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

[artur9]

Why the Wotan?

...

Now, the most important point. How does it sound so far?

Brilliant. Excellent.

I cannot give you the audio rag version. No coffee midrange with a touch of chocolate overtones. No sparkle on top with bass beyond the depths of hell.

This amp sounds fantastic. Period.
....

Thanks, darn you! I had just spent a week convincing myself I didn't need one.

Maybe, since no coffee or chocolate can I use that as an excuse.... ....

 

[artur9]

My best friend worked for them for 28 years, and was unceremoniously let go with everyone else. No severance pay, no payment for vacation accrued, and not even a final paycheck for hours worked. A very sad ending to what was once a good company.

I live near Watsonville, but am not a telescope enthusiast. If I can, I will pick up a spotting scope, but do not need to buy a lot of 20 of them.

Whoever took the pictures and provided descriptions of what they have was definitely not someone who knows the gear. Possibly someone from the bank trying to get what they can without any background in the industry.

That's terrible, my thoughts go to your friend.

Now, if you do pick up a lot of 20 small-ish spotting scopes, I'd take some off your hands

 

[artur9]

I walk both sides of that line. When using stands and stand mount speakers, my philosophy is to couple the stand to the floor and isolate the speaker from the stand. But then again, I'm an odd duck.

That's what I've decided to do.

Putting my speakers on some cheap isolation footers on the stand made a surprisingly large difference to imaging and bass definition. That stand is spiked and filled with 50# of sandblaster beads, stainless steel. (sourced from Harbor Freight and eBay)

 

[bcowen]

Thanks, darn you! I had just spent a week convincing myself I didn't need one.

Maybe, since no coffee or chocolate can I use that as an excuse.... ....

I've been convincing myself for a while now that I don't need a Gungnir 2. But I'm starting to feel bad about it because I feel the need to reward Dr. Forkbeard and the rest of the crowd at Schiit for their effort and hard work, and I feel the need to leave my son a little higher-shelf component than an OG Modi Multibit when I'm gone, and I think Folkvangr feels a bit slighted being fed an OG Bifrost 2 and would appreciate an upgrade in diet, and I think how rude it is of me to think only of myself by not buying one. I'm beginning to feel fairly disappointed in me.

 

[artur9]

I've been convincing myself for a while now that I don't need a Gungnir 2. But I'm starting to feel bad about it because I feel the need to reward Dr. Forkbeard and the rest of the crowd at Schiit for their effort and hard work, and I feel the need to leave my son a little higher-shelf component than an OG Modi Multibit when I'm gone, and I think Folkvangr feels a bit slighted being fed an OG Bifrost 2 and would appreciate an upgrade in diet, and I think how rude it is of me to think only of myself by not buying one. I'm beginning to feel fairly disappointed in me.

Well, when you put it like that....

 

[Orange5o]

I've been convincing myself for a while now that I don't need a Gungnir 2. But I'm starting to feel bad about it because I feel the need to reward Dr. Forkbeard and the rest of the crowd at Schiit for their effort and hard work, and I feel the need to leave my son a little higher-shelf component than an OG Modi Multibit when I'm gone, and I think Folkvangr feels a bit slighted being fed an OG Bifrost 2 and would appreciate an upgrade in diet, and I think how rude it is of me to think only of myself by not buying one. I'm beginning to feel fairly disappointed in me.

Then I probably shouldn't mention that I had both a Bifrost 2 OG and a Gungnir 2 hooked to my Folkvangr for a couple weeks and now the Gungnir 2 lives there...might have even tried the same hp's (Atticus?)

 

[JamminVMI]

Why the Wotan?

This is long, but an information dump and back story is important.

The Wotan is my 9th Schiit product.

Current system lineup: CA CXC V2 -> Bifrost 2/64 ->Kara -> Wotan
Mac Mini M2 with Audirvana – AQ USB (the cheapest one)
Interconnects are AudioQuest Red River XLR
Speaker Cables – Blue Jeans Ten with locking bananas
Speakers Martin Logan 40i IMHO – my weak link – maybe

Dedicated 20 Amp circuit with Hubble commercial outlets and homebrew 12 AWG power cables for Amp(s). APC 14 AWG for the rest. No surge protection, power filters, conditioners, or switches. Nothing. The Least number of connections between Eaton circuit breaker and equipment. I have been around the block on this subject and could go for days on my opinion. It does help I am lucky to have stable utility power.

Room is small 12’ x 12’ with moderate amount of room treatment – standard ceiling height.

The above is at least the ~10th “system” I have owned. I consider the subject of this commentary as one system even with all the changes.

What did the Wotan replace and why?

