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

Showing 1 response by rpnz

I  have a Loki which I really want to use and like. The concept is great and I like the ability to control the EQ is some situations (old classical vinyl and early blues) 
I have 3 different systems and its buzzy and noisy in all three,
1.
Office Croft Micro 25/ Croft 7 Power amp Harbeth P3ESR (Nordost Purple Flare Speaker cables/ Kimber interconnects) DAC Arcam IrDAc2
2.
Living Room -Cary SLP98L (Primo NOS 6sn7 tubes)- Project Phono Box RS/Prima Luna Prolog 7 Mono Blocks, (Primo NOS tube Upgrades) all Nordost (Cables-Red Dawn Speaker and Blue heaven Interconnects) DAC Arcam Ir Dac
VPI Classic/Hana SL (Kimber Upgrade) 
Primo Power cables/Kimber- X 3 CablePro Noisetrapper NANA power strips
I offer this info to show that the Loki is the company of decent gear,
it is basically, a dead quiet system with the blackest noise floor until I add the Loki. 
It buzzes in every position I place it. 
I have written twice to Schitt for comment and I requested information on a better quality power supply as I think the super cheap power supply's that ship with Schitt is in fact total Schitt. I have never received a reply.
I actually visited their store in Santa Clarita CA and was met by a rude young man who seemed bothered by my desire to ask questions about the gear on display. 
I will try a 120v 16W power supply from a different supplier in the hope I can get this little thing to work.
 I wish this company well and want them to succeed but their customer service for me is non-existent. I did wait for a while to comment on this thread, hoping for a reply to from Schitt to my latest email? no such luck. 

PS, I had a friend borrow the Vidar power amp to drive his Quad ELS 57's and hated that combo. He said it was harsh. He did not spend much time with it. It may have sounded better if it had more time to break in? 
PS
I have a Schitt SAGA preamp (primo NOS Kenrad 6sn7 tubes) that works just fine in my bedroom set up.