[Alcophone]

Power switch at one end of the cord or the other makes no difference.

You'd think so, but not with Schiit. If you're willing to take the risk, have a source playing into a Jotunheim, listen to it with headphones, turn the Jotunheim's switch off: instant silence. Turn it back on, you'll won't hear music until it's considered safe. Now pull the plug or cut power differently upstream: you'll keep hearing something for a bit. Put the cord back in, you'll probably hear music sooner.
The muting function for protection seems to require (and get) power even when the Jotunheim's switch is off, at least that's my guess.

I asked Schiit about using a smart plug a long time ago, and was told "I wouldn't recommend using it in that manner. The Jotunheim has a muting relay by design to prevent sound coming through immediately for safety."
Asking whether the same is true for Vidar and Freya, I got "That is correct."

 

[theeclone]

I'm an idiot. I don't have a source for my upcoming GMB/MJ3/MiniC stack. Suggestions? That also matches the aesthetics? Gumby OG with Gen5 USB, if that matters. (I have plenty of sources "to make do" but no permanent one)

btw, I did receive the Allo MiniBoss Player Plus. Never again will I buy from them.

1. They sent a European power supply to the United States.
2. The power supply looks like it's a hand-me-down through several generations of Clampetts.
3. The HDMI jack on it is non-standard, about 1/2 the size of any HDMI I've ever seen.
4. It doesn't boot off the provided card. Manufacturer's solution: make a new card. Then w.t.f. am I paying for?
5. The online setup instructions are wrong. Plug the power into the USB-C port? Why the hell does it have a barrel connector socket and a barrel connector power supply?

Plus, it's the ugliest thing I've ever seen.

Welp, you could always go the DIY route. Plenty of ppl here could probably help with that. Since you don't have unison on the gumby the pi2aes might be worthwhile. Rpi's were recently available again at reasonable prices tho not sure how many are left.

I've been a little curious about s.m.s.l streamers if you want to avoid DIY.

Or there's always urd

 

[roadcykler]

I don’t think anyone is upset. I just think it’s a weird thing that they insist on being known for.

Silly me. I thought they were known for making great equipment at very reasonable prices.

 

[artur9]

Or there's always urd

Holy crap! What a crazy way to back into an Urd. The conspiracy smell is strong on this one ;-D

P.S. Given I can't even get an Allo to work, do you really think DIY is the path I should take?!

 

[OldRoadToad]

Silly me. I thought they were known for making great equipment at very reasonable prices.

They are also known for being "silly". Their advertising and website are often quite humorous. And yup! They are also very well known for making excellent Schiit for a very reasonable price and pretty much all Schiitizenry know this, even "seasoned schiitizens" such as my self.

ORT

 

[Balthazar B]

Holy crap! What a crazy way to back into an Urd. The conspiracy smell is strong on this one ;-D

P.S. Given I can't even get an Allo to work, do you really think DIY is the path I should take?!

A WiiM Pro would fill the bill. It's small, black and unobtrusive, and works quite well for pretty much any streaming service out there (including Internet radio). And Roon, LMS, etc. Very-well supported by the manufacturer. Visually, it doesn't detract from my Gumby/Freya duo. Even has a little Schitty LED. Plenty of folks here have one or more in their homes.

 

[adias]

A WiiM Pro would fill the bill. It's small, black and unobtrusive, and works quite well for pretty much any streaming service out there (including Internet radio). And Roon, LMS, etc. Very-well supported by the manufacturer. Visually, it doesn't detract from my Gumby/Freya duo. Even has a little Schitty LED. Plenty of folks here have one or more in their homes.

Unobtrusive is right. Mine sits hidden in the back of the cabinet. It just works.

 

[theeclone]

Given I can't even get an Allo to work, do you really think DIY is the path I should take?!

Lots of options out there. Some more DIY than others

 

[Rensek]

Does the Wiim Pro allow gapless playback via Chromecast, or are folks getting gapless playback through either Spotify Connect or Qobuz Connect...

Aside...I wish Qobuz Connect was a thing....

 

[adias]

Does the Wiim Pro allow gapless playback via Chromecast, or are folks getting gapless playback through either Spotify Connect or Qobuz Connect...

Aside...I wish Qobuz Connect was a thing....

Yes gapless, confirmed listening to a CD on Amazon Music Unlimited.

 

[JamminVMI]

Or just grab this smart power bar on Amazon for US$43. 6 individual app-controlled outlets and USB power for your raspberry pi. One and done.

(Unfortunately ridiculously expensive on Amazon Canada )
.

