Another dissapointment from another U.S. manufacturer: Schiit
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Wrong . If you are gonna be selling products , your entry level should especially be of good quality . In my way of thinking , if you can't get the introductory stuff right , I'll be damned if I'm gonna give you anymore of my money .
I think the OP mentioned it was a known problem on this particular piece.
I'll bet if you bought an entry level new car and it took a schiit after 45 months , you would sing a different tune .
Ok then; what would one expect them to do on an entry level unit that's over a year past it's warranty expiration? The free ride is over and should be imo.
the worst part of this for me would be the inconvenience
it died, so be it
i cant just run to a store here and grab a replacement of any kind, i'm in the middle of nowhere
we have 1 local audio store and 1 bestbuy
closest would be usb sound card if any one had one in stock
so i would have to order on line, wait maybe a week for a new one
in between rewire my system with something to get by while waiting
my pc is nowhere near my stereo
then undo it all again when the new one arrived
aint going a day without tunes
i would give the op credit for the inconvenience but not for the shiit that died
it died, so be it
i cant just run to a store here and grab a replacement of any kind, i'm in the middle of nowhere
we have 1 local audio store and 1 bestbuy
closest would be usb sound card if any one had one in stock
so i would have to order on line, wait maybe a week for a new one
in between rewire my system with something to get by while waiting
my pc is nowhere near my stereo
then undo it all again when the new one arrived
aint going a day without tunes
i would give the op credit for the inconvenience but not for the shiit that died
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Grenadeslio
Lunatic Member
Yes, but I have three cheap DACS for tv compatibility from PE that were much less expensive that are still going strong. Most electronics have warranties of two yrs or less, if every piece of electronics you own with a two yr warranty died shortly after its alloted time would you still be so cavalier?
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DaveVoorhis
Addicted Member
It happens. You grumble, take the car to a garage and get it fixed at your expense.
I've been to their headquarters in Menlo Park CA. My 103 had a vibration. They walked me back to a huge building, Used for final assembly and QC. Handed me a new one in box, And Upgraded power cord. They are building products in the U S of A.
Mister Pig
Pigamus Maximus
I don't buy $99 DAC's, but my current DAC has needed service twice in its 10 year life. I boxed it up, paid the $100 service bill, and was glad to have it back and working properly.
You get what you pay for. When working in an audio store, we had an in house service department, and I saw plenty of gear come in from Kenwood, Yamaha, Denon, Sansui, and other brands that needed work. I also saw a lot of stuff get dumped there that the owners would not pick up and pay the bench fee because the repair bills were too high for what the unit sold for. The idea that stuff was made better "in the day" is a faulty one, and plenty of people think that, but in my 4 years of working there I would say that is not true.
Have I had stuff die prematurely? Yes! My Sony blue ray players became incompatible with disc formats in far less than two years. It sucked, but I didn't get too worked up over it, I just decided to buy Panasonic instead. I understand that people have different financial resources. For my youngest kid who is 21 and in school, $100 is a decent chunk of change. For my wife and I, in this stage of life it is not. Sure I would hate to lose a $100 bill. Now on this site there are a bunch of old timers who say things like"in my day we saved our money for months before buying our Pioneer/Kenwood/Sony receiver" or whatever audio gear being discussed. The implied point is that quality costs money, and in 2018 $99 is not much for any audio gear. Buy a higher level of gear if you want performance and reliability. If you buyer a $59 Hoover vacuum cleaner from Target, are you surprised if it dies at 2 years and 10 months? Sure its mechanical, but it does not rely on a whole bunch of tiny integrated circuits. Heck I buy the $29 reciprocating saw from Harbor Freight when its on sale. If I get one project done with it I am ahead of the rental fee. My first one broke in about a year. I was not surprised because I knew what I was buying. I look the same way at a $99 DAC. At the cheap end of the market, I would be more concerned if it was not built in East Asia, as that area is their specialty now. But even then, if it breaks, I am not surprised because it was cheap to start with.
Regards
Mister Pig
Mister Pig
Pigamus Maximus
It should be of good quality given the price. There is that old saying, which is quite applicable. You can have two out of three things. You can have cheap, you can have reliable, and you can have good sound. Which 2 of the 3 do you want. Because if you want reliable and good sound then its not cheap. If you want cheap and good sound, its quite possible that it will not be reliable.
