Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up

Nov 10, 2024 at 5:47 PM Post #171,421 of 182,159
Thanks to the discussion a few pages back on REW/Audyssey, I stumbled across something from Denon on AVSForum that is 100% opposite of how Schiit approaches things. Apparently, in 2022, someone using REW discovered Denon used an incorrect calculation for the speed of sound in Audyssey (300m/s vs 340m/s) which resulted in incorrectly measured speaker distances and therefore incorrect room corrections. Ruh roh! Denon eventually fessed up and corrected it in 2022 and later models. The crap thing is that they did not issue any firmware updates for older systems, despite doing so would be trivial, making a BS and lame statement about processors not able to calculate etc. that was simply not true. Mine is a ~2018 model that received updates through 2022, so this is especially irksome and wouldn't have cost them anything. Worse, their recommendation was for users to pay US$199 for the full Audyssey app which has the correction already baked in!

Luckily, a simple fix is to take the incorrect distance numbers and multiply them by .875 and manually enter them. I will think twice before buying another new Denon/Marantz amp given this poor response to flawed software with a clear negative impact that should have been easily and quickly fixed. I played some music before the calculation change and after, and the difference was noticeable, like when an optometrist switches testing lenses during an eye exam: one is definitely clearer and sharper than the the other. Not by a lot, but it's there.

Late this morning a close friend came by. He's a trained classical musician who back in the day was one of the few students taken on by the same professor who trained Wynton Marsallis. This is all to say that he has a good ear. I wanted to get another set of ears on my system because my ears aren't perfect, tinnitus and all. He had heard my setup before with an earlier and poorer Audyssey configuration and thought it "OK-ish". I also hadn't had the Gungnir Multibit, Freya N with the PSVANE Horizon tubes, and the Lokius in the chain last time. This time we set the speakers back to to 2.1 mode with my mid-tower Wharfedales being the main speakers and again played his reference tracks while he sat in the prime listening spot. He said the stage, clarity, and space between instruments and voices was the best he's heard, and he noted the realism in the cymbals, and the percussive sounds as guitar players played their chords. Vocal reproduction really impressed him. He had noted the realism when the Schiit components were in the headphone stack and those components, combined with my attention to the room, brought it all together.

There's more I want to do, but I think I might be getting into diminishing returns territory.

<edited to correct typos>
 
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Nov 10, 2024 at 6:05 PM Post #171,422 of 182,159
Hmm. Interesting.
I was told that (I couldn't keep my existing phone number) by one of the sales associates at T-Mobile.
I think that is BS. They were either ill informed or didn't want to go through the effort of submitting a number port request.

There are VERY, VERY FEW instances in which a port request for transferring a number from one carrier to another cannot be fulfilled. I would contact your desired carrier (not the carrier which currently owns the number) and ask for a number portability check. Contact the carrier directly and not a store as they may be a franchisee and not as well trained. Your current carrier may also be able to provide this info. for you, but you'll likely be passed onto the customer retention department and have to deal with sales folks trying to keep your business.

* I have ported 100s of numbers for my company when moving from 1 carrier to another. Never had a port request denied. Sprint to AT&T to T-Mobile and finally to Verizon.
 
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Nov 10, 2024 at 6:31 PM Post #171,423 of 182,159
Fajitas and Margaritas tonight.

I promise I will drink responsibly.

El Cholo Cantina is very close to el casa de Balm.
I tried talking my wife into Mexican food but she twisted my arm so we are doing some semi-serious ramen instead.🤪🤪
 
Nov 10, 2024 at 7:14 PM Post #171,424 of 182,159
How do you respond when somebody asks, "Why is it called female? Can you explain that to me?".
Regardless of the asker’s age: “Go ask your parents!”
 
Nov 10, 2024 at 7:52 PM Post #171,425 of 182,159
And if I happen to be the parent, my goto answer is 'go ask your mom.'. 😏
 
Nov 10, 2024 at 8:13 PM Post #171,426 of 182,159
Nov 10, 2024 at 9:15 PM Post #171,428 of 182,159
For your Sunday evening enjoyment:
1731291298139.png
 
Nov 10, 2024 at 9:29 PM Post #171,429 of 182,159
....
Late this morning a close friend came by. He's a trained classical musician ... . He said the stage, clarity, and space between instruments and voices was the best he's heard, and he noted the realism in the cymbals, and the percussive sounds as guitar players played their chords. Vocal reproduction really impressed him. ...

