[wout31]

I heard your stuff measures bad. By what standard? Most of our stuff will measure quite a bit better than the best transducers, which will struggle to get better than -50dB THD (and that’s in the midrange, not in the bass, where they might be 10-100x worse.) Here’s the reality: we make some stuff that measures pretty good, and some stuff that measures not so good. This shouldn’t be shocking, considering we make both tube gear and multibit DACs. Both of these types of gear don’t measure as good as solid-state or op-amp or delta-sigma designs. And (to us), that’s fine, because measurements aren’t the be-all and end-all. If that isn’t congruent with what you want from your products, then that’s fine; we’re just being up-front about it. Here’s what to expect from our gear:

So glad that this kind of writing is in your last chapter. Hope people read it over and over again to grasp what is said there. Great chapter. Thanks a bunch. Looking forward to Xmas (and beyond) to meet Unison USB™.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

So glad that this kind of writing is in your last chapter. Hope people read it over and over again to grasp what is said there. Great chapter. Thanks a bunch. Looking forward to Xmas (and beyond) to meet Unison USB™.

Yeah, it was really brought home when I was looking at transducer specs the other day. KEF quotes THD for the LS50 less than 0.4% from 170Hz-20KHz at 90dB. This, in dB terms, is about -48dB. This is second and third harmonics only and it excludes the lower bass region, where excursion increases and physics means the THD will increase significantly, perhaps by orders of magnitude. And yet this is a GOOD speaker specification.

Read that again: -48dB.

Want a headphone? Audeze quotes many of its LCD series at 0.1%, or -60dB, at 100dB output. This is very very good.

But again, it's -60dB.

What can we learn from this?

1. When you're talking electronics measurements of, say -110dB THD+N or -100dB (or even -90dB or -80dB), it's well below a good transducer.
2. It's easy to turn this into a numbers game where "-116dB is twice as good as -110dB!" Yes it is. But both numbers are also like pissing in the Pacific Ocean of transducers.
3. Ever thought about the other side of the transducer equation, as in, "what is the THD for the microphones used to record your music?" Yeah, I don't know either.

Now, this isn't a screed to suggest we should all go after the eeeeeevil transducer makers, because let's face it, transducers have the hardest job to do. And, like we've been saying from the start, you should choose a transducer before electronics, because that's what makes the most difference.

 

[Ableza]

When discussing S/N or THD specifications I like to use the line from my good friend Kevin that is in my sig below:

 

[tekprimehifi]

Received my RAG 2 yesterday. What a great amp! Really driving my LCD-4 HD800 LS50's well.

Being that the current topic is moving forward, perhaps its time to analyze older statements.
From 2013

Power switches will stay in the back.
We make our stuff one way, and one way only--no color options, switch options, gain options, etc--in order to maintain the lowest possible price.

Nearly 7 years later and we have, front mounted standby buttons, 2 color options, and products with both gain and switching options! The un-turnable Battleschiit has come about!

So this begs a few questions...
When are we getting the rest of the standby buttons?
How many buttons are too many buttons?
Do you feel constrained moving forward with products that have more functionality than can be easily displayed with your design aesthetic?
Have displays ever been considered?
Will the new case design tickle down into other products?
How will this effect pricing for hard to machine and assemble products like Yggy?
What's BEYOND multibit?


Back to the RAG 2 and my 2020 Gripes
Where's my standby button? Ok fine, I can "borrow" a power strip from a neighbor. Hey, its even rack mountable, looks half decent, and has a front mounted power switch! An $800 solution, glad I "borrowed" it. But it only has 1 switch and it control's all the sockets.... schitt.... and since the preouts are live with the headphone output selected, I guess ill need a second one to turn my subwoofer on and off... double schiit!
Lets get real, when you start wishing other manufacturers would design accessory products like a rack mountable front accessible multi switch power strip you have to wonder if there wouldn't be an easier uh... "solution" Going integrated is supposed to make things simpler! It's a new decade Jason, what have you got for me?

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Received my RAG 2 yesterday. What a great amp! Really driving my LCD-4 HD800 LS50's well.

Being that the current topic is moving forward, perhaps its time to analyze older statements.
From 2013

Nearly 7 years later and we have, front mounted standby buttons, 2 color options, and products with both gain and switching options! The un-turnable Battleschiit has come about!

So this begs a few questions...
When are we getting the rest of the standby buttons?
How many buttons are too many buttons?
Do you feel constrained moving forward with products that have more functionality than can be easily displayed with your design aesthetic?
Have displays ever been considered?
Will the new case design tickle down into other products?
How will this effect pricing for hard to machine and assemble products like Yggy?
What's BEYOND multibit?


