[RCBinTN]

 
My wife's Attorney is one of my1980s Esoteric Audio Customer Base, he owns a rebuild pair of Vintage Quad ESLs and a custom Amp designed specifically for the Quads.  This little system can knock your socks off, still, he has to keep it in his basement.  He sympathizes with me and I with him.  
 
I hope to have the good health too, I was on the Cutting Table (just 3 years ago) for Heart Issues.  My best Childhood friend died in a Hospitals Parking lot ( summer of this year ), he would've been part of my coming adventures. 
 
Nowadays, I'm living on hope.
 
Tony in Michigan

Tony,
I, too, hope you can see and do those cool things you wrote about earlier.  Nice being retired - I'm a few years away - and being in charge of your time instead of somebody else.  Enjoy the stroll along the river and don't forget your travel music .
 
All the Best -
RCB

 

[SearchOfSub]

I know Schiit ops out of sales and Black Friday deals because it is a smart business move about the value of their products and sets and even tone of price stability, however I applaud it since it allows thier offices to be closed so their employees can be with their families as it should be on the Thanksgiving holiday. It is the one holiday we have that is centered mostly around family and should be celebrated as such, not as a jumping offi point for the Christmas retail rush. What kind of state are we in when people are willing to break down their on civlity for a few good deals? Discounts on luxury items are no reason to get or give a bloody nose over. We live in such abundance and saving a few dollars on that flat screen is what we're fighting each other? And all for the other holiday that is supposed to be about the giving sprit?

Sorry, I did not want to get righteous, but it just saddens to me to hear about the fights and the arrests each Black Friday. I know it does not happen everywhere and it is the few that make the rest of the shoppers look bad, but I don't see things getting any better unless more companies like Schiit and retail stores have enough and step in to have some real integrity.

So thank you Jason for being closed on Thanksgining and Black Friday. *applauding*

I'm a saver for life. I will walk another mile to get couple bucks off.

 

[bigro]

Tony, Any Idea what your road warrior audio gear will look like yet? I have don't travel much at this point anymore but I have many years before retirement so that may change.
 
The Fulla has a Permanent home in my headphone case. Along with my DAP when I am stationary I will use the fulla with my laptop. Are you just thinking of using just a good set of headphones and the AK DAP? or possibly adding a Modi/Magni Uber Combo with open Headphones for when you are recharging in the hotel room? Being a road warrior is great but leaving the comforts of home for long periods of time can be very taxing.
 
I know Outside of the Fulla Schitt does not really have true portable gear. But thinking back to the weeks on end I would spend in hotel rooms. I would probably put together a Modi 2 U (with well, now it has changed to) a Vali 2 in a small foam lined travel case. Paired with a nice pair of open HP's. Or Maybe Just an HP amp like maybe an Asgard, using the DAP line out so you can use higher impedance cans when in your temporary home base.

 

[Ableza]

I tried retirement and just about went nuts.  Boredom can be dangerous, at least it can be for me.  So I went back to work, but since I didn't really need the income I made my own terms which is nice..  Health benefits are nice, as is the extra income for toys and travel, more distractions for my overactive brain, and I get to create cool stuff. 

 

[catspaw]

  I tried retirement and just about went nuts.  Boredom can be dangerous, at least it can be for me.  So I went back to work, but since I didn't really need the income I made my own terms which is nice..  Health benefits are nice, as is the extra income for toys and travel, more distractions for my overactive brain, and I get to create cool stuff. 

Most brains like activity.
I normally cant stand the same job for over a year. I get bored.
Lucky me I now live next to a library, so that part is covered for now... only problem is that they dont get new books as fast as I am reading them, so eventually Ill have to look for a new job 8(.

 

[tonykaz]

Future Traveling Hi-Fi 
 
I see 1Tb SD memory Cards coming soon so the little players will probably have 1 terabyte of internal storage.
 
Etymotic isolation levels have been necessary for me : greater than 40db reduction in ambient noise levels.
 
Interfaces approaching the utility of iTunes on a iMac desktop or laptop are necessary and worth the cost.
 
I can see "Everyman's" walking hi-fi system as part of the iPhone, folks simply can't handle the complexity of multiple devices.  A wristwatch Remote control might be the only other workable addition.   We already seem to be getting close to those devices we saw on Star Trek, aren't we?
 
We certainly have come a looooooong way in these last three decades. 
 
Tony in Michigan

 

[AudioBear]

Tony
 
The vision is strong in you.
 
I just added a Mojo to my iPhone 6s plus and put away my Fiio X5.   I like the interface and GUI better on the Onkyo HD player than on the FiiO by miles.
 
3 decades ago who would have dreamed we would be where we're at?  Remember that first 5mb external disk drive?  Big and clunky.   Heck I can remember 5" floppies and a 25 KB disk drive on a PDP-8 and that wasn't so long ago.
 
What's next?  Maybe the Schiit [redacted] will surprise us all.

 

[KLJTech]

It truly is stunning that we can now walk around with the kind of sound quality that was once only available from our full sized system. Sometimes I think it helps to beyond a certain age to truly appreciate how good we have it now. That's one of the reasons that something like the true "Class A" Asgard 2 for $249 blows be away when I stop to think about it. That type of outlandish bargain wasn't around in the mid 80's and 90's (for the most part) when I was spending FAR too much on home audio gear. It's a great time to be a music lover! Now if we could just get the record companies to stop compressing the dynamics out of our music we'll have it made. 

 

[bigro]

 
Quote:

 
Future Traveling Hi-Fi 
 
I see 1Tb SD memory Cards coming soon so the little players will probably have 1 terabyte of internal storage.
 