Before the Wotan I had one Vidar 2, Modius and a Saga. I really wanted to have a true mono balanced system. I added a Kara, Bifrost 2/64 and a second Vidar 2. Nixed the turntable and all the vinyl.

The Vidar 2s are great performers with one exception, the pairing with MLs.

The MLs are rated at 4 ohms. Right? IMHO they seem power hungry. Schiit has been very upfront about 4 ohm loads with the Vidars in mono. I knew the risk before attempting. Note: This is my 3rd set of ML speakers. The Aerius I (s) were my first pair. I miss them, but this is another long-ago story.
How did the 2 Vidars sound. Fantastic. Very dynamic and controlling – at lower sane levels. They work very well. They get hot. I have tripped the thermal wall on them a few times.

Second issue is they are separate chassis bought at separate times. ~8 months between purchases. I am sure Schiit sets the amp to a specification. However, one always ran hotter than the other. The hotter one also gave a slight audible increase in volume. Very slight, but there. This moved with the amp (swapped channels etc.) When I ran mono topology in the past, I had the manufacture calibrate both amps as a pair. Alias this was with the above-mentioned Aerius (s). I consider this my level of nitpicking and being anal retentive.

Me being me, I was considering the Tyr’s. But this is a problem. With my little room above, this would be a major undertaking. I would need to put the Tyr’s next to the speakers. Not going to put them in the rack. Thus, I started looking around for options, yes outside the Schiit ecosystem. Not doing Class D, G or H. Started even considering the M and K crowd. Anthem too. Maybe drop back to my old favorite NAD master series (yes, eating the never class D statement) - Nope, not going to do it.

This is about the time I see a video on Forkbeard. What? New F stuff? Wait, new amp(s)? A new stereo amp that looks like two Vidars welded together? Again, what is this Forkbeard? I read about the Wotan and Forkbeard. This is what I have been waiting for and it's from Schiit.

The Wotan – I must have it.

Having Forkbeard and an app that will let me see the health of the system?

I hooked up the amp Monday. Here are my opinions and thoughts.

The elephant in the room, the fans. Do not lose any sleep on this one. I will not. Have they been activated on my amp. You bet. They will activate when I am jamming Volbeat or AX7 at 85-90 dB measured at my listening position. ~2 meters from MLs. Do they get warm, yes? Again, Volbeat and now 90-95 dB. Change music, Lorde’s Heroine and fans are going to be running. As I write this, I am listening to Depeche Mode Violator (2006 remaster). No more than 75 dB. No fans. I am 11+ tracks into the album. Still no fans.

At sane volume. ~75 dB. Natalie Merchant ‘s Tiger Lilly 24/96 at 75dB, no fans. Cowboy Junkies Studio, no fans.
Note: dB levels are measured with a cheap meter. More or less averages. Nothing scientific here. No, I do not want to listen to 90+ levels continually. However, party mode will happen at times. I am glad the fans are there.

Are the fans loud? Well, what is loud? From my listing position the amp is about a meter away. While the fans are running after a long session and the music stops. I can hear them clearly. I can also hear the refrigerator running in the kitchen, which is much louder. I can hear the Moka pot gas burner flame if making coffee. Thus, it's additional noise that is no louder than any other quite normal items in a home. Noticeable at dead quiet, yes. Again, not losing sleep. They seem to deactivate after a minute or two after music is stopped.

My room temperature is about 68F or less in the winter. This summer it will be closer to 76/78F. I do not listen to music as much in the summer.

Forkbeard. Hum. OK. I have just the Wotan. I plan to fork my Kara as soon as available.

Right now, I can select between balanced and unbalanced. Feedback on or off. Standby. I may be doing something wrong. I have no additional information. Meters do not work for me. I fully understand this is a new product. I am really interested in the health data.

The audio equipment is not in my view while I am listening. I do not care about any visual feedback while listening. I absolutely love the Schiit look with the minimal LEDs. I have the iPad to manage my music. I would really like Forkbeard to tell me the status of the amp. This includes temperature and when the fans activate. I do not know if current draw trend is possible, but that would be awesome. Even some kind of a history stored in the app.

Now, the most important point. How does it sound so far?

Brilliant. Excellent.

I cannot give you the audio rag version. No coffee midrange with a touch of chocolate overtones. No sparkle on top with bass beyond the depths of hell.

This amp sounds fantastic. Period.

I could sense I was stressing the Vidars from time to time. I have zero indication of this with the Wotan. I believe this is a better match for 4-ohm speakers.

BTW - The slightly audible anomaly between channels with the 2 Vidars, gone. Does not exist with the Wotan.

Well Done Schiit.

Now get this Kara forked.

