[45longcolt]

Urd in the flesh at CanJam SoCal earlier today:

I also want to see a pic of the back of the unit. (What does that say about me?)

And yet another new POSchiit that is real eye candy. Given FV, the new Lyr and now this, I strongly suspect Schiit has hired a product designer. Of course, Jason would deny it; that would spoil the amateur auteur vibe Schiit has created. Anyway, my wallet is hiding under the couch.

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

I also want to see a pic of the back of the unit. (What does that say about me?)

It says that you're normal, but you should have asked for the PCB pics as well.


JC

 

[cakewalk101]

Hi all, now that I'm back from my Canadian east-coast vacation, I can make a proper introduction. I discovered Schiit on a forum (maybe this one?) late last year. I had just bought a DAC in June 2021 (to my embarrassment, I never knew that desktop audio was a thing outside of the built-in PC sound cards until 2021- though I owned a SoundBlaster external sound card/DAC ~20 years ago), an ifi Zen DAC v2. I do like its analog bass boost, but that feature will see little use with my current set up. I do have a carefully set up and tuned home-theater and music room in the basement. Anyway, after some research, I ordered an Asgard 3 and a Sennheiser HD-650 set of cans. For speakers in my hobby room, the Asgard also went to a pair of powered Fluance Ai61's. The Asgard was and is an absolute thrill. In general, I prefer music where the musicians actually play their instruments, so Jazz, blues, jam bands, grunge, Americana, indie-rock, and live music get a lot of ear-time. Music played through the Asgard never fails to put a grin on my face.

I've since moved the Asgard to my library/reading room and added a weird tubed DAC and a Lokius. The DAC is connected to an M1 Mac Mini that's dedicated to the headphone system. I stream through Apple Music primarily, and also my music files over my network via Audirvana. I'll lightly EQ where and when necessary in a slight "w" curve via SoundSource. I've also tried about 9 presets for the HD-650's, but none of them fully satisfy my ears.

My hobby room has just had 4 Schiit components added to it, including the Vali 2++ and Magni 3+. The Magni is an impressive little amp and is wonderful on recently (last ~20 years) produced and engineered tunes. I just received the Vali 2 within 15 minutes of our return from vacation, and wow. I mean, WOW! The weird tubed DAC/AMP in the library has the tubes impart a very slight difference in sound, but not all tubes. Mostly it's a drop in gain with one or 2 exceptions. This experience lowered my expectations for the Vali and for tubes in general. I tried the Vali with Neil Young and Crazy Horse's 17-minute "Ramada Inn" last night, switching the headphone jack back-and-forth to the Magni to compare. In the Vali, the grunge in Neil's guitar got grungier, and in the best way possible! I mean, the difference in the overall sound was ear-pleasingly better to my ears, not in a subtle way and closer to a live sound. I have a dozen tubes I'll be playing with over the next few months, but the sound with the stock tube was <chef's kiss>. This has me looking seriously at Schiit's other tube offerings.

I'll likely get a Bifrost in the coming months for the library and move the weird DAC and Magni down to my work office. I work full-time from home and have done so since the pandemic started, and my employer has moved to full-time remote work across the company. I'll order a set of Sundaras to try out a different set of headphones. I do like my 650's. I was considering a Jot as a near-future amp upgrade, but the Lyr (or Valhalla) has my full attention now. The Folkvangr on the other hand...

Welcome fellow tube-loving Canadian!

 

[DougD]

p.s. - who turned me on to Jesse Cook and "Breathing Below Surface". OMG, whomever you are, thank you.

I thank *YOU* for bringing Jesse Cook to my attention. I started with Montreal (Live) because I tend to enjoy those kinds of recordings, and it's a tremendously enjoyable performance.

 

[45longcolt]

o

It says that you're normal, but you should have asked for the PCB pics as well.


JC

Oh, yeah, PCB porn...all over that...
(Perhaps I should rephrase that?)

 

[Jason Stoddard]

BTW -- while it is nice that Jason and Dave can have these types of discussions adding to Schiit's fun work culture while offering opportunities for intellectual stimulation -- please do keep in mind that the release of a new Gumby and a new analog product has now been delayed another 20 minutes by Dave and Jason participating in this non-productive CD shaving banter.

The real limiting factor on any more Gungnirs is lack of Analog Devices DSPs. We need to either redesign for TI or sit and wait it out, both of which appear to take the same amount of time. Then there's the whole wild card of a ground-up redesign to make it easy to upgrade. No comment on the approach we'll be taking. Unfortunately, it's sit-and-wait for Gungnir after the current stock is out. Best guess for any new Gungnirs would be late spring next year, whether it's TI or Analog Devices, new or old design.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

I also want to see a pic of the back of the unit. (What does that say about me?)

And yet another new POSchiit that is real eye candy. Given FV, the new Lyr and now this, I strongly suspect Schiit has hired a product designer. Of course, Jason would deny it; that would spoil the amateur auteur vibe Schiit has created. Anyway, my wallet is hiding under the couch.

No pics, but here's a line drawing. Note inputs and outputs. You can switch USB sources to USB, or use it as a USB-SPDIF converter. Please don't call it a DDC, I hate the term. Someday I hope we'll blow that term up. We'll see.

