[khaos974]

Hey guys, big big news! I have just got a heads up on the upcoming schiit products, no specific details, just a rough sketch. Basically, we will be seeing a balanced ss amp and balanced DAC by end of this year and a balanced hybrid amp and flagship balanced DAC by q1 next year. Furthermore, it seems the two balanced DACs will have options for the exact same usb card as the bifrost (dissapointing to me). More details include the fact that the cheaper balanced DAC will use existing high-end DAC chips (Sabre, Wolfsson, etc.) but the flagship will be completely unique, featuring never seen before chips (multiple). Furthermore, the flagship DAC is being designed to completely outperform the competition.  Including DACs that are many times more expensive (W4S, Weiss, Zodiac Gold, Berkeley, etc).It is actually being designed to even outstrip things like the dCS and Mark Levinson.  It is also going to be very special in that almost all the components will be in-house Schiit designed and produced parts. The casing for the two new amps and DACs will be matching. (as in mid-range amp and dac will be the same, flagships will be the same) They will both be significantly larger than the current products. (Lyr, Bifrost) Finally, suggested pricing could be 649-749 for the mid-range DAC and 949-1049 for the flagship DAC. The amps will probably be slightly cheaper respectively.
Hope you guys found this info interesting, I personally cannot wait for the balanced amps and especially the flagship DAC.

Yep, they are going to use totally Schitt parts for the statement DAC.

 

[kr0gg]

Quote:

flagship will be completely unique, featuring never seen before chips (multiple). .... almost all the components will be in-house Schiit designed and produced parts.

i like Schiit's communication style, but not the part when they're not sincere - for example, the statement about "no-opamp" design of Bifrost, which is not true, of course, because there ARE opamps there. they're integrated in Bifrost's DAC chip)
 
what we see here?
> "almost all the components will be in-house Schiit designed and produced parts."
yeah, sure... in no way will i believe that Schiit will build their own factory to produce IC's.
and that makes the part with "never seen before" a lie too - if these guys are not producing them by themselves, that means that we've actually seen those used before.

 

[blankdisc]

in the past Jason has been very open and good at releasing product information to everyone here when he thinks they are ready. I am not saying that anyone is lying here, but it's just very unusual of Schitt to release information like that. On the other hand, nothing kayvaanshrike said here is really news. We all know that already.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Quote:

Hey guys, big big news! I have just got a heads up on the upcoming schiit products, no specific details, just a rough sketch. Basically, we will be seeing a balanced ss amp and balanced DAC by end of this year and a balanced hybrid amp and flagship balanced DAC by q1 next year. Furthermore, it seems the two balanced DACs will have options for the exact same usb card as the bifrost (dissapointing to me). More details include the fact that the cheaper balanced DAC will use existing high-end DAC chips (Sabre, Wolfsson, etc.) but the flagship will be completely unique, featuring never seen before chips (multiple). Furthermore, the flagship DAC is being designed to completely outperform the competition.  Including DACs that are many times more expensive (W4S, Weiss, Zodiac Gold, Berkeley, etc).It is actually being designed to even outstrip things like the dCS and Mark Levinson.  It is also going to be very special in that almost all the components will be in-house Schiit designed and produced parts. The casing for the two new amps and DACs will be matching. (as in mid-range amp and dac will be the same, flagships will be the same) They will both be significantly larger than the current products. (Lyr, Bifrost) Finally, suggested pricing could be 649-749 for the mid-range DAC and 949-1049 for the flagship DAC. The amps will probably be slightly cheaper respectively.
Hope you guys found this info interesting, I personally cannot wait for the balanced amps and especially the flagship DAC.

 
This is an interesting mix of fact and conjecture. Until we announce a pre-order, nothing is set in stone. Pricing, especially for the statement DAC and amp, can change as we discover what we need to do to refine the performance level of our products.
 
What's true:
 
1. We are now planning a balanced DAC/balanced amp pair before the end of the year, both solid state. 
2. We are planning the statement DAC/statement amp to be shipped in Q1 2012, with the amp being hybrid. The statement DAC will, yes, use unique tech not available elsewhere. 
3. All of them will use the same USB card. The performance of the current one is very good (for USB). You can always swap the card for another standard if it appears, as well. 
 
