[sam6550a]

In point 5 of post 13113 of this thread @Jason Stoddard mentions leaving the tubes out to allow a cooler running Freya. See here for the post —> https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sch...obable-start-up.701900/page-875#post-12929614 In that case you’d have thought it was something the designer had anticipated.

Your quoted post is from 2010. I sent an inquiry and some measurements to Schiit in March 2018 about this and Jason personally replied to me: "I'll investigate further, and in the meantime, let tech know not to recommend running without tubes or LISST". Sometimes issues are overtaken by events.

 

[alpovs]

I may have to giggle uncontrollably. The Pi USB is notorious for its limited capabilities, based, I believe, on the fact that many ports all use a single chip.

It's probably the worst choice combination you can make RPi, USB, Audio.

No wonder you didn't like it. In the immortal words of Beyonce "If you didn't like it you should have put a HAT one it."

Don't discount it before you try. It's counter-intuitive but the Pi 3B+ works very well as a USB streamer. I was surprised. And I am not alone - someone did measurements: https://archimago.blogspot.com/2017/01/measurements-raspberry-pi-3-as-usb.html
I know, measurements are frowned upon but it worked for me very well before I found those measurements. Note, that I am using it with Schiit's USB 5. I think this can make a difference.

 

[Robert Padgett]

When I enquired about a Class-D amplifier, I was told that there were no plans for one.
I am wondering why not?
A Modi form-factor pure 'power' amp based on a Class-D module, to power a small speaker system--designed to use either a Magni 3 or Vali 2 as a pre-amp for volume control, as just another level of the Schiit Stack.
Priced in the $99-$149 range, it would be a great kit for a small apartment, dorm room, or second-system.
DaytonAudio produces an outstanding sounding B652-Air speaker for $49.
Why should a committed Schiit-head be forced to buy a cheap Nobsound chip-amp to drive his otherwise great, albeit Affordable system?

 

[golfbravobravo]

Don't discount it before you try. It's counter-intuitive but the Pi 3B+ works very well as a USB streamer. I was surprised. And I am not alone - someone did measurements: https://archimago.blogspot.com/2017/01/measurements-raspberry-pi-3-as-usb.html
I know, measurements are frowned upon but it worked for me very well before I found those measurements. Note, that I am using it with Schiit's USB 5. I think this can make a difference.

That's good input for the forum, thanks. I haven't tried it, I'm a fan of HATs and have been happy with the setups (for now ) that I have. Certainly in the earlier Pis the USB was limited to say the least!

Cheers

 

[HumanFly]

Looking at your avatar I have no doubt you are a fan of hats.
Edit:
I too prefer HATS.

 

[judson_w]

When I enquired about a Class-D amplifier, I was told that there were no plans for one.
I am wondering why not?
A Modi form-factor pure 'power' amp based on a Class-D module, to power a small speaker system--designed to use either a Magni 3 or Vali 2 as a pre-amp for volume control, as just another level of the Schiit Stack.
Priced in the $99-$149 range, it would be a great kit for a small apartment, dorm room, or second-system.
DaytonAudio produces an outstanding sounding B652-Air speaker for $49.
Why should a committed Schiit-head be forced to buy a cheap Nobsound chip-amp to drive his otherwise great, albeit Affordable system?

A search in this thread of posts by Jason that include the words Class D show numerous posts from Jason not liking Class D. This one, though a couple years old, might sum things up well:

(snip)
Think of Class D as DSD8 or something like that. (like 1/8 the rate of DSD64). Same idea. Throw away the original for an approximation. Doesn't sound so appealing now, does it?

 

[wout31]

I agree that hi-res can have better "sound". It also sounds less "lifelike" to me. Humanity is more present in Redbook, for my ears/brain. I also listen to a lot of pre-digital era music and unless an album has been mastered in hi-res from the original master, any hi-res version will be just an upsampled Redbook file, correct. Which to my ears/brain "sounds like ass" (to quote the man himself.) I do not mean to take anything away from your enjoyment of Hi-res, just sharing what I experience!

"any hi-res version will be just an upsampled Redbook file, correct?"
No, absolutely not, but there are lots of other things that matter. There is dithering, noise shaping, quality of ADC en DAC etc.etc. Good reading about this subject: https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/14949345-high-resolution-audio-bit-depth (hope this link is allowed). And please note that this reading is only about bit depth, As the final disclaimer paragraph reads: sampling rates are an entirely separate issue.Digital audio is not simple (nor is analogue by the way). There is no black or white, right or wrong in audio. Trust your ears and keep reading, investigating but most important enjoying your music.

 

[Ableza]

I may have to giggle uncontrollably. The Pi USB is notorious for its limited capabilities, based, I believe, on the fact that many ports all use a single chip.

It's probably the worst choice combination you can make RPi, USB, Audio.

No wonder you didn't like it. In the immortal words of Beyonce "If you didn't like it you should have put a HAT one it."

Again, to each his own. I didn't want to screw around with an ugly bare board DIY solution. I preferred to purchase something that was purpose built for the application I needed. I have that. Enjoy your Pi!

