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

[Les Strat]

Schiit prices for UK are in Pounds and that is the worst currency for me + deliveries from UK to EU are very expensive and custom formalities are nightmare.
Purchase from USA is better but again it is not like having it from EU.

The good news (at least for buyers in the UK) is that USD has weakened significantly against GBP in the past few weeks.

 

[US Blues]

Is it just me, or have the last couple of days brought out more sandpaper-based posts, and outright trolling, the we usually see here?

 

[fusion5]

@Bowmoreman
Several days before the box arrived I remembered buying another box labeled "50 Great Recordings" years ago. Another Sony release curated by German "Rondo" music journal.

Both boxes seem to have a slight overlap. But much to enjoy. Never had quite the time to enjoy the first box. Even remember her name

I could really use a forkbearded Urd now. It's the ritual. It's important!
@Jason Stoddard to the rescue

 

[Ripper2860]

(Deleted as it was bordering on politics.)

Trying to focus on Good News!!

TGIF (as applicable)!!!!!

 

[Les Strat]

Is it just me, or have the last couple of days brought out more sandpaper-based posts, and outright trolling, the we usually see here?

It does seem that way, which is really disappointing.

I enjoy this forum for all the good-humoured banter and also because I have learned a lot... and not just about audio gear

I won't even mention the name of the moronic poster who decided to post outright lies about Forkbeard

He should crawl back into his cave.

Edit: The irritating troll is now on my ignore list.

 

[Roy G. Biv]

Is it just me, or have the last couple of days brought out more sandpaper-based posts, and outright trolling, the we usually see here?

It's not just you...

 

[Bowmoreman]

@Bowmoreman
Several days before the box arrived I remembered buying another box labeled "50 Great Recordings" years ago. Another Sony release curated by German "Rondo" music journal.

Both boxes seem to have a slight overlap. But much to enjoy. Never had quite the time to enjoy the first box. Even remember her name

I could really use a forkbearded Urd now. It's the ritual. It's important!
@Jason Stoddard to the rescue

Genau!

 

[JohnnyOps]

All of those are good points. We simply haven't thought of that use case yet. This is our very first DAC with digital volume control, mind you. We always try to think of and support as many situations and device combinations as we can, but every once in a while, something will just slip past us. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I've taken note of what you said, though, and there's always the possibility that we might include something like that with a future firmware update for Mimir. But for the foreseeable future, volume control via the USB connection isn't supported.

Totally get it. FWIW, I think (in large part due to these forums) the Schiit team does a great job listening to the user base and taking a much more "software-like" approach to product management than many other companies (yes audio companies, yes audio hardware companies, but also more broadly). It's great to see, it's great to hear, it's great to be a part of. No doubt, I've described this to others in other communities as a way of doing business even without SaaS margins or SaaS ability to "tune in-market" (though Forkbeard obviously gives you more ability to 'change the product' OTA instead of via (solely) physical upgrades.

I will say, the Roon community would love the ability to adjust volume with the Roon "hardware" volume controls. I sense that (in part because of market positioning) Schiit & Roon are not inordinately large overlaps, but there's a few of us out there. And as you get into hardware volume control and higher bit-rate inputs (so you lose less data as you go down -10 or -20db) the possibility of a Roon-controlled Mimir (or Yggy) straight into a power-amp becomes more realistic and wonderful as a possibility. Roon lets you set "comfort limits" for volume, and "safety limits" on a per-device basis, so you can achieve what Forkbeard does on install to ensure you're not inadvertently driving transducer-destroying power through the power amp at start-up. (also, for those who don't know, this also opens up a great set of "remotes" you can add. I use the Xencelabs QuickKeys as an easy-to-grab immediate remote for my main rig via Roon & HQPlayer controlling not only volume, but playlists, shuffle, repeat, FLAC radio stations, etc) and a Roo6D as a volume control and track skipper / pauser in my office, both in the RooExtend ecosystem; having Roon control volume on the Schiit DAC hardware instead of in Roon software would be AMAZING now that it's possible).

