[Kost]

I liked this chapter.  Jason, have you ever considered expanding into home theater receivers?

 

[jbm]

I would encourage anyone to get a Sonore MicroRendu or a Sotm SMS-200 and pair it with whichever Schiit Multibit DAC you want for an amazing streamer.

 
+1
 
Schiit should not get into this business (and I'm confident they won't;  I expect them to continue to make DACs which can be fed via standard interfaces), but something like a microRendu (which I have several of, mostly driving Schiit DACs) is a fine example of an audio-optimized hardware/software gizmo a different company can choose to develop and support.
 
I wouldn't want to see Schiit get bogged down with having to do more software design and support than they already have to do with developing their DAC and now preamp controllers, and handholding users who have issues using USB DACs.
 
Sonore have chosen a niche with a more visible software component, but so far they seem focused enough that the magnitude of their software support requirements shouldn't overwhelm and kill their company either.
 
...and day-to-day user interfaces for playing songs through a microRendu are developed and supported by other people - all the UPnP players, or HQPlayer, or most notably in my opinion Roon.
 
The Roon people don't sell hardware, they develop music-library software meant to use other people's hardware.  They do a very good job of it, a good enough job that I think audio hardware vendors who develop and support their own individual soup-to-nuts music playing software systems and apps specific to their hardware are Very Silly People.  They should let someone else handle the user interface bits, so they can focus on the quality and reliability of their audio hardware and just whatever software it requires internally.
 
This division of labor makes sense to me, and I think it lets specialized companies play to their strengths without bleeding themselves dry with too big a software development and support money pit.

 

[Gimpinchair]

-Why would anyone do that? You'd have to drink five times as much!

Because not everyone needs caffeine to function? I Drink green tea because it is warm & yummy!

 

[Ran Perry]

Sonore MicroRendu or a Sotm SMS-200 may be good solutions but how can you escape the USB interface? It would be great if Schiit will allow access to an I2C interface on their DACs.

 

[Mr Rick]

Dumb question alert. I received my Freya and await a Vidar to go with it. In the meantime is it possible to run the Freya into a Cambridge CXA80 integrated amp? Essentially, a preamp into a preamp. Could I run the tube stage if I kept the volume down low on the Freya? If I can, does SE or balanced matter or is that dependant on which input I would rather fry on the Cambridge?

You could, but you would need to be careful. My older integrated amp has a jumper you can remove to separate it's pre from it's amp. Your CX80 does not appear to have a jumper.
 
You could run any output of the Freya into any line level input on your CX80. The benefits would be minimal.

 

[rkw]

 
On streamers: "So you want us to become an actual computer company, producing custom hardware ans software, with the tens of thousands of hours associated with it, to release a product that will require the largest amount of customer service ever seen in the history of the company, to replicate something any $300 computer already does?"

 
Good observation! Streamers is a product category that I really don't understand. It's basically a computer but more expensive and without the flexibility. I don't see how a streamer can do anything my cheap laptop can't do with the right software.

 
That describes exactly the Poly device that Chord is building for Mojo:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/831347/chord-electronics-poly-advanced-wireless-microsd-module-for-mojo-specs-in-1st-post
It has seemed an ill-conceived product to me. Full custom hardware and software — it is built on a custom 10 layer board and runs a 3 core processor. It can only attach to a Mojo and costs $629 (more than a Mojo). All for a device that has no audio function itself and only feeds data streams to Mojo. The product has been delayed months and there is a lot of confusion in the thread about what it can actually do. If they had made Poly an Android device, it would have been cheaper, available earlier, and have more flexibility. Building it as full custom hardware and software is insane.

 

[sludgeogre]

  But he did that to pretty much everyone.
 
"So do you mean you're designing in a single-source connector that costs $1685 each, when you could use a standard SMA that costs a couple of bucks?"
 
"So you want us to engineer up a complete handheld enclosure for something that's still on eighteen 10 x 12" boards—would you like to be first up in review when we have to scrap it?"
 
"So do you mean you want to run microwave tests in the hall and take the chance of frying someone's future kids because it's too much trouble to haul the stuff out to the remote test area?"