When you go to the auto store for a new electronic part or sensor, most times they offer you two level of parts. The cheap one that will work, and the good one with a lifetime warranty. Why do you suppose there are different levels of warranty, and different costs to these parts? Because the cheap one is built to a lower level of reliability. It has to function properly so the car can run, but its not built to last as long. In many cases in this world, quality-which includes reliability- is related to price.
Regards
Mister Pig
whoaru99
Epic Member
I think he did as well. However, without knowing anything about the other alleged occurrences we don't know how it all stacks up in the big picture.
Grenadeslio
Lunatic Member
Often the lifetime part is identical, you're paying for an extended warranty not a better part as is implied. With brake pads it's usually 2.5 times the price, for most people it's more economical not to purchase the extended warrantied part as the car will be gone long before.
whoaru99
Epic Member
^^^
It may be in some cases but it wasn't with alternators from a national auto parts chain. While the auto parts store was happy to give me another reman in warranty, I got sick of replacing them about semi-annually. I finally paid the 3x more for a new alternator and haven't touched it for several years now. Worth every penny.
It may be in some cases but it wasn't with alternators from a national auto parts chain. While the auto parts store was happy to give me another reman in warranty, I got sick of replacing them about semi-annually. I finally paid the 3x more for a new alternator and haven't touched it for several years now. Worth every penny.
xero-D-hero
Super Member
I dunno how many commenting here actually read the hyperlinked head-fi thread vvvv that the OP said was exactly what happened to his.
I mention that because the OP of that head-fi thread said his modi still worked fine with a MAC (a macbook more precisely).
So the "problem" is that his windows PC could'nt "detect" the modi anymore.
That's not what I would call a dead DAC folks...
And who's to say what's really to blame ?
Concensus over @ that Head-Fi thread is it's likely a Windows driver compatibility related issue more-so than a DOA Schiit DAC sorta issue.
Just an FYI if the OP has a Modi/Modi 2 it wont have any other inputs,only USB in and analog RCA outs,and it's also powered via the USB interface.
Only the Modi2 Uber and Modi MB have the coax and optical inputs in addition to the USB input.
And the Modi2 Uber/Modi MB both also have seperate power inputs that are supplied by external power supplies (wall warts).
The old Modi Optical also uses an external power supply as well due to the toslink interface requiring such.
FWIW
Bret P.
I mention that because the OP of that head-fi thread said his modi still worked fine with a MAC (a macbook more precisely).
So the "problem" is that his windows PC could'nt "detect" the modi anymore.
crapmonster from Head-Fi said:
That's not what I would call a dead DAC folks...
And who's to say what's really to blame ?
Concensus over @ that Head-Fi thread is it's likely a Windows driver compatibility related issue more-so than a DOA Schiit DAC sorta issue.
E-Stat said:
Just an FYI if the OP has a Modi/Modi 2 it wont have any other inputs,only USB in and analog RCA outs,and it's also powered via the USB interface.
Only the Modi2 Uber and Modi MB have the coax and optical inputs in addition to the USB input.
And the Modi2 Uber/Modi MB both also have seperate power inputs that are supplied by external power supplies (wall warts).
The old Modi Optical also uses an external power supply as well due to the toslink interface requiring such.
FWIW
Bret P.
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Mister Pig
Pigamus Maximus
Extracted from this article. Just an example from those who work in the field of aftermarket auto parts. There are differing levels of quality, which cost money.
https://blog.1aauto.com/oem-vs-aftermarket-are-auto-parts-created-equal/
On the other hand, there are the cheaper options available out there which I call “low quality aftermarket auto parts”. These are typically the ones that can give “aftermarket parts” as a whole a bad name. The reason that they are the cheapest price is because they are the cheapest to produce. Being the cheapest to produce rarely equals the highest quality. The unfortunate truth to these parts is that you don’t really know if this is the part that you are buying until you attempt to attach it to your car. Before long, you need torches and welders to make it fit, and you need a new one in a few weeks.