FWIW, right now I'm listening to Symbol Systems by Matthew Shipp on my Yggy LIM through a Creek 5350se to speaker-tap connected HiFiMan he6se v1's at my desk, via Roon->RooExtend on RPi. That Yggy had been in my main system, though now I'm auditioning a different company's DAC that does DSD and is very musical. Right now I vastly prefer the Ygyy in my desktop set-up via Harbeth p3esr-xd's and the he6se's, and am loving the other one in my "main rig" but variety is definitely the spice of life. Can't wait to see what the Yggy upgrade looks like - I own an OG and a LIM.

 

[AstronomerXI]

Nobody's telling me what I can (or should) or can not (or should not) say.
And I very much appreciate that about my employer.

With that said…

No, not really, because it's all way too subjective to be useful, regardless of whether I work for the company or if I were just some random dood on the interwebs. It all depends way too much on the rest of your chain, your transducers, your ears, and your personal taste.

This much I am comfortable saying:
Before the Mimir, I had a Gungnir 2 on my desk, and I enjoy listening to them both more or less equally.
And at least with my chain, transducers, and ears, I don't hear any harshness in Mimir's highs. Which is something I usually dislike about delta sigma DACs in general. And even if there were, you could easily EQ it away to your heart's content using Mimir's built-in pEQ.
Turns out: The kind of filter you build into your DACs is actually important. Like, a lot. Who knew?!

Thanks for your impressions, Martin, I appreciate it. I should have phrased it "Are you comfortable sharing...". That was more my intent.

 

[sickmonkey]

I just setup my new Modius E and Midgard (HP use) for a small second system. The Modius SE out is feeding a NAD C316 V2 to Kef Q1 Metas. For now, the Modius is fed by Wiim Pro (coax) or MacBook (usb). This little setup sounds very nice. I mainly use my NAS or Qobuz as content source. Qobuz is to discover new stuff. Pretty satisfied with this setup.

Then I step into the other room with the Gigastack. Oh yeah. Now we are cooking. I only use Mac mini with Audirvana USB to Gungnir 2. I did try a Wiim Ultra via USB on both systems. Not just I, but others described the sound as a bit shrilly in the highs. Absolutely fatiguing. The coax did tame a little bit, but the Ultra was not a fit for me in my world. Even Audirvana Studio with Qobuz plugin was meh*. The Gigastack still stays isolated from streaming services. I am very fine with this arrangement.

Now we have this new Mimir. Hum. For the second system, I am entertaining a Vidar 2 from the Midgard. (replacing the NAD, which is a little workhorse). I wonder if this arrangement would be on par with a Mimir just feeding a Vidar skipping the Midgard?


*I am still not sold on the streaming as being "all the data". I can't understand why a flac ripped CD is clearly 14xx at 16 bit, but the same stream from Qobuz is ~1000/16bit. Where did the other 400 go? Sample heaven? All the "Zeros" compressed out?

 

[binarypie]

RE: Volume Control

One of the problems sonos has with their system is that you can digitally change the volume separate from the physical device volume which leads to all kinds of simple to resolve but annoying situations where audio isn't loud enough or suddenly becomes way too loud. I don't think there is any really good way around this in the current schiit design language.

 

[Paladin79]

Is it just me, or have the last couple of days brought out more sandpaper-based posts, and outright trolling, the we usually see here?

I have been busy so fortunately I missed those posts.
I suppose a Mimir could help in my shop system except I already have a device there that suits my needs. It could make a nice addition to a small amp in a desktop system I would think. Anyway back to work for me and hopefully the VH3 hits next week.

 

[Orange5o]

Totally get it. FWIW, I think (in large part due to these forums) the Schiit team does a great job listening to the user base and taking a much more "software-like" approach to product management than many other companies (yes audio companies, yes audio hardware companies, but also more broadly). It's great to see, it's great to hear, it's great to be a part of. No doubt, I've described this to others in other communities as a way of doing business even without SaaS margins or SaaS ability to "tune in-market" (though Forkbeard obviously gives you more ability to 'change the product' OTA instead of via (solely) physical upgrades.

