[Silent One]

 

  Bravo, Mike, bravo!

+1

+2

 

[Sherwood]

But the moment you start focusing on business wants, rather than needs, you’re dead.
 
It happened to Sherwood. 

 
Hey, I'm doing just fine over here.

 

[Jethrosang]

This book is better than those so-called self-starting business guide. 

 

[judmarc]

Originally Posted by Baldr /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Some people are excited about DSD. A year ago, it was even more of interest. Users were demanding it at shows, the press was wetting its pants, on and on. A year ago, I went against my better judgment and produced the Loki DSD decoder. For a new audio format to succeed, it must have a variety of competing decoding hardware, and a wide variety of software (music) available from a wide variety of vendors. We are not talking releases like The Orkney Island Shepherds chant traditional “Poems of Rapturous Ecstasy” complete with happy bleats in the background. I need Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, The Stones, Vienna State Opera, and so on to take me home. Now the problem with DSD is that there is a paucity of native DSD recordings that are not of limited interest. The music that many more of us will like that has been released are generally PCM brick-walled remasters. May as well just use a regular DAC on the far cheaper original release. Now the native DSD recordings which are available, do indeed sound good. The problem is that there are not a lot of them, and even fewer at 2x and 4x. So please do not hold your breath awaiting a 2x or 4x Schiit DSD device. Just like our industry did with HDCD, DAT, Quadraphonic records, and several more, we are doing the same thing, i.e. creating a new format with little music available, and expecting a different result (success!). Now don't get me wrong – I have a few native DSD recordings that I like and listen to. That's why I did the Loki – cheap, sounds incredible for the price, but a little hard to use. If you do not like hard to use, then why are you using DSD anyway? I think you can actually fit 20 minutes or so of 4X DSD music on a 4TB drive. I can't believe people believe they will be able to download a wide variety of files this bloated from Amazon or iTunes, but I am from a small town.
 

 
Most logical explanation I've yet seen re why Schiit hasn't gotten further into DSD, and I say that as someone who very much enjoys the many DSD recordings I have.  I'm one of those people who have an ancient PS3 so I can listen to files from SACDs, where you actually can get well recorded versions of Miles, the Stones, Monk, etc. (probably the Vienna State Opera too, though I haven't looked).  But the number of people who've gone to these lengths is vanishingly small, even as a percentage of the limited audiophile market.
 
I have two things to say about Mike that may not be widely known.  
 
- That "very best preamp" he tried to build?  He came darn close to succeeding.  I remember listening to music through a system with that preamp in it 20+ years ago as one of the magic audio moments in my life.
 
- He is a heck of a nice guy, no matter how much he and Jason try to disguise it.  I called Theta way back in the day with a question (was one of Theta's early receptionists from Minnesota? I seem to recall an upper Midwest accent) and wound up talking to Mike personally.  Though I've long since forgotten what my questions were, I still recall how kind he was about answering them.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

 

Some may think that Jason and myself stay up late at night to figure out how to delay products. Consider this: an Yggdrasil has several hundred different part numbers, with multiple quantities of parts bringing the total number of parts to well over one thousand. If only one of the parts is missing, then how are we supposed to ship them? What do we do when parts show up late from suppliers? How do we build protos and try new stuff out with late or defective parts?

 
Hey Mike, you forgot to add: software for the 18000-tap digital filter, firmware for the PIC microcontroller overseeing the input sample rate, bit depth, and quality analysis, as well as overall product operation, and firmware for the USB input--three sets of software that need to be installed for Yggdrasil to work--none of which is "off the shelf." 
 
Massively complicated products are, well, massively complicated. 

 

[Maxvla]

Yeah so I can order one now right?

 

[aamefford]

Yeah so I can order one now right?

NICE! I'd pay a dollar to hear the names they call you between bouts of maniacal laughter!

 

[audioholik]

  So please do not hold your breath awaiting a 2x or 4x Schiit DSD device. 

 
Too bad, an affordable 2x or 4x Schiit Tube DSD DAC would be a very tempting product.... at the moment, one has to spend oodles of money to get one.

 

[leesure]

Most of my use is computer as source anyway.

Which is why a transport is a fool's errand.

 

[Chesterfield]

You know, I've enjoyed this book and thread, but have come to the conclusion that I really don't want to know how this Schiit was made. Gungnir gooooood. That's enough for me. Thanks for the great products.

 

[reddog]

Hi Does one need a balanced dac to use a balanced amp? I am new to all this stuff and still a bit ignorant of the proper uses of the technology.

 

[Mark-sf]

Hi Does one need a balanced dac to use a balanced amp? I am new to all this stuff and still a bit ignorant of the proper uses of the technology.

Not at all. One only needs a balanced headphone connection. Balanced DACs may have two meanings. The most common is that they utilize separate D/A chips for the positive and negative half of the signal. The second is that their output is balanced. Each of these three "balanced" designs have different goals and do not have dependencies on each other.

 

[reddog]

Not at all. One only needs a balanced headphone connection. Balanced DACs may have two meanings. The most common is that they utilize separate D/A chips for the positive and negative half of the signal. The second is that their output is balanced. Each of these three "balanced" designs have different goals and do not have dependencies on each other.

Thanks for the information, it is greatly appreciated.

 

[45longcolt]

Also keep in mind that just because an amp (or DAC) has "balanced" XLR connections, that doesn't mean the internal circuitry is truly balanced.

 

[UmustBKidn]

  A few musings on building products, Yggdrasil, I2S (in no particular order):
 
Let me begin by opining that in my last 40 years or so of being involved in audio, that audiophiles are an odd subset of the human race. Well above average intelligence, yup. Sane, well............... So that speaks volumes about me, and manufacturers in particular. This one of those audio facts that everyone seems to know, except audiophiles. Don't believe me?? Take a good look around you the next time you go to an audio meet or show.
 
At Schiit, poor Jason has the responsibility to publicly articulate our policy and position on audio issues. That makes him our marketeer, press secretary, public relations spokesperson, etc. etc all rolled up into one. That would be no fun for me, and totally at odds with my audio disease. See the paragraph above.
 
...

 
Hey Mike,
 
As one Old Guy (tm) to another... you worry too much

 
I've never met you, but I have worlds of respect for your abilities and achievements, and even Jason's

 
I'm not worried about your products. I don't have a stopwatch, and I'm certainly not keeping track of Schiit Time. I'm in awe of every single product you and Jason have produced. I'd like to own one of each, if I could.
 
I am amazed every time I turn around. Jason has done one helluvajob with all this marketing schiit, and you ought to be proud of him. I guess there might be a few people who have their panties in a bind, but they are in the minority. I guess I can't speak for your entire customer base, but in my opinion you guys have hit the mark, time after time.
 
So enough of this admiration schiit. I'm hoping one day I can run into you at a meet, and I can tell you a few stories about making vacuum tubes, running modulators at 40,000 volts, and having to check the crowbar of a pulsed power supply rated at nearly half a million watts with a 4' chicken stick. Now that's excitement.