Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up

[Paladin79]

I agree. The question of the day (at least for me) is whether one of these 'boutique' fuses offers a sonic improvement (or even just a sonic difference) over a standard fuse when listened to in a blind test. And all the usual kidding aside, I have absolute confidence that @Paladin79 can construct and then administer such a test in as fair and impartial a manner as possible and then honestly report the results (whether it aligns with his personal (prior) beliefs or not).

I really do not care either way. I just have to be careful to not malign a product if the company advertises here. Some may not care about this whatsoever so I may just send a link to those who PM me. Bill owns the type amp I will be using and should he try such a fuse in his, his results should be similar. I trust his ability to hear, no one I know can identify tubes by listening to them blind, like he can. Mind you I cannot give out our test tracks so Bill might be using Marilyn Manson recordings.

 

[FLTWS]

Darn. I was hoping we could get @Paladin79 to build him a nice cabinet in tiger maple for this. Oh, and figure out how to wire it all up too (minor details and all).

That might cause permanent damage to "The Toad Man"

https://gfycat.com/tightacceptablekronosaurus

 

[bcowen]

I really do not care either way. I just have to be careful to not malign a product if the company advertises here. Some may not care about this whatsoever so I may just send a link to those who PM me. Bill owns the type amp I will be using and should he try such a fuse in his, his results should be similar. I trust his ability to hear, no one I know can identify tubes by listening to them blind, like he can. Mind you I cannot give out our test tracks so Bill might be using Marilyn Manson recordings.

But that would invalidate the test as I'd need to double the amperage rating of the fuse.

 

[emorrison33]

Schiit website B-stock & Closeout:

$300! hmmmmm, I was saving for a Lyr 3...

 

[dstrimbu]

Do not take the fuse thing too seriously, my group once spent $1500 on a USB cable just to see how it compared to others. It will be a fun one day event with drinks after, we may learn something, or nothing at all.

How did the $1500 USB cable fare? Better than my $150 Cardas Clear?

Knowing full well that you may not wish to respond,

/Don

 

[Paladin79]

How did the $1500 USB cable fare? Better than my $150 Cardas Clear?

Knowing full well that you may not wish to respond,

/Don

I would suspect the cables are very similar. The Cardas I have examined are very good products.

We could tell a difference between it and some inexpensive Chinese cables but it was identical to a cable I can build using high quality Belden wire; cost to build it may have been $20. I can also use that cable for lengths past 15 feet without amplification. I imagine when companies list testimonials about their products, they cherry pick those and only list the customers raving about how the product changed their lives or whatever lol. I am more apt to use quality Belden, Mogami, and Canare for my own audio builds. I helped a friend not long ago with some pricey interconnects and found that they forgot to solder the stranded wires inside two such cables; others had what I considered to be cold solder joints. I have had more years than I care to admit in electronics and soldering and I would be hard pressed to solder the four wires crammed into the RCA connectors.

 

[dstrimbu]

Thanks @Paladin79, you've validated what I thought I'd determined; good materials and careful assembly matter a heck of a lot more than anything else. I have a 2m pair of speaker bi-wire cables made from Canare 4S11 with ultrasonically welded banana plugs. I think that they cost about $70 delivered, and they sound like... absolutely nothing.

Which is exactly how I like my cables. I appreciate and value your insights!

 

[dstrimbu]

Jotunheim Multi-bit card - can I install it myself?

I understand the need for ESD safety; I've built a lot of computers. Do I have a good chance of properly installing a multi-bit DAC card in my Jotti? Makes sense to have the board come here, rather than bouncing the whole thing back and forth to SoCal or Texas to have Schiit do it. Thoughts?

 

[Ableza]

Jotunheim Multi-bit card - can I install it myself?

I understand the need for ESD safety; I've built a lot of computers. Do I have a good chance of properly installing a multi-bit DAC card in my Jotti? Makes sense to have the board come here, rather than bouncing the whole thing back and forth to SoCal or Texas to have Schiit do it. Thoughts?

The card is available for self-install purchase on the Schiit web site, so if you feel you have the skill, they will sell it to you.

 

[streaml1ne]

Schiit website B-stock & Closeout:


$300! hmmmmm, I was saving for a Lyr 3...

I scored one of them the other day. Woot!

 

[streaml1ne]

Jotunheim Multi-bit card - can I install it myself?

I understand the need for ESD safety; I've built a lot of computers. Do I have a good chance of properly installing a multi-bit DAC card in my Jotti? Makes sense to have the board come here, rather than bouncing the whole thing back and forth to SoCal or Texas to have Schiit do it. Thoughts?

It's pretty easy. I had to reinstall the one on my b-stock Jot2 as it was not properly secured and was bouncing around inside the chassis when it arrived. It takes a little finagling but not hard. Bigger pain is getting the cover back on without screwing up the front LED. The front knob on the Jot 2 is friction fit, get a bit of flat plastic like a credit card or something to pry under the knob against the chassis to get it off then remove the retaining nut. After that the top cover just slides off.

 

[45longcolt]

ROFL! I see what you did there.

Yeah, I don't do suttle...

 

[Paladin79]

Thanks @Paladin79, you've validated what I thought I'd determined; good materials and careful assembly matter a heck of a lot more than anything else. I have a 2m pair of speaker bi-wire cables made from Canare 4S11 with ultrasonically welded banana plugs. I think that they cost about $70 delivered, and they sound like... absolutely nothing.

Which is exactly how I like my cables. I appreciate and value your insights!

Those are my speaker cables of choice as well and trust me I have access to a lot of different cable. By the rule of three, when you double up the 14 awg it becomes 11 awg.

Mine do not have ultrasonically welded banana plugs, soldering has been called low temperature welding. Mine are merely soldered. If any of you ever experiment with litz wire get with me, I like it and have used it a lot.

Getting back to the question of fuses for a moment, I have always believed in the statement that if something cannot be settled by experiment or observation, then it's not worthy of debate. (Alder's razor} There has been a bit of debate so far about fuses that seems to have been pretty healthy. The end result could well be that it is time to move on to something else but first I want to experiment.

 

[JamminVMI]

It's pretty easy. I had to reinstall the one on my b-stock Jot2 as it was not properly secured and was bouncing around inside the chassis when it arrived. It takes a little finagling but not hard. Bigger pain is getting the cover back on without screwing up the front LED. The front knob on the Jot 2 is friction fit, get a bit of flat plastic like a credit card or something to pry under the knob against the chassis to get it off then remove the retaining nut. After that the top cover just slides off.

Wearing a nitrile glove works too, or use a piece of that rubberized shelf liner (which is what i keep handy for tube insertion and removal)

 

[ImagesbyMurray]

Those are my speaker cables of choice as well and trust me I have access to a lot of different cable. By the rule of three, when you double up the 14 awg it becomes 11 awg.

Mine do not have ultrasonically welded banana plugs, soldering has been called low temperature welding. Mine are merely soldered. If any of you ever experiment with litz wire get with me, I like it and have used it a lot.

+ 1. I replaced 10' Symo speaker cables (Litz) with 18" Canare's (doubled up, and Bi-wired) after my purchase of Vidar Monoblocks, couldn't be happier. Materials, including heat-shrink, webbing, and spades came in under $80. I resold the Symos for well over the cost of one Vidar......