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

Oct 17, 2023 at 9:58 AM Post #128,596 of 195,279
It's probably far too late to help, can only offer some impossibly incorrect hypotheses or antediluvian views filled with schiit.

Not saying this happened exactly as I am about to makeup describe, but in a previous century Jason and Mike collaborated on some projects. Projects that were far ahead of their time. Some say, or just me, outside of time. Anyhow, before I digress further down the temporal wormhole, it was also a period when Jason was running a cutting edge, thought-massaging advertising agency and Mike was creating cutting edge digital audio platforms. You can hear where this is going already.

No? Fine, let me elaborate. Or stop me now. Your choice.


74547d019d72440e1d451561a20fc898.jpg


Alrighty then. I'll continue.

At this time, Jason and Mike, being visionaries - or as we call them now - audilaries - gifted people who can hear the future, had an idea. Sure, many of us have ideas. However, some ideas have a very long tail or as we call them now, long reach vestibular stimulators.

While pursuing his marketing mojo at Centric, Jason learned about the power of suggestion - and delivery of pre-subminimal post-subliminal suggestive association. It's all covered in Jason's Chapter 2 here, except the part that I'm about to reveal.

This part, of course, is a most interesting part. Not just because it's some schiity speculation, but because at this point your beleaguered suspension bridge of disbelief has collapsed under the overloaded overpass on the way to get to the point. The point is simple. Audibly simple. But perhaps not consciously audible.

No point getting worried, however. This is no faux-fact-checking SINAD mission for numeric superiority. If you're a precog, you already know where the point went. If you find it, could you please return it to the Temple di Valse.

Anyhow, if you're like me and have no clue what I'm typing about, here's where the worm turns over a new ear for familiar serenades.

Back in a previous century - which might feel like around the time you began reading this post - yes, back then and even then, Jason and Mike possibly realized their one true significant bit path was in the multi-mythic aural future history. But how to get there?

The Schiit if I know.

But, ponder this... is it a coincidence that the Tempo di Valse is so familiar to you, so intimate - listening to it through your good Schiit? Not likely.

Or a coincidence I have a sublime and eerily familiar feeling listening to Marin Marais' Second Livre De Pieces De Viole played by Savall as recorded 400 years ago, or in a previous century, playing through my TrueMultibit™ DAC? I don't think so.

I mean, really.... this schiit is a time machine - when I listen, I'm transported back to Paris circa 1701. That's no schitty coincidence, is it?

I think, therefore, I am filled with pure schiit cogitation - spinning heavy mental mentation tracks round and round in the Urd of my mind:

Previous century Jason and Mike devised a way of embedding snippets of sonics, heard, but not heard, that entered our collective popular consciousness - yet waited below the noise floor for decades before emerging in haunting familiarity with questions in a thread about very familiar schiit in 2023.

Sure, there could be more plausible or implausible explanations, and we could posit post-cochlear conspiracies until the threshold of being fades out but...

797fd380c007869e06a0e4c52a1eed9e.png


You can't make this schiit up! 🤣
Great Post! If your brain was a drug, I'd smoke the Schiit out of it.
 
Oct 17, 2023 at 10:13 AM Post #128,597 of 195,279
I'd contact Schiit to send that back. Mine is straight on, not off to the side like that.
Can u see the sensor at all?
Mine Freya N is pretty well centered looking at it straight on.
The sensor is soldered to the pcb.
Probably a tad off.
I would contact Schiit.
Me I would open it up and move it a tad...but thats me and then there goes the warranty.

Alex
 
Oct 17, 2023 at 10:23 AM Post #128,598 of 195,279
Look what the Schiit Modi Multibit 2 gets to play with!!
Walnut Burl ZMF VC's.

Screenshot 2023-10-17 092740.jpgScreenshot 2023-10-17 092714.jpg
Congrats Alex!!
And be aware that ZMF driver break-in is a real thing
Most changes occur during the first 20 hours as those drivers learn to flex and get settled in, things are much more subtle after that
For what it's worth Zach burns his demo units in for 200 hours prior to going to shows or sending to someone for review. Nothing special, just playing a variety of music at normal listening volumes to fully exercise the stiff new drivers :)
 
Oct 17, 2023 at 10:46 AM Post #128,599 of 195,279
Can u see the sensor at all?
Mine Freya N is pretty well centered looking at it straight on.
The sensor is soldered to the pcb.
Probably a tad off.
I would contact Schiit.
Me I would open it up and move it a tad...but thats me and then there goes the warranty.