I'm still to blame for all the industrial design. You should always include the opportunity for growth (and for better understanding what we can do with stamping, etc.). There are several fields I would never have been able to do anything credible with in pre-internet, pre-computer before-fore times. Design, marketing, advertising, branding, hell, direct sales--none of this would have ever been in my wheelhouse before. We live in incredible times. Take advantage of it!

That said, on the industrial design side...you ain't seen nothing yet. A number of upcoming prototypes have produced remarks like "I'd buy it just for the looks," and "looks like a product that's 2x more expensive than the previous one." We're gonna be pushing what we can do with metal fab in the USA in the very near term.

 

[AstronomerXI]

Welcome fellow tube-loving Canadian!

Thank you, sir! I'm listening to music via the Vali and 650's as I type this and I'm loving the be-jayzus out of the sound. A slight bottom-end tweak with the Loki Mini+ and the audio just hits in way that's hard to describe. The Vali is a special little box. I can't wait to hear what its older siblings sound like. Thankfully I have a wife who recognizes the value of hobbies and that life is to be enjoyed.

 

[Mike-WI]

Any word on Urd cost and when available?

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Any word on Urd cost and when available?

I'd expect end Q1 2023 and still $1299 for now. But everything can change. No guarantees.

 

[ImagesbyMurray]

I'm still to blame for all the industrial design. You should always include the opportunity for growth (and for better understanding what we can do with stamping, etc.). There are several fields I would never have been able to do anything credible with in pre-internet, pre-computer before-fore times. Design, marketing, advertising, branding, hell, direct sales--none of this would have ever been in my wheelhouse before. We live in incredible times. Take advantage of it!

I for one appreciate the simple clean design, and the ridiculously understated control labels. Keep doing what you do.

 

[filthy mechanical]

I also want to see a pic of the back of the unit. (What does that say about me?)

And yet another new POSchiit that is real eye candy. Given FV, the new Lyr and now this, I strongly suspect Schiit has hired a product designer. Of course, Jason would deny it; that would spoil the amateur auteur vibe Schiit has created. Anyway, my wallet is hiding under the couch.

They couldn't have hired a product designer - it still only comes in silver or black. Employer hired a designer to do the colors for the shop and now we have traffic purple cranes, gray pipes with color stripes, multicolored buildings, green orange and yellow gantry cranes, etc.

New expansion is multicolored, but that is due to issues getting paint - 5 shades of gray to keep it arriving painted, and since no one really understood RAL colors several shades of safety yellow handrail based on subsupplier, blue structure mating to gray structure, purple equipment, red hook blocks, and BROWN ductwork including the main stack.

 

[Ripper2860]

New expansion is multicolored, but that is due to issues getting paint - 5 50 shades of gray to keep it arriving painted, and since no one really understood RAL colors several shades of safety yellow handrail based on subsupplier, blue structure mating to gray structure, purple equipment, red hook blocks, and BROWN ductwork including the main stack.

FTFY.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

They couldn't have hired a product designer - it still only comes in silver or black. Employer hired a designer to do the colors for the shop and now we have traffic purple cranes, gray pipes with color stripes, multicolored buildings, green orange and yellow gantry cranes, etc.

New expansion is multicolored, but that is due to issues getting paint - 5 shades of gray to keep it arriving painted, and since no one really understood RAL colors several shades of safety yellow handrail based on subsupplier, blue structure mating to gray structure, purple equipment, red hook blocks, and BROWN ductwork including the main stack.

One of the most amazing things that happened this year is our black powder coat becoming unavailable, with no future stocking date. We had to do a custom match.

The second most amazing thing was the meeting with the metal vendors who "closely control" the gray screen color we use. Some were mixing metallic in to the spec'd color, some were going by "drops of black," and doing a visual match. Now we're speccing UV printing for some parts, and everything has a specified color mix with specified ink vendors. After that meeting, I expect we may finally see some consistency. Maybe.

 

[filthy mechanical]

FTFY.

Oh trust me, when first different gray colored part arrived that joke started, especially when for the laced columns each piece of lacing is a different shade that may or may not match the columns, columns are now ~50% matched in a column, and the headers are still arriving the original dark gray. Thankfully the site is known for being colorful so it "fits".

One of the most amazing things that happened this year is our black powder coat becoming unavailable, with no future stocking date. We had to do a custom match.

The second most amazing thing was the meeting with the metal vendors who "closely control" the gray screen color we use. Some were mixing metallic in to the spec'd color, some were going by "drops of black," and doing a visual match. Now we're speccing UV printing for some parts, and everything has a specified color mix with specified ink vendors. After that meeting, I expect we may finally see some consistency. Maybe.

Understood entirely. One color I never expected to become hard to find is safety yellow and gray - nice to know black has joined the grouping.

I am copied in on an email chain since one vendor we bought a lot from is subsupplied gear from the same shop we cut a direct PO to for some items. They are on paint number 12 to get approved - seems the direct vendor is not moving from having a phosphate in the paint and by the time the subsupplier finds a paint and gets it approved it is out of stock. I don't have anywhere to store the item when it arrives so perfectly willing to let this drag on for another 6 to 9 months when I actually need it for install, but paint is painful.