Etymotic isolation levels have been necessary for me : greater than 40db reduction in ambient noise levels.
 
Interfaces approaching the utility of iTunes on a iMac desktop or laptop are necessary and worth the cost.
 
I can see "Everyman's" walking hi-fi system as part of the iPhone, folks simply can't handle the complexity of multiple devices.  A wristwatch Remote control might be the only other workable addition.   We already seem to be getting close to those devices we saw on Star Trek, aren't we?
 
We certainly have come a looooooong way in these last three decades. 
 
Tony in Michigan

I'm waiting for the beam me my schiit technology. When Fed ex says 3-5 days they take every last minute of it.
 
Something like the Centrance HIFi Skyn is very intriguing.It seems like a crossover product. I wonder which phone company will grow a brain and decide to build a phone that has the internals of a higher end DAP. If Sony approached Schiit and said we want you to help us with the first hi res phone that Plays only DSD, Mike Moffat's Head would probably explode but yes i think it is a matter of time where most entry  to mid level DAPS may just be part of phones and like digital cameras have become part of the phone you are left with the higher mid end to high end cameras.

 

[valiant66]

  It's a great time to be a music lover! Now if we could just get the record companies to stop compressing the dynamics out of our music we'll have it made. 

 
[thumbs-up] [thumbs-up] [thumbs-up] 

 

[tonykaz]

iPhone developments 
 
The iPhone has changed everything.  Today, a person needs a Car and an iPhone to achieve any level of Career Success.  Family life flows thru their Phone devices, it connects everything that everyone does and it does it Globally & instantly.  I could show up at a meeting in Brussels with mis-matched shoes and people will chuckle, if I show up without my connectivity device my Bosses will tear my head off.  
 
The Schiit people seem to being doing well in the shipping department, they seem able to keep enough built to handle the demand ( I keep thinking they're gonna get too far behind but it hasn't seemed to happen ).  UPS, the Postal Service and FedEx are superb compared with what the rest of the entire world copes with ( even Canada takes waaaaaay longer ).  
 
Business folks that I encounter feel the Recovery ( here in the USA ) is nearly finished, we're about to see 10 years since the Mortgage Crash of 2007 and the Bubble bursting, ( it's always taken a decade to recover from a Bubble busting ), we seem to be coming out a bit early. I'm even hearing about the FED raising interest rates ( I hope they hold off a bit longer ).  Anyway, I think we'll see investment money flowing into the Personal Audio categories which will be focused on Phone devices: the next two to three years are gonna get fascinating devices, wonderful applications and expanded personal capabilities.  iPhone stuff is gonna go on a Tear!   ( according to Tony ). 
 
As an Audiophile I think we can thank Schiit for making Digital Music as prestigious and musical as the Glossy Press touts Vinyl to be.
Now, a humble headphone owner can think that his 16/44 music and a Multibit DAC equals or betters a Custom Pressed 33 ( for $50 ), he can stand tall against those Acid Spitting Turntable Guru set-up people the Glossy Press foist on us. Superb Digital Audio for Everyman has arrived!
We could use a nice Black Multibit T-shirt say'n "I'm Stand'n Tall & Proud" , "I got good Schiit" 
 
Tony in Michigan 

 

[valiant66]

Hmm. Did I miss this too? Digital Audio Review mentions the Vali 2.
 
http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2015/12/schiit-introduce-radically-reworked-vali-2-amplifier/
 
If I should mention this somewhere else instead please disregard it here.

 

[valiant66]

I kept reading Digital Audio Review and this article really hit the nail for me.
 
Garbage In, Garbage Out
 

"As an engineer compresses the level of dynamic range past a certain threshold using a brickwall limiter, the music starts to lose its vibrancy and sense of realism. In fact, certain frequencies can get squashed so badly that they become completely inaudible. Ever wonder why you can’t hear bass guitars or why cymbals and hi-hats sound tinny and don’t reverb quite right on your favorite track? That’s typically the result of DRC coupled with brickwall limiting."
 
"Since the dawn of digital music, the audiophile community has been largely focused on playback, constantly arguing over sample rates, formats, and so forth, when in reality, the real focus should be on production, since a record’s fidelity has more to do with the choices made in the studio than what format it is ultimately delivered in. The fact is all recordings have a certain intrinsic production value to them, and if that value is very low to begin with, it makes no difference whether you play it back as MP3s, high-res FLAC, or even vinyl."
 

 
Boom.
 
Drop the mic.

 

[ToTo Man]

  I kept reading Digital Audio Review and this article really hit the nail for me.
 
Garbage In, Garbage Out
 
 
Boom.
 
Drop the mic.

It is depressing that this practice has been plaguing the industry for more than 20 years now and we are still not seeing much progress.  Thanks to the commendable efforts of companies like Schiit, the playback equipment we buy today has never sounded so good, but sadly its true potential cannot be realised if the production malpractice of DRC continues to pervade in the music industry.  Excuse the pun, but it feels like banging your head off a brickwall.  I won't give up hope though that one day we will see the end of the unnecessary use of DRC.  Until that day though it looks like I will be remaining in my 1980s time warp of early cd pressings….

 

[swannie007]

  I kept reading Digital Audio Review and this article really hit the nail for me.
 
Garbage In, Garbage Out
 
 
Boom.
 
Drop the mic.

This really resonates with me. I think that the format is less important than the production quality and don't get caught up in the format bull**** that seems to permeate our hobby. If it sounds good, that's good enough for me and I just don't give a toss about the "numbers", I let my ears be my guide. Of course, YMMV and all that. Just my 2c worth. Cheers.