2018, Chapter 9:
David Byrne, Progress Interrupted, and an Ode To DIY
So, this last weekend, my wife dragged me off to a David Byrne concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl. Thanks to that, you get a chapter on how Once In a Lifetime refers to All Things, including the current state of Schiit Engineering, a weird little craft beer place, and the DIY scene, rather than just a celebration of DIY, which is what this chapter was gonna be.
“Whoa, I know cannabis is legal in California, but man, you may have gone a bit deep there…” you might be thinking.
But, honestly, there were no 4:20 moments here. I’m not huge on pot, though it’s easy enough to indulge around here. Hell, one of my oldest friends said, “Here’s a THC vape and a couple of cartridges. This one does X. This other one does Y. Enjoy.” But it’s really not my thing.
No. It’s really just a realization of just how much is Same As It Ever Was…
Wait. Let me back up. I’m not big on concerts. They’re usually pretty much all boring. The band comes out, plays some music that you expect, plus a few songs from the album they’re currently pimping, the audience-torturing lights fry your retinas, and the pushed-past-the-edge-of-25%-THD sound system, tuned by a completely baked sound guy whose hearing apparently ends around 500Hz, results in your ears ringing for three days, unless you use earplugs, and then why bother going to the frigging concert at all, when you can enjoy the same sound at home by blowing your tweeters and mids?
But Rina thought I’d like it. And, you know,
happy wife, happy life. And so I bit back my comments about how the only concerts I ever consistently enjoyed were early Stan Ridgeway and Oingo Boingo’s Halloween gigs. Because they weren’t the same. And, in the case of Ridgeway, I think he and the band made probably about $30 each, because he’d bring in like a dozen backup musicians to some tiny venue like the Palace.
(Well, and I did like Kraftwerk 3D, especially the string quartet opener playing Kraftwerk songs, as well as the 3D stuff…but then again, when your act is essentially 4 accountant-looking dudes staring at laptops, ya gotta do somethin, right?)
In any case, I shut up and went. And I was…honestly surprised.
Pleasantly surprised.
I got an inkling that something would be different as soon as the opening act finished. After the opening act, they cleaned everything off the stage, and swept the floor with a near-pathological obsession. There was literally nothing left on the stage at all—no drum kits, no risers, no backing screens, nothing. Just a completely bare stage, backed by a rectangular array of thin aluminum chains that rose 30’ or so on rigging above the stage.
“Well, that’s weird,” I told Rina.
“It
is International Strange Music Day,” she said. She’s always a fount of bizarre info like that.
“Really?”
She nodded. “Look it up.”
I didn’t bother. She’s usually right about completely odd stuff like that.
A bit later, they finally brought a few props out onto the stage: a card table, a chair, and a human brain (plastic, I hoped.) I waited for a while to see what else they’d add, but that appeared to be it; a single spotlight speared the table.
“It’s a zombie test,” Rina said.
“What?” I asked, then laughed, getting it finally.
“Good one,” I told her. But still, I began to wonder if this was gonna be a concert where Mr. Byrne just sat and talked to the brain, which, well, given his music and International Strange Music Day, wouldn’t be beyond the realm of reason.
To cut to the chase: yeah, David Byrne came out and sat down at the table, and he did talk to the brain.
But that was just the beginning. What happened after that is what made it, well, a concert worth going to.
What happened is that the band stepped out from behind the aluminum curtain—the entire band, a dozen people, all wired for complete portability, playing everything from a deconstructed drum set to electric guitars to cuicas and berimbaus
.
Let me repeat: everyone was portable. Nobody had a fixed position. And so the whole concert could be done more as a stage play, dynamically reinforcing the music.
Seems so simple, right?
But, what a difference! With everyone moving, and a simple metallic chain backdrop, there was a huge blank palette to play with. Many songs were simply lit and used the actions of the band to define them, but there were also pieces where the lighting was used to cast gigantic shadows on the back scrims, to great effect.
Again, sounds simple. But how long did it take someone to say, ”Hey, you know, we could go completely wireless, and then we have the freedom to move around, and then we can use the whole stage, and then…well, then what can we do with that?”
The result? Another concert on my very, very short list of concerts worth going to.
