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Schiit not that Good?

Schiit was at AXPONA again this year. They were showing a Salk music server streaming into a Gungnir Multibit (?) feeding a Freya and two Vidars. Speakers were the Salk Song 3As.

 

So what happened?


Esoteric was just next door. This allowed attendees to move immediately from one room to another. Esoteric was showing a full stack of thier latest separates plus a VPI Avenger for analog. Speakers were a pair of Cantons I didn’t get the model of.

 

The Schiit room, while not bad, was completely destroyed by the Esoteric room. Esoteric played one SACD that unfurled a massive soundstage that I could sense even not being in the best seat. The sound of the Esoteric system, both via SACD and vinyl was dynamic, resolving, extremely musical, collected, vibrant, both large and delicately structured. It was a system that got all the minor details right. Such a good setup. The Schiit setup, while unoffensive, clean, and musical in its own right, simply couldn’t face the Esoteric in inner detail, soundstage, reality and low-level dynamics.

 

Why did the Schiit system fail so hard vs the Esoteric? Part of the reason might have been the junk cabling used by Schiit. Peaking behind the system I was Blue Jeans speaker cables and mess of power bricks, basic cabling, etc. I don’t know how much of the Schiit’s performance was compromised by inferior cabling, but I’m curious how close it would have come to the Esoteric had Schiit paid some basic attention to that area.


madavid0
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Shiit v Esoteric??? Bet the price difference was massive!

Cheers George
erik_squires
16,041 posts
 
I have heard Schiit DACs and really like them. Not as much as Myteck though. :) I have not heard the rest of their electronic stack though.

Also, room acoustics matter!  Last show I went to was sponsored by ASC and frankly, they all sucked. If you know how big a fan I am of room acoustics, this may shock you, but the end result was awful. Every heavily treated room was one-note bass and too bright.

The best sounding rooms were either only lightly treated with ASC, or used other brands of room acoustic treatment entirely.

I would put that up above cables as being the cause first.

Best,

E
oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
3,797 posts
 
I wish i was in Chicago this week.....  my wife was there for work.  I sometimes attend her functions with her but unfortunately not this weekend.    

I've been to a few shows as a vendor,  one year we were between MBL and Steinway/ Lyndorf.....  not exactly the best positioning for a brand known for value.   That said many people commented on how good our room sounded but the MBL room was just incredible, it slayed every room around it, and it should be as was Lyngdorf, good stuff !  Way beyond my means though.

I was going to buy a Schiit headphone amp, and I very well just might but in the meantime I bought a $94 Massdrop O2 Headphone amp which is quite good for the money.   If for no other reason than it's made in USA I am going to order one of their better HP amps to try them out.   I like their business model and the fact they really try to source just about everything in the states.
chrshanl37
835 posts
 
I was just reading Mark Henninger’s show coverage on the AVS forums and he stated the Schiit/Salk room sounded considerably better than the Esoteric room with $100k worth of gear. Apparently the master clock alone in the Esoteric cost $20k. No matter what you think of the sound from either room, from a cost standpoint it’s hardly a fair comparison in my opinion.
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,306 posts
 
I’m inclined to read something like madavid0’s writeup as a not so subtle slap at Schiit. Damning with faint praise (e.g., "unoffensive, clean and musical") while asking why the Schitt system "failed so hard" vs the Esoteric. To suggest it was due to use of Belden cabling without including any price info about the two systems being compared seems disingenuous to me. Yeah, I own several pieces of Schiit so you could say I’m "emotionally invested" (and you might be right) but then I’m not the one making ridiculous comparisons.
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