Back to the RAG 2 and my 2020 Gripes
Where's my standby button? Ok fine, I can "borrow" a power strip from a neighbor. Hey, its even rack mountable, looks half decent, and has a front mounted power switch! An $800 solution, glad I "borrowed" it. But it only has 1 switch and it control's all the sockets.... schitt.... and since the preouts are live with the headphone output selected, I guess ill need a second one to turn my subwoofer on and off... double schiit!
Lets get real, when you start wishing other manufacturers would design accessory products like a rack mountable front accessible multi switch power strip you have to wonder if there wouldn't be an easier uh... "solution" Going integrated is supposed to make things simpler! It's a new decade Jason, what have you got for me?

When are we getting the rest of the standby buttons?
Products that consume significant power may get standby buttons, but right now that's really limited to Aegir. Ragnarok 2 I use (also with LS50s) and I just leave it on. Personal preference, I know.

How many buttons are too many buttons?
Porsche Panamera dashboard.

Do you feel constrained moving forward with products that have more functionality than can be easily displayed with your design aesthetic?
Not yet, but the transport will need a display. I considered flashing the time in hex, but Mike overruled me.

Have displays ever been considered?
Yes, for the transport.

Will the new case design tickle down into other products?
It tickles me that the new case is working well, but yeah, we've been moving towards a unified design for a long while. We'll get there eventually.

How will this effect pricing for hard to machine and assemble products like Yggy?
Impossible to tell, depends on what goes inside them.

What's BEYOND multibit?
More multibit!

 

[yonson]

What does it say about me that I had to Google Devon Tread?

Ditto, I just figured it was a gaudy watch (IMHO), upon searching, I was correct...

 

[yonson]

Now, this isn't a screed to suggest we should all go after the eeeeeevil transducer makers, because let's face it, transducers have the hardest job to do. And, like we've been saying from the start, you should choose a transducer before electronics, because that's what makes the most difference.

I was recently scoffed at because I'm using a pair of Vidar on my towers instead of something costing an order of magnitude more...

 

[porchwizard]

What's BEYOND multibit?
More multibit!

Quantum Multibit
Also rans: Super Multibit, Multibit 3D, Megabit

 

[golfbravobravo]

I was recently scoffed at because I'm using a pair of Vidar on my towers instead of something costing an order of magnitude more...

And how do they sound? I have a Vidar (one;y one, I'm poor) on my DIs and it sounds amazing!!!!

 

[decodm]

Nearly every month, we do a public blind or double-blind test of our gear at the Schiitr; we’ll have one this week that explores both the differences between delta-sigma and multibit DACs, and between three different phono cartridges (all options we are considering for the Sol turntable).

Pardon my curiosity, but any chance you could tell us which cartridges will be tested? Or will that have to wait until the testing is done?

 

[yonson]

And how do they sound? I have a Vidar (one;y one, I'm poor) on my DIs and it sounds amazing!!!!

I'm quite happy with them, other than the over-current issues when REALLY pushing them hard into a 4 ohm mono load, although I have pushed the one on my 4 ohm stereo setup into over-current as well, once again that was when I really had it cranked up, I have yet to push one into thermal protection.

 

[Matez]

also with LS50s

If I may ask, do you use anything else aside those KEFs?

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Pardon my curiosity, but any chance you could tell us which cartridges will be tested? Or will that have to wait until the testing is done?

Let's save it until after the listening.

If I may ask, do you use anything else aside those KEFs?

Not at the moment, it's for my desktop system. I got tired of trying to find some small powered monitors that didn't hiss like crazy, so I went to using Ragnarok 2 and the LS50s on the desk. Kinda stupid overkill, but it sounds good. I also run my headphones off it. And the Raal resistor box when the Jotunheim R isn't available.

We run a bunch of different speakers off Ragnarok 2 at the Schiitr, including Magneplanars. It's a stout amp.

 

[belgiangenius]

Now, this isn't a screed to suggest we should all go after the eeeeeevil transducer makers, because let's face it, transducers have the hardest job to do. And, like we've been saying from the start, you should choose a transducer before electronics, because that's what makes the most difference.

That's why I'm using Yamaha NS-1000s that were manufactured the year I was born. I rebuilt the crossovers with new and modern components. I've yet to hear a speaker that sounds better to me! Oh, I'm sure better sounding speakers exist. I'm also quite sure I couldn't afford them.

Speakers are undoubtedly the most complicated link in the audio chain.

 

[Tim van der Leeuw]

Ditto, I just figured it was a gaudy watch (IMHO), upon searching, I was correct...

I figured exactly the same, thanks for saving me the trouble of Googling it...