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

[Ripper2860]

Nice equipment list there...I gather you think a lot of the Schitt gear. Have you owned any of it long enough to see how well it ages? I guess what I am wanting to know is your opinion of long term reliability, as well as what its like to live with and of course its sonic qualities.

Thank you!! Many of the components I've owned for several years -- Lyr 3, Bifrost 2 OG (since their initial release) and Ragnarok. I've owned Aegir 2 since its release and Freya N for a bit over a year, I believe. Vali 3 and Gjallarhorn are under a year. Only issues I've had were with Lyr 3 within the first year (due to a bad part from the supplier) and with Vali 3 (cold solder joint causing 1 channel to cut in/out) -- both issues were resolved quickly and at no charge by Schiit. All other units have performed fabulously and that's including the additional items that I've gifted as I upgraded or that I've sold to members here such as Modi Multibit, EITR, Magni, Jotenheim v1, Valhalla 2, 1x Gjallerhorn, etc).

As far as sonic qualities: It is right up my alley -- neutral with a slight warmness would best describe it, but the extent varies a bit with the gear, especially with tube gear when rolling tubes from stock.

I highly recommend their products.

 

[Paladin79]

Thank you!! Many of the components I've owned for several years -- Lyr 3, Bifrost 2 OG (since their initial release) and Ragnarok. I've owned Aegir 2 since its release and Freya N for a bit over a year, I believe. Vali 3 and Gjallarhorn are under a year. Only issues I've had were with Lyr 3 within the first year (due to a bad part from the supplier) and with Vali 3 (cold solder joint causing 1 channel to cut in/out) -- both issues were resolved quickly and at no charge by Schiit. All other units have performed fabulously and that's including the additional items that I've gifted as I upgraded and are still performing wonderfully for relatives or that I've sold to members here such as Modi Multibit, EITR, Magni, Jotenheim v1, Valhalla 2, etc).

As far as sonic qualities: It is right up my alley -- neutral with a slight warmness would best describe it, but the extent varies a bit with the gear, especially with tube gear when rolling tubes from stock.

I highly recommend their products.

My issues generally occurred right out of the box or within the first month of use. I have had much better luck with the DACs and devices like the Lokius. In one case after its first return a heat sink popped loose in shipping most likely, on a Freya. Parts issues occurred with two versions of the Mjolnir. Items were always repaired promptly and held up well after first or second repair.

 

[bagwell359]

I'm having trouble parsing/understanding that bolded section. Can you elaborate, pls?
Also, Gumby is just such a special DAC.

OK, I listened to 1000 cuts (in many cases :30 second snippets) on the Gumby A1 and my vinyl playback (my reference). The Gumby misplayed tonality of specific instruments (voice once, guitar once) for about 1 second each on 2 different cuts, so that would be 2 seconds in about 20000 minutes of music. It took me a good two months to finish the testing.

At the start I had the Yggy A1 too, but it took me about 30 cuts to decide I liked the Gumby more, so the Yggy went back to its owner, and then it was Gumby vs vinyl, so if the Gumby lost I would have either kept the vinyl and Gumby or sold the Gumby. I was astounded at the time by how analog the Gumby sounded, and how it was just as rich and nuanced as the vinyl, while of course stomping the vinyl in the lower bass. Note that the Souther SLA-3 (later Clearaudio) has a fairly high resonance point with a cartridge, so the lower bass compared to something like a SME V with a Denon 103 is not as potent. That is the only disadvantage of that arm, otherwise its awesome - although it does take some time to master its set-up.

About 6 months ago I had access to a Musician Pegasus II a couple of times, and in NOS it was mighty close to my Gumby. I had one of the later Yggy's in hand about 4 years ago, and it outpointed the Gumby in bass slam and subtle details, but not by enough to justify replacing it. I'm interested in the G2, and would love to demo it, but, I'm not blind buying it

 

[bagwell359]

I wouldnt part with my Song Towers.....went to DC to meet Jim and Dennis.
Swell guys.

Sad to see Jim shut down the operation.

Dennis was having serious health issues, hope he is well.

Dennis also modded a smaller set of Pioneer Bookshelf, near field speakers into a first rate class of transducers..

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...-pioneer-sp-bs22-lr-diy-modifications.610820/

I bought a pair, changed out the tweeter and crossover per Dennis instruction...wonderful speakers I still use every day.

Alex

Nice!

I came across Dennis and other brilliant people in diyAudio and AVS Forum. I'm a good builder (subs, amps), and I know enough to be able to modify a xover for tweeter replacements, but, to actually build a 3 way crossover, cabinet, drivers out of my head? No how, but still like reading all of the ideas/concepts at sites like that.

