As an owner of two piles of Schiit, and a new Forum member, I thought I would chime in on this thread and offer my thoughts on all matters Schiit. First off, Schiit has a GREAT website, easy to navigate, well thought out, all the information you need to make an informed purchasing decision. Production delays aside, I’ve gotten good responses from Schiit when I ask them about gear matching or performance issues, see more below. When I got interested in getting back into audio about two years ago, the firm functioned as my ‘gateway drug’ into the world of HiFi. I started ordering all my gear from them and wound up with one pile of Schiit on my desk, and another pile of Schiit as my main system.
The Jotenheim 2 serves mostly as a preamp for my desktop system, the Modius DAC is plugged into it so that I can use a small Blueray player into my son’s old Pioneer SX-1900. The only issue I’ve had with either piece of Schiit in this system is the message I get from my I-Phone when I plug my Camera Adapter into it when the Camera Adapter is also plugged into the Modius. The I-Phone complains it has been attached to unsupported equipment even though it sometimes recognizes the Modius. Schiit recommends using the Camera Adapter, so I’m a bit disappointed that it doesn’t recognize the Modius as supported equipment. But it may be a cable problem, since the microUSB cable didn’t come from them. No problems with the sound.
On the main system I have employed the Freya+, the Yggdrasil GS, a Loki Mini, a Mani, and a SYS. I have had no problems from the Yggdrasil, it anchors the digital side of my system, adding to the soundstage, displaying excellent imaging, and a general quality of ‘air,’ particularly to better recordings. (Unfortunately, recordings that aren’t too great sound awful.)
I detected a buzz on the Mani when the system was turned up loud enough to get decent volume out of my old Stanton 500 II cartridge. I called and talked to Nick, and he confirmed, in so many words, that the noise was coming from the Mani. I upgraded to ELAC PPA-2 phono stage with balanced outputs and inputs. It is very quiet —and it cost nearly ten times as much. You get what you pay for, if you’re careful.
The Freya+ ‘fit the bill,’ when I bought it, and I have no real problem with the sound with a single exception of the time when listening to an Electric Light Orchestra LP, the twin horns clashed most unpleasantly when the Freya+ was in tube mode. I haven’t been able to replicate the issue (the Mani was not involved), but shifting over to buffer mode solved it then. I left it in buffer mode for a long time after that. Having the option to change modes is a godsend, so I won’t ever get rid of the Freya+, but I will be replacing it. Why? User interface issues which I will list.
(1) There is no balance control. This wasn’t a problem for me at first, because my first ‘power amp’ was actually a PA amp (RadioShack MPA-250 reportedly made for them by Pyle) with gain controls for both left and right channels. But when I upgraded to a tube amp, the only control I found on it switches the amp from Triode to Ultra-linear mode.
(2) The volume control has no legible means of reporting its level. The knob has smooth sides, and there is a small ‘dot’ that requires one’s nose be inches away and looking directly at it to see it. I used to be able to feel it’s outline, but I’ve now worn the casting flash edging away. This was’t an issue until I started switching from my Stanton 500 gained-to-the-max phono stage and the strong signal I was getting from my CD player. I thought I blew my speakers up a couple of times. Not a pleasant experience. I finally dug a knob from an old computer switch box out of my stash and replaced the knob on the Freya+ — it looks ugly, black plastic against the silver, but it works. I can tell at-a-glance where my level is set. (The knob starts round at the faceplate and transitions smoothly to a wide ‘blade’ at the fingertips: thumb and forefinger grip on either side of a brightly white stripe inset in the black phenolic.) This has ceased to be an issue since I upgraded both my turntable and cartridge: I’m now running the high output moving coil Songbird from Sumiko which is able to more nearly match my CD transport. But I’m keeping the black knob on the unit just the same
(3) Th Source Selection Control. The five (5) possible sources are selected by means of a single push button (PB). This means that to switch to any source immediately to the left, you must walk through them all, because there is no way (I know of) to move to the left The control must have been developed by a dyslexic NASCAR driver (NASCAR ovals force a driver to turn left continuously.) I realize that a rotary knob adds expense and takes up real estate, but a second button or some sort of bidirectional control would be nice.
(4) The mute switch is a bit idiosyncratic, if you enable the mute function, the other controls are locked out. This means you can’t use it in ways that other manufacturers recommend (like Audio Research) to, for instance mute the outputs whilst switching sources or changing modes. In fairness, I believe Schiit has programmed the outputs to mute themselves when the other buttons are operated, particularly the source select control, I’m not sure about the mode control. So it seems the mute button is simply used to disconnect the outputs when another adjust to the system is made, or, for the sake of an interruption, as in, “Hey honey, where did you put the peanut butter?”
Could my problems with the Freya+ be resolved? Yes But I would need an amp with volume control, a balanced SYS for level matching, a modified knob (see above), etc.
The point is, the Schiit Freya+ provides you with the sound you desire, but not the ease of use you may require.
To finish up on this pile of Schiit, I used the Loki Mini on my original amp when I ran across a recording with too much treble or not enough bass. The only issue was I couldn’t tell where the different knobs were set by looking at them, I had to actually turn the control to find the detent. Once again, the sides were smooth. I plan to go back to Schiit in the future to buy the balanced version, or perhaps their Lokius Maximus I think they call it.
Finally, used a SYS on my girlfriend’s system to level match her Echo Dot to her CD player on her older Pioneer receiver (can’t remember the model number). It could have helped me level match the CD player to the turntable, but I would have to have used the analog outs from the CD player. I’m now using a transport.
What do I think of Schiit? I think they are a great company and they offer some great products and some not-so-great products. They helped me in a big way get serious about audio. I expect I will buy from them again (see above). But as much sound as they offer for your dollar, you may have to pony up to pay for the missing ease-of-use features their gear all-too-often lacks.
