[aamer23]

   
Especially if cryo-treated and damped with various magic stick-on devices. (But only if said devices are at least $300 each.)

Believe it or not a fully acrylic table does help SQ and reduce vibrations going back into the equipment. However I do agree it does not have thousands of dollars. 

 

[David Aldrich]

That sounds like an expensive amount of acrylic. Which as far as I recall is pretty rigid and transmits vibration pretty well. How about a silly putty desk?
 
I may hold out for the aerogel desk.

 

[aamer23]

  That sounds like an expensive amount of acrylic. Which as far as I recall is pretty rigid and transmits vibration pretty well. How about a silly putty desk?
 
I may hold out for the aerogel desk.

when you hit acrylic it does not resonate at the same frequency as say glass and therefore it does not transmit vibrations in fact it absorbs energy instead.

as you can see small table lowish cost very little mass to the table and has been shaped for optimal SQ too.
and you can say subjective crap and thats fine. however, for me it works

 

[kkcc]

Yep, and on Rakuten, and places where Amazon has a good presence. But that leaves the service center(s). I expect we'll be able to get that worked out in 2015. The goal is a world-spanning, direct-as-possible sale network (with local service), not feeding the current distribution network. We'll see how close we can get.

Thanks for not abandoning us folks in Asia!

Distributors in this region is typically overrated and exist only to rip off your customers IMO - they don't do much if any effective promotion, they don't really know your product, they don't do repairs/service, they batch item pending repairs and send them via the cheapest (usually slowest) method for the cheapest cost to them but lowest and slowest level of service to customers. Heck they may just resell returned item with minor issue that they replaced for the first customer as brand new to the next customer hoping he/she won't complaint to avoid eating the shipping cost.

I have had so much bad experience with local headfi distributors/retailers (e.g. experience of getting Audezes from them) that I literally begged Jack to sell one of his amp to me direct. Thank god he had finally ditched the distributor and started selling direct here. Now we get them cheaper, faster, and with better service with Woo themselves.

I would imagine for more English speaking Asian geographies like Aus/NZ, Singapore, India, Philippines, Hong Kong etc a distributor is really doesn't make a lot of sense especially for an established brand like Schitt. For countries with language barrier like Japan or China, maybe they can help your brand breaking into their country.

 

[Anavel0]

Especially if cryo-treated and damped with various magic stick-on devices. (But only if said devices are at least $300 each.)

I Schiit you not! I just read a review of what appear to be small dime sized hockey pucks you place on electronics. It came from a bigger audio magazine website. They were roughly $300. I swore up and down that the review was a joke. Nope, dead serious.

 

[Jones Bob]

Yep, and on Rakuten, and places where Amazon has a good presence. But that leaves the service center(s). I expect we'll be able to get that worked out in 2015. The goal is a world-spanning, direct-as-possible sale network (with local service), not feeding the current distribution network. We'll see how close we can get.

Good to know you are well on the way of covering the world with Schiit.

 

[atubbs]

  For myself, and for selfish reasons, I diagree.  The market for reasonable speaker amps, to Schiit quality and spec, built in the USA is virtually non-existent.
 
I just bought a 2-channel Emotiva UPA-200, and while it punches well above its weight class, it ain't Schiit. I would send it back in a heart-beat if Schiit had something capable of driving a 4-Ohm load with about 150 watts.  Boutique amps, built in the USA, are horrendously over-priced.  But the solid aluminum chasis looks swell....

 
I would argue that the market for what you propose is virtually non-existent (what you wrote, but I believe you meant that there were no such things available on the market). Abundant overseas competition and a decent quantity of domestic high-wattage amplifiers make it a tough market to carve out. Would much rather make a product to hit an untapped market than try to take share as the upstart.
 
150 watts seems like an arbitrary threshold. With Ragnarok, you're already getting something capable of driving a 4-Ohm load with about 100 watts. I'm not sure why 150 watts makes the difference. There's enough variance in how manufacturers measure wattage and how different amplifiers behave to make one quickly lose faith in humanity. As an anecdote, have powered my KEF LS50s with the tube-based Rogue Atlas Magnum (push-pull for about 90 watts into 4 ohms). Have powered it with the Bryston 4BSST, good for 500 watts at 4 ohms. Have powered it with the NAD D3020 voodoo Class-D, purportedly capable of peaking at 100 watts into 4 ohms. They all sound good. They all sound different. There are tons of different reasons why they sound different, but I'm not convinced their spec sheet is the reason.
 
