[Odin412]

As I said, we'll see what happens. My personal preference is silver, so whatever solution we come up with has to make me happy. Which bodes well for the availability of brushed product--even if it ends up being more rare, or more expensive.

I like the silver finish and I hope that you'll keep offering it, even if it's a bit more expensive.

 

[cschock]

Solid state preamps: first articles came in for Freya S today, and they passed all tests. Give us 2-3 weeks and we'll be shipping those again. For a while. No guarantees on future availability. We're still waiting on Sagas of both flavors. Remember that spooling up new PCB assembly firms is like matting the gas on a 1978 Porsche Turbo...wait...wait...wait...wait...ZOOM! We're still on like the third or fourth "wait."

Great news Jason, thank you! And I even have the money ready to burn when it is available.

 

[Randolf711]

I think it’s smart to not panic about the chassis finish because Jason seems committed to make sure it looks nice.

 

[433521]

Treated myself to new tubes for my Mjolnir 2:

I'm liking the Mullard 12ax7 new production CORRECTION: cv4004 / 12ax7 not sure if there's a diff

 

[Alcophone]

If the current growth of Schiit is any indication, you'll get there eventually. Give it a little time… ;p

It would be interesting to see where Schiit could go with a more Elon Musk style approach to vertical integration.

Can't get any more tubes? Let's build tubes.
Can't get US-made resistors? Let's build resistors.
Can't get delta sigma chips you like? Let's build chips.
Can't get decent metal? Let's build metal.

I highly suspect this would be even less viable than starting an American car company or a new rocket launch provider, but it would be refreshing to see instead of the alternative, namely passing on the suppliers' shortcomings to the customer.

But given how SOL went, I don't think it's in the cards. I guess it's not quite as serious of a mission as accelerating the world's transition to renewable energy before the planet is totally screwed or making life interplanetary before our galaxy is consumed by the sun. If nothing else that inspires some people to be more relentless, and given how close Tesla and SpaceX came to bankruptcy on more than one occasion, I can understand not going there.

 

[cschock]

But given how SOL went, I don't think it's in the cards. I guess it's not quite as serious of a mission as accelerating the world's transition to renewable energy before the planet is totally screwed or making life interplanetary before our galaxy is consumed by the sun. If nothing else that inspires some people to be more relentless, and given how close Tesla and SpaceX came to bankruptcy on more than one occasion, I can understand not going there.

Just quibbling a bit, but the sun couldn't possibly consume our galaxy. It could certainly mess up our Solar System pretty bad if it went super nova or burned out though. And in either case, colonizing Mars wouldn't much help Humanity, we'd be screwed there as much as on Earth in either scenario. His sights, at least in the shorter term, are to try to make sure if something happens to the Earth, Humanity can survive it. The Sun has probably got a couple billion years on it still, he is worried about our making the Earth uninhabitable one way or another (climate change, nuclear holocaust, zombie apocalypse, choose your own end of the world scenario.)

In order for us to outlive the Sun, we'd have to be an interstellar species, a far harder row to hoe than interplanetary. Just finding a probably habitable planet is hard at interstellar distances, much less getting humans there alive and in numbers enough with gear enough to establish a self sustaining colony. You probably knew all that though, so I will head back to my nerd closet!

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

It would be interesting to see where Schiit could go with a more Elon Musk style approach to vertical integration.

They would go the way of the dodo in no time.

I'm a big fan of vertical integration myself, but it takes an insane amount of focus, restraint, money, and manpower to get right. Not either-or, but all four. If you lack in just one of those four quadrants, you're toast.

 

[Ableza]

It would be interesting to see where Schiit could go with a more Elon Musk style approach to vertical integration.

Yea, I don't think Schiit started with "I made millions from selling PayPal" money to startup.

 

[Alcophone]

Just quibbling a bit, but the sun couldn't possibly consume our galaxy. It could certainly mess up our Solar System pretty bad if it went super nova or burned out though.

Whoops. Yes, that. My nerdiness is shallow.

And in either case, colonizing Mars wouldn't much help Humanity, we'd be screwed there as much as on Earth in either scenario.

Obviously. It's a relatively small first step. Lots to learn and invent to make even that happen.
If we can't make Mars happen (at least for a while), everything beyond our solar system is clearly out of reach as well.

His sights, at least in the shorter term, are to try to make sure if something happens to the Earth, Humanity can survive it.

Could be that he stated that as a short term goal specifically, but yeah, the long term goal is survival of "consciousness" as he put it, and it's just a matter of time before the sun consumes Earth and its neighbors, so eventually that has to be overcome or we'll go poof anyway.