 

[Robert Padgett]

A search in this thread of posts by Jason that includes the words Class D show numerous posts from Jason not liking Class D. This one, though a couple of years old, might sum things up well:

It was a couple of years ago that I asked Tech at Schiit.
Development of better exploitations of Class-D has occurred in the past few years.
Like many "wishes" we pass along, they may have been considered and rejected, and by all means, I respect their decisions.
I am just thinking that it may be possible, more so now that several years ago.
Schiit-Pi is another example of a technology which they will improve upon.

 

[ashirin]

I did a quick inventory check to compare Tidal's catalog to Qobuz. This is extremely limited in scope. I have been on a 3-month free Tidal trial, and have only been downloading albums as I listened to them. As of now, I have 23 albums downloaded in my Tidal library, and a couple of playlists. This is very little, but it does represent the music I've been listening to the most over those last three months. So, on to the comparison:

On Tidal, of the 23 albums I have in my library, 9 of them are MQA (aka hi-res). A quick check for the same albums on Qobuz reveals some interesting results. Of the same 23 albums, Qobuz offers 17 of them in hi-res (24/44 or higher). On the downside however, 3 of the albums in my Tidal library do not exist on Qobuz at all.

My takeaway: Remember, these are some of my favorite albums. So the fact that Qobuz offers some in hi-res when Tidal does not is notable. However, by the same metric, the fact that some of my favorite albums are not available at all is a pretty big deal. Given that hi-resolution audio is mostly an experiment for me at this stage - like I mentioned previously, I haven't even done a comparison yet to see how much I can head a difference between the MQA tracks and the standard lossless tracks - it's more important that I have access to all of the albums I want to listen to, rather than having more of them available in hi-res. As it stands, there still hasn't been a single instance in which I've looked for something on Tidal and not found it in their catalogue (this has also been my experience with Apple Music and Spotify).

All in all, while I'm glad Qobuz is around and I hope it gets better in the future, I definitely don't think it's better for me right now. Sure, sometimes I fantasize about getting an annual Sublime+ subscription and purchasing albums that I really enjoy in hi-res as I go to keep in my library forever. But that would require me to spend hundreds of dollars in a year and I don't have that budget. Meanwhile, Tidal offers their Hifi tier for $10 a month to students, which I am. My free trial ended earlier this week and I honestly had no problem paying to continue using the service. I find it well worth it's price.

This is just my personal experience of course, and the results so far are based on a small number of albums (though a cursory browsing is making it clear that a noticeable number of albums I like that weren't in my original list are also not on Qobuz). Now that I am planning on sticking with Tidal for the foreseeable future, I'll see how my thoughts evolve as I start to download the music that I consider part of my standard library. As always, I continue to enjoy other people's perspectives on this topic and other topics (most notably a dedicated power line for my hifi.... one day).

 

[GearMe]

It was a couple of years ago that I asked Tech at Schiit.
Development of better exploitations of Class-D has occurred in the past few years.
Like many "wishes" we pass along, they may have been considered and rejected, and by all means, I respect their decisions.
I am just thinking that it may be possible, more so now that several years ago.
Schiit-Pi is another example of a technology which they will improve upon.

Schitt-Pi...the name is what sold them on adding it to the product roadmap!

 

[Ableza]

Not trying to be a Qobuz fanboi or anything, but remember that they are still in public beta in the US and they admit their catalog is currently very limited. They promise it will expand as they release the final version of their product.

I for one find the sound quality of Qobuz through Roon to be superb, equal in all ways to my locally ripped files. I cannot say the same for Tidal streaming through Roon.

 

[mp29k]

Not trying to be a Qobuz fanboi or anything, but remember that they are still in public beta in the US and they admit their catalog is currently very limited. They promise it will expand as they release the final version of their product.

I for one find the sound quality of Qobuz through Roon to be superb, equal in all ways to my locally ripped files. I cannot say the same for Tidal streaming through Roon.

I’m wondering how long it will take to leave beta. I agree the sound is superb and on my system, better than Tidal as well. In fact, many instances of the Qobuz redbook sounding better than Tidal MQA (then again, I’m only getting the first unfold by Roon Core, so who knows).

 

[Oveja Negra]

It was a couple of years ago that I asked Tech at Schiit.
Development of better exploitations of Class-D has occurred in the past few years.

Well, from this Jason's post...

I thought briefly about doing a “Ragnarok Mini” with Class D…and then listened to some available Class D implementations…and then realized the problem with Class D is really output filtering and how it responds to different speaker impedances…and then realized this was a much bigger project and put it aside.

Link

... at least we can deduce he went past the Class D aversion. But I guess having high hopes for a Schiit Class D amp in the near future is, indeed, very very silly.

Regards.

 

[Robert Padgett]

Well, from this Jason's post...
... at least we can deduce he went past the Class D aversion. But I guess having high hopes for a Schiit Class D amp in the near future is, indeed, very very silly.

Regards.

Silly? Who has high hopes?
I just was wondering if that might be something which would be less expensive than a Vidar, but more powerful than a Magni 3 for small speaker systems-- indeed.

I find it even more curious how some folks seem to be able to divine Jason and Mike's thoughts, from a Darko interview at Rocky Mountain...