And also, well, some reflection on where we are, right now. And some stuff I was going to write about anyway.
(Again, no, I’m not high. Nor am I drunk. Just go with it, OK?)
Because, here’s the thing: before I went to the concert, I was going to write about DIY, why it’s important, who’s doing a great job with it, and who you should be supporting. Because DIY can be the skunkworks of audio, where crazy ideas are tried and proven, without having to deal with all the realities of larger-scale manufacturing.
Or, in other words, a place where it’s not always Same As It Ever Was.
And, as I sat there listening to Once In A Lifetime—clearly a song Byrne enjoys, by the way—I realized that it is truly an exceptional metaphor. I was sitting amongst old-money Santa Barbarans who were certainly finding themselves in A Beautiful House (and maybe, at the same time, wondering, a little sadly,
how did I get here? And at the same time, there were people who were definitely living in shotgun shacks. But, maybe, here’s the common danger—we might all be just
letting the days go by…
same as it ever was.
I certainly feel like that from time to time at Schiit, and I was feeling it keenly in the week before I headed out to the concert. I couldn’t make any progress on multiple prototypes—hell, I hadn’t even turned on one prototype that I’d sent out to the assembly house to do, because it used such tiny parts, and I hadn’t even had time to finish building two others, because there were so many little fiddly stupid things to do. Testing new production runs. Making sure first articles were right. Addressing some questions about changes we made on the line. And dealing with stupid, stupid stuff like California’s Prop 65.
Aside: please don’t turn what follows into a political back and forth. I’m simply giving my opinion on something we had to do to comply with local laws. We live here; we deal with it.
Aside to the aside: but this is why lots of businesses think California is fundamentally stupid.
For those of you unfamiliar with Prop 65, it’s a well-meaning California law that’s intended to warn people about potentially harmful substances in the products they buy.
Sounds pretty innocuous, right?
Well, that’s until you look at the list of harmful substances and see that it includes things like wood dust, leather dust, aspirin, salted fish, and testosterone. Which might lead someone to wonder if the place they live, the clothes they wear, the food they eat, and maybe even themselves might need warning labels. No, I am not making this up.
Prop 65 got a lot of press recently because one of their problematic chemicals is a byproduct of coffee roasting, so, yeah, you guessed it, every coffee place in California needs to warn people that coffee might cause cancer.
And with recent changes in enforcement, it was time for us to get compliant. So I spent a good chunk of the week researching what we might have in our products, and creating a label and online warning that lets everyone know that our products contain things like nickel and DEHP. Nickel is used in pretty much every resistor, PCB, and connector on the planet. DEHP is a flexibility enhancer that may be used in power cords. Are they problematic in any real sense? I have no opinion. If you live in California, you have been warned. And we are compliant with the law, at the cost of a few days of progress. Ah well. It could be worse.
So yes, I was feeling a bit too much of the Same As It Ever Was feeling. Or, maybe more accurately,
Progress, Interrupted. In any case, a sense of the days flying by without movement or purpose, or
letting the water hold me down. Maybe that’s why the concert resonated with me.
Hell, before I even get to the DIY connection, let me make another one. There’s a bizarre little brewery in Carpinteria, just south of Santa Barbara, that Rina and I frequent. It’s called BrewLab, and they have, at any given time, 16 or so beers, with exactly zero recurring taps.
Read that again:
zero recurring taps. They have no standard beers.
If you aren’t a beer person, you may not get how weird this is, but believe me, this is way wacky mondo bizarre. Small breweries are usually looking for the “beer that makes it big,” like Firestone’s 805. Small breweries also usually rely on a standard roster to bring people back again and again.
Brewlab? Nope. Hell, they don’t even list the beers they have online (the list they have is painfully old and never updated.) So, every time you go in, it’s a surprise.
And not only is it a surprise, it may be a very, very bizarre trip. Brewlab has stuff like Nordic Sahtis, altbiers, sours, experimental stuff with herbs and fruit that isn’t even really beer, and they might even throw in a gruit or something really bizarre—while at the same time usually having a couple of off-the-beaten-path IPAs.
“It took me a while to get used to it,” I told one of the brewers, last weekend. “But I really like the fact your beers always change, and never seem to be the same.”