I will say, the Roon community would love the ability to adjust volume with the Roon "hardware" volume controls. I sense that (in part because of market positioning) Schiit & Roon are not inordinately large overlaps, but there's a few of us out there. And as you get into hardware volume control and higher bit-rate inputs (so you lose less data as you go down -10 or -20db) the possibility of a Roon-controlled Mimir (or Yggy) straight into a power-amp becomes more realistic and wonderful as a possibility. Roon lets you set "comfort limits" for volume, and "safety limits" on a per-device basis, so you can achieve what Forkbeard does on install to ensure you're not inadvertently driving transducer-destroying power through the power amp at start-up. (also, for those who don't know, this also opens up a great set of "remotes" you can add. I use the Xencelabs QuickKeys as an easy-to-grab immediate remote for my main rig via Roon & HQPlayer controlling not only volume, but playlists, shuffle, repeat, FLAC radio stations, etc) and a Roo6D as a volume control and track skipper / pauser in my office, both in the RooExtend ecosystem; having Roon control volume on the Schiit DAC hardware instead of in Roon software would be AMAZING now that it's possible).

FWIW, right now I'm listening to Symbol Systems by Matthew Shipp on my Yggy LIM through a Creek 5350se to speaker-tap connected HiFiMan he6se v1's at my desk, via Roon->RooExtend on RPi. That Yggy had been in my main system, though now I'm auditioning a different company's DAC that does DSD and is very musical. Right now I vastly prefer the Ygyy in my desktop set-up via Harbeth p3esr-xd's and the he6se's, and am loving the other one in my "main rig" but variety is definitely the spice of life. Can't wait to see what the Yggy upgrade looks like - I own an OG and a LIM.

+1 for Roon control if possible. I use Yamaha MusicCast in my living room and when I use the receiver or speakers as airplay endpoints I can control volume via Roon. Literally with my volume keys on the side of my phone with screen off. It's really nice.

This capability would sell one more Mimir

 

[NoBodyNoWhere]

All of those are good points. We simply haven't thought of that use case yet. This is our very first DAC with digital volume control, mind you. We always try to think of and support as many situations and device combinations as we can, but every once in a while, something will just slip past us. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I've taken note of what you said, though, and there's always the possibility that we might include something like that with a future firmware update for Mimir. But for the foreseeable future, volume control via the USB connection isn't supported.

The thing that immediately popped into mind when I read this: Would it be feasible to build a forkbeard controller? Something with a volume control knob, a instant mute button and a/or a few customizable buttons? Maybe the knob could control volume in when one button is pressed, and control EQ when another is pressed? A separate controller device could make the features of FB more accessible without having to pick up the phone, open the app and select the proper stack etc.

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

RE: Volume Control

One of the problems sonos has with their system is that you can digitally change the volume separate from the physical device volume which leads to all kinds of simple to resolve but annoying situations where audio isn't loud enough or suddenly becomes way too loud. I don't think there is any really good way around this in the current schiit design language.

All of our DACs announce themselves to the various operating systems as fixed-volume audio targets. That means that all operating systems (that I am aware of, anyway) should disable their own system mixer's volume control methods when one of our DACs is selected as the target device, and always send out the audio data to them at full volume, meaning as unaltered as the OS's mixer permits. That's actually crucial to maintain as much audio quality as possible, as I've yet to hear a single operating system's mixer that would not sound like crap. You just lose way too much detail in the process.

I'm actually not sure if there's a way to have a given operating system's volume buttons or sliders control not the OS's own mixer but the connected sound target's own volume level through USB commands.
To be clear: I'm not saying that it wouldn't be possible. I believe that Roon does something like that. I'm merely saying that I'm not aware of a way to make this work reliably (i.e. without hijacking or redirecting keyboard inputs, as that's messy to implement and way too easy to break as soon as something changes on a customer's system). Remember: No matter what other companies do, our overarching goal for everything we make is to always offer gear that's as intuitive to understand and as easy (and thus: enjoyable) to use as humanly possible. Even if that means that we have to say no to certain features if it would mean that they'd complicate things beyond that standard we try to achieve.

But I will look into it.

And if there's a way to implement this the way I would prefer, there wouldn't be two competing volume states. There would be just the one on the device itself, controlled either through Forkbeard or through the USB connection (or both), but never two separate states that could add up or contradict each other. Because that's exactly the kind of confusing and frustrating mess that I will never accept in any of our products.