After work on Friday evening, I decided to check the customer service email. Until December 2013, I was the primary guy who answered customer service email, so this in itself wasn’t an unusual event.
This was one of the things that blew me away when I ordered my first Asgard in 2011, and a large reason why I've since ordered a Modi 2 Multibit, a Lyr 2 and a Modi 2 Uber.
I've always appreciated good audio, but never quite considered myself an audiophile. My techy geekiness has instead been on the Enterprise IT hardware side of things. (It's just a hobby, I'm not a professional)
So in 2011, it took me a while to figure out that my fancy new headphones - while much better than anything I'd ever had before - weren't performing their best just being plugged into the 2.5mm jack on my computer, and when I realized I would benefit from an amp, I had lots of questions, so I shot off an email.
Maybe I didn't realize that Schiit was a relatively recent start-up at the time, or I've just been jaded over the years by Comcast-like customer support, but I was absolutely floored when I got a personal response from the founder of the company, with extremely helpful, knowledgeable (and non-judgmental) answers to what must have seemed as pretty silly questions. I felt more like I was emailing back and forth with one of my good friends from college, shooting the **** (schiit?) about tech, and less like I was talking to a company support line.
I usually take a lot of pride in the fact that I don't have any brand loyalties. Before I buy something I always research the living dayligths out of it, to the point that when I am ready to spend my money, I usually know more about it than the sales person trying to sell it to me, and I buy not based on brand, but based on the best relevant tech specs I can get for my budget, regardless of who is selling it.
This is different with Schiit. While I'm not saying I have blind brand loyalty (looking at you, Apple guys and gals) Schiit is definitely the first brand I look at for my purchases, and the first one I recommend to friends, and the only Amp/DAC brand I've bought since 2011.
I was a bit disappointed when I went shopping for more Amps and DAC's this year for the first time in about 5 years, and emailed Jason on his old email from 2011, and didn't get any response. I know. Expecting a response was probably a bit unrealistic. The company has grown and likely has a much more exhaustive volume of customer support inquiries now than in 2011, that no one person can keep up with, let alone the person who also has to run the company. That being said, I got great and timely responses from the main service email, so I am not REALLY disappointed. More disappointed in the sense of a teenager not getting a new BMW from their parents as a gift, when they knew full well it was never going to happen in the first place
I've been thoroughly enjoying reading though this book up to the current part. It has successfully dragged me away from my Sid Meier's Civilization addiction for a couple of days now, which anyone familiar with Sid Meier's Civilization knows is a tough thing to do. (Just... one... more... turn...) The behind the scenes look at a company I am a happy customer of, combined with describing situations all to familiar to anyone who has worked in manufacturing like myself (I've been a Quality Assurance engineer in medical devices, both on the design and manufacturing side for 13 years,)
I just hope to some day be able to work with something I love like you guys do. (Don't get me wrong, medical devices are a very rewarding and interesting field, but it is probably not where my passion lies.)