I'm an idiot. I don't have a source for my upcoming GMB/MJ3/MiniC stack. Suggestions? That also matches the aesthetics? Gumby OG with Gen5 USB, if that matters. (I have plenty of sources "to make do" but no permanent one)

btw, I did receive the Allo MiniBoss Player Plus. Never again will I buy from them.

1. They sent a European power supply to the United States.
2. The power supply looks like it's a hand-me-down through several generations of Clampetts.
3. The HDMI jack on it is non-standard, about 1/2 the size of any HDMI I've ever seen.
4. It doesn't boot off the provided card. Manufacturer's solution: make a new card. Then w.t.f. am I paying for?
5. The online setup instructions are wrong. Plug the power into the USB-C port? Why the hell does it have a barrel connector socket and a barrel connector power supply?

Plus, it's the ugliest thing I've ever seen.

HDMI is probably Mini or Micro. Standard, just less common. But on Pi boards, required due to real estate ( or the lack thereof). And the “…few generations of Clampetts had me rolling. See if you can get them to at least get you animage of the card. You can burn that and move along.

What will be feeding music to the Allo?
Can’t help with the ugly. And given someone else’s comment, Urd ain’t even a little bit ugly! I

 

[Mike Foley]

Does the Wiim Pro allow gapless playback via Chromecast, or are folks getting gapless playback through either Spotify Connect or Qobuz Connect...

Aside...I wish Qobuz Connect was a thing....

I haven’t tried Chromecast, but it does gapless with Qobuz, Tidal, and Amazon, all using the Wiim app. It also does gapless with Tidal Connect and Spotify Connect.

 

[wout31]

I use these to switch on/off gear that is too far out or in a weird place.
I know all you guys adore phone apps.
It can be automated with Home Assistant or used with a voice command.
You can switch on/off groups at once, in sequence, timed etc. etc.
I switch on Freya-S and both Tyrs with one tick on the smartphone screen.

 

[Derrick Swart]

I've had two PMs about the DIY speaker I posted asking why I recycled an ugly old vinyl-over-MDF Infinity enclosure. I've been designing and building loudspeaker systems for almost 50 years and I am a pretty good crossover designer, with all of the tools to test and adjust. This is what I love: finding a way to take some interesting raw drivers and make them sound good. I spend days on the crossover design, measuring and listening and testing and tweaking. Sometimes I spend months to "finish" a system and never build it (ask my wife about the "electrical mess" in my workshop.) What I don't love is carpentry and furniture making. In fact I'm crap at it. So I only use the bare necessities to test system enclosure size then find or have made for me what I need to suit the system I'm designing if I decide to turn it into something for the house.

Kit builders tend to be the opposite. They love the wood working, the cabinet making, the finishes and the polish. They tend to be really good at that and focus their time and attention on that aspect, then plug in a loudspeaker kit that they want to use. If I want one of my systems to look good, I'll likely hire one of them to do it for me. But otherwise, I really don't pay much attention to cosmetics.

As in all things, YMMV.

Team up with Tom (@Paladin79) - to keep it simple: Palableza as company name suggestion

 

[EdTheNerd92]

Saga S is still in the line, as is Saga+.

The Saga of Saga is an interesting one, to be honest, with not a lot of good answers and some (perhaps) very weird choices if we want to do an update on that one.

Here's the thing: Saga is expensive to make. And it doesn't sell that well. And it doesn't have any voltage gain, which some people like. All of those don't bode well for its future, either in S or + form. But if we try to address the lack of voltage gain, it gets more expensive, bringing it closer to Kara. Probably not a winning idea. If we want to cut cost, it's gonna end up in a Syn-like chassis with a wall-wart. Again maybe not the right idea. And then there's the whole question of I/O, as in there's super-limited space for balanced I/O if we want to think about adding that--and, if you increase chassis size, you end up at Kara again.

I'll keep playing with it, but we have both Saga+ and Saga S right now, and I'm pretty sure we have good stock of both. So there's that.

This reminds me of one thing I have wished was a Schiit product: a simple source select box without its own volume control in a Asguard/Modius footprint chassis for people already using their amp as their pre and just want a few more inputs.
No knob on the front, just a button to change inputs, and you'd feed that into the line-in of an Asguard/Jot/etc placed on top of it.
You could even squeeze more inputs in by using TRS jacks for balanced instead of XLR, which isn't unusual in pro-audio at all and there's plenty of cables out there for. You could even double up on them vertically like you do with RCA for left/right jacks.