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

Nov 26, 2015 at 9:53 AM Post #8,926 of 191,638
   
Exactly right.
 
Jason posted an excellent explanation of Schiit's thinking about this some time ago, which I will summarize (without authorization) as "best price possible, for every customer, every day."
 
Case in point: I ordered a Bimby this morning. Decided it was time, and just did it.
 
Had this been something I bought through Amazon, I would have also checked the price history with CamelCamel, to make sure the current price was as least in the lowest quartile of prices during the past year. Had this been a non-Amazon item (i.e., without CamelCamel to make the legwork easy), I would have tried to assess whether the current price was "a good price" that I would not regret paying later on. And given some information on the pricing history of the item in question, maybe decide to wait .. for some indeterminable length of time ... until the price came back down to the point of being "a good deal." 
 
The Schiity way of doing business makes great sense. 


Wow, you really go through all that to buy things?  Me, I just buy what I need or want when I need or want it.  I might end up paying a little more now and then but saving 3% is not worth the kind of hassle you describe to me.
 
Nov 26, 2015 at 10:03 AM Post #8,927 of 191,638
  Wow, you really go through all that to buy things?  Me, I just buy what I need or want when I need or want it.  I might end up paying a little more now and then but saving 3% is not worth the kind of hassle you describe to me.

 
Usually it's much more than 3%.
 
Nov 26, 2015 at 10:19 AM Post #8,928 of 191,638
 
Wow, you really go through all that to buy things?  Me, I just buy what I need or want when I need or want it.  I might end up paying a little more now and then but saving 3% is not worth the kind of hassle you describe to me.

 
The price of some items bounces around a lot. For example, via Amazon, the Senn HD-650 is occasionally listed at full list, $450 USD. But sometimes it hits $299. 
 
Economical shopping is another hobby in its own right, but I don't know if it has a forum and community like Head-Fi !
 
Nov 26, 2015 at 10:32 AM Post #8,929 of 191,638
More power to you and that's great when you find deals!  Me, I guess I'm old school (or just old.)  If I want something I either can afford it or I can't, and if I can't then I wait or look at other things.  Especially when it comes to audio or video gear.
 
Nov 26, 2015 at 11:22 AM Post #8,930 of 191,638
  If such a thing did exist, I would be VERY interested...as long as the price was right. (not only am I cheap, I'm poor to boot)
 
Comes with a mic to measure your room & speakers and works its magic from there.

 
Speaking of Room/Speaker response equalization, although not automatic, there are ways to do this fairly easily and inexpensively with a few readily available tools (generally cheap and automatic are mutually exclusive).  Bang for the Buck has always been a mantra of mine, and being handy, DIY (granted its not always cheaper) solutions like Room EQ wizard(computer based) or Audio Tool (Android) and an inexpensive Dayton measurement mic (that comes with its own calibration chart), and an appropriate piece of equalization software (ie VST plugin that works with many software audio players), can do a pretty good job.  
 
From a Headphone perspective, it gets tricky..  Do you really want to put a microphone in your ear canal(as near the eardrum as possible) to measure the response of your headphones? I believe in the old line "Never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear."  Goldenears.net has a product that they claim can make any headphone (in their 800 headphone database) sound like any other headphone, but it only takes frequency response into account, notwithstanding transient response and other important aspects as to why any transducer sounds like it does. (a dynamic device is never going to sound exactly like an elecrostat or ortho, even if the freq response is the same) It's also not obvious from their web site how much their products cost or where to buy them.  There is another company that will sell you a VST that provides the equalization to match your particular headphone to their "target response curve" that compensates for the gain of our ear canal, head etc, but unless your headphone is already in their database, you have to ship your headphones to them to have them measured so that they can create the compensation curve.  
 
A third(free) option is to equalize your headphones according to your own hearing, using a fairly complicated process, and use any of the various VST equalizers to create the proper compensation. Being cheap and Lazy, I decided to go with a fourth option.
 
