Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up
- Thread starter Jason Stoddard
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Robert Padgett
500+ Head-Fier
I will be darned...the new Rag 2 remote is identical to the remote for the PS Audio SPROUT100, with a different insert for the controls. Great minds think alike...
ashirin
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I noticed a while ago that the remote Audioengine uses for it's powered speakers is also the same remote. A while back when Jason mentioned upgrading to the current remote from the original plastic one, I remember him saying it didn't cost them much more. Which is incredible because the original remote was complete Schiit, and the current one is pretty good in my opinion. It looks like that company has cornered the market on affordable quality remotes.
Yeah, new remote looks nice at glance, but older one has clearly protruding buttons on flat surface around, which makes much easier to find out button by your finger and operate without looking at it.
Surface around buttons on new one is not flat and recessed around the buttons while height of the buttons are low, which makes it not easy to operate without looking at it. For me, though new one look gorgeous made in solid aluminum body, as Japanese, new one look and feel poorly made.
I am using both placed side by side depending on my feeling.
Old one:
I
I
.)
I
I
New one:
I
/
)
\
I
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Misanthrope4
New Head-Fier
clique
/klēk,klik/
noun
noun: clique; plural noun: cliques
a small group of people, with shared interests or other features in common, who spend time together and do not readily allow others to join them.
So you are happy in your little insular club bubble, Good for you, Enjoy!
I will not be visiting this site again, because I am too OLD for FAN BOY CLUBS, so ENJOY!
Jason Stoddard
Sponsor: Schiit Audio
Hey all,
Sorry to be scarce after the show. We're coming up on a bunch of new launches, and engineering is, well, kinda insane around now. I've literally been going nonstop since coming back.
As far as the show...nothing super exciting to report, other than it went uneventfully. Nothing failed, nothing caught on fire. That's a good show. The new Magneplanar LRSes are very nice, and Emotiva reminded me why I needed to pay more attention to my home theater. Time for some upgrades there. (Note: this DOES NOT mean we're going to be doing home theater products. I use Emotiva.)
What's maybe more interesting is what happened before and after the show; an ongoing customer support issue involving me and a new Cookshack smoker.
For the uninitiated, smokers can get as crazy as audio stuff. I've long just used an inexpensive Masterbuilt. Nothing wrong with that. However, once I tasted what Cookshack could do, I always told myself I'd get one. However, it turned out that I didn't need to. Rina bought one for me, a top of the line Americue.
Aside: horrrrrrribbllle name, but that's part of the charm.
Anyway, I got the smoker, delivered in a giant box on a pallet, and unboxed it. It's a....rustic looking device (think "made by good ol' boys with stainless sheet and tack welders in a garage). But that's kinda how they're supposed to look. Smokers are tools. They aren't supposed to be cool or sexy.
One problem straight off: the control board for the electronics was free-floating in the top. Some people would pitch a fit. I found the screws and put it back on. Ah well, Schiit happens, Cookshack is a small company like us, I get it.
Plugged it in. Display came up. Looked like the control board wasn't a problem.
Time to do the "seasoning." This is running the smoker with some wood, but no meat, at highish temperatures, for 4 hours. I set the temperature and time, then pressed the Start button. The display changed to a countdown timer and temperature reading. Everything looked fine.
Then...click!
The GFI popped.
That didn't sound good. I reset the GFI, but it wouldn't reset. The breaker the GFI was on popped, as well. I reset both and tried again.
Click!
Ah crap.
I tried on a non-GFI outlet.
Click!
Ah double crap.
I tested our outlets for proper phasing and grounding. I tried it on a 20A GFI.
Click!
Ah triple crap!
Again, now, the temptation might be to go thermonuclear on them. This was an expensive product, and had one defect out of the box. Nah. I sent an email to their customer service, explaining what happened, and letting them know that I know how it goes, we make stuff in the USA too, Schiit Happens, and all that.
I got a response back the next day. They thought it was the element. They'd send me a new one, if I wanted to swap it out. I told them I did.
Four days later, I got the element. I figured it would be an easy swap, but it turned out to be an odyssey of 16 screws, including two slotted ones without captive nuts, fiberglass matting, and razor-sharp sheared stainless panels. I laid myself open pretty good on one of them. But still, if I had a working smoker...
I plugged it in, crossed my fingers. Got a display! Set time and temp. Got the countdown.
Click!
You gotta be kidding me.
Okay, so now I am a bit pissed. The temptation to flame them via email was great. Still, I sat down and sent them a mild reply that the element hadn't worked, what next?