He laughed, in that self-deprecating way most brewers have. “It might not be the road to riches, but it’s a lot of fun.”
“Do you ever have the same beer?” Rina asked him.
He laughed harder. “Sometimes we try, but we don’t do glycol (a temperature control system), so it comes out different, plus, well, we want to try new things.”
“Keep trying,” I told him. “Because this is different, and it’s working.”
“Yeah, we seem to be in a good place. Debt is gone, we’re celebrating our 4-year anniversary, so now, well, maybe we can find an investor that doesn’t want us…”
“…to find your 805.”
He nodded. “Exactly!”
“But if you’re doing well, why do you need an investor?” Rina asked.
A sheepish grin. “Because, well, everything’s paid…but we aren’t. Not yet.”
I shook my head. And in that moment, I wish I could be the investor they were looking for. Because I totally got it. Starting a business is rough. And there are years—maybe many years—when you may not be able to take a salary.
And, in the end, he and his fellow brewers might have to make a decision as to whether they wanted to find their 805 and make some money, or stick to what they love, and stay pure.
I can respect either decision. There are no wrong answers. Because there are days when, if you have your 805, and the money is rolling in, you’re still gonna feel that time and opportunity and excitement is passing you by, the water’s flowing underground. And there are days when, if you’ve got a dozen amazing beers you can’t replicate, you may wonder how you got there…and why you can’t hold onto it and make it into a living.
Too deep? Maybe. So let’s move on and talk about DIY.
An Ode To DIY
In the past, I’ve said that DIY is important. I’ve also pointed you at a few DIYers and independent designers. And I’ve said that pretty much any company that’s engaged in DIY is going to do it better than us, and our little “coaster” experiment.
So here’s a longer piece, exploring why DIY is important, highlighting some of the cool stuff going on out there in DIY, and, yes, linking to some neat stuff that I’ve come across.
Aside: now, this list will be in no way comprehensive or complete, so if you have a favorite DIY designer or project, please bring them to everyone’s attention in a comment. Heck, you’ll help me learn a thing or two as well!
“So why are you so hip on DIY,” someone might ask. “How can, like, a dude in a garage compete with big-ol companies that have like a billion engineers on staff, all armed with the latest development gear?”
It’s simple:
they can compete because they aren’t shackled.
They can compete because they don’t have 45-page product briefs.
They can compete because they don’t have to worry about including all the latest buzzwords.
They can compete because they love what they’re doing, and it shows.
They can compete because they don’t have to deal with inane stuff like Prop 65.
Hell, they can compete without competing at all, because they’re busy investigating something that’s under the radar of the audio giants.
And, because they aren’t shackled, DIY is sometimes the most interesting end of audio. It’s in DIY where you’ll see in-depth discussions of the pros and cons of current-feedback and voltage-feedback amplifiers, together with tons of schematics on both sides (and some in the middle), plus simulations and measurements. It’s where you’ll find code to start down the road of an open-source USB interface or streamer or player. It’s where you’ll find single-device discrete phono preamps, wacky tube hybrid ideas, old-ideas-made-new, and interesting minimalist topologies that deliver high performance.
Now, are all of these ideas fully fleshed out? No. Heck, some of them will only work in simulation-land, and would never actually be feasible in reality. Some of them rely on obsolete and hard-to-find parts, or use laborious techniques like hand-matching to ensure proper performance. Some will never be more than shiny dreams, abstract art in schematic form, doomed by the laws of physics.
But, with the freedom to explore, DIY sometimes uncovers some truly amazing stuff. And that’s what I’m here to highlight. So, without further ado, let’s look at some of the cool stuff that’s happening.
Diyaudio.com. Interested in doing DIY, learning engineering, or starting your own company? Stop and go register at DIYaudio.com. This is an important nexus of audio design, and has a lot to offer for everyone, from well-realized products that offer commercial PC boards and parts, to philosophical discussions of the finer points of audio. It’s also divided into relatively logical sections. Some highlights include:
- A dedicated section for Nelson Pass’ DIY projects (more on this later)
- A dedicated area for headphone amps for us head-fiers
- Extensive tube coverage, including obscure but easy-to-get TV tubes
- A very well-realized, super-simple phono preamp (the Salas NJFET RIAA)
- Some very advanced DIY experimentation into from-scratch Class D amps (!)
