a pre-amp? But built/fabricated in Montebello not some Chinese DUNGEON...
 
I would love to see a DAC/DSP with digital xover built into it.
 
If you came up with something like that with a decent setup/UI either on embedded screen or via USB control interface that would...
 
KICK SERIOUS ASS
 
thinking DEQX here with a kick ass analog stage...
 
DEQX for poor working Joes that DIY their loudspeakers and are sick of passive in the signal and have access to the PLETHORA of amplifier kits available both in the ClassD, chipamp and even classics like the 1969 JLH.
 
PS no ADC just a pure digital input xover. It's worth noting a lot of AVRs pass the fronts via SP/DIF. HDMI input and passthrough WOULD BE IDEAL. You can have a converter than just about anybody could drop into a system with a cheap big box AVR.

 

[punkaroo]

Oh man.
 
Now I gotta get me some balanced cans to go with this balanced SCHIIT! Very exciting!

 

[HiroPro]

DAC/DSP with modular outputs that are scalable by adding additional output stages. The top of the line Sabre can do 8 channels per package... hmm... the possibilities!
 
Once you hear a loudspeaker that does xover in the digital domain then to good converters it's hard to ever go back!
 
Sorry to talk about stuff not headphone related just trying to get ideas out there to Schiit as I feel a DAC getting the addition of a DSP and possible multi analog sections for active digital xover just seems like a NATURAL EVOLUTION...
 
and as far as I know other than using PC audio gear, two soundcards, like a couple Echo units and Thuneau-Allocator Lite...
 
We have the Behringer solution but the SQ is GARBAGE
 
The Ashley and DEQX is all I know of that's decent.
 
These guys are working on it...
 
http://www.msbtech.com/oem/xover.php
 
But they are "high-end" boutique so as par usual the pricing is OUT TO LUNCH! LOL
 
TacT has/had similar product but again the pricing is lunacy.
 
It's such a natural extension to add that stuff especially if you're into following a modular scalable output stage design!

 

[preproman]

Maybe I missed the post.  However,  will this new balanced amp be a tube or SS?

 

[Edoardo]

Quote:

Maybe I missed the post.  However,  will this new balanced amp be a tube or SS?

"Mid-End" will be SS, the "reference" will be hybrid.
 
 

 

[Edoardo]

Quote:

DAC/DSP with modular outputs that are scalable by adding additional output stages. The top of the line Sabre can do 8 channels per package... hmm... the possibilities!
 
Once you hear a loudspeaker that does xover in the digital domain then to good converters it's hard to ever go back!
 
Sorry to talk about stuff not headphone related just trying to get ideas out there to Schiit as I feel a DAC getting the addition of a DSP and possible multi analog sections for active digital xover just seems like a NATURAL EVOLUTION...
 
and as far as I know other than using PC audio gear, two soundcards, like a couple Echo units and Thuneau-Allocator Lite...
 
We have the Behringer solution but the SQ is GARBAGE
 
The Ashley and DEQX is all I know of that's decent.
 
These guys are working on it...
 
http://www.msbtech.com/oem/xover.php
 
But they are "high-end" boutique so as par usual the pricing is OUT TO LUNCH! LOL
 
TacT has/had similar product but again the pricing is lunacy.
 
It's such a natural extension to add that stuff especially if you're into following a modular scalable output stage design!

 
 
I see what you mean, but up to know these guys have been much more "essentialist"...

 

[Edoardo]

Quote:

There won't be any knobs in the middle.
 

 
Lovely! Thanks!
 
Quote:

I hope to have word for you shortly on what the first balanced amp will be, but please bear with us. We have spent the last 4 months simply scaling up our operation to meet demand. We've moved into a larger space, started doing 2x-5x larger product runs, brought on new people, etc--all the stuff a growing company has to do.
 
And it's now starting to pay off. As of next week, all products will be in stock for the first time, I think, ever. And I believe we can keep up with demand now, barring parts surprises.
 
However, because of all this work, engineering time for the new products has been limited. We're behind, I admit. However, we are now making rapid progress since the transition to a new office. 
 
So . . . you should hear from me soon!
 

Take your time & Congratulations for the successful enterprise you are running!!!
 
 
 

 

[Kremer930]

Jason may want to clarify your response.
 
Quote:

"Mid-End" will be SS, the "reference" will be hybrid.
 
 

 

 

[Edoardo]

Quote:

Jason may want to clarify your response.
 


 

 
That's what he himself wrote/anticipated. Did I miss something?
 
 

 

[WNBC]

Nope, you are right.  The first page of this thread has links to Jason's comments about the upcoming SS amp and hybrid statement amp.
 
Quote:

That's what he himself wrote/anticipated. Did I miss something?