There's a lot of questions there, but I'll see if I can find a few I can inject my thoughts into.
Portable amp or DAC/amp. those ideas point towards a relatively large device with very high power output and some unique takes on power supply and topology (discrete.)...Which is where I’d ask…would you be interested in a larger-than-normal portable amp/DAC that provides truly stellar performance?
Honestly, the follow up question to that is "How big are we talkin'?". Are you looking at something large and high power like the
iBasso PB2? Larger? Smaller? Personally, if I can't fit the amp/dac with my phone in my pocket, I'm not buying it, despite the fact that a portable battery powered DAC/amp is possibly the thing I want to see most from Schiit. If you're able to make something that works well, sounds good, and fits in my pocket with the pricing you guys are known for, it would be an absolute buy for me, but if I need to carry around a bag or satchel to hold it, I'm not gonna bite.
It's also worth thinking about what headphones you think people will use with a high powered portable dac/amp. If it's for on-the-go use, you're not going to be pairing it with an open headphone, which is where the majority of power hungry headphones are. Narrowing that even further to headphones that are reasonably portable and you end up with even fewer headphones, as any headphone meant for any kind of portable use has been designed to be low impedance and sensitive.
A nice sized portable smartphone compatible dac/amp with outstanding performance (maybe with a battery as a nice bonus)? I'm already salivating!
But a large high powered smartphone dac/amp? I'm not sure I see the benefit, and I can only see it as being very niche even for the audiophile market.
Combined desktop DAC/amp. If we come up with a solution that sidesteps the obsolescence problem and doesn’t have problems with digital noise in the analog amp section, sure, maybe there’s something there. What do you think?
Honestly, I don't see it being worth the trouble. Combined dac/amps only make things more complicated, and are really only truly useful in the case of a portable dac/amp (because your pocket only has so much room and you don't want a bunch of devices sloshing around with cables everywhere). On the desk, it doesn't make much sense because space isn't a big deal, and you can always hide a DAC. If anyone could explain to me why they consider a dac/amp so important? Perhaps there is some benefit I haven't thought of?
Speaker amps. Do we shoot above Emotiva (in price) with big, heavy, impressive boxes filled nifty circlotron designs and intelligent amp management? Or do we try to go head-to-head with this behemoth price-wise, but with smaller and more efficient amplifier designs (think small Class AB, not D, think fan)?
Would something that doesn’t look big and impressive sell well against their iron?
That's the big question. Can you out-Emotiva Emotiva? I don't think jumping above them in price would be the best idea unless you can come up with something
seriously compelling. There is just too much market saturation in the $1000+ area. The sub-$1000 area that is currently dominated by Emotiva, however, doesn't have nearly as many players (one of the reasons Emotiva does so well). Now, it's worth mentioning that because Emotiva's products are lambasted often simply because of their price (it's cheap, therefore it can't possibly be good). That, plus your internet-only sales not only makes you a threat to a fairly influential dealer network in the speaker business, who will be happy to drag your name through the mud because you don't let them have their cut (everyone I know in the hifi store area blanket hates companies that don't go through dealers, and says they make poor quality poor sounding products), but it may not match up well with the aging clientele for speaker equipment (the headphone market is compatibly much younger).
I don't have potential solutions for everything there, but I do have a couple ideas. Of course, it may be best not to out-Emotiva Emotiva. The lower price brackets don't have a whole lot going for them other than what Emotiva brings to the table, and while I would love to see a low priced Schiit high power class AB amp, it may be better to start with something different, like the smaller amps. Smaller amps can work in the speaker market, NAD seems to have done a very good job with their little D3020, which has quite the reputation. However, making an amp with fans might be stretching it, unless the entire top of the amp is one giant fan running at low (inaudible) RPMs. Another option is tubes. Emotiva wanted to make affordable tube amps with Bob Carver, but the deal went through. Schiit may be able to make either an affordable tube preamp or hybrid tube amp that would keep them in a similar price bracket as Emotiva without being direct competition. Another possibility is to vary the sound signature. Emotiva products are known to be "cold", making warmer sounding affordable amps may also help separate you from Emotiva.
As for the reputation problem, there isn't much you can do about the dealer network, but that hasn't stopped Emotiva from doing well. However, the "low-end reputation" problem may be helped by releasing a couple kilobuck+ offerings that are really compelling, then once your reputation is seated you can move down to the more affordable stuff.
Of course, this is just the thoughts of someone who's never actually run a business.
Preamps. Okay, now we’re talking. I can see opportunities for remote-controlled, relay-switched stepped attenuator preamps—passive, active, tube, etc. There’s a shortage of good affordable products at this price point, and I think we can really make some cool stuff here.
Go for it! Of course, what you're describing sounds an awful lot like the Emotiva XDA-2, but analog. Of course, the XDA-2 is an amazing little device, and I'm surprised more companies haven't made similar preamps. Making a digital style (ala XDA-2) would also be an awesome potential option (though, an analog version with a separate Modi Uber could serve the same purpose). Add tubes to it and you'll make me a very happy man!
What’s the one thing you dislike most about your current audio system?
I'm pretty happy with my audio setup at the moment (with the exception of not having enough of it
), but one thing that I would like is some way to have a DSP correction system for headphones. Speakers get some nice room and speaker response correcting software and hardware. Currently, I correct my HD800's using Equalizer APO, but I have to use Tyll's response graphs, not ones for my own headphones, and I have to join two unfriendly pieces of software together to design and implement my FR corrections. After that, I can't remeasure to make sure everything is good, and I can only affect FR, which is a shame. Something that makes this process both easier and more effective would be amazing. Of course, I know how expensive headphone measuring setups are, which is why I doubt much can come from this problem.
I use the CEntrance HiFi-M8 as my sole headphone setup. I need/want a portable rig, and I can only afford the one, so no Schiit for me so far. The HiFi-M8 was my choice for what Schiit usually stands for, AFAIK - good performance, good value. It's not small by any means, at 5" X 3.25" X 1.3". It's not light, either. I don't really mind any of that, I actually like it quite a bit, considering its sound quality and power. The battery life could be longer, but that's the price to pay for having a portable unit which can drive many of the most power-hungry headphones. Drives my Sennheiser HD-800 with ease.
