Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up

[adydula]

Same warranty as the old Asgard: 5 years.

Fun fact: I have an old Asgard that has been running probably about 80% of the time for the last 12 years. It's still going. They run hot, but they're plenty reliable. And we can always still fix them.

Does your old Asgard have a BITG sticker on it?
or BOTC Sticker?

Oh John Atkinson said this in 2021 reviewing the Vali 2 +.
10 years of use.

Vali 2+ vs Asgard
The first stand-alone headphone amp I ever used was also the first one Schiit ever produced, the original Asgard, which at the time cost $249. The Asgard caused my Audeze LCD-2s (pre-Fazor) to sound more full-bodied and macrodynamic than I imagined possible. This marked my official beginning as a headphone believer.

Ten years later, what I still admire about the Asgard is its extended and subtly gradated tonal palette.

 

[Author]

Nope, no more fails than usual. Looking at the thread, seems like there's a problem with buttons getting misaligned in shipping.

You guys know we have a serious QC procedure for all products, including instrumented and listening tests (yes, 100% instrument, 100% listening on ALL products), 24-hour burn-in, recheck, etc? I am currently in CA and I haven't seen anything amiss. Cam is very fast to let me know if there is any unusual amount of failures in any product.

The brisk, light-hearted response is professional but not empathetic. Particularly as shipping issues, which may or may not be the cause, are utterly outside your customer’s control — not to mention a risk for the customer that won’t go away.

 

[Paladin79]

I do understand the intellectual appeal of Class A, the "purity" of the approach. I've always likened it to running your cars engine at full throttle/redline all the time, even when stopped at a light. You would have all the power instantly available, no delay while you build revs. Totally impractical, of course, but fun to daydream about.

When it comes to a topology comparo, is such a thing really possible to do? For a start, a well-executed Class A/B unit is going to smoke a poorly-designed Class A amp pretty much every time. So, how ya gonna choose which brand to best represent each class? I'd think this will be especially true with tubes, given the disparity between classic (nostalgic?) tubey-sounding amps and more modern designs that strive to go light on the syrup. Not to mention the potential for unfortunate interactions between amps and speaker. Or the other associated components; just how revealing are they? What music are you using? But, hey, it still could make for an interesting evening.

I bought a tube headphone amp just so I could get the dimensions for an extension case I built for Mr. Cowen, I have listened to it maybe twice and it has hum, lots of it, put a Russian 6sn7 equivalent into it and the noise gets worse lol. It is one of three Chi-Fi tube amps in my collection but none of them would be safe to use in a comparison, they would be picked out as bad sounding tube amps so quickly lol. As far as which class, who cares?

 

[adydula]

@Jason Stoddard

What do the next five years at Schiit look like?

Hopefully we continue to provide fun, high-value audio products across a wide range*. Beyond that, we have no stated goals, no formal plan. As I mentioned in a chapter that I wrote when we hit 10 years old, we should be acting like we’re a 10-year-old person. As in, the world is still new and bright and wide open and anything can happen. A 10-year-old human doesn’t know what 15 feels like, not at all, no way, no how. But if we keep working hard and doing new things, I think 15 can be absolutely terrific.

*Oh and maybe a toaster. Dead serious. There are no made-in-USA toasters at all. This would be a different company, of course. But yeah. Audio. And maybe a toaster. We’ll see.

Could a made in the USA toaster be an accessory to the Mjolnir 3!

:>)

 

[Runrunsmithfly]

How does it compare to your other schiit dacs from memory?

I'm curious, how different is the MM1 to the MM2? It doesn't really detail what the specific changes were on your website..

As you can see all my Schiit DACs have been budget DACs. Every Schiit amp or DAC that I've owned though performed way above my expectations.
The Schiif delta sigma DACs with the AK4493 and AK4490 rhat I owned were excellent. For me those DACs put me a few rows back from the stage and the multibit DACs put me on the stage immersed in the music. The first time I played my original Modi multibit after switching out my Modi 3 I was amazed at the difference.
The Modi Multibit 2 just takes everything I liked about my Modi multibit 1 to a higher level. I really can't put it into words but this is really an amazing DAC and for $300 I think it's a steal.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

@Jason Stoddard

What do the next five years at Schiit look like?

Hopefully we continue to provide fun, high-value audio products across a wide range*. Beyond that, we have no stated goals, no formal plan. As I mentioned in a chapter that I wrote when we hit 10 years old, we should be acting like we’re a 10-year-old person. As in, the world is still new and bright and wide open and anything can happen. A 10-year-old human doesn’t know what 15 feels like, not at all, no way, no how. But if we keep working hard and doing new things, I think 15 can be absolutely terrific.

*Oh and maybe a toaster. Dead serious. There are no made-in-USA toasters at all. This would be a different company, of course. But yeah. Audio. And maybe a toaster. We’ll see.

Could a made in the USA toaster be an accessory to the Mjolnir 3!

:>)

I've found a few more audio challenges to chew on before we get to toasters. You'll see one this year, hopefully in February.

But, conservatively, we have several years of blowing up heads on the audio side of things before we start looking for other stuff to play with.

 

[belgiangenius]

I've found a few more audio challenges to chew on before we get to toasters. You'll see one this year, hopefully in February.

But, conservatively, we have several years of blowing up heads on the audio side of things before we start looking for other stuff to play with.

If it's made like your audio gear, I would buy a Schiit toaster in a second.

 

[Dr. Cube]

If it uses a thermostat instead of a timer, I would definitely audition it as a replacement for my antique Radiant Control toaster.

 

[Birch]

...

*Oh and maybe a toaster. Dead serious. There are no made-in-USA toasters at all. This would be a different company, of course. But yeah. Audio. And maybe a toaster. We’ll see.

Could a made in the USA toaster be an accessory to the Mjolnir 3!

:>)

On-Off topic - Who remembers the epic, unrivalled Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster ?

 

[Runrunsmithfly]

On-Off topic - Who remembers the epic, unrivalled Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster ?

Unfortunately, I'm old enough to remember those.

 

[Runrunsmithfly]

I'm thinking a toaster that would toast a pattern of Jason's face on one side of the bread and Mike's on the other side. If you can make great DACs out of chips designed for the medical field then it should be a snap.

 

[Paladin79]

Trying to find I Like Toast by Heywood Banks..

 

[Ripper2860]

A 10-year-old human doesn’t know what 15 feels like, not at all, no way, no how. But if we keep working hard and doing new things, I think 15 can be absolutely terrific.

I can't wait for Schiit to hit 15 and all the hormones kick-in.

 

[Sheep3000]

I've found a few more audio challenges to chew on before we get to toasters. You'll see one this year, hopefully in February.

But, conservatively, we have several years of blowing up heads on the audio side of things before we start looking for other stuff to play with.

Would you ever consider on doing a budget OTL (not hybrid) tube amp in a magni form factor? Is something like that even possible, budget-wise?

 

[Birch]

If it uses a thermostat instead of a timer, I would definitely audition it as a replacement for my antique Radiant Control toaster.

Dualit 4 slicer, made in the U.K., with timer - to match your Schiit gear -