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

[artur9]

  Fun fact: we've already run into one setback, and (I believe) figured a way around it. If we'd planned on the Manhattan Project costing like an end-game DAC, the setback wouldn't even be a setback. 

Well, yeah, plutonium would make that an end-stage device in more ways than one.  I'm glad you guys found a workaround to the need for nuclear power.
 
I mean, that is why it's called your Manhattan project, no?

 

[jimmers]

...
I mean, that is why it's called your Manhattan project, no?

That's what they were drinking when they dreamed it up. 

 

[Baldr]

  So is it safe to buy a Mjolnir 2 with Manhattan and {redacted} coming down the line?  Will they compete with other Schiit products or are they complimentary?

It will work with any digital system, ours or others and definitely replace no components in any way, partially or completely.

 

[cskippy]

Well, Schiit!  From the man himself, thanks!

 

[wink]

  So is it safe to buy a Mjolnir 2 with Manhattan and {redacted} coming down the line?  Will they compete with other Schiit products or are they complimentary?

They are as complementary as a bicycle and a fishtank......   

 

[US Blues]

Quote:

 

  So is it safe to buy a Mjolnir 2 with Manhattan and {redacted} coming down the line?  Will they compete with other Schiit products or are they complimentary?

It will work with any digital system, ours or others and definitely replace no components in any way, partially or completely.

Thank you Mike, that clears things up considerably. Can't wait to hear it in my system. 

 

[jacal01]

  But will the Manhattan smurf my dingleberries? These are the important questions here...

 
It'll fry 'em.  Didn't you see the ward scene in Mulholland Falls?
 
 

  So is it safe to buy a Mjolnir 2 with Manhattan and {redacted} coming down the line?  Will they compete with other Schiit products or are they complimentary?

 
No, it is not safe.  Just ask Dustin Hoffman.

 

[aamefford]

Here goes a mild derail - Manhattan Project is a stand alone digital parametric or graphic equalizer box. Hopefully.

EDIT THIS IS A GUESS.

 

[Mediahound]

Here goes a mild derail - Manhattan Project is a stand alone digital parametric or graphic equalizer box. Hopefully.

EDIT THIS IS A GUESS.

That's exactly what I was guessing too. If it is, I'd probably buy. 

 

[ludvigrollover]

Here goes a mild derail - Manhattan Project is a stand alone digital parametric or graphic equalizer box. Hopefully.

 
Dunno - MiniDSP etc do exist (and don't have "audiophile" pricing). The Schiit guys claim [redacted] is something that's never been done, so...
 
Obviously, it is a device that will add tape hiss, wow, flutter, nail-scraping-vinyl rumble, and random tubby distortions to the signal. Oh wait...

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

It would be helpful if we knew what the input and output interfaces are.  Digital?  Analog?  Single ended or balanced?
 
Knowing this would narrow the possibilities down...

 

[AudioBear]

I can see it now.  Schiit has revisited the Edison phonograph.  Using 3-D printer technology they generate perfectly cut analog signals into plastic tubes which are then played back pn the "Baldr Tranducer" into a large flower shaped bell.  The resulting sound reproduction is so real listeners lapse into a euphoric coma.

 

[ludvigrollover]

Baldr says works with any digital system, so it sits between source and DAC. So digital in and out. After transducers, what is most important? Source quality (could be first, GIGO). Why do old acoustic instruments sound better? Because they are played and in time the materials will transform with the vibrations, and/or the instruments get tweaked, creating more uniform/smoother/more pleasant sound (?).
 
So, something that can be legitimately called both The Manhattan Project (almost impossible) and The Gadget (trivial)? Kind of like Wyrd, something that should not make a difference but according to some, actually does. How about a compressed music decrapifier? Does not replace any existing components, and could even be a big consumer hit.

 

[Mediahound]

Maybe some sort of really good audiophile digital re-clocker anti-jitter box? 

 

[landroni]

  So, something that can be legitimately called both The Manhattan Project (almost impossible) and The Gadget (trivial)? Kind of like Wyrd, something that should not make a difference but according to some, actually does. How about a compressed music decrapifier? Does not replace any existing components, and could even be a big consumer hit.

Interesting. That would be intriguing indeed.
 
For now my money is still on an upsampling gadget that makes use of Mike's closed-form bit-perfect algorithm, à la Wyrd but with coax/toslink out, too. This would place the upsampling part outside the Schiit DACs, which could lower the price of the Bifrost. This way you can feed "properly" upsampled source to just about any DAC, thus avoiding the much-maligned Parks-McClellan approximation across the market... I reckon THEN we will see Mike's white paper on DACs and digital signal processing, as well as a more comprehensive account of what happens in the Yggy. We already have a nitty-gritty account in the happenings of Ragnarok, but not quite yet for the Yggdrasil...