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Schiit Fans ?

What a sad story about your SOL. I didn't know they'd discontinued it. The layout of it just wasn't my thing, but the reviews of it intrigued me. (Seems like the product name was created with you in mind - OUCH. Too soon?)

I have played only in the low end Schiit range, but I like their stuff and attitude. I have the original Fulla, Modi 3, Magni 3, Magni 2. Did not order a Modius, went there with the U-Turn one.

Very interested down the road in a Vidar amp and a Saga S preamp for a new main system. Perhaps prices will be lower in a year or so, or newer models out. Kinda have that penciled in for my 65th birthday buying.
 
I am trying to simply ignore the Vertigo and mowed the lawn in 85F at noon. After rehydrating (tap water and sparkling water) and doing a few other tasks I finally got my ever thinning ass in gear and opened a celebratory beer and opened up the new Mani 2.

Being the lazy guy I am, I placed it on top of my Mani. I put on an old Pharoah Sanders album I haven't gotten around to putting away for the past 2 weeks and was really blown away at how good the original Mani is even when powered by its stock 16V switching power supply. This album was recently washed but still sounds kind of lackluster and is frankly not in pristine shape, It has Pharoah's discordant sax that sometimes mellows depending on the song, but always stellar percussion that is downright surprising. All this via my modest garage desktop stereo: Schiit Saga pre (tube buffer with new production Tung Sol 6SN7), Pass ACA Class A amp I built, Original Elac Debut 2 speakers Model DB-62, old Dual 510 TT with ADC XLM MKII cart and Jico XLM replacement stylus, and all cabling by BJC. I could easily live with this just the way it is.

Then, the new Mani 2 went into the mix with its stock 16V linear power supply wall wart. WOW, just WOW. Much more there there. Perhaps it's the lowered noise floor but there is so much more space around each note and the music comes through despite the album's condition. The percussion is distinct and identifiable and perhaps a better low end. Just better overall. Not sure about that low end but more listening is in order soon.

Based on what I just heard, it is well worth the $150 to just replace the not at all shabby Mani with a Mani 2 and just give your old Mani to a friend or family member. I'd love to hear what others who have heard a comparison such as this think.

More later.
 
J English said:
What a sad story about your SOL. I didn't know they'd discontinued it. The layout of it just wasn't my thing, but the reviews of it intrigued me. (Seems like the product name was created with you in mind - OUCH. Too soon?)
Click to expand...

Yeah, in my case it was aptly named for sure. :( I like "plinthless" designs with auxiliary motors, and while I wouldn't call the SOL the prettiest design ever, such as an Avid, MAN, did it ever play well beyond its looks, its price tag and beyond the sum of its parts. As I remember, the aluminum "plinth" only weighed a few pounds, but it DID NOT sound that way. Its low end was deep and granitic in its transient response, and it just played with a fantastic top-to-bottom liquid musical flow and dynamic force that belied its relatively lightweight build. I also really liked the look of the 11-inch carbon fiber tonearm too. Very slender, simple and understatedly elegant in its design, and even though it didn't have a cueing lever I enjoyed the feel of it.

I was also surprised at what I was hearing with just the stock Audio Technica AT-VM95EN cartridge too (I ran out of money for a better one), but it acquitted itself very well and I can see why they chose it as a stock cart. But again, it gives me sweats to think about just how good it could be with something like a Koetsu on it or something. :bowdown: In all honesty, I wholeheartedly believe the SOL would easily scale with much higher end cartridges than most owners would probably ever put on it. I really believe this could be an end game turntable, but sadly, I never got to see just how much better it could have been, which it was already stunning to begin with. Even with such a humble cart on it.

The platform is also a tinkerer's wet dream, so much like the Linn LP12 crowd, if they had kept it in production I could see the SOL becoming a cult classic that would respond extremely well to mods. The mind boggles...
 
Robie said:
I am trying to simply ignore the Vertigo and mowed the lawn in 85F at noon. After rehydrating (tap water and sparkling water) and doing a few other tasks I finally got my ever thinning ass in gear and opened a celebratory beer and opened up the new Mani 2.