Regards
Mister Pig
After a 30 year career in retail, I see both sides of this issue. Yes the item has a warranty and the item is out of warranty. BUT a company that cannot see the value in at least paying for the shipping (on such a small item) to make a customer happy, even a customer that bought a OPP (opening price point) item, that company is short sighted and stupid. Brand loyalty is one of the most valuable metrics that modern companies measure and in such a competitive industry this company is not showing smarts.
As a department and store manager I gave away thousands of dollars of merchandise and cash to make a customer happy and keep them loyal. Some of the comments on this thread telling the OP that he is wrong for complaining are waaaaay off base. It was the OPs money, no one elses and he has EVERY right to complain. I looked at every customer complaint as an opportunity to gain a life long customer. I usually found a way to help most people that were not straight up scammers. The OP is not a scammer and has, IMO an issue that could have been handled much better.
There were always people that worked with and for me that loved saying "no" and would point to the warranty then take pleasure from telling a customer they were out of luck. I always trained people to try and find a way to make that customer happy but there were the few that got a perverse thrill out of pissing a customer off. I canned quite a few of them on the spot. Most of the time there is something that a company can do, even the smallest thing, to try and make a customer feel better. Now there are some customers that one cant help or ever make happy and that has to be realized as well. If I was a manager at the company in question and I found out that a customer service rep did not at least offer to pay for the shipping at least one way, I would be pretty upset. All that rep would have had done to make this post about the excellent customer service was for one person to have spent $10 to save a customer.
Those that are blaming the OP for saying negative things about the company in question, should direct their anger at the proper source: The company that did not bother to try to make a customer happy.
As a department and store manager I gave away thousands of dollars of merchandise and cash to make a customer happy and keep them loyal. Some of the comments on this thread telling the OP that he is wrong for complaining are waaaaay off base. It was the OPs money, no one elses and he has EVERY right to complain. I looked at every customer complaint as an opportunity to gain a life long customer. I usually found a way to help most people that were not straight up scammers. The OP is not a scammer and has, IMO an issue that could have been handled much better.
There were always people that worked with and for me that loved saying "no" and would point to the warranty then take pleasure from telling a customer they were out of luck. I always trained people to try and find a way to make that customer happy but there were the few that got a perverse thrill out of pissing a customer off. I canned quite a few of them on the spot. Most of the time there is something that a company can do, even the smallest thing, to try and make a customer feel better. Now there are some customers that one cant help or ever make happy and that has to be realized as well. If I was a manager at the company in question and I found out that a customer service rep did not at least offer to pay for the shipping at least one way, I would be pretty upset. All that rep would have had done to make this post about the excellent customer service was for one person to have spent $10 to save a customer.
Those that are blaming the OP for saying negative things about the company in question, should direct their anger at the proper source: The company that did not bother to try to make a customer happy.
It happens all the time as you update computers, the device that's not being updated will get farther away from the unit it needs to works with.
I had bought all apple products at one time back in 2010, it was great with the iPad, iPhone and iMac all working together without missing a beat. At first I was reading horror stories about some of the iMac OS updates so I never changed it. My phone I did the first OS change but didn't like the looks so I didn't do my iPod. Well after a while with phone updates the phone was a hot spot for my ipod and they would not talk to each other, well until I updated the ipod and everything was fine. The iMac still wasn't changed and hasn't been as I type this. The phone stopped talking to the imac around two years ago and the new phone doesn't either. The pad and phone talk to my other imacs that are the same age but with current OS.
My first iMac is still working and running Lion from mid 2011, however it doesn't talk to any mobile device. I can't even update this iMac over the internet with the new OS, it's to far away now. Each OS that gets installed needs help from the prevues one. The only way I can update this iMac now is to buy hard copy OS install kits and leap frog until I get closer to the newest one.
So long story short, if a computerized audio component does not have continued support from the manufacturer in the way of Firmware and Drivers, it will stop working in a few years with what you connect to it. Well unless you keep everything the same OS as when you bought it.
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Almost an unrelated issue. Most car parts are in a torturous environment that cannot compare to an item like a piece of home audio equipment. Unless the OP took his DAC out in the weather, drove 100 mph through snow and ice and the desert and on and on then the comparison is rather silly.
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