Does Anyone Buy Schiit for the Sake of Schiit?

certainly Direct Sales companies do have a pricing advantage...

Now that I think of it, Tekton seems to be an example of a maker of relatively low-priced equipment that's bought for its own sake. Also selling directly.

I would definitely agree that the main selling point is value for money. As to whether somebody with a bigger budget is seeking Schiit out for its own sake, I couldn't say. I do know that I'm personally aiming a lot higher for my next purchase - the bug bit me and I need to go bigger and better. but "solid gear that basically anybody can afford" is a killer niche. i love what they do and i love that so many people are buying $100 dacs and getting an idea of what is possible beyond the thrifts, pawn shops, and best buys of the world. i'm one of them

i will give a quick rundown of my 4 experiences with schiit gear

- bifrost mb dac - for 400 bucks second hand, a credible dac, nice warm tone, not the most resolving, little grainy... top of case sheet metal edges a little unfinished to me -- for the same price, i liked the chord mojo (original) better, though of course it is both portable and ergonomically challenged in a home rig at the same time - i felt the bifrost mb was a decent value, on par with other good offerings albeit with different strengths and weaknesses (musical paradise, older van alstine tube dacs, around the same price), at this price it made the right tradeoffs, which is to fight digit-itis and add some warmth and body to the music

- gumby - at 950 used, a step up, once again on par with other ’good’ dacs in the price range -- ayre codex, mhdt stockholm - quite natural sounding, better resolution without stridency, nice expansive image, better sibilance control - a notch better than rme adi2, topping d90 mqa which to me sounded robotic/digital, and border patrol which was too smoothed over, lacked drive and inner detail - loud clicking relay noise in the gumby bugged me when switching tracks, once again a credible upper tier performer among better 1000 dacs

- loki - got one for fun to mess with when i was trying to tame the hot treble in the spatial m3 sapphires... no brainer for 200 bucks... did the job without damaging the signal, nice it could be switched in and out easily, no obvious electronic artifacts - excellent - keeping it to have around if ever needed again

- aegir amp pair - bought for 1200 used, very well built, substantial, for my big spendors or harbeths which are medium efficiency not demanding loads -- the sq is exceptionally good used as xlr monoblocks, excellent tone/timbre with good drive and a real sense of purity for the $, was not quite as resolving as better hegel or pass but within a hair... those amps of course 2-3-4x in price... kept the pair... really like em... 

My Aegir amp is quite good driving high sensitivity speakers.  Sensitivities below 90dB/1W/1m... not so much