Schitt turntable anyone?

It might "kill" products in its own price range, and up to $1000 or so.  (Inexpensive Pro-ject and Music Hall turntables, for two examples.) But no, I doubt it will kill "giants".  However, I predict that some of those who buy it will swear that it does. Such is audio life.

It will have a challenge trying to equal or beat the Pioneer PLX1000 - the current under-$1K champion!

Pioneer turntable is just for DJs right?

I'm interested in seeing how this compares against the mofi studio and ultradeck as well as the Rega P3. A comparison against the Technics SL 1200 GR would be great as well.

Try up to 2k$ , fine table .

I'm guessing we'll watch the unipivot arm evolve over the years from a "simplicity is its beauty" design into a complex hybrid multi-pivot damped design, like all the other good unipiviots, lol.

Seems to me that VPI released a couple of budget "giant killers" that only measured up to "OK."  Marketing is fun to follow, but at some point, marketing will collide with reality.  I hope Shiit succeeds with that DIY budget table.  It will help bring more quality to the hobby and help put more underperforming tables on the used market.

Well to be honest I’m over the Schiit hype machine. If it follows the trend of their other products, it’ll perform like a VPI Scout but get lauded (by some) like it’s a TechDAS at a fraction of the price. And it looks like - well, like the company’s name. The pricing will probably creep towards 1000 as release date approaches. At least they’re not taking peoples’ money yet.

Can it really beat a Rega P3 in performance? I think the Rega looks much, much nicer and has a proven great tonearm.

Making good turntables is HARD. I'll stick with a trusted brand but I do wish the guys luck. I hope its a great business for them.

You could tell from that video that the Schiit is not as attractive as a Rega P3?  The lighting and the photography were so poor that I wouldn't venture a guess, myself.  But the Schiit does seem, based on verbal description, to be of a quality in construction that is above the low end Rega/Music Hall/ProJect standard, with all due respect to those products.  I also think the Schiit tonearm is clever and novel; whether that equates to "good" in actual use remains to be seen.  Anyway, as someone else said and I inferred above, if it's any good at all, folks will be going off the deep end in overstating its wonderfulness.

Hi folks, looking like the new Schitt turntable is nigh upon us.

Hardly. That article was published last year and there has been no further mention of the table anywhere. It will certainly slay some giants if/when it does come around because Schiit is a brand that survives through placebo. 

Mike talked me into buying a Linn Sondek back in the 70s before he and Neil started Theta. At that time Mike was a BIG turntable guy and told me that would make the greatest and most musical change to my system. Of course then he designed the Theta digital stuff, but still talked to me about the Linn and mods. I’m sure he’s still has an analog streak.

It looks like just another belt drive turntable. If they wanted to do something not so ho hum they should design a good direct drive model and get rid of that crappy uni-pivot arm.

There was an update in March saying they were shooting for late summer:
https://www.headfonia.com/q-n-a-saturday-schiit-audio/2/

What's the problem with unipivot tonearms?

What’s the problem with unipivot tonearms?

Nothing. They have their strengths and weaknesses, as do gimbal arms. Such comments are to be expected from the direct-drive peanut gallery.

"Giant Killer".  That's what they said about Rega tables when they first appeared.  People are going to value things largely upon what they cost.  It's just perception.   Nobody is going to dump their $5000 VPI Wonder and go buy a Schitt table.  Not gonna happen.  Not that the Schitt isn't a good value or a good table, but the perception of its merits will be based upon pricing.

Besides, it's almost impossible to properly compare two different tables.  Many buy their tables and arms separately.  The cartridge that is best for the $5000 VPI Wonder may not mate well in the Schitt arm and vice versa.

Ultimately Schitt buyers will be looking in their price range of around $1000.

Last year I sold an ancient Linn LP12, with a Rega RB300 arm, for $1100.  It was a solid table.  Would you rather have a Linn or a Schitt?

Just another turntable, methinks. Dump the carbon fiber arm. 

what's wrong with carbon fiber tone arms?

Too light. 

The carbon fiber tonearms I’ve used require high compliance phono cartridges. 

New Schitt turntable information!

https://darko.audio/2018/10/eat-schiit-audiophiles/

Also not gonna have vibration dampeners on the feet out of the box. You'll have to buy, I kid you not "Schitt Floaters"

Moffat looks like he was dying to scratch his balls. That seems to be pretty much a metaphor for the Company and it's products. That is not necessarily bad. We [men] all scratch our balls now and then. But not in polite company. So in all seriousness, the quality of a turntable depends upon the engineering of the main bearing, motor, tonearm, and isolation of each of the three from each other. I see little that in encouraging in that regard. 

SCHIIT AUDIO (Room 384): This was a highlight for my trip out to Axpona 2019 on Friday morning, and Jason and his crew did not disappoint. They had their SCHIIT together.

