[SomeTechNoob]

Most use Alps rk09 pots. Fulla 2 is supposed to use the same pot as the Magni 2 at least, just in a different orientation. You can see in the PCB shots that they look similar.

 

[MarkArtz]

 
My take is the volume pot on Fulla 2 is not a quality component

My same thoughts. I had to return my first Fulla 2 for a noisy volume pot that made loud scratchy noise, with or without sound. Schiit sent me a replacement that worked great the first 2 months, however it developed the same problem, not as loud as the first one but still, not the quality I expected from Schiit. I disconnected it and threw the Fulla 2 away. I bought a used audioengine d1 with a quiet and smooth volume pot. Soundwise is almost identical, the Fulla 2 had a bit more punch on the bass and crispier overall sound, but the bad volume pots totally ruined it for me.

 

[FrivolsListener]

  Magni's volume dial is smaller compared to Fulla 2.  Are you saying the insides of the pot are the same?
 
Does Schiit use same pot on all their budget amps(Magni, Vali)

 
They are nearly identical ALPS pots.  In theory, only the mounting method (perpendicular to the board vs. parallel to the board) are different.
 
My guess is that ALPS doesn't sell a lot of the parallel mount pots and they have a QC problem.  How Schiit handles their vendors is their business, but I'm willing to bet that Fulla 2 has inspired spirited conversations between Schiit and some of their vendors.
 
I'd like to see @Jason Stoddard write about it in his blog/book thread when the dust settles.  He's already written about the genesis of Fulla 2, but not the fallout.
 
(And, the knob is attached to the pot via a shaft.  It's just a different sized knob.)

 

[Jason Stoddard]

   
They are nearly identical ALPS pots.  In theory, only the mounting method (perpendicular to the board vs. parallel to the board) are different.
 
My guess is that ALPS doesn't sell a lot of the parallel mount pots and they have a QC problem.  How Schiit handles their vendors is their business, but I'm willing to bet that Fulla 2 has inspired spirited conversations between Schiit and some of their vendors.
 
I'd like to see @Jason Stoddard write about it in his blog/book thread when the dust settles.  He's already written about the genesis of Fulla 2, but not the fallout.
 
(And, the knob is attached to the pot via a shaft.  It's just a different sized knob.)

It's a very high quality ALPS pot, made in Japan, ordered direct to our custom specs. ALPS is one of the absolute premier potentiometer manufacturers, and the model we chose for this product is pretty much the best thing that's going to fit in that size chassis for that application. And yes, it's the same as the Magni pot, just mounted differently. 
 
The reality is there are very few potentiometer problems with Fulla, other than some mismatch at very low volumes (which is typical of all small potentiometers.) We have brought back a couple of Fullas with complaints of pot noise that are real (and replaced the pots), but out of nearly 5K Fullas, this is vanishingly low. This is because, in addition to electrical tests, everything is listened to (and checked for pot noise) before it leaves the building. 

 

[MarkArtz]

  Magni's volume dial is smaller compared to Fulla 2.  Are you saying the insides of the pot are the same?
 
Does Schiit use same pot on all their budget amps(Magni, Vali)

Jikes! if this is true then I would stay away from their other products. I dont want to run into the same frustration and disappointment again.

 

[JohnnyOps]

  out of nearly 5K Fullas

 
Nice, $500k revenue in this period of time is pretty impressive.  5k people listening to good audio is even better.
 
Re: vanishingly small -- I totally agree; this world we live in where anyone (you, me, whoever) can make a stink and make it seem like something horrible is going on makes it really hard as a manu or as a consumer.  Blarg.  I happen to like your products; not everyone does.  But it rankles that there are people who are getting scared away by this YUUUUGE problem, when in fact it's a handful of people.  Ah well, I don't really have a fix to propose other than manu transparency.  
 
Thanks in any case, Jason.

 

[MarkArtz]

  The reality is there are very few potentiometer problems with Fulla, other than some mismatch at very low volumes (which is typical of all small potentiometers.) We have brought back a couple of Fullas with complaints of pot noise that are real (and replaced the pots),

Looks like I was one of the "very few" that had the luck of running "twice" with bad pots. Guess I shouldn't even play lottery, lol.
Pity I ended up tossing away $110.00

 

[FrivolsListener]

 
It's a very high quality ALPS pot, made in Japan, ordered direct to our custom specs. ALPS is one of the absolute premier potentiometer manufacturers, and the model we chose for this product is pretty much the best thing that's going to fit in that size chassis for that application. And yes, it's the same as the Magni pot, just mounted differently. 
 
The reality is there are very few potentiometer problems with Fulla, other than some mismatch at very low volumes (which is typical of all small potentiometers.) We have brought back a couple of Fullas with complaints of pot noise that are real (and replaced the pots), but out of nearly 5K Fullas, this is vanishingly low. This is because, in addition to electrical tests, everything is listened to (and checked for pot noise) before it leaves the building. 

 
I appreciate the response, Jason.  Mine works well, but I use a hi-Z headphone with it.  I don't know if it's just a case of squeaky wheels or what, but I am surprised about the level of traffic here about that pot.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

 
Jikes! if this is true then I would stay away from their other products. I dont want to run into the same frustration and disappointment again.

The Alps RK09 series pot is used in amps costing up to $1000 (not by us). 
 