Wattage seems to be like thread count. I haven't run into a lot of speakers that would sound terrible with just100 watts.

 

[SP Wild]

It all makes sense to me now.  Ragnorak, the end of the world.
 
Who thel hell goes sticking a microprocessor in an amplifier then equip it with AI to handle 'bias and drift'?.  This is obviously a Trojan horse for far more sinister plans.
 
Tonights nightmares will involved sentient amplifiers trying to kill me....cloudnet.  I just hope I get to make love to Linda Hamilton before Jason accomplishes his goals for the subjucation of mankind. 
 
Clever Jason....no ones ever done it before because no one has ever been that evil.  I aint fooled!

 

[Baldr]

Acrylic is for dilettantes and lightweights who sing in counter-tenor or lyric soprano ranges.  Proper audiophiles, who sing in basso profundo or contralto ranges prefer surface plates, with a minimum size of 24" x 36" x 3".  Please!

 

[swspiers]

   
I would argue that the market for what you propose is virtually non-existent (what you wrote, but I believe you meant that there were no such things available on the market). Abundant overseas competition and a decent quantity of domestic high-wattage amplifiers make it a tough market to carve out. Would much rather make a product to hit an untapped market than try to take share as the upstart.
 
150 watts seems like an arbitrary threshold. With Ragnarok, you're already getting something capable of driving a 4-Ohm load with about 100 watts. I'm not sure why 150 watts makes the difference. There's enough variance in how manufacturers measure wattage and how different amplifiers behave to make one quickly lose faith in humanity. As an anecdote, have powered my KEF LS50s with the tube-based Rogue Atlas Magnum (push-pull for about 90 watts into 4 ohms). Have powered it with the Bryston 4BSST, good for 500 watts at 4 ohms. Have powered it with the NAD D3020 voodoo Class-D, purportedly capable of peaking at 100 watts into 4 ohms. They all sound good. They all sound different. There are tons of different reasons why they sound different, but I'm not convinced their spec sheet is the reason.
 
Wattage seems to be like thread count. I haven't run into a lot of speakers that would sound terrible with just100 watts.

Noted.  And yeah, 150 watts was arbitrary, although my Ohm's definitely respond to higher levels of current and power. Still not agreeirng that the market is flooded but a two-channel amp would be a small market.  In fact, I can't think of one current maker/designer with Schiit-type pricing and design. Parasound is the closest I can think of at the moment.
 
Regardless, another barrier would be the inevitable 5-channel monster that people would clamor for.  So yeah, probably a non-starter 

 

[jacal01]

  Acrylic is for dilettantes and lightweights who sing in counter-tenor or lyric soprano ranges.  Proper audiophiles, who sing in basso profundo or contralto ranges prefer surface plates, with a minimum size of 24" x 36" x 3".  Please!

Can't quite make that cut, but I do somehow manage to eke along with 18" x 24" x 2" butcher block shelving.  In cherry wood, TYVM. 

 

[aamefford]

  Acrylic is for dilettantes and lightweights who sing in counter-tenor or lyric soprano ranges.  Proper audiophiles, who sing in basso profundo or contralto ranges prefer surface plates, with a minimum size of 24" x 36" x 3".  Please!

Raggedy bass and a truly frighteningly tone deaf falsetto - does that mean I can keep using the top of my cheap-arsed nightstand?

 

[ThePianoMan]

  Acrylic is for dilettantes and lightweights who sing in counter-tenor or lyric soprano ranges.  Proper audiophiles, who sing in basso profundo or contralto ranges prefer surface plates, with a minimum size of 24" x 36" x 3".  Please!

Hahahaha, excellent!
I haven't quite got 24 x 36 x 3 but I have an excellent Low C, does that count?

 

[David Aldrich]

You can get a 48 x 36 x 6 from McMaster, paltry 1100#.

 

[AtomicFrostX]

It was awesome reading about all that went into making Ragnarok a reality; makes you really appreciate how much Schiit you get for $1699. I'm guessing that this will be your last statement amp for at least a few years. 

 
I've already submitted to be part of the beta program, and hopefully I'll be chosen. I finally have the funds available to get back into the headphone scene, and I have a heap of Schiit coming in the mail. Adding on a Ragnarok to my Gungnir (arriving Tuesday) would be amazing.