Sometimes I worry that I am this guy, although I'm not socially weird and I live in my own house, hah. I'm always the guy that refuses to be a yes man. I don't sit in review meetings and shout "that's fantastic! of course it'll work, because our company is perfect!" like many people do, just waiting for a pat on the back and a promotion. I was in a production meeting where people were arguing about data and I had all the data they could ever want, but it showed that we were losing product like crazy. Everyone in the room just turned and looked the other way at the presentation and kept moving, like I'd never said a word. I quit about three months later, and that company had to shut down completely and fire around 400 people just nine months later.
 
This mentality has proven very useful in audio, and I've managed to put together both a home theater and headphone rig that are of outstanding quality for a great price. Schiit, Emotiva, Blue Jeans Cables, Audeze, Rythmik, and Ascend Acoustics are all engineering driven companies that don't produce jewelry, and their products provide absolutely unparalleled value. Engineers make the best products, not salesmen and paper pushers.

 

[winders]

   
Good observation! Streamers is a product category that I really don't understand. It's basically a computer but more expensive and without the flexibility. I don't see how a streamer can do anything my cheap laptop can't do with the right software.

Because it's not all about what the unit can or can't do in software. The reason a product like the microRendu is better than a computer is that it can sound better than a standard computer. Why? Because the hardware is optimized for audio output. All unnecessary noise creating circuity is either not present or disabled.

 

[DigitalFrontEnd]

Hey, the grand term Obsolete is back in the spotlight. 
 
Or, rather, Future Proof...is that the inverse of Obsolete?

John Atkinson is at it gain.

 
"Yes, it's expensive, but Meridian Audio's Ultra DAC joins the expensive dCS Rossini ($23,999) and Vivaldi ($35,999) DACs in offering the best sound I have enjoyed from digital recordings. That its card-frame construction renders it future-proof, and that it offers MQA decoding, are two more layers of frosting on an already very satisfying cake."


Read more at http://www.stereophile.com/content/meridian-audio-ultra-dac-da-processor#WH0X8AK8Ak938Tkt.99
 
Have at it....

 
 
Oh yeh...

 

 

[hornytoad]

 
Because it's not all about what the unit can or can't do in software. The reason a product like the microRendu is better than a computer is that it can sound better than a standard computer. Why? Because the hardware is optimized for audio output. All unnecessary noise creating circuity is either not present or disabled.

Add in an Uptone Audio lps-1 and its even more amazing. 

 

[DigitalFrontEnd]

Add in an Uptone Audio lps-1 and its even more amazing. 

Exactamundo. The microRendu and others in it's league are far superior to laptops and desktops as source...by a country mile.

 

[GearMe]

Hey, the grand term Obsolete is back in the spotlight. 
 
Or, rather, Future Proof...is that the inverse of Obsolete?

John Atkinson is at it gain.

 
"Yes, it's expensive, but Meridian Audio's Ultra DAC joins the expensive dCS Rossini ($23,999) and Vivaldi ($35,999) DACs in offering the best sound I have enjoyed from digital recordings. That its card-frame construction renders it future-proof, and that it offers MQA decoding, are two more layers of frosting on an already very satisfying cake."


Read more at http://www.stereophile.com/content/meridian-audio-ultra-dac-da-processor#WH0X8AK8Ak938Tkt.99
 
Have at it....

 
 
Oh yeh...

 

Well...first off it's a grand cheaper than the Rossini.

Plus...
- it has both balanced and single-ended audio outputs
- the output stage incorporates "Hierarchical Converter technology [by MQA]
- the front panel has large, square buttons
- AND...all of these buttons are duplicated on the full-function remote control.

Haters gonna hate!

 

[VeerK]

Here's a Vidar related question I hope noone will mind answering:

How wide is the Vidar? Based on the pictures online, I'm guessing its Jot wide?

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Here's a Vidar related question I hope noone will mind answering:

How wide is the Vidar? Based on the pictures online, I'm guessing its Jot wide?

Looks like that indeed.
You can probably put two together on a standard audio-tray.

 

[Oveja Negra]

Exactamundo. The microRendu and others in it's league are far superior to laptops and desktops as source...by a country mile.

 
Can you elaborate more on this, please? I'm interested about the why's.
 
Thanks!