A better pot is the Alps RK27 series, which we use in the Asgard 2 and up.
 
But I'll stand by my assertion: very few problems with the RK09. We've probably sold over 100K products with RK09s by this point. They are solid, reliable little pots that match well down to pretty low levels of attenuation.
 
Have fun--look at the PCB photos of products you buy and see what pots they are using. You'll probably find a lot with RK09s. They're the highest-spec'd pots in their size. Bourns, Alpha are not as well spec'd. 

 

[MarkArtz]

   
I appreciate the response, Jason.  Mine works well, but I use a hi-Z headphone with it.  I don't know if it's just a case of squeaky wheels or what, but I am surprised about the level of traffic here about that pot.

I liked the Fulla 2 and loved its sound. I am a musician my close friends are in the professional sound recording business. I tested both of my fullas with their high end cans and it was worse. One bad pot is understandable, but 2 bad pots in the row is pretty obvious for me. I have the X2, HD650 and He400i. I use a fiio X5, macbook pro, and a pc and only listen to .flac music files. The audioengine D1 (I bought used from ebay) is solid at this point after some daily use.
I really wanted the Jotunheim, looked pretty good, but with my experience, nope.

 

[FrivolsListener]

 
I liked the Fulla 2 and loved its sound. I am a musician my close friends are in the professional sound recording business. I tested both of my fullas with their high end cans and it was worse. One bad pot is understandable, but 2 bad pots in the row is pretty obvious for me. I have the X2, HD650 and He400i. I use a fiio X5, macbook pro, and a pc and only listen to .flac music files. The audioengine D1 (I bought used from ebay) is solid at this point after some daily use.

 
I think the worst thing you can do if you aren't satisfied is to *not* get it fixed by RMA.   Manufacturers collect statistics about returns and reasons and if there is a trend, they should see it.
 
What I would not suggest, though, is to be a butthole about it and loudly demand your restocking fee if you give up.  Schiit is, after all, a business, and not a library.
 
You should have warrantee coverage on it.  I've had to return stuff to Schiit before (fortunately, rarely), and, IIRC, their RMA form asks for headphones and all other gear associated with the returned item.  Presumably to recreate your environment as best possible, or to flag known issues.  ("That version of Android won't support USB-OTG for DACs." or "Apple iProducts don't deliver the spec'd power over USB.")

 

[MarkArtz]

   
I think the worst thing you can do if you aren't satisfied is to *not* get it fixed by RMA.   Manufacturers collect statistics about returns and reasons and if there is a trend, they should see it.
 
What I would not suggest, though, is to be a butthole about it and loudly demand your restocking fee if you give up.  Schiit is, after all, a business, and not a library.
 
You should have warrantee coverage on it.  I've had to return stuff to Schiit before (fortunately, rarely), and, IIRC, their RMA form asks for headphones and all other gear associated with the returned item.  Presumably to recreate your environment as best possible, or to flag known issues.  ("That version of Android won't support USB-OTG for DACs." or "Apple iProducts don't deliver the spec'd power over USB.")

I clearly understand your point, but if you read my post you'll see I had my "first" fulla 2 replaced within the allowed "15 days policy" since it was bad from day 1.
I highly praised Schiit for sending me a replacement even before they received my bad unit (that post is far back in this same thread).
Second fulla 2 came in and I was happy with it, however it ended up with the same problem, this time 2 months after arrival. Can I return it? I dont think so. Their policy is clear is only 15 days. Can I sell it? nope. So its only time and money spent on something that wasn't as good.
Maybe I am not an audiophille, but I listen to music every single day for at least 6 hrs each day. Probably the Fulla 2 is only made to be listened (used) a couple of hours a week? I dunno.

 

[FrivolsListener]

  I clearly understand your point, but if you read my post you'll see I had my "first" fulla 2 replaced within the allowed "15 days policy" since it was bad from day 1.
I highly praised Schiit for sending me a replacement even before they received my bad unit (that post is far back in this same thread).
Second fulla 2 came in and I was happy with it, however it ended up with the same problem, this time 2 months after arrival. Can I return it? I dont think so. Their policy is clear is only 15 days. Can I sell it? nope. So its only time and money spent on something that wasn't as good.
Maybe I am not an audiophille, but I listen to music every single day for at least 6 hrs each day. Probably the Fulla 2 is only made to be listened (used) a couple of hours a week? I dunno.

 
Isn't it guaranteed for 2 years?  It's still repairable.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

  I clearly understand your point, but if you read my post you'll see I had my "first" fulla 2 replaced within the allowed "15 days policy" since it was bad from day 1.
I highly praised Schiit for sending me a replacement even before they received my bad unit (that post is far back in this same thread).
Second fulla 2 came in and I was happy with it, however it ended up with the same problem, this time 2 months after arrival. Can I return it? I dont think so. Their policy is clear is only 15 days. Can I sell it? nope. So its only time and money spent on something that wasn't as good.
Maybe I am not an audiophille, but I listen to music every single day for at least 6 hrs each day. Probably the Fulla 2 is only made to be listened (used) a couple of hours a week? I dunno.

Why didn't you have us swap it again?

 

[Jason Stoddard]

   
Isn't it guaranteed for 2 years?  It's still repairable.

It is.