What's next turned out to be them sending me a replacement smoker. A week later, I had another smoker on a pallet in the garage. Did the unbox thing again. The control board was in place. That was good. The smoker started up. I got to the countdown....
Click!
No. ****ing. Way.
Okay, now I'm livid. **** this, I'm going back to Masterbuilt. These guys were incompetent, they couldn't manage the power inrush, there were ways to do that, they were just a bit outside their engineering envelope.
But again, the email I sent was mild. I told them that I'd decided that it would be best to send both smokers back, and gave them my reasons (all the testing I'd done, plus the fact that I'd run multiple high-current devices on the same outlets, including an electric pressure washer, compressor, and Picobrew Zymatic), plus the fact that I have a bit of experience with current inrush (think tube heaters) and that my wife was a former theater master electrician, so she checked the plugs and breakers and confirmed they were right.
They responded. Sure, I could do that, but they really really thought it was the element, they had a batch that were tripping GFIs. They'd send me a personally-checked-by-the-VP element and that would probably do it.
Sigh.
We'd already tried that, hadn't we?
I thought for a long time about just letting it go. But the smoker was there, I'd already changed the element once, so it would be easier the next time. Heck with it, give it a try.
The next day, I had the replacement element. I did the dance to swap it out. Both Rina and I stood there as I powered it up. We got a screen! I put in the temperature and time. We got a countdown.
And.....
No click!
To make a long story short, the new element cruised through the seasoning process with no trouble at all. Four hours, 275 degrees, two Cookshack Bangs later (glad I read up on that one before it happened), and I have a usable smoker.
The moral? There isn't really one. Other than, well, sometimes things aren't perfect. And most of the times that's OK. Stay calm, try to smile...and things will work out.
All the best,
Jason
Sorry to be scarce after the show. We're coming up on a bunch of new launches, and engineering is, well, kinda insane around now. I've literally been going nonstop since coming back.
As far as the show...nothing super exciting to report, other than it went uneventfully. Nothing failed, nothing caught on fire. That's a good show. The new Magneplanar LRSes are very nice, and Emotiva reminded me why I needed to pay more attention to my home theater. Time for some upgrades there. (Note: this DOES NOT mean we're going to be doing home theater products. I use Emotiva.)
What's maybe more interesting is what happened before and after the show; an ongoing customer support issue involving me and a new Cookshack smoker.
For the uninitiated, smokers can get as crazy as audio stuff. I've long just used an inexpensive Masterbuilt. Nothing wrong with that. However, once I tasted what Cookshack could do, I always told myself I'd get one. However, it turned out that I didn't need to. Rina bought one for me, a top of the line Americue.
Aside: horrrrrrribbllle name, but that's part of the charm.
Anyway, I got the smoker, delivered in a giant box on a pallet, and unboxed it. It's a....rustic looking device (think "made by good ol' boys with stainless sheet and tack welders in a garage). But that's kinda how they're supposed to look. Smokers are tools. They aren't supposed to be cool or sexy.
One problem straight off: the control board for the electronics was free-floating in the top. Some people would pitch a fit. I found the screws and put it back on. Ah well, Schiit happens, Cookshack is a small company like us, I get it.
Plugged it in. Display came up. Looked like the control board wasn't a problem.
Time to do the "seasoning." This is running the smoker with some wood, but no meat, at highish temperatures, for 4 hours. I set the temperature and time, then pressed the Start button. The display changed to a countdown timer and temperature reading. Everything looked fine.
Then...click!
The GFI popped.
That didn't sound good. I reset the GFI, but it wouldn't reset. The breaker the GFI was on popped, as well. I reset both and tried again.
Click!
Ah crap.
I tried on a non-GFI outlet.
Click!
Ah double crap.
I tested our outlets for proper phasing and grounding. I tried it on a 20A GFI.
Click!
Ah triple crap!
Again, now, the temptation might be to go thermonuclear on them. This was an expensive product, and had one defect out of the box. Nah. I sent an email to their customer service, explaining what happened, and letting them know that I know how it goes, we make stuff in the USA too, Schiit Happens, and all that.
I got a response back the next day. They thought it was the element. They'd send me a new one, if I wanted to swap it out. I told them I did.
Four days later, I got the element. I figured it would be an easy swap, but it turned out to be an odyssey of 16 screws, including two slotted ones without captive nuts, fiberglass matting, and razor-sharp sheared stainless panels. I laid myself open pretty good on one of them. But still, if I had a working smoker...