Alex
It's hard to see what the sensor is supposed to look like. It works, it's just not as relatively omni-directional as most remote products I'm used to, and there was a moment where it seemed like it wasn't sensing the remote at all. Just peculiar, I guess. :)

If it keeps happening, I'll contact Schiit.
 
Oct 17, 2023 at 10:48 AM Post #128,600 of 195,279
UDP-203 is the only physical digital media player I have left now other than an LG BR drive I use to rip 4K Blu Rays since it's easier to rip them and play them back that way than to just play them on a PC for some stupid reason. I sold my spare BNIB 205 and 3 year old used 205 for INSANE profit last year.

It's a beautiful unit, I'll be sad if it dies. Bought mine in 2017 with my first OLED and Sonos soundbar, to enjoy the $#!+ out of Planet Earth 1 and 2, my first-ever bluray purchases.

I've fought the PC fight a few times and gave up - I think the simple answer is "profit motive". At this point I just avoid integrating any large drives of any kind into my PCs to keep them minimal and clean - M.2 or bust. When I end the video gaming phase of my life I'll probably shrink down to Framework desktops and Linux to keep things silent.

https://frame.work/products/cooler-master-mainboard-case-and-mainboard-kit?v=FRANHDCM01
 
Oct 17, 2023 at 12:18 PM Post #128,601 of 195,279
It's hard to see what the sensor is supposed to look like. It works, it's just not as relatively omni-directional as most remote products I'm used to, and there was a moment where it seemed like it wasn't sensing the remote at all. Just peculiar, I guess. :)

If it keeps happening, I'll contact Schiit.
The Freya Circuit Card Assembly photo on the Schiit webpage clearly shows the sensor, it is the black, thru hole device with the convect lens located on the front left side of the board. It can easily be bent back into position if you remove the top cover. It can also be bent out of position if someone inadvertently tries to plug a 1/8" TRS plug in that hole. If you are not comfortable doing the task, then return it to the mother ship.
 
Oct 17, 2023 at 12:38 PM Post #128,602 of 195,279
The Freya Circuit Card Assembly photo on the Schiit webpage clearly shows the sensor, it is the black, thru hole device with the convect lens located on the front left side of the board. It can easily be bent back into position if you remove the top cover. It can also be bent out of position if someone inadvertently tries to plug a 1/8" TRS plug in that hole. If you are not comfortable doing the task, then return it to the mother ship.
Thank you for pointing that out better for me. It does look like it is intended to sit back a bit from the front face of the cover. I'll just consider the very narrow aiming field of the remote to be a quirk of having this amazing Schiit gear! I am still digging the hell out of this thing. 👍🏻
 
Oct 17, 2023 at 12:48 PM Post #128,603 of 195,279
Thank you for pointing that out better for me. It does look like it is intended to sit back a bit from the front face of the cover. I'll just consider the very narrow aiming field of the remote to be a quirk of having this amazing Schiit gear! I am still digging the hell out of this thing. 👍🏻
Mine sits back a little too, but it seems straight on.

FreyaPic.jpg
 
Oct 17, 2023 at 1:07 PM Post #128,604 of 195,279
Freya owners: Am I supposed to be able to see the guts of the device on my Freya N through the remote sensor hole? It's been like this since I took delivery and my remote has had to be extremely directional in pointing it at the Freya; it seems to want to work less often this evening. Is something wrong here? Did the sensor fall out of position in shipping or something?


That’s pretty much the same it was on my Freya+ when I got it; meaning a little too far back and slightly off to one side.

It's by design that it sits behind the metal, so it's perfectly normal that it doesn't touch it or that it's not stuck into or through that hole. But it should still be somewhat centered to give it a reasonable "field of view" through that hole in all directions. You'll never get a 180 degree cone, but 90 to maybe 120 degrees in front of your Freya should roughly be alright.

I chose to open the case and carefully reposition the sensor closer and more centered to its hole in the case.

But unless you’ve got some experience with working with electronics, I would not advise doing so yourself. It’s too easy to break one of the sensor’s three legs, crack a solder joint, or even electrocute yourself if you touch the wrong thing. Those caps store a LOT of energy even after you’ve unplugged that device. And you'd also void your warranty, of course.

