[tonykaz]

The Absolute Sound Mag. is announcing the debut of a R2R recorder!, something that crushes Vinyl stuff.
 
Tony in Michigan

 

[chipwelder]

the "thermally activated urinal board" line made me do it...
 
 
 
 
 
Take a SCHITT....

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Sounds good, doesn't it?

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Insert image of Ragnarok / Yggdrasil here...

 

[landroni]

  2015 Chapter 2:
When To Listen, and When To Act


 

1. Universal AC voltage. Oh yeah, this would be great for some customers. The ability to plug into 100-240V and have it work everywhere in the world isn’t a problem for Apple chargers and such, so why can’t we offer it? In short, because it is either complex and expensive, or it’s a compromise. Apple can do it because they use switching supplies. We won’t use switching supplies, because we believe that they are usually very compromised (in terms of noise) when compared to linear supplies. Linear supplies can use complex switching systems to detect and swap transformer primaries, but again, you need a keep-alive transformer and quite a bit of electronics. It’s pretty amazing how big a good auto-switching linear power supply is. It won’t fit in a lot of our gear, and even if it did, it would significantly affect the price. Our solution? Perhaps in the future you’ll see a voltage selector switch on the back panel…but suitably protected. If someone switches it to the wrong voltage, it’ll be a bad day. And even if recessed and protected, many someones will switch it wrong. We’re still debating this one.

 
I know this is an old topic... I hope that at Schiit you're still actively considering adding a 115v-230V switch to your products.
 
The big issue with the status quo is that those buying a pricey Schiit DAC and/or amp in a given location, but prone to moving out in the not-so-distant future, are staring down the possibility of ending up with an exceedingly pricey brick. For a manufacturer selling direct worldwide surely you can appreciate the tangible effects of globalization, whereas easy movement of people mirrors the easy movement of merchandise. Now imagine you take an Yggy/Ragnarok combo at $4K, but find yourself moving to a different continent 1.5 years later. Reselling may or may not be an option for such a pricey item in your current location, so chances are you would end up with a 64 lbs (~30 kg) hump of unusable electronics. The possibility of ultimately ending up with a $8K spend just for one Yggy/Raggy combo will pour a cold shower on a number of prospective buyers... Worse still if you have several items of the Schiit line. The other consideration is that the 115/230 separation puts an artificial segmentation into the 2nd hand market, whereas you can resell e.g. an Asgard 2 only in certain designated locations; which is a shame.
 
This said, I do appreciate the very real problem you're pointing out. Having experienced myself frying electronics not designed for certain voltages and/or Hz frequencies, I appreciate the conundrum for those not versed in the horrors of varying mains across countries. Doing so for a $4K product would... err... be unfortunate. But I suspect the difficulties can be overcome with suitably protected switches and appropriate PRINTED RTFM warnings. After all, this seems to cover things well with the NO SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE.
 
One design that makes sense to me is in Emotiva's Fusion Flex amp:


The gist of it:
- make the switch protected by a panel fixed with screws (you actually have to physically unscrew to be able to flip it)
- make the switch hard to flip (think nails)
- PRINT a RTFM warning on the back along the lines of: "RTFM *before* plugging in or changing the voltage setting"

 
 
Hopefully such a setup will avoid accidental switching and electronics frying for many someones, but would surely make the Schiit products more usable for a chunk of your customers... 
 

 

[SoupRKnowva]

 
NGS?
 
I was a travel RN for years. I looked for what was available everywhere.

 
Neutral Grain Spirit, its basically mass produced 190 proof pure alcohol produced in medical grade giant factories, and then distilleries buy it and water it down to make vodka, sometimes though they will run it through their own stills just so they can say it was pot stilled like Tito's does.
 
Again, its not bad vodka, but once youve found a good draft distillery it will be hard to go back. And its still an excellent value proposition compared to anything else at the vast majority of liquor stores nation wide.

 

[beemerphile]

 
The big issue with the status quo is that those buying a pricey Schiit DAC and/or amp in a given location, but prone to moving out in the not-so-distant future, are staring down the possibility of ending up with an exceedingly pricey brick.... imagine you take an Yggy/Ragnarok combo at $4K, but find yourself moving to a different continent 1.5 years later. Reselling may or may not be an option for such a pricey item in your current location, so chances are you would end up with a 64 lbs (~30 kg) hump of unusable electronics. The possibility of ultimately ending up with a $8K spend just for one Yggy/Raggy combo will pour a cold shower on a number of prospective buyers... 
 

 
There are inexpensive 2:1 step up/down transformers available that will solve this problem for about $50.  It would be nice though if Schiit used a multi-tapped transformer that could be rewired rather than replaced.  Then a tap change and a new cord and fuse are all that would be needed.
 
Now back to the wine discussion.

 

[hekeli]

  Now imagine you take an Yggy/Ragnarok combo at $4K, but find yourself moving to a different continent 1.5 years later. Reselling may or may not be an option for such a pricey item in your current location, so chances are you would end up with a 64 lbs (~30 kg) hump of unusable electronics.

