Does Anyone Buy Schiit for the Sake of Schiit?


Most of us I think when buying something where workmanship and materials are less critical than price will go to a discount store like Walmart of Target (I think we've all heard they about calling it Tar-zhay because it's classier than Walmart) or Costco - the sort of stores where what you buy is not the best but it's always good for what you pay for it. I'm wondering, is Schiit the audio equivalent of Target? That is, does anyone buy it because the Schiit gear is particularly good, or merely that it's good for the price? The only Schiit product that I've ever bought is the Asgard as a headphone amp, since I don't use headphones that often, and I wasn't going to put a lot of money into it. Actually, I tried the Vali 2+ at first, and that seemed rather inadequate, so I sent it back and got the Asgard instead. It seems good enough, though I don't have much to compare it to, but it seems to struggle a bit in getting to higher volume levels. 

heretobuy

Everything in my life is a compromise and “good enough”. I don’t have the house with the room to do justice to outrageously good equipment, and I don’t have the income to afford outrageous equipment. It doesn’t make sense to me to pay $10,000 for speakers in this room, using a $3,000 amp and $1,000 pre-amp, with source of a less-than $1,000 CD transport or $300 turntable. Neither would it make sense to play a $10,000 integrated through $3,000 speakers. I try to balance the quality of all of it together to arrive at “good enough” and “better than my 30 year old $300 Sony receiver with 35 year old Jensen speakers, playing my old Technics cassette deck”. I learn to be satisfied with what I have and can afford.

Have to agree with those who are impressed with the Yggy - there are few DAC’s that sound any better, if any. Got the Yggy v2/OG (whatever) and it is superb in all respects.

But... it all depends upon what electronics and speakers you mate it with, what types of interfaces you use, and whether it’s burnt in and warm - once again... "synergy" makes all the difference.

And... I’ve also found that how a component "measures" is no indicator of how it sounds. In fact, many... if not... most components that measure well do not sound well... and... many... if not... most that do not measure well do not sound well.

Its all about the quality of the recording / engineering / harmonics / etc. that determines how good or poor a recording sounds with any set up.  And... the type of music makes all the difference - if you're listening to rock, rap, electronic, etc., you will never be able to discern the differences in sound quality of components, no matter what components you're using. 

My Schiit Aegir has won the day in multiple battles against seemingly sure victors, including Pass XA30.8, Van Alstine M225s… I learned there’s a reason the Aegir is on the Stereophile Class A recommendation list, and it’s not for “savin ya a dollar!” The lower cost is just icing on the cake, albeit glorious icing for sure. And my Yggdrasil OG provides amazing sound as well. There is absolutely nothing cheap quality-wise about Schiit products. 

If I can act as referee of my own thread, I think the result is that there are indeed people who do buy Schiit for the sake of Schiit. I think it would have been a little less obtuse of me to look at the price range of Schiit products. They make an amp for $1499 and a DAC for $2199, which would be a mid-level product for more conventional audio manufacturers, but the overwhelming majority of their products are in the $500 or less range, which means the actual field in which they compete is makers who concentrate on gear in that range, of which there are several. In their chosen field they are indeed a major player, both in quality and price. I would also like to emphasize that I didn't necessarily pose the question thinking one answer or the other was more likely.