- A very deep loudspeaker section, including some very exotic stuff
- A commercial section where you can get PCBs, parts, etc.
Tubecad.com. Here’s another one I frequently mention, because John Broskie has more interesting ideas about both tube and solid-state audio than anyone else I know. He also sells PC boards for many of his designs, so you can build your own preamp or headphone amp from his own unique topology. But, beyond that, his blogposts are literally bursting with ideas. Now, these ideas are frequently of the “let’s try this and see what happens…aha, oh, that’s what I have to fix about it” variety, but he does call out some gotchas and helps you understand what is a realizable design and isn’t. He also does a good job of explaining some of the more advanced nuances of audio engineering, so it’s well worth hanging out there. Wade through a rather dated design and structure to find:
- Some really neat products to buy and build
- Extensive exploration into tube and tube hybrid topologies, including many that are unique to Broskie
- Extensive exploration into solid state topologies, including many that are unique to Broskie
- Breakdowns of how discrete circuits work, including wacky stuff like circlotrons
- Lots of non-standard, non-linear thinking, including single-ended circlotrons and a topology that behaves somewhat like a circlotron, without the need for the complex power supplies
- More audio ideas than you can shake a stick at
Hifisonix.com. Interested in speaker amp design? Want a couple of very cool Class A designs, with PCBs and detailed instructions on how to get them up and running? Or are you just confused about why your DIY designs are making all kinds of hum and noise? Then visit Andrew Russell’s site at Hifisonix. Highlights include:
- Class A speaker amps
- CFA amps of low and moderate power
- High power voltage feedback amp designs
- The most comprehensive guide on how to minimize hum
AMB.org. Preamps, DACs, headphone amps, speaker amps—you can build an entire system with the DIY projects on AMB. This is a great example of a company that is doing DIY in a serious way, making it easy to purchase PCBs and get support for projects. When I say, “Choose any company other than us for DIY, and they’re doing a better job,” this is one company I’m thinking about. Highlights:
- A wide range of designs from headphone-centric stuff to beyond
- Sells boards and parts on the site to make DIY easier
- Has a forum on-site for additional support
Bottlehead.com. One of the most commonly heard phrases in headphone audio is, “I just built a Bottlehead Crack.” Although you can buy their products pre-built, Bottlehead has a strong DIY following, and provides great support (it’s another company I’m thinking of when I say, “Choose any other DIY company for a better experience than building the coaster amp.”) At Bottlehead, you’ll find:
- Tube designs. Wonderful, scalable, great-sounding tube designs.
- Speaker amps, headphone amps, preamps, and more
- Parts, including full kits ready to assemble
- A forum full of helpful tips
Passdiy.com. In addition to running Pass Labs, building cost-no-object high-end products, Nelson Pass is also behind some of the hottest DIY projects out there. Featuring simple, innovative circuit topologies, Pass’ DIY can also be found on the dedicated forum at DIYaudio.com, so if you want more, it’s worth visiting there as well. PassDIY.com has:
- A library of past projects, as well as highlighted builds.
