The Mike Moffat (#2 at Schiit) Blog

Discussion in 'Schiit' started by baldr, Dec 15, 2016.

  1. atomicbob

    atomicbob dScope Yoda

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    My personal evaluation system includes both science and listening to find that which pleases my preferences. Learning one's personal preferences, which may change over a lifetime, is key to auditory delight.
     
  2. yonson

    yonson Facebook Friend

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    Agreed, although great musicians are easy to spot no matter your preferred genre when music is a passion, however to be compared to the musicians in Dream Theater is high praise indeed, however I'm not really surprised to see such talent on hand at Schiit...
     
  3. baldr

    baldr Schiit-sterer

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    The future of Upgrades – Are they still necessary?

    Some 35 years have elapsed since I released my first D/A converter, which, some 3-4 years later mutated to the original Theta DSPre/Pro. Back in the dawn of digital audio, these products were 16 bit DSP and 16 bit converters. It was my idea to make those products upgradable, given the “brand new” nature of digital audio technology. It was a great idea as converters evolved from 16 to 20 bits, as processors moved up to 24 bits, and as better, more stable clocks became available. In an era of far more expensive hardware, it helped the client to a better sound, and ourselves into higher quantities and therefore lower prices. At the time, it was a great idea.

    Schiit opened over 10 years ago. What had changed were availability of 16 bit and higher resolution multibit D/A converters, newer building block parts (clocks, logic, etc.), and even (much as I dislike them) better sounding ds dacs. More significantly, USB had emerged as a commonplace source which back then sounded incredibly vile. So it was a no brainer to make the Schiit Converters Bifrost and above once again upgradable until the USB was really fixed.

    Over the first eight years or so we had a series of four (was it??) USB upgrades which improved the USB incrementally without fixing it. By this time I realized that the only way to really fix USB was for us to build our own “from scratch” USB receiver which became the Unison released a year or so ago. Finally, USB was really fixed. The best news about all these USB upgrades is they were cost effective.

    So WTF is left to upgrade? Well from time to time, better converter chips come out. Sometimes better ones with fewer bits even emerge. Rare, but you never know. If so, we are still covered Bifrost 2 up, but I expect fewer upgrades are in the cards from here on, with a possible exception for the Yggdrasil, which given its price point is deserving of more engineering attention.
     
  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Mike, since the Bifrost appears to be modular, you guys should offer sidegrades: NOS multtbit, DS with megacomboburrito filter, different chips, etc. People get bored and want something different. Just take their money.
     
  5. RobS

    RobS RobS? More like RobDiarrhea.

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    You can take my money for a tube DAC.

    PS - Make Yggdrasil Great Again. Or Keep Yggdrasil Great. Or something.
     
  6. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    If Jason doesn’t want to do a balanced version of Sys, a defeatable, remote controlled passive pot on Yggdrasil may be something to look at (and likely competitive as well since a ton of DACs seem to include volume control these days). Would make a nice purist/minimalist 2-channel solid-state digital-only setup for those of us who really only have 1 or 2 digital transports/sources and no vinyl.
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2020
  7. yonson

    yonson Facebook Friend

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    I would love to have a balanced remote controlled SYS, basically a Jotunheim minus the amp section plus a remote...
     
  8. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think the megacomboburrito filter can't really do on a DS since the DS chips already have their own pre-determined filters. I mean, are there any DS or hybrid chips out there with no built in filter that are a) still in production, b) sound worthy enough for such things?

    Makes me even wonder if Mike has attempted such things at one point or another. Anyway, fun to think about.

    Another way to think about modular is choice. What if someone wants multiple USB inputs? or multiple SPDIF inputs. Why does a DAC have to only have one of each? There are multiple sources these days. Plus, isn't a transport to be named later going to have USB out. Now, I don't want to have to swap USB cables around to listen to different sources. Besides, an AES/EBU would be mighty unused if I ever had a DAC with one like a Bifrost 2. Isn't variety the spice of life? :p
     
  9. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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  10. crenca

    crenca Friend

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  11. Claritas

    Claritas Friend

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    His early recordings are excellent, especially as an accompanist. But also try his early recordings of the Mozart symphonies. Several highlights:

    Mozart's 21st Piano Concerto played by Dinu Lipatti (1950)