The Sun has probably got a couple billion years on it still

Yeah. Luckily we don't have to worry about that for quite a while. But who knows how long it takes to figure out how to survive beyond that, so it's not clear how long we could wait before starting to work on it. As climate change shows, humans like to procrastinate on such issues.

he is worried about our making the Earth uninhabitable one way or another (climate change, nuclear holocaust, zombie apocalypse, choose your own end of the world scenario.)

Sure, because currently that would mean consciousness dies sooner. I think there's a number of conceivable non-extinction events that would cripple our ability to leave Earth, which could be bad enough to seal our fate.

In order for us to outlive the Sun, we'd have to be an interstellar species, a far harder row to hoe than interplanetary. Just finding a probably habitable planet is hard at interstellar distances, much less getting humans there alive and in numbers enough with gear enough to establish a self sustaining colony.

Yeah, it seems like he's very focused on just the rocket part right now (hauling lots of stuff and humans to Mars), while even the details of what a city on Mars would look like aren't all that fleshed out yet, let alone how to escape the sun's fate. He will have to be the first of many visionaries to carry that torch, ultimately. Or figure out immortality, but for now I just hope he doesn't die testing the latest alpha version of full self driving.

You probably knew all that though, so I will head back to my nerd closet!

Haha, the original correction was certainly needed. Thank you for the exchange!

 

[macdonjh]

It would be interesting to see where Schiit could go with a more Elon Musk style approach to vertical integration.

Can't get any more tubes? Let's build tubes.
Can't get US-made resistors? Let's build resistors.
Can't get delta sigma chips you like? Let's build chips.
Can't get decent metal? Let's build metal.

I highly suspect this would be even less viable than starting an American car company or a new rocket launch provider, but it would be refreshing to see instead of the alternative, namely passing on the suppliers' shortcomings to the customer.

But given how SOL went, I don't think it's in the cards. I guess it's not quite as serious of a mission as accelerating the world's transition to renewable energy before the planet is totally screwed or making life interplanetary before our galaxy is consumed by the sun. If nothing else that inspires some people to be more relentless, and given how close Tesla and SpaceX came to bankruptcy on more than one occasion, I can understand not going there.

Just quibbling a bit, but the sun couldn't possibly consume our galaxy. It could certainly mess up our Solar System pretty bad if it went super nova or burned out though. And in either case, colonizing Mars wouldn't much help Humanity, we'd be screwed there as much as on Earth in either scenario. His sights, at least in the shorter term, are to try to make sure if something happens to the Earth, Humanity can survive it. The Sun has probably got a couple billion years on it still, he is worried about our making the Earth uninhabitable one way or another (climate change, nuclear holocaust, zombie apocalypse, choose your own end of the world scenario.)

In order for us to outlive the Sun, we'd have to be an interstellar species, a far harder row to hoe than interplanetary. Just finding a probably habitable planet is hard at interstellar distances, much less getting humans there alive and in numbers enough with gear enough to establish a self sustaining colony. You probably knew all that though, so I will head back to my nerd closet!

According to astronomers' current theories and models, our Sun will start turning into a red giant in 5 billion years or so. When that happens it will consume Mercury, Venus, perhaps Earth, and turn Mars into a torched cinder.

The Sun doesn't have enough mass to explode in a nova or supernova.

Elon and Jeff have some time to get their launch vehicles working well before a mass exodus is needed.

 

[ev666il]

Out of curiosity—if immortality could indeed be achieved (putting aside the end of the sun’s life cycle for the sake of argument), would you *actually* want it?

 

[macdonjh]

I like the silver finish and I hope that you'll keep offering it, even if it's a bit more expensive.

I am used to silver and black, generally anodized. But the thought of powder coating does open lots of possibilities. Small runs of weird colors if enough people sign up and put up some earnest money? Even Hello Kitty pink (just not UNC blue, please).

 

[macdonjh]

New media server...
Black was back-ordered.

 

[Alcophone]

Out of curiosity—if immortality could indeed be achieved (putting aside the end of the sun’s life cycle for the sake of argument), would you *actually* want it?

If it entails perfect health, yes. It just means that you get to choose when to exit.

 

[Odin412]

I am used to silver and black, generally anodized. But the thought of powder coating does open lots of possibilities. Small runs of weird colors if enough people sign up and put up some earnest money? Even Hello Kitty pink (just not UNC blue, please).

+1 for Hello Kitty pink