[asgeir101]

My music is on a NAS, I have a Yggdrassil, I really need a wife-friendly appliance that can connect the two.



I use a win7 pc that works fine; but it's loud and decidedly not wife-proof.

For ~50$ you can get a raspberry pi 2 with volumio and Ac-class wireless that solves that for you, it even has Spotify functionality

 

[jacal01]

I'm sure I'm wasting ink here, but I'm still waiting for a portable/transportable DAC/amp that uses R2R conversion and current loop amplification.  I smell an R2R portable DAC coming off Mike's worktable at some point, but you're married to the circlotron amp topology, so I'm not hopeful of Schiit being my answer.  Questyle has recently released a DAP with a discrete current mode amp, which raises hope, but then their DAC is DS.  Oh, well...  Waitin' a long time for a train don't come, to quote a Mal character line from Serenity.
 
I won't even mention a dedicated CD transport/file server with S/PDIF outputs as well as the frankenstein USB, and dare I say it, I2S?

 

[zeroecco]

Things I hate about my current stereo:
 
1. Overall width of the amp itself (takes up a ton of space on counters. desks, etc needlessly).
2. TV, AppleTV, Roku, etc integration blows, for gods' sake HDMI+ CEC exists people let me change my volume from my remote
 
Things I hate about audio gear today:
1. Crappy over tech'd 2.1 amps (Yes I know, no surround, BUT please don't make me run my self powered sub off a transducer's power signal)
2. Over built lock me in audio streaming gear(I am looking at you Sonos)
 
Things I built to make my audio life suck less (At least try to)
1. Low power audio streaming over wifi (laptop/phone) -> external non-sucky DAC -> External Amp (All Open sourced software w/ a community around it)

 

[Armaegis]

  Surround algorithms are already available, Dolby Headphone, Creative's SBX, Yamaha Silent Cinema, maybe they'd up the cost a little bit by using a proprietary algorithm but their hardware quality would beat out currently available competition (Smyth Realizer)

 
Seeing as they do not want to work with multichannel formats, I highly doubt they'd pursue the licensing and try to reverse it (not trivial, exponentially so for binaural) for headphone usage, especially considering that the market probably isn't that large to begin with. Nevermind that anything that comes in surround format probably already has a two channel mix available anyways.
 
Yeah the Smyth is expensive. That's also an entire company dedicated to a single product and they've been at it a long time. I'm not saying it's completely outside the realm of possibility for Schiit to recreate the tech... but I'm gonna file that one under "highly unlikely". 
 
Now if they were to license the SVS tech from Smyth and incorporate it into a dac... that could be interesting. But that requires relying on someone else's tech which doesn't give you that much control, so again highly unlikely.

 

[x838nwy]

Emotiva is a terrible target to aim at.  Hitting their amplifier price/performance point would require what they have: ownership of a Chinese manufacturing facility.

I believe their most recent pre/processor is made in te US.

 

[Brubacca]

I think that there is room for affordably priced hybrid tube//ss amps. Don't compete directly with Emotiva, but hit their price/power points with Hybrid designs.

Jolida has a 100W amp at $1k. Rogue Audio has amps at $3k and $4k. You make hybrid headphone amps , make hybrid Speaker Amps..
Hit that 100W @ $500 ish and 200/250 W @ $900ish

 

[45longcolt]

What bells and whistles do you think a preamp needs?

 

A pre-amp is a control center. And most contemporary audio/video types are control freaks. They like to optimize every parameter, as they are used to doing on their phones and other devices. Those who aren't can use a Sys, or one of the passive attenuators made by tiny companies who won't be at THEShow Newport. (And heck, if you're the passive attenuator type, you probably don't mind swapping cables when you want to listen to a different source.)
 
Still, I strongly suspect that most potential 21st century customers will want not only a remote to go along with the Rag-style volume control, but also balance and tone controls (preferably defeatable.) Some will even want a mono switch, a tape loop, and perhaps even a rumble filter.
 