 
Both voltages are already internally supported in all Schiit products, this has been discussed before. It's a 5 minute solder job to change it, so hardly a lump of unusable electronics.
 
Pretty much nobody buys used stuff across US-EU, so that's a moot point. Atleast it doesn't make much sense financially usually.

 

[tonykaz]

Schiit and Power Switch issues, yet again.
 
Tony in Michigan 
 
  

 

[Anavel0]

The Absolute Sound Mag. is announcing the debut of a R2R recorder!, something that crushes Vinyl stuff.

Tony in Michigan

I think you might mean R2R player not recorder. I'm interested but will we really see that format make a comeback? I think it might be more unlikely than vinyl.

 

[Billheiser]

  The Absolute Sound Mag. is announcing the debut of a R2R recorder!, something that crushes Vinyl stuff.
 
Tony in Michigan

Ha!  Reel-to-reel, I see what you did there!

 

[feelingears]

   
So, Why Do You Need Those Marketing Pukes At All?
 
...marketing can mean more new sales, more repeat sales, happier customers, and faster growth.
 
 

• Determine what conservative, measurable tactics will be most critical to your success. ...
  • ... engaging in micro-social communities that are predisposed to be interested in your product can be extremely important—and it’s measurable

 
It's pretty unusual to get unfiltered shop-talk like this, and so how can you not want to buy after reading all about such good Schiit? So chalk me up as another new customer (actually not so new anymore with three orders already) whose initial purchase decision was at least as much about this thread/story/marketing as it was about the other marketing P's (product, price, etc.).
 
And, as a professional marketing "puke," let me say that marketing can be the most fun you'll have in the corporate world if you work for a "good" organization. It's probably been posted already so I'll just reinforce the idea that educating customers can be more about helping people than pushing yourself on them if your product is decent enough to enjoy reasonably healthy sales.
 
Thanks Jason & Mike, and the rest of the Schiit team! I'm sure you'll see my credit card number again soon...
 
LC 

 

[Ableza]

I used to be responsible for approving marketing information for a large silicon valley corporation.  I always vetoed what I considered "marketing gibberish" in our materials: phrases such as "Industry Leader" or "World-Class" or "a significant breakthrough" never made it past my edit pen.  If you can't find ways to promote your product without using meaningless catch phrases, then perhaps you are promoting the wrong product.
 
For that very reason I also try very hard to never purchase anything plastered with "New and Improved!" in the grocery store. 

 

[valiant66]

 
One design that makes sense to me is in Emotiva's Fusion Flex amp:


The gist of it:
- make the switch protected by a panel fixed with screws (you actually have to physically unscrew to be able to flip it)
- make the switch hard to flip (think nails)
- PRINT a RTFM warning on the back along the lines of: "RTFM *before* plugging in or changing the voltage setting"
 

 
I'm smart, I'm careful, and I travelled a lot when I was younger. But I still remember plugging in my Quad 405 and wondering why it didn't make any noise.
 
Fortunately, I had gone from 220v UK to 110v Canada, so no magic smoke came out of the box. I unplugged, flipped the appropriate switch, and plugged it back in. Worked fine. But I KNEW to look, I KNEW to RTFM, and I STILL screwed up. I was just lucky I wasn't going in the other direction or I'd have had a useless brick. (Actually Quad has always had a great service department, I had cause to use it, they would have fixed it for a reasonable cost - except for the shipping from Canada to the UK and back, of course.)
 
I'm sure Emotiva has to deal frequently with users that plug their gear into the wrong voltage. If it can be done wrong, it will be. Trust me, I prove that to myself all the time.
 
Apple's gear generally "just works." You don't have to flip switches, the gear determines internally what the voltage is, and does the right thing. This adds a bit to the cost to their products, but it cuts down on customer support expenses while adding to their reputation. [And no, I'm not interested in a PC vs Mac discussion, thank you very much for offering.]
 
I'm just fine with gear that says "110v only," by and large. Saves on confusion, and money I won't have to spend on a feature I'd likely never use. And the Schiit boxes that run off a wall wart are fine, of course - you can just order a replacement in your preferred voltage.
 
If you can afford a Yggy/Rag stack and bounce between differently-voltaged countries all the time, more power to you and welcome to first-world problems!

 

[Ableza]

A design can be made dual-voltage with user selection possible.  Or not.  That is the designer's choice, and the decision can be made for many reasons.  But just like any other mod, if the design is not intended for operating voltage changes by the user but the user opens the case and modifies the product anyway, then they should be prepared to understand they have likely also voided their warranty.  It's simple, really.

 

[tonykaz]

Mistahhhhhhhh Ableza,
 
 Schiit is "New" and "Improved"
 
Tony in ….

 

[jacal01]

ADHD has actually been a gift in this regard. Anything written entertainingly can be interesting and you end up with a whole lot of basic knowledge of a bunch of different things. Deeply technical stuff is usually not written in an engaging way, though.

 
That's putting a silver lining on an otherwise frustrating condition.  "Look at the shiny chicken!" is a running derivative joke my daughter and I have about her eldest...  But  I know it's stunting her potential from her lack of focus, and it hurts.