- Amp, preamp, and speaker designs
- A small store where you can buy PCBs
Soekris.eu. Now, here’s a great example of the power of DIY. Soekris started out on DIYaudio.com, highlighting unique discrete sign-magnitude DAC modules at very affordable prices. Heck, it’s Soekris that made me realize that discrete DACs didn’t have to cost a mint, because he was the first to break the price barrier to discrete ladder DACs. Combined with the ability to change digital filters, Soekris designs found their way into many DIYers hands. Now, Soekris is selling complete DACs and DAC/headphone amps, but the modules are still available to the more adventurous. At soekris.eu, you’ll find:
- Finished DAC and DAC/amp designs that were first proven in the DIY realm
- Sign-magnitude discrete DAC modules to use in your own designs
sound.whsites.net/index2.html. Take your time and really dig into this one. It’s a combination of audio projects (some of which you can buy PCBs or components for) and a vast, vast compendium of really good articles on nearly every aspect of audio. Want to know the difference between a constant-Q equalizer, a passive EQ, and the LC resonant approach used by Loki Mini? You’ll find that here. You’ll also find in-depth discussions of amplifier classes, including some obscure ones like Class G (Broskie also plays with these). But there are also articles on amp protection, devices, radio, test and measurement, and more. I mean, you can spend weeks diving into this stuff—but it’s all presented in a very accessible manner. So, in case you missed it, here, you’ll find:
- Maybe the most comprehensive collection of articles on all aspects of audio design—tube, power, pre, EQ, radio, testing, devices, power supplies, you name it
- Very good circuit examples supporting all the articles
- Excellent presentation of the concepts behind the schematics
- A list of projects that are very well-documented with outcomes
- Pre-built modules, PCBs, and some parts for sale
Valvewizard.co.uk. Don’t let the “how to design valve guitar amplifiers” text throw you off. And yeah, I know, this isn’t really a DIY site, in that it doesn’t offer fancy schematics and PCBs, but it’s one that I think is very useful for someone getting into tube design. It has the clearest explanations of the most common tube circuits, as well as some very handy tips for when you’re running into problems like heater hum. It also sells books, so, you know, if you like the content, you should probably consider picking one up. Here, you’ll find:
- Clear explanations of most common tube circuits—building blocks for tube amps
- Discussion and explanation of tube power supplies
- Yet more hum-busting tips
- Books for sale that go even more in-depth
Cordellaudio.com. Like Valvewizard, this isn’t your typical DIY site, but it is a great site for people who want to get into designing their own power amplifiers—and actually understanding the designs, rather than working from a cookbook. Bob Cordell literally wrote the book on audio power amplifier design. Although the site is a strong call to buy the book (hint: buy the book), there are plenty of examples, schematics, and articles. Some of the content is quite technical, but don’t be scared. You’ll find:
- An in-depth look at error correction in a MOSFET power amp (this was the inspiration for Sumo’s power amps from the 1980s and 1990s)
- An innovative phono preamp design
- A build-it-yourself audio analyzer
Whew. I could go on, but I really need to wrap up this rambling chapter for tomorrow. Like I said, this is not intended to be a comprehensive list. If you have favorite DIY resources, please let me know about them in the comments.
And…here’s the bottom line: these guys are all working on the edges of audio. They’re exploring uncharted territory. Even though they decided not to start a company building shrink-wrapped boxes that are easy to click “buy it now” on, they deserve your support—hell, they may deserve that support even more than the companies making shiny boxes.
“Whoa, does that mean you’re, ah, looking around and asking, ‘How did I get here?’” someone asks.
Sigh.
Not most weeks.
But in those weeks when nothing goes right, and there are a dozen little things to do, and it’s capped off by having to put a meaningless warning label on your product, one that people have been trained to ignore due to overuse, it sometimes seems a bit sad.
But then again, we have this week, which is really cranking. Things are working. We’re making progress. Some really cool stuff is getting done. I’m excited about where we’re going. And I’ve never felt better about our ability to deliver even higher value products in audio. Hell, we’re even getting our advertising back on track, to the funny/bizarre world that it never should have left (wait till you see the new ApeSchiit and SchiitFire ads!) There’s even some hope on getting out of backorder more quickly, though I know it doesn’t seem like that now. And Mike and his team are having their own set of breakthroughs, but I’ll let him talk about that.
And when you get right down to it, there are more weeks like this week than weeks of setbacks and drudgery.
But, let’s face it. We have a pretty solid product line. We have our 805s. We have the multibit brews that people keep coming back for. We know, for the moment, what we are. And if we didn’t have some very exciting new stuff coming down the line, I’d worry that we had become one of the Establishment.
“So, if you’re happy, why this ode to DIY?” you might ask.
Simple. I felt it was time to call your attention to the DIY scene, in a much more direct manner. Because it really is the adjunct of the “How to Maybe Succeed in Engineering” chapter. HTMSIE is your required coursework. DIY is the engineering lab. DIY is where you find out what really works. DIY is where you blow things up.
And, for some of the best DIYers out there, it’s a place to explore. To test the limits. And to exist outside some of the constraints of an ongoing firm. And that might be something you’re interested in, as, well.
Because they are the Brewlabs of the audio world. There are no “tried and trues,” no workhorses, no 805s here. And that’s very, very cool.
They are, by definition, not the
same as it ever was.