SOL in production: the long-awaited table was playing at the show. Y-shaped aluminum cast plinth—if one can call it that shape, with a separate (as in isolated) belt-drive motor, the carbon fiber tonearm is said to be a floating unipivot with RT-adjustable VTA and cueing mechanism. I did not get a chance to study in detail the tonearm cabling connections, other than to notice connections on both the turntable plinth near where the tonearm is fitted and a second independent silver box for additional cabling connections to the consumer-supplied phono stage. Jason said (twice—as, in disbelief, I asked him to repeat it to me) the SOL had $699 projected price with launch (maybe) in May, 2019.

Schiit is over-rated. Just another underdog that’s favoured by people who follow underdogs because they can’t bring themselves to buy things that are proven. 

Sleepy, maybe you can offer at least one anecdotal story to back up your point rather than a grossly exaggerated generalization. 

Hey Cel, what cart were they using? Also, I assume the Mani Freya aegir monoblock combo?

I've had the $129 Mani. Great for the price.

If it was packaged with that table AND a cart for...$500, that would be something worth looking at.

Not gonna happen, so it just another piece of Schiit.

OP: Yes, as to the setup. I don’t recall the speakers, tho. Definitely not Schiit speakers. As for cartridge, I honestly did not focus on it as much as the turntable. I asked Jason about the carbon fiber tonearm. It was a pretty substantial arm, in terms of overall diameter (~0.35 to 0.4 inches?) and length (~11 inches?), for being part of an unipivot design. I mentioned that I had a couple Infinity Black Widow carbon fiber tonearms that were deemed really only suitable with high compliance cartridges. (The Infinity BW tonearm has a substantially thinner diameter than the Schiit Sol tonearm.) I asked Jason about cartridge compatibility of the SOL tonearm. He was a bit cagey in his response, saying he wasn’t really the analog guy of the company (that bring Mike Moffat). 

Here’s a link to the development of the Sol:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/schiit-happened-the-story-of-the-worlds-most-improbable-start-up.701...

@cleander the problem with schiit is their products are lacking in quality of parts and engineering. You can’t expect audiophile grade gear on a Walmart budget. You are free to go against conventional wisdom of course. That is why there are marginal products of every kind, to suit people who must be different. 

I am not seeing any anecdotal evidence in your post. Just more generalizations.

Show me where they lack in quality of parts. Show me where they lack in engineering.

I’m just not understanding where you’re at here. Did they stiff you in some way with a product? Did one of their engineers give you a bogus explanation or told you that you were full of crap?

And how much is too cheap? Seems to me that your biased against a company because you don’t accept their pricing model. If they sold their products via a distributor and dealer network, then their retail product costs to the consumer would be typically 200%-300% more than selling direct. 
 
The only Q is whether laying out $1500 to $2100 for a Sol turntable via a distribution & dealer network somehow alleviates these alleged concerns simply because the price seems more in line with other “retail” products of similar kind. 

@celander you do not understand how vertical marketing works. Schiit is worth what it sells for, not a penny more. 

There is evidence of sub-par build quality and engineering, on head-case. If you choose to be a fanboy, this won't matter to you anyways. That said I owned a Yggdrasil and enjoyed it.

Well, I used to be in high end audio retail at the dealer level. I’m pretty confident I grasp markups and the like. 

Well, that certainly explains the attitude.

This whole thread is bull Schitt.  Sorry, couldn't resist.

It’s kinda creepy to have a stalker/fanboy. Glad I’m not a celebrity. 

    You are free to go against conventional wisdom of course. That is why there are marginal products of every kind, to suit people who must be different.

That’s pretty funny, conventional wisdom that is.  It’s conventional wisdom that has seen the brick and mortar business model suffer serious losses for the last decade.

if you can’t evolve and adapt with the changing marketplace, then the Schiit Audios and Emotivas will do it for you.

Heard the Schiit Sol at AXPONA. Looks a lot more expensive than the proposed $699 retail and sounds great. The arm alone looks complex yet elegant and well engineered. This must be a loss-leader.

What cart was Schiit using on the Sol?
Did you get a chance to cue up any records to check how the unipivot handles?

An old Nagaoka MP11! Did not cue up. Tracking was excellent. They played Dark Side Of The Moon.

Schiit makes excellent stuff that succeeds simply because it works well...I own a Freya that really has nothing close to its performance level and features at any price really, a Loki...same thing, and a couple of Magni 3s, also astonishingly good. People get testy about this stuff but who cares? Regas are well made of course but without VTA adjustment (shims...uh huh) they lose my interest, so bring on the Sol...

Exactly, Wolf.  They make products that have some of the best performance per buck out there.  They have discrete circuitry at a price level unheard of previously.  They may not use boutique brand parts, but that just means they pass on the savings to the customer.

and with a 5 yr warranty for many of their items, it’s win win.

@noromance Did you see any issue with where they put the on/off switch? Some people didn't like where is is for fear of banging the tone arm accidentally...

The whole under the arm part where cables come and go looks a bit fussy and yes, I can see this being a small issue.

I will poop on the schitt.

The blessed day is upon us:

https://www.schiit.com/products/sol

Hoping to see it live at RMAF this weekend. Was hoping it would be a hundred or so less honestly... $800, and $199 for a second arm.