There's more I want to do, but I think I might be getting into diminishing returns territory.

<edited to correct typos>
Does he do other house calls?

That diminishing returns thing is killer. To know improvements can be had but not to know what the cost would be....

Attending a show like CAPFest can be a palate cleanser in a way. Hearing gazillion dollar systems that sound terrible (and generally, look worse) can cure a fair amount of upgraditis....
 
Nov 10, 2024 at 9:42 PM Post #171,430 of 182,159
For the record, as a classically trained musician in a previous life, our hearing is not necessarily better. Years in the symphony have left me with a healthy dose of tinnitus.

I would still consider an accolade from someone of my ilk worthwhile praise.
 
Nov 10, 2024 at 10:02 PM Post #171,431 of 182,159
I find Schiit's icons unintuitive, but I think that's good for the brain. I'll get them once I expose myself more to them. Basic ones like the inputs I know, because of shape association.

I can reverse enginner the icons for the inputs on say an Yggy if I need to, and because I did the physical hookups, I know what's coming in over optical vs coax.

That's not going to work for my wife or any houseguest.

If the labels in the stack are Vali 3, Midgard, Syn and Gjallarhorn , that doesn't help her either. WE Schiitizens know what those are, but she does not. She needs to see "tubed h/p amp", "s/s h/p amp", "multichannel amp" and "speaker amp". Or something like that. Otherwise I have to make a cheat-sheet on paper to help her. Which kinda undermines the glamor of the smart, self-actualizing remote.

OTOH, she doesn't use my audio music system at all, partially because she finds it too complicated. Some would say that's not entirely a bad thing. I say nothing, because I have been married for 43 years.
 
Nov 10, 2024 at 10:04 PM Post #171,432 of 182,159
Well I explain it differently if a child asks.😉
The female has a pin, often a center pin or pins inserted into it. In the case of RCA’s, BNC’s, and XLRs. Sometimes it is an entire assembly of pins like a phone or Ethernet connector. The terms plugs and jacks can be used as well, a male plug goes into a female jack. Simple huh?

Oh and there are gender changers as well, two male RCA’s on each end plugged into a female jack, turns that into a male. Sometimes called barrel connectors, a female on each end plugged into a male RCA turns it into female.
I literally shall never forget my “aha” on this topic. 6th Grade. Adams Elementary (Midland MIchigan, ca. 1970 or so?). We had “sex ed”… Questions ensued. Many questions, because - engineer brain even then, and, let’s face it, they weren’t doing deets…

So, I asked the most important question of my dad…

My dad was like, “you know the plug end of an electric cord? You know the socket?”… and he paused… D’oh

(Alas I lost him at 17 six or so years later, he dropped dead of a cardiac arrest).

But this thread-worm brought back memories.

(And yes, the way we handle it with the young’ uns matters - more than one might imagine at the time)
 
Nov 10, 2024 at 10:07 PM Post #171,433 of 182,159
I can reverse enginner the icons for the inputs on say an Yggy if I need to, and because I did the physical hookups, I know what's coming in over optical vs coax.

That's not going to work for my wife or any houseguest.

If the labels in the stack are Vali 3, Midgard, Syn and Gjallarhorn , that doesn't help her either. WE Schiitizens know what those are, but she does not. She needs to see "tubed h/p amp", "s/s h/p amp", "multichannel amp" and "speaker amp". Or something like that. Otherwise I have to make a cheat-sheet on paper to help her. Which kinda undermines the glamor of the smart, self-actualizing remote.

OTOH, she doesn't use my audio music system at all, partially because she finds it too complicated. Some would say that's not entirely a bad thing. I say nothing, because I have been married for 43 years.
Indeed, sir!

I’m hoping Forkbeard quells my bride of 32+ years fears of messin’ with hubby’s stereo… odd’s are 50/50
 
Nov 10, 2024 at 10:08 PM Post #171,434 of 182,159
I was told (quite some time ago) that I couldn't keep my existing phone number if I switched over to Android.

Yes?
No?
BS?
Rubbish. Portability of your number is the law

Edit” Ninja’d by @earnmyturns
 
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Nov 10, 2024 at 10:16 PM Post #171,435 of 182,159
Material that was not released in the original At the Deer Head Inn, just out via Qobuz. The recording is not ECM's best, but the music is lovely, standards made fresh again.

RoonShareImage-638668626613322470.png
 

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