I really want that balance knob, especially for use with speakers (hey, maybe that's why Jason resists the balance control - it would violate his self-imposed limit of one twistable knob per chassis! But I digress...) And while I haven't had tone controls for years, I would use them if they were present.
 
 I'm not suggesting Schiit make the pre-amp equivalent of a home theater receiver, really I'm not - though I do wonder just how difficult/expensive it would be to include a touchscreen for these and other functions. And BTW, I'd like three balanced inputs, two RCA inputs and two each balanced and SE outputs; along with a trigger and usb upgradability. Flexibility, man, flexibility!
 
Happy Memorial Day, all!

 

[ZianC]

>What’s the one thing you dislike most about your current audio system?
Getting zapped. My current computer at work, when combined with IEMs, results in intermittent mild electrical shocks.
 
This happens (less frequently) with a USB DAC & amplifier.

 

[magnium]

What I dislike about my current audio setup (desktop Schiit stack):  I don't have time to listen to it.
 
I spend most of my day at work and spend the rest with my partner.  I just can't seem to squeeze any listening time when I'm at home.  This is the reason why I decided to focus on a "to-go" audio setup.  I just put an order for a (trans)portable amp.  Size isn't a concern as I don't mind carrying around a "man bag".  I also intend to use it at work.
 
What I'm looking for now is a portable DAC to go with it, and there is a big hole (for me) in this regard.  There is only one manufacturer of stand-alone DACs that I am aware of.  It's slightly pricier than what I'm ready to pay, and I think some competition in this market would be good to ensure quality products.  There are DAPs and Amp/DACs that advertise line-out capabilities, but most don't offer "true line-out" from the DAC.  Those that have "true line-out" are either expensive mods or Amp/DACs.  It seems like a waste (to me) to pay so much to only use one quality component.
 
What I would like to see is a Schiit (trans)portable Amp/DAC combo but make it modular.  Build a complete package but make it so that you could physically remove the component (either DAC or Amp) that you don't need.  Sell each component separately or combined.  Maybe the base source component can have a user removable/updatable DAC (DAC-rolling at various price points).  Maybe have the base amp component be transformable between solid-state and a hybrid-tube amp.  Maybe this way people can configure their setup to a sound signature that suits their preference.

 

[Rotijon]

  Just a fun little walk-through of some of the goings-on at Schiit, in advance of tomorrow's chapter.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
All photos are by Heather Madison Photography—Tony's girlfriend! She came by and decided to do these shots just on a lark. http://heathermadison.smugmug.com

Wow, you guys werent kidding about your size.

Im an auditor and tbh, whenever i read your post, im always a little skeptical. A headphone amp dac company hitting 7 figures in sales in a niche market, within what 5 year? Amps stacked 3 racks high, pfft, must be a small rack.

When i saw these pics, i was thinking, damn, they look like some of the listed companies i audit.

Just wow.

 

 

[Rotijon]

Im looking for a kind of music server with AES-EBU output. As long as the storage drives can be expended im cool.

A portable amp/dac the size of an iphone. Just needs to power IEMs and most efficient closed back headphones. I know this segment is full of people, but none of them do it for a reasonable price, or if they do, i just dont trust the quality.

Jon

 

[evillamer]

Is Schiit the Tesla of Audiophile Industry?

 

[Rotijon]

  Is Schiit the Tesla of Audiophile Industry?

Seems like it.

 

[jimmers]

  Is Schiit the Tesla of Audiophile Industry?

 
 

  Seems like it.

So who's the Edison?
 
(or are you talking Muskmobile ?)

 

[catspaw]

For me, Portable amp/DAC by Schiif seems like one thing Id like to have.
I use a Cowon i9 with HE-400 and its actually rather good, but I miss my now retired E17.
DAC upgrades are also one of the most important things I can think about.
Id love to have an Ydggra... Yddgra.... 
an Yggy but everytime I think about saving cash for it I have to remind myself that I just dont care about audio THAT much.
I was checking other dacs and many of them seem to be going down in price over the time, while shiit goes up due to upgrades. (Then again that is really cool since it means you dont have to shell out all the cash at once, and you never end up with something you wont use).