[Ableza]

Great story. I remember the days of hand drilled PCB and nostril hair burning etchants. But not fondly.

 

[judmarc]

"Fluffer" = costume department:

(1) Why not, it's what all the guys are wearing.

(2) Who else would you have in that department for those movies?

On a side note: Very interesting reading about the origin of the DAC-as-separate-box. (Think about it, Mike, you're responsible for almost 3 decades of arguments about whether digital cables make a difference!)

Say, you guys wouldn't be interested in building a file player and getting that digital cable out of the equation, would you? But that gets into a bunch of control, UI, and player software, so I suppose not.

 

[money4me247]

Say, you guys wouldn't be interested in building a file player and getting that digital cable out of the equation, would you? But that gets into a bunch of control, UI, and player software, so I suppose not.

lol... like a DAP with a build-in amp & dac?? ...do people even still buy those? hahah.

 

[GearMe]

...The products are covered by Amazon rules.  30-day return, no restocking fee, Amazon fee, additional FBA fee, etc.  As a result, costs for going through Amazon FBA are much higher than through our other channels.  So we charge $10 more to help cover those costs.  If you don't want to pay the $10, no problem- you can purchase the items from our website or through our merchant fulfilled Amazon stock. 

-- Just got a Modi for my Magni. The cost was $109 Amazon Fulfilled vs $106.50 Schiit Fulfilled thru Amazon ($99+7.50 shipping)
-- To buy direct through Schiit's site costs me even more since the FedEx Home Delivery $10.76 is the cheapest one available

-- 30 day return, NO restocking fee makes this an easy choice for the net $2.50 upcharge to buy Amazon Fulfilled vs Schiit Fulfilled
-- Schiit's got a 15 day return policy with a 15% restocking fee for Magni & Modi. Even when I move up the product line (Schiit's policy goes to 15 day/5%), Amazon's policy is more customer friendly.

...think of it this way--Amazon is doing the heavy lifting for us in terms of silly things like perks/discounts/loyalty programs--which saves us an amazing amount in administration of such price-inflating strategies. Let the experts at selling do things like selling...concentrate on making your products better, is what I'd say.

+1 to the above!

Direct is the simplest, and most, well, direct way of working with us. Amazon is just a convenience for those who have been sucked into the Amazon ecosystem, or are looking for some kind of a "deal."

-- Really not looking for a 'deal'...just the best value. For me, the Amazon distributed, Schiit manufactured products achieve this.

I find myself ordering Schiit stuff on Amazon because the shipping is better-- it's cheaper and much faster than getting it shipped from California to Florida. Usually it's shipped from a warehouse in the southeast.

Yep...my Modi shipped from a Kentucky warehouse to Ohio.

I am glad to see you guys offer sales through Amazon because I can use my Amazon credit and get 12 months no interest financing. Hopefully at some point the Yggdrasil is at least offered through the Amazon storefront and I can pay half up front and use Amazon financing for the other half.

I guess this qualifies as being 'sucked into the Amazon Ecosystem' or 'looking for a deal'.

Last I checked 'Free Money' is, well, free money

 

[valiant66]

  For Schiit stuff in Canada, check out Headphone Bar.. for example, Val2 is 390 + 9.95 (+Taxes) shipping can that's Canadian $
Don't forget exchange ordering directly from Schiit at approx 10% plus duties/taxes

 
Thanks for the tip! You're right - their prices are pretty good. But they don't seem to carry the full line of Schiit products. Still, a good first stop before looking into other options…
 
Cheers!

 

[aamer23]

   
I am glad to see you guys offer sales through Amazon because I can use my Amazon credit card and get 12 months no interest financing.  Hopefully at some point the Yggdrasil is at least offered through the Amazon storefront and I can pay half up front and use Amazon financing for the other half.  That said the burning need for a 'real' DAC is making it hard to not just buy a Gungnir (or Bitfrost) right now.  Can't wait to see some first hand accounts comparing the two.          

just buy the uberfrost and you can then switch out after you get the big daddy dac. the uberfrost is just great 

 

[jgreen16]

Last I checked 'Free Money' is, well, free money

I like free money too. How about this idea?