    [​IMG]


    The "Emperor" Concerto with Gieseking (1951)

    [​IMG]


    Dennis Brain playing Mozart's Horn Concerti (1954)

    [​IMG]

    And do not, under any circumstances, miss this superlative Beethoven's 3d Piano Concerto live with Glenn Gould (1957)

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2020
  12. tranq

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    Edited out of respect for mikes wishes

    I've never heard a tube DAC in my life. That being said, id love to hear a tube DAC from Schiit. Some of the best listening of my life has been recent exposure of Bifrost 2 into a class A HP tube amp as a pre/buffer into Vidar or Ragnarok 2.

    I think Nexus is magic... Astounding Really.
     
    Last edited: Jul 9, 2020
  13. dmckean44

    dmckean44 In a Sherwood S6040CP relationship

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    Is a tube DAC even worthwhile? Wasn't the consensus among those who have heard both that Gungnir A2 is better than GumbFreya?
     
  14. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    I know Mike has said in the past that tubes basically have no business going into a DAC. Basically I don't think he saw the point or the need.

    Personally I think the whole idea of introducing a tube into a DAC would just cause market confusion. There is already enough confusion about tubes in the overall audio marketplace just to the over all mis-information and also too many low performing tube products.
     
  15. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    Keep tubes out of Schiit's DACs. They are made to be on all the time, and I don't want to have to replace tubes every year or two or deal with the associated heat, chassis holes, tube-off buttons/switches and related circuitry.
     
  16. baldr

    baldr Schiit-sterer

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    Hey there all – please indulge this brief bit of autobiography:

    I have been self-employed continuously since 1977. This is because I do not take direction well. Politicians who survive appointments or elections direct me. I have been employed, self or otherwise since 1964, and paid property taxes since 1974. This qualify me as a 56 year milk cow asset of the USA. Worse, in 1967 I was compelled (drafted) to be a beef cow, that is carry a rifle and eventually be a platoon sergeant as an asset of the USA in the republic of Vietnam. I really loathe politics and politicians. So please hold down all references to any politicians or parties for my sake. They are all very painful to me, and not just figuratively. Just one of my idiosyncrasies.

    The politics I thrive on are delta sigma vs multibit, tubes vs solid state, types of music which most reveal audible differences, etc. Seems appropriate here.

    Please and thank you.

    Mike
     
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  17. Case

    Case Anxious Head (Formerly Wilson)

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    Sticky the above post
     
  18. Ruby Rod

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    Hi Mike- keep meaning to call you but it always ends up too early for you or too late for me. Hope all is well out there.
     
  19. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    I didn't see this shared anywhere, so thought I'd post here. Interview of Mike by Robert Harley (while at Stereophile) back in 1992: Mike Moffat: Re-Creating the Musical Event.

    Thanks for all you do, Mike.
     
  20. baldr

    baldr Schiit-sterer

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    Been too long since I yakked here........

    I know I bitch a lot about Delta Sigma DACs – not because they sound bad but because they are insipid. And no, I am not a hypocrite - they are well suited to bang for the buck, etc.

    Sooooooooooo, after all of these years complaining, I decided it was time to build one.

    Not out of someone’s cheapass chip, but BUILD one like we know what we are doing, You know, from scratch. NOT just another swaybacked delta sigma cheap warhorse.

    So I decided a step-by-step approach to ds design needed a transition as from DSP processors to FPGA as well. Hell, may as well throw in another random technology we never built before.

    We built all of the input filters (no problem – we know how to build forward better.) And the we got to the modulator. Duhr. No useful prior art. Also it is clear the makers of the chips keep this close to their chests. Damn, looks like we have to build a variety of modulators to develop our own prior art. No substitute for experience, I guess.

    So we are just about done with our first ds board with multiple modulators.

    Surprise!! NOT with FPGAs (even though we designed it first this way) but with our been building stuff forever old way, DSP processors. Why?? Wait for it….way, way less money for the same power. I just found out why:

    1. D/A converters with FPGAs replacing DSP processors are multi thousand dollar things at a minimum. Multi-hundred dollar things like our Multi Modi up to Bifrost are plain impossible with FPGA tech.

    2. I have actually been right all of the years, but had no idea why.
     
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