 

 

[blankdisc]

Thanks, Jason. you are the best. just a quick question. when you said "a balanced DAC/balanced amp pair", i assume that the DAC and Amp are two separate products, and can be purchased separately, right?
 
Quote:

 
This is an interesting mix of fact and conjecture. Until we announce a pre-order, nothing is set in stone. Pricing, especially for the statement DAC and amp, can change as we discover what we need to do to refine the performance level of our products.
 
What's true:
 
1. We are now planning a balanced DAC/balanced amp pair before the end of the year, both solid state. 
2. We are planning the statement DAC/statement amp to be shipped in Q1 2012, with the amp being hybrid. The statement DAC will, yes, use unique tech not available elsewhere. 
3. All of them will use the same USB card. The performance of the current one is very good (for USB). You can always swap the card for another standard if it appears, as well. 
 
 

 

 

[Jason Stoddard]

 
Quote:

Thanks, Jason. you are the best. just a quick question. when you said "a balanced DAC/balanced amp pair", i assume that the DAC and Amp are two separate products, and can be purchased separately, right?

Yep, two separate products--they just happen to be in the same size chassis, so they make a nice pair. 
 
I'm sorry about all the cloak and dagger stuff, guys, but there are two reasons for it:
 
1. These products are still in development. *We* don't even know exactly what they'll be yet.
2. All of the upcoming stuff is "one and only" product. As in, it does stuff, or uses technology, you won't see elsewhere, at any price.* That's a hallmark you'll see going forward. If we can't say, "The only...", we're not going to bother making that product. We're not here to "slot in" with the rest, or pursue incremental changes. We're here to shake things up. 
 
*Yes, even the midrange product. Nobody is using our balanced amp topology, and nobody is using some of the stuff we're going to be doing on the midrange DAC. I'd prefer to keep the competitors guessing until we announce.
 
 

 

[Yikes]

Tease.

 

[judmarc]

 
Quote:

 
We are planning the statement DAC/statement amp to be shipped in Q1 2012, with the amp being hybrid. The statement DAC will, yes, use unique tech not available elsewhere. 

 
Sure hope the market for lightly used Bifrosts is as good as I think it'll be (or there's a trade-up program, but again, I can't see what would be in it for Schiit), 'cause I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to resist the temptation to go for the statement DAC.

 

[MarioImpemba]

Personally, would have more use for a pre-amp function with a quality VC than balanced operation; also, generally something I would expect in a >$1k DAC. Wishful thinking... 

 

[marcelo61]

Quote:

Personally, would have more use for a pre-amp function with a quality VC than balanced operation; also, generally something I would expect in a >$1k DAC. Wishful thinking... 

 
x2 here,>2k for the dac/amp combo is within my shooting range.

 

[zzffnn]

would like to see a dac with pre-amp function too

 

[Audio_newb]

I too would like to see volume control on the statement model, but I can easily see why they wouldn't.  Once you start down that road it's not unreasonable to want at least one analog input and a remote control.  That's a substantial amount of added complexity.  If they really are attempting to stay within the ballpark of $1K, which is essentially unheard of implementing non off the shelf parts, that might be challenging.  There is something to be said for keeping it simple and focusing on sound quality.  I assume when we say balanced amp we are talking head amp here?  Any thoughts on an amp for the speaker set?

 

[dyl1dyl]

Hey Jason,
 
Do you have any more info on the two upcoming amps as I realize that info on the two has been somewhat sparse compared to the upcoming DACs. I'm interested in getting one of the two to pair with the Statement DAC.
 
Regards

 

[dcmartinpc]

I have pre-ordered the Bifrost also! But... I will be using it in a 2-channel traditional rig and not for my headphone rig. The question I have is this. I would say it is pretty safe to assume at this point in time that everything for the Bifrost is finalized since it is in production and should be shipping in the next couple weeks. In light of that, Jason, would it be possible to get a picture or diagram of the back of the unit?

Thanks!

Don

 

[cracky]

if someone can confirm it can be used under Unbuntu 10 or 11 with USB connection, i will order it immediately!