I plugged it in, crossed my fingers. Got a display! Set time and temp. Got the countdown.
Click!
You gotta be kidding me.
Okay, so now I am a bit pissed. The temptation to flame them via email was great. Still, I sat down and sent them a mild reply that the element hadn't worked, what next?
What's next turned out to be them sending me a replacement smoker. A week later, I had another smoker on a pallet in the garage. Did the unbox thing again. The control board was in place. That was good. The smoker started up. I got to the countdown....
Click!
No. ****ing. Way.
Okay, now I'm livid. **** this, I'm going back to Masterbuilt. These guys were incompetent, they couldn't manage the power inrush, there were ways to do that, they were just a bit outside their engineering envelope.
But again, the email I sent was mild. I told them that I'd decided that it would be best to send both smokers back, and gave them my reasons (all the testing I'd done, plus the fact that I'd run multiple high-current devices on the same outlets, including an electric pressure washer, compressor, and Picobrew Zymatic), plus the fact that I have a bit of experience with current inrush (think tube heaters) and that my wife was a former theater master electrician, so she checked the plugs and breakers and confirmed they were right.
They responded. Sure, I could do that, but they really really thought it was the element, they had a batch that were tripping GFIs. They'd send me a personally-checked-by-the-VP element and that would probably do it.
Sigh.
We'd already tried that, hadn't we?
I thought for a long time about just letting it go. But the smoker was there, I'd already changed the element once, so it would be easier the next time. Heck with it, give it a try.
The next day, I had the replacement element. I did the dance to swap it out. Both Rina and I stood there as I powered it up. We got a screen! I put in the temperature and time. We got a countdown.
And.....
No click!
To make a long story short, the new element cruised through the seasoning process with no trouble at all. Four hours, 275 degrees, two Cookshack Bangs later (glad I read up on that one before it happened), and I have a usable smoker.
The moral? There isn't really one. Other than, well, sometimes things aren't perfect. And most of the times that's OK. Stay calm, try to smile...and things will work out.
All the best,
Jason
Zer0.p0int.Zer0
100+ Head-Fier
Don’t let the door hit you in the a**....
Ableza
Headphoneus Supremus
Come on, "Americque" is pure Southern salesmanship. Is the smoker from the Southeast? They could do specialty models focussing on regional cooking styles like "Carolinaque" and "Texaque" or even "KC Bar-B-Que". Well that last one might infringe on an existing trademark...
At least they knew what the problem was. Oh, those parts suppliers...
JCS17
New Head-Fier
@Misanthrope4 ,
OK, I can't let this pass without comment.
I rarely post & am fairly new around here, but I have never felt unwelcome! I think if you are polite and friendly, you will find a welcome here!
Cheers, Jim
jsiegel14072
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Probably the California "Smoke" Police, cutting off power to emitting device.
Glad you found a way around their cyber attack on your GFI breaker.
ScottFree
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grapefarmer
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Jason -- When you get a chance, the Aegir still needs photos of the inside/board. Also, do you plan to post any APx555 reports for your amps. Fulla 2 and Magni 3 have one, as do the latest Modi's. It would be interesting to see one for Vidar or Aegir, but it may also create more headaches for you. Just curious.
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sennsay
1000+ Head-Fier
Just for a change of conversation, I came across this excellent little interview with the great Dan D'Agostino, of Krell and D'Agostino fame, discussing with Steve Guttenberg on the "measurements rule all .. or not" issue.
From the master himself, it's enlightening to hear his personal take on the subject. Seems a lovely man and a true master of his craft.
From the master himself, it's enlightening to hear his personal take on the subject. Seems a lovely man and a true master of his craft.
ImagesbyMurray
500+ Head-Fier
Nice!
Casual purchases are one thing, but doing due diligence is another story. In effect, entering a partnership even if you don't really realize it at the time.
I'm a network admin for a school district making a decision to go with hosted IP based telephony based services (Cisco). We had been hosting this ourselves, but hardware + support costs really didn't make sense moving forward.
Long story short, after a massive cutover (9000 endpoints) we noticed that 911 call locations were intermittently not resolving correctly. Teachers loudly proclaiming "student safety" etc....
We finally determined that a misconfigured core switch (Layer 2 - UDP - Voice) was running out of address space causing the failover. It took both us and the vendor, working together to figure it out... messy? yah!
It's easy to scream when frustrated - but respecting the partnership, intentional or not, is always more productive
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