Normally I wouldn't have bothered, but the existing misalignment was a little counterproductive in my case, since I'm sitting somewhat to the left of my Freya+, but the IR receiver diode's "field of view" through that hole was facing towards the right. If I were sitting to the right of my Freya, that misalignment would actually have been beneficial in a way.

That part is much too light and sturdy to move in transit, though. I don't know whether those through-hole parts get soldered in by hand (and thus not always perfectly vertical) at Schiit's board manufacturer or if they get bumped into and slightly bent out of alignment during final assembly, but it seems to happen every once in a while. Seems to be somewhat rare, based on what people generally report around here and elsewhere, but it happens.

I wish Schiit would eventually do something about that whole remote control situation they’ve got going. It’s one of the very few actual weaknesses their products have, and I think they could do a lot better in that area. Must be incredibly hard to get right, or they'd have solved that by now…
 
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Oct 17, 2023 at 1:12 PM Post #128,605 of 195,279
I wish Schiit would eventually do something about that whole remote control situation they’ve got going. It’s one of the very few actual weaknesses their products have, and I think they could do a lot better in that area. Must be incredibly hard to get right, or they'd have solved that by now…
… could it be that the intent is to freya arse from the armchair? … 🤣🤣🤣
 
Oct 17, 2023 at 1:24 PM Post #128,606 of 195,279
Oct 17, 2023 at 1:24 PM Post #128,607 of 195,279
Oct 17, 2023 at 1:26 PM Post #128,608 of 195,279
That’s pretty much the same it was on my Freya+ when I got it; meaning a little to far back and slightly off to one side.

It's by design that it sits behind the metal, so it's perfectly normal that it doesn't touch it or that it's not stuck into or through that hole. But it should still be somewhat centered to give it a reasonable "field of view" through that hole in all directions. You'll never get a 180 degree cone, but 90 to maybe 120 degrees in front of your Freya should roughly be alright.

I chose to open the case and carefully reposition the sensor closer and more centered to its hole in the case.

But unless you’ve got some experience with working with electronics, I would not advise doing so yourself. It’s too easy to break one of the sensor’s three legs, crack a solder joint, or even electrocute yourself if you touch the wrong thing. Those caps store a LOT of energy even after you’ve unplugged that device. And you'd also void your warranty, of course.

Normally I wouldn't have bothered, but the existing misalignment was a little counterproductive in my case, since I'm sitting somewhat to the left of my Freya+, but the IR receiver diode's "field of view" through that hole was facing towards the right. If I were sitting to the right of my Freya, that misalignment would actually have been beneficial in a way.

That part is much too light and sturdy to move in transit, though. I don't know whether those through-hole parts get soldered in by hand (and thus not always perfectly vertical) at Schiit's board manufacturer or if they get bumped into and slightly bent out of alignment during final assembly, but it seems to happen every once in a while. Seems to be somewhat rare, based on what people generally report around here and elsewhere, but it happens.

I wish Schiit would eventually do something about that whole remote control situation they’ve got going. It’s one of the very few actual weaknesses their products have, and I think they could do a lot better in that area. Must be incredibly hard to get right, or they'd have solved that by now…
Thank you for this thorough response!
 
Oct 17, 2023 at 1:29 PM Post #128,609 of 195,279
FWIW, years ago I use to wonder why some of my remote devices required a tight line of sight to the sensor and on others I could change the channel, or whatever , from another room. I've got both type devices This the answer in a nutshell.

1697563373592.png

https://www.bing.com/search?q=types...8CA646A1950B873256BF5875&ghsh=0&ghacc=0&ghpl=

Rule of thumb: If your remote has a black or white LED on the side that's facing away from you, or a black, somewhat translucent plastic cover, it's an IR remote.
Most remotes these days are IR remotes, but there are exceptions.
All Schiit remotes are IR and require line of sight.

Fun fact: The first TVs with wireless remote controls used ultrasonics, not infrared. They had a little tweeter up front. Those were funky!
 
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Oct 17, 2023 at 1:47 PM Post #128,610 of 195,279
Rule of thumb: If your remote has a black or white LED on the side that's facing away from you, or a black, somewhat translucent plastic cover, it's an IR remote.
Most remotes these days are IR remotes, but there are exceptions.
All Schiit remotes are IR and require line of sight.

Fun fact: The first TVs with wireless remote controls used ultrasonics, not infrared. They had a little tweeter up front. Those were funky!

Before ultrasonics were chimes. The remote would go "dIng" at a different pitch for each button.
 

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