 

 

[forkliftHIFI]

  just buy the uberfrost and you can then switch out after you get the big daddy dac. the uberfrost is just great 

 
Might just get the uberfrost and call it done.  I spent the day A/B 'ing my friends Modi in my system vs my cheap HDMI audio splitter.  Lower noise floor but negligible difference otherwise, so modi as a stopgap is out.      I could spring for a gungnir or a bifrost uber and not really lose any sleep over it.  That said detailed discussions comparing the two are sparse and I'm pretty sure I've actually found every single one on the internet.     

 

[aamer23]

for me the uberfrost means i can still have money for the Yggy when ever that is released and still have great SQ today

 

[yay101]

The bifrost is no slouch. Every day I listen to a album I thought I knew off by heart and get details I never knew existed. It was touch and go just after I got it with muddy bass and a less than stellar sound stage. Even A/B ing with the odac showed a couple of issues, these very quickly dissapeared and I am left in awe.

 

[catspaw]

  I like free money too. How about this idea?

 

Only problem is the guy who pays the 30 dollars for the box put 20 dollars in it as well. That means he actually put 50 dollars in and got 40 dollars back. hence the 10 dollar increase in the one who sells the box .

 

[judmarc]

Something I'll be very interested in as the Ygg story progresses: Measurements thought to relate to sound quality at the time, versus those you may have found to be a better indication; and to what extent you feel there are aspects of sound quality for which it is still difficult to get relevant measurements.

 

[jacal01]

@Baldr:
Soooo...  Is it fair to say that Toshiba gave you your leg-up in the business? 

 
Could you elaborate a little more on the multibit D/A conversion of the day?  Was that still a sigma-delta chip or chipless resistive ladder?
 
 
EDIT:  My gay barber used to fluff my drink while he cut my hair.  Does that count?

 

[tonykaz]

Mr. jacal01 
 
Are you following Resistive Ladder DACs ?  There are a few of them out there now : MSB , Stockholm and perhaps one other I'm trying to discover .   I know that Jon Iverson owns one of the MSB dacs .   
  At this point in time , I'm feeling DAC performance is the last piece of the Audio Reproduction Riddle for us consumers/end-users . The recording studios all seem to be relying on the Antelope with it's Nuclear Clock or the MSB stuff now in use at some of the Mastering Studios such as Sterling . 
  My question for the Consumer Product People like M.Moffat at Schiit is : will we have access to this level of performance ? , at some approachable price point below $5,000 ?
 
Well , anyway , Hello ! , I've been reading your posts , your Dropping the Bomb Photo is easy to notice .  
 
Tony in Michigan 
 
ps.  what are you a technical specialist in ? , just curious !

 

[jacal01]

Why... yes. Yes, I am.  Thank you for noticing. 

    TotalDAC and Rockna are 2 more discrete R2R DACS of note, off the top of my head.  I'm certain that there are several more, but when they start getting into rarified air company, I tend to stop paying attention, other than to note that the high end DACS do trend toward discrete R2R holdout topology.  I personally use an audio-gd M7 in my current system, which may be the optimal R2R DAC chip (PCM1704) implementation currently available.
 
And outboard digital interpolation filtering via FPGA/DSP programming is also something I'm tracking, having had good experience with the Chord QuteHD.  Rockna, Berkeley and dCS are others that I've noted.  The Yggy may well be the poor man's access to best available DAC technology.
 
But to hear Jason tell it, there's also now opportunity for DSP programming to replace/improve upon some basic amplification circuit issue hardware solutions, on top of I/O protocol conversion.  And as such, there may still be some further future derivative optimizations yet to be developed along that front, such as microdetail resolution, if you subscribe to some of the early returns on Ragnarok.  But I think that Schiit is doing an exceptional job of delivering superior quality products at their price point.  Punching well above their weight, seems like, according to user and reviewer consensus.
 
We'll meet again... don't know where, don't know when... 

 
I specialize in stream compositional analytical systems for industrial petrochemical processes.  So a lot of this electronic circuit design/implementation is a stretch for me, to say the least.  But I'm trying, Ringo.  Trying real hard...