Tyll Hertsens over at Innerfidelity wants to create a database of headphone frequency responses, and has started with the measurements that he has done on headphones that he has tested/reviewed and also has a volunteer program where he will measure your headphones, if they are not already on the list. The caveat is that he only does it for US based people, likely to keep his costs(and complications of Customs) down (he pays for shipping both ways, so the cost to do it for the owner is ZERO).  Being that I live fairly close to a US town that I can ship/receive to, I was able to take advantage of his service, and plan to use his raw measurements, and the Harman Target Response curve to come up with the compensation to be applied by an equalizer to create what should be the ideal frequency response curve for my headphones.  Tyll has a blog post about this on IF.  
 
In theory, if you know what the frequency response of your headphones and the target headphones, then you could create your own compensation curve to make yours sound like the target headphones.  
 
Nov 26, 2015 at 8:20 PM Post #8,935 of 191,638
My guess - given that it has filtering. Is that its not one, but lots of filters that allow you to configure them to give your headphones the perfect frequency response - similar to what Bob Katz did in software in his recent Inner-Fidelity tests with headphones. So you take the measured frequency response of your cans and put the figures into a configuration file and load that into REDACTED, which corrects them to the perfect response (cannot remember the name of the curve). Could conceivably be done for the current listening level if the sensitivity of the cans is also put in.
 
I did consider compensating for your own hearing. But concluded that this approach would be WRONG. It would sound unnatural to you because that is not how you hear the world.
 
No, I have not been smoking anything, or indulging in any sort of artificial stimulants.....
 
Nov 27, 2015 at 6:52 AM Post #8,936 of 191,638
I was lookin at the brifrost specs and the Gungnir spcs and something caught my eye:
 
If there a reason why the DAC chips on the Bifrost are not the same as in the Gungnir?
 
Also it seems that the Yggy uses differnt dacs from the Gungnir multibit.
 
I assume it is to have a logical price points for the dacs, correct?
 
Nov 27, 2015 at 8:06 AM Post #8,937 of 191,638
  I was lookin at the brifrost specs and the Gungnir spcs and something caught my eye:
 
If there a reason why the DAC chips on the Bifrost are not the same as in the Gungnir?
 
Also it seems that the Yggy uses differnt dacs from the Gungnir multibit.
 
I assume it is to have a logical price points for the dacs, correct?

Yes to your last sentence, question - different cost chips running at 16, 18, and 20 bits.
 
Bifrost Multibit is 16-bit (least expensive of the chips at 16-bit).
Gungnir Multibit is 19-bit (it is a mathematical aggregate of chips each running at 18-bit, which I do not fully understand).
Yggdrasil is 21-bit (same aggregate math, but here using the most expensive 20-bit chips).
 
Nov 27, 2015 at 8:17 AM Post #8,938 of 191,638
  Yes to your last sentence, question - different cost chips running at 16, 18, and 20 bits.
 
Bifrost Multibit is 16-bit (least expensive of the chips at 16-bit).
Gungnir Multibit is 19-bit (it is a mathematical aggregate of chips each running at 18-bit, which I do not fully understand).
Yggdrasil is 21-bit (same aggregate math, but here using the most expensive 20-bit chips).

Ok, thx for the info.
I remember Jason wrote something about it but could not remember it (and trying to find it aint easy :D).
 
Nov 27, 2015 at 11:28 AM Post #8,939 of 191,638
For everyone who is wondering, I clarified our position on Black Friday on the site:
 

 
Schiit Audio Stay updated on Schiit Audio at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
https://www.facebook.com/Schiit/ http://www.schiit.com/
Nov 27, 2015 at 11:54 AM Post #8,940 of 191,638
Wow. That is really plastered across the home page of schiit.com. Awesome. I saw a link to a news headline about some of the Anarchy in the stores the link was labeled "Seasons Beatings". I worked 6 Years In retail, Nothing and I mean Nothing at any of the Chain stores is worth that Chaos. Now with this new invention called the Internet The Majority of those deals can be had while still in your pajamas drinking warm coffee, on your couch and with out the fear of getting a right hook across the Jaw from the soccer mom that "Absolutely Needs" That My little pony.
 

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