[john57]

V2 $10 more?
 
Who let the cat out of the bag?

 

[Zojokkeli]

OK, I see. I think this is where we have different ideas. For people from say Europe, this might not be an advantage. This is why my hypothetical question assumed identical products. I might not necessarily have convenient access to the customer service of a US based operation.

I'm from Europe and I certainly don't benefit from Schiit's upgradability or services, so if the product quality was identical, had similar marketing flare, and as good reputation, I'd go with Chinese Schiit. I mostly ended up with Schiit because of their good reputation and attitude, and funny-as-hell marketing.
But if there was European Schiit I'd definitely go with them, given they had similar pricing compared to the real Schiit.

 

[Nic Rhodes]

I was attracted by US manufacture. I always try and choose UK first (not relevant here), After that any US / EU manufacture is my preference. I go out of my way to try not to buy from certain countries so yes even from a UK buyer I was attracted by how the guys were doing this at Schiit. .

 

[reddog]

Hmm the audiophile in me screams yes as my wallet screams no.

 

[Zojokkeli]

  If any of you are already aware of this then let me apologize in advance but I was browsing different online retailers & came upon this on Audioadvisor's site :
 
http://www.audioadvisor.com/Schiit-Audio-Lyr-V2-Hybrid-High-Power-Headphone-Amp/productinfo/SCLYRV2/#.U2RPB6XIrUQ
 
It seems as if Schiit is coming out with a Lyr v2 soon. 

I was thinking about BH Crack for my 650's, but if this is true, I might reconsider.

 

[TeskR]

Lyr 2 are you for real haha? got my Lyr last week...

 

[Saraguie]

I'll say it. I like buyng American made products because I'm an American and want, like to support my fellow countrymen and businesses based here. I do buy products, of course, made from all over the world but given a choice.... It's made in the USA for me. And I'd pay somewhate extra too.

 

[BeyerMonster]

  I'm wondering how much (if any) of the popularity of Schiit on Head Fi people think is to do with their products being made in the USA or parts being mostly sourced in the USA? 
 
Their website seems to really emphasise this. I'm guessing the majority of Head Fi members are also from the states so is this a big effect? In other words if Schiit was a chinese company with identical products/quality/warranty/customer service/price is it likely to be as popular as it is now?

 
I wouldn't have purchased Schiit or Magnepan products if they didn't stand on their own merits. The fact that they do makes me proud to be an American, but I wouldn't do it if they weren't good products.
 
Biggest factors are price, value, warranty, and mostly money-back guarantee(5% restocking fee is a no-brainer compared to dealer markups).
 
If the products were expensive, poor, or a poor value, the Made in the USA bit would not matter one bit.

 

[radiojam]

For me, with Schiit (and everything else head-fi) it's been 90% word of mouth.  That's the only thing that can take me from "huh, I wonder what that sounds like" to "I gotta have it."  And boy am I glad I have it

 

[jchandler3]

I enjoy the fact that Schiit is an American company. My whole family is full of entrepreneurs and business owners, so I generally appreciate the sentiment.

More than that though, I enjoy Schiit's quality, value, level of customer service and blatant humanity. USA (F yeah) comes after that.

 

[fenderf4i]

Even being Canadian, buying from companies that are 100% US is important to me. All of the best stuff I own is made in the USA.

 

[TranceDude]

I'd like to share my experience with the Schiit Lyr. I decided to order one last December. I paid 450$ for the unit + 60$ for EU shipping + 150$ for import charges. This was the maximum acceptable cost for me and I was fine with it, at least I knew I will be getting something great, that will serve me for years and with many headphones. Oh man was I wrong...
 
After 3 weeks I finally got my unit, it had beautiful black finish, with stock tubes I was very much looking forward to using. I set it up and plugged in my headphones to enjoy some music. I pretty much instantly noticed something was wrong with the sound. Every 30s or so there was slight crackling/ electrical sound coming from the right channel. This was driving me crazy, the amp was impossible to listen to. I wanted to check what the problem was, so I tried different headphones, different plugs, sources, I swapped the tubes, I even took it to the bathroom in case it was an electrical disturbance. None of it helped, the problem was the amp so I had to contact Schiit about it.
 
They accepted my amp for a repair, but I had to pay for the shipping... After a couple of weeks they received my unit and repaired it very quickly. They did not want to say what was wrong and they already shipped it back (on their expense). 3 weeks later I got the repaired amp back. While putting the tubes together I noticed one of them looking very used, it was in bad condition. While inserting said tube there was a *crack*- the tube broke. I contacted Schiit about this and received the only positive experience in this mess - they apologized and sent me a replacement tube free of charge.
 
It took 3 more weeks for the tube to finally reach me, I could now finally test the repaired amp. Unfortunately, the amp was not repaired at all, if anything it was worse. Sure, the original crackle was a bit less noticeable but there was a considerable amount of pink noise present at all times. I contacted Schiit about it asking for an explanation and a possible money-back. They accepted the money-back offer and added: "If you want to go that way," Yeah, as if I had a choice...
 
So, couple of weeks after shipping the amp back, at my own cost, I contacted them asking if they received the unit. Turns out they did and they sent me my refund shortly after. A bit weird that they just happened to notice it after I contacted them, but whatever, at least I got my 450$ back.
 
All in all, I lost 2 months and 24 days of not having a working product I ordered. I also lost 330$ in shipping and import cost.
 
This is by far the worst experience I've had with any company ever and if you're deciding between Schiit and something else maybe go for that something else. Sometimes, Schiit is just exactly what it sounds like.

 

[TontonJoK]

Man ! what a bad experience !!

What did you get instead ??

 

[TranceDude]

Man ! what a bad experience !!

What did you get instead ??

Nothing yet. I'm sticking with my trusted Headstage Arrow for the time being.

 

[commtrd]

Wow. Bummer. My Mjolnir just died one day while listening to some Marconi and so sent it back along with the Gungnir to get the USB module upgrade performed at that time. Have not listened to them yet but hopefully all will be well. So far the performance aside from the amp going out has been exemplary. But I do think I would like to try a Taurus and Vega possibly or a GS-X MkII or maybe something else in the future.