[Defiant00]

On a more informative note: I used to be a computer programmer. As I was also manager of quality I was in the habit of assigning a second programmer (not associated with the given project) to do joint walk-throughs with the app's programmer/team at key milestones. Particularly with single-programmer jobs this could be difficult as - back then anyway - there's a lot of creative scope and variation in how programmers code. It's not always easy to understand someone else's design approach and decisions.

In other words, sometimes having someone else check properly looked like it could take so long they would've coded it faster themselves.

I imagine things have become much more systematic and standardized these days.

 
Nope, sorry, most of the industry's still in the same state
 
I'm a programmer as well.

 

[superjawes]

I've had electolytic caps blow in front of me a few times........  not recommended.

Try right in the eye.

Well, not right in the eye. More like right up my cheek. I'm pretty sure that I only got hit by hot liquid in my eye (which is why I still have two).

EDIT: Basically, I leaned over my breadboard, looking at my DMM in confusion (the numbers looked all screwy). A second later, the explosion told me why my circuit wasn't working...

 

[45longcolt]

I imagine things have become much more systematic and standardized these days.

 
Wanna bet?

 

[O8h7w]

I imagine things have become much more systematic and standardized these days.

 
I haven't really been in the industry, but to me it looks like the creativity simply followed the programming languages up in level, effectively making the machine code more and more standardised. For the big approach, making the written code closer to that thought process could have either effect really, limiting or enhancing creativity, depending on what kind of person you are. But at least it makes it easier for programmers to understand each others code.
 
Somewhat more on topic, I'm pondering over just how creative an approach to the digital-to-analog conversion process the Yggdrasil will bring to the table. From the first time I read about Schiit, I had the feeling these guys will make us a DAC that is truly different. I hope I'm right. And I hope it works.

 

[Audio Jester]

Jason Stoddard Apologies if you have covered this already.

Will the noise floor of the Ragnarok be low enough to run very sensitive headphones without hiss, such as the TH900?

 

[Trogdor]

Jason Stoddard Apologies if you have covered this already.

Will the noise floor of the Ragnarok be low enough to run very sensitive headphones without hiss, such as the TH900?

TH900 is not that sensitive. If the Rag can't handle that, Jason screwed up (I'm sure he would agree with me).

However, what about multi-BA IEMs? (that's a tough one)

 

[Maxvla]

It's supposed to run IEMs on lowest gain just fine.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Hey all,
 
A quick update on Ragnarok:
 
True "production qualifier" Ragnaroks went out early this week, including one to Jude here at Head-Fi, for early listens. Right now, the only person you may hear from is Jude, and that depends on what he hears, how it works for him, etc. The others went to beta listeners under NDA, so you won't hear from them.
 
So, what is a "production qualifier," and what does this mean in terms of shipping?
 
A production qualifier is a product built from production parts and boards, which is used to identify any final small tweaks needed before we release the full kit into production. The production qualifiers we sent out have been tested, burned-in, run on headphones and speakers, and we think they're pretty fine. However, a production qualifier is a final sanity check before we run everything. As I've said, ad nauseum, we really want these to be perfect when we ship.
 
In the case of Ragnarok, we've already identified a couple of things that we need to fix, most notably the screen being wrong on the inner chassis (left and right inputs are reversed on the RCAs, duh). This will most likely be the pacing item--waiting for the re-screened metal. This shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks to turn around, though. I hope.
 
In terms of ordering/shipping, this means that orders probably won't open up this month, but they will certainly open in May. I'll make a big announcement here, and to the press, when we're ready. Apologies again for being insanely late. 
 
A quick update on Yggdrasil:
 
In terms of Yggy, we're really, really hoping to have something that looks and acts like a final product at TheShow Newport. This may or may not happen, but we're going to try.
 
The ramp from first show to shipping should be much shorter than Ragnarok, since much of the truly hard work is done--including the biggest, baddest digital filter out there--18,000+ taps with closed-form solution retaining the original samples. Much of the dev time in Yggy was simply (a) getting this filter right, and (b) exploiting the processing power of the new DSP architecture to extend the coefficients down into meaningless numbers--hence the insane number of taps.
 
Thanks again for your patience on this--and look at the bright side: since we're no longer teasing you with upcoming products, everything else that appears this year will be a complete surprise!
 
(Full disclosure: nothing "above" Ragnarok or Yggdrasil are planned.)
 
All the best,
Jason

 

[musicinmymind]

Hope Jude post his feedback in this thread, it has been a long wait and it would be nice if feedback also added here 

 

[kugino]

Orders open up in may for...July ship?

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Orders open up in may for...July ship?

Orders open in May with shipping in 2-3 weeks from the order--these are going to be kinda "build to order." But we won't be taking orders until we can start building immediately.

 

[magiccabbage]

sweet! I might let my woo go in the summer and get this 

 

[kugino]

Orders open in May with shipping in 2-3 weeks from the order--these are going to be kinda "build to order." But we won't be taking orders until we can start building immediately.

Nice! Will be on the lookout for when orders open up...thanks!

 

[wnmnkh]

Jason, can you tell us the final price of the amp? And I assume you guys may use a wooden box for shipping the amp due to the weight?

 

[RebelRising]

  Hey all,
 
A quick update on Ragnarok...

 
Any news for Gungnir/Bifrost upgrades derived from the Yggdrasil?