SickMonkey

I’ve never gotten the fans to activate (other than in self-test), and I’ve only just started to explore Wotan without feedback. And since someone (might be named Jason) asked what I thought about zero feedback mode, here goes…

It is my impression that no feedback affects the soundstage in a positive way, presenting as more width and depth. And that’s what I hear. But my Wotan replaced two Aegir 1s, driving 20is from Martin Logan, and I don’t think the Motions are a weak link. They suit me. As does Wotan!

 

[theeclone]

I need to get a hair cut.

Just one?

 

[yyzSB]

I have a Wotan arriving next week. It will be interesting comparing it with my other amp, a CODA #16, which is a beauty and beast of an amp.

I sold my Sanders Magtech amp to get the Wotan. The Sanders was great with Maggies (Mini and LRS+), but the amps' automatic STANDLY was a problem when I wanted to use an Aegir v1 amp (for headphones) with the same preamp. The Wotan will not have that problem and maybe sound better.

 

[theeclone]

One more thing to check off my Texas Naturalization Checklist.

@Jason Stoddard, since you were looking for something near the River Walk:
I asked them and they said that we can put our Schiitr in there … for the right price. Not sure about the acoustics, though, would need a bit of room treatment.

Maybe they'll give you a deal on the basement

 

[rowdyrobot]

Maybe they'll give you a deal on the basement

You heard what I was thinking?

 

[Zojokkeli]

Precisely why I love to collect and shoot vintage analog cameras. The shutter, aperture and winding mechanisms are truly engineering and manufacturing art - second only to clocks and watches of the era.

I’m getting the same feeling from a Leica camera I bought last year. Very nice looking and it’s great to operate, because all the main functions are operated by physical dials and knobs, instead of digital menus.

Also I can’t post any pictures, but for a crane my company delivered to a nuclear power plant, we hired a small engineering company to design and manufacture some custom grappling attachements (not sure what to call them in english) and those are some of the most mechanically pleasing looking devices I’ve ever seen.

 

[tesarpa]

OK. Wait. What? Jazz covers of Ozzy Osbourne / Black Sabbath compositions? WTH -- Are you kidding me?

I kid you not...

Happy Thursday night!



And it's in stereo.

I found it on Qobuz too. Disappointed. Most tracks are like elevator music and you hardly discover any similarities with the original. It's got no balls, compared to Apocalyptica, for example.

 

[sickmonkey]

I’ve never gotten the fans to activate (other than in self-test), and I’ve only just started to explore Wotan without feedback. And since someone (might be named Jason) asked what I thought about zero feedback mode, here goes…

It is my impression that no feedback affects the soundstage in a positive way, presenting as more width and depth. And that’s what I hear. But my Wotan replaced two Aegir 1s, driving 20is from Martin Logan, and I don’t think the Motions are a weak link. They suit me. As does Wotan!

The dB levels I gave are with my content, system and room. I only gave them as a reference point. This is X and Y. I would take the actual numbers with a grain of salt. I think the fans are activated by the content and volume (the work being done). Right? Last Night I listen to Heaven and Hell, Black Sabbath at a pretty brisk level. Fans never activated. But that content is thin.

I guess I might be a little different. I will leave the feedback on for a while. Maybe a few weeks. Then run it off for a while. One day I will wake up and think I like this on/off. I think some folks percieve different as better. Just might not be. I did this with Pre-amps. I wanted to run passive for a long time. But naturally gravitated to buffered. I just liked it better. I will give it a go with feedback off in the future. No doubt.

About the ML 40i, noticed I ended the weak link with a "maybe". With one Vidar 2, they were OK. With two Vidars I saw them wake up. With the Wotan, I have immediate pause on the weak link statement. We shall see. Your 20is with a Wontan I would think is super capable.

I went to a dealer in the city a few weeks ago. Looked at the ESL X, some power amps and such. Still thinking about something there with a speaker change. Now with the Wotan, not so much. I think I will orbit a while with this setup. Of course, again, I want my Kara forked.

One unscientific measure for myself is how long do I have something new and I stop listening to the equipment. I am already there with the Wotan. I am back to the listening to the music. Not aynalizing this or that. Just let it play. A big mark is me falling asleep at night jamming AX7 or Metallica.

You just get relaxed and lost in the music. This I love.

 

[562955]

Do you have any idea how long it took to get my square room sounding good? Ripping out the carpet would require starting over. I guess I'm OK with just spikes then.

as long as it take to make it not square !! -- just a thought - try sitting at one apex ( corner ) and have the speakers either side of the opposite corner ( if at all practical ! ) this does change the way that room resonant modes propagate - it may not be an improvement mind you !! Also I found my floor standing speakers sound much better controlled placed directly onto the carpet without the floor spikes - this did surprise me as I have been a spikee since the dawn of time !