 

[Paladin79]

OK, I listened to 1000 cuts (in many cases :30 second snippets) on the Gumby A1 and my vinyl playback (my reference). The Gumby misplayed tonality of specific instruments (voice once, guitar once) for about 1 second each on 2 different cuts, so that would be 2 seconds in about 20000 minutes of music. It took me a good two months to finish the testing.

At the start I had the Yggy A1 too, but it took me about 30 cuts to decide I liked the Gumby more, so the Yggy went back to its owner, and then it was Gumby vs vinyl, so if the Gumby lost I would have either kept the vinyl and Gumby or sold the Gumby. I was astounded at the time by how analog the Gumby sounded, and how it was just as rich and nuanced as the vinyl, while of course stomping the vinyl in the lower bass. Note that the Souther SLA-3 (later Clearaudio) has a fairly high resonance point with a cartridge, so the lower bass compared to something like a SME V with a Denon 103 is not as potent. That is the only disadvantage of that arm, otherwise its awesome - although it does take some time to master its set-up.

About 6 months ago I had access to a Musician Pegasus II a couple of times, and in NOS it was mighty close to my Gumby. I had one of the later Yggy's in hand about 4 years ago, and it outpointed the Gumby in bass slam and subtle details, but not by enough to justify replacing it. I'm interested in the G2, and would love to demo it, but, I'm not blind buying it

I am interested in the G2 as well and will most certainly get to hear one since my group tends to do a lot of DAC comparisons and Schiit has always been in the mix. My plans are the same with the Stjarna but with a smaller group of gear and people in the event it is limited production.

 

[bagwell359]

Nice equipment list there...I gather you think a lot of the Schitt gear. Have you owned any of it long enough to see how well it ages? I guess what I am wanting to know is your opinion of long term reliability, as well as what its like to live with and of course its sonic qualities.

My take: Owned the Rag 1.5 and Gungnir A1 since 2016 with no issues. Put in the Gen5 board in the Gumby and later Unison at factory, no issues. Retired the Rag 1.5 about 2 months ago in favor of the Rag 2, but not for any reason to do with failures/breakage.

 

[Ripper2860]

Ditto -- none of my gear listed as 'Riding the Bench' has any issues, it's just that I have no place for them at this point and am still contemplating how I will use them or if I will sell them.

 

[bagwell359]

A free day in London sounds great! But I think I'd want a free month to see and do all I'd want to do.

London is fun. Stayed in several locations. Liked the Covent Garden/Victoria Embankment Garden area for its relative quiet, but the access is excellent. Didn't care for East London that much. Bath is my favorite UK city (so far). Wiltshire to Cornwall (including Cotswalds) is a huge and varied and amazing area. The food there might have been not so good 30 or 40 years ago perhaps, but between the curries, and French/Italian/nouvelle influences, its quite nice.

 

[bagwell359]

This is the pinnacle of corporate motivational videos.
I worked at CV (ComputerVIsion) the computer aided design innovator in the 80s. The fun part starts about 4m in. Those are all employees of CV.

CV? I am an alum... took it to PM

 

[adydula]

I will be reviewing a Vahalla 3!!!

:>)
Alex

 

[Paladin79]

Ditto -- none of my gear listed as 'Riding the Bench' has any issues, it's just that I have no place for them at this point and am still contemplating how I will use them or if I will sell them.

Same here and I often give away or sell extra gear to make room for new. There are also some nostalgic and older, high demand pieces I keep. I spoke of some before and no sense being redundant.
I do keep a couple Valis around just to get the right dimensions for building mini gear racks and they are fun to roll tubes in.

 

[MindBreak]

I will be reviewing a Vahalla 3!!!

:>)
Alex

Nice, Valhalla 3 vs MJ3 vs Vali 3 comparisons inbound.

 

[adydula]

Nice, Valhalla 3 vs MJ3 vs Vali 3 comparisons inbound.

Ha! Never saw that one coming!!

Keep getting stuff sent here!
No time to do all this stuff!!

But somehow I will find the time!

LOL!

Enjoy the music!

 

[corndog71]

the mandatory cleaning before and after each playing.

Sounds exhausting. Most people don’t do this.

 

[Paladin79]

Sounds exhausting. Most people don’t do this.

Correct. No sense making it sound worse than it is. I try to maintain a fairly dust free environment as well since much of my gear is black and tubes are not always easy to dust around and that helps with records. I also clean my shop well before doing and record cleaning or electronics in my shop. Right now I am still on woodworking and all shop turntables are protected.