Being the lazy guy I am, I placed it on top of my Mani. I put on an old Pharoah Sanders album I haven't gotten around to putting away for the past 2 weeks and was really blown away at how good the original Mani is even when powered by its stock 16V switching power supply. This album was recently washed but still sounds kind of lackluster and is frankly not in pristine shape, It has Pharoah's discordant sax that sometimes mellows depending on the song, but always stellar percussion that is downright surprising. All this via my modest garage desktop stereo: Schiit Saga pre (tube buffer with new production Tung Sol 6SN7), Pass ACA Class A amp I built, Original Elac Debut 2 speakers Model DB-62, old Dual 510 TT with ADC XLM MKII cart and Jico XLM replacement stylus, and all cabling by BJC. I could easily live with this just the way it is.

Then, the new Mani 2 went into the mix with its stock 16V linear power supply wall wart. WOW, just WOW. Much more there there. Perhaps it's the lowered noise floor but there is so much more space around each note and the music comes through despite the album's condition. The percussion is distinct and identifiable and perhaps a better low end. Just better overall. Not sure about that low end but more listening is in order soon.

Based on what I just heard, it is well worth the $150 to just replace the not at all shabby Mani with a Mani 2 and just give your old Mani to a friend or family member. I'd love to hear what others who have heard a comparison such as this think.

More later.
Click to expand...

Hope you get better soon Bob. That Vertigo sucks, I dealt with it a couple of times years ago.

Maybe it'll enhance certain types of music?

I've been enjoying my Vidars lately. Turns out, the surge protectors I was using were totally degrading the sound quality with some of my gear. Got some Furman surge protection and everything is good.
 
Public service announcement. Schiit now as available to order(shipping in “2-3 weeks” ) a new Bifrost. The Bifrost 2/64. They describe it thus:

“Just like our range-topping Yggdrasil, the Bifrost 2/64 features a fully hardware balanced architecture. This means four 16-bit DACs total, with one DAC for each phase. You can expect the same stellar performance from both the XLR and RCA outputs, so Bifrost 2/64 works seamlessly with your system.”

Also, it went up to 799, and you can order the upgrade card for your Bifrost 2 at $300 a pop.
 
Finally got around to hooking my Bifrost 2 to my Mac Studio Ultra and then from the Bifrost 2 to my Klipsch the Sixes speakers. The Bifrost 2 is a big improvement when compared to the internal DAC in the Klipsch the Sixes. The sound is so much fuller and detailed.

Now I am deciding if I want to do the $300 Bifrost 2/64 upgrade.
 
AC50 said:
I would never buy their product based on the trade name.
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Yeah, it wasn't made for folks who have no sense of humor! Besides, it could be said that the word really just translates to "stuff" and when it's stated as "The Schiit," it really just means "the good stuff" and who doesn't want that?
 
Eywadude said:
“Have you ever noticed how everyone else's stuff is s*** and all your s*** is stuff?” - George Carlin
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And he wasn't wrong about our lives being dedicated to the pursuit of "stuff" and then where to put all of it...

I take that kind of thing to heart... at least little bit as I don't own, much less covet a lot of stuff that I see so many other folks going after. Still, as much as I would like to say that I'm not a materialist, I obviously am as I'm on this forum, which is of course concerned with the acquisition of a certain kind of stuff. I do they and limit myslef though as I don't have multiple audio systems or a stockpile of extra components. I don't go too crazy with photography and drum gear either, my other two passions, but I have to admit that here and there I lust for some other price of gear and end up buying it. I think that it's very difficult to be a human on this planet and not be a materialist to some degree.... though I certainly admire folks that have dedicated themselves to be far more minimal with their possessions than I am. I wonder just how much of a materialist someone like George Carlin was... like how much was he including himself in the whole bit about "chasing stuff?"
 
You had to have a hifi to get into drums, had to have drums to get into playing, had to have a camera to take pictures of your drums...

I didn't like Leo Quan's Bad A$$ bass bridge for the same reason! Believe me, my profanity and humor are intact, but we all have our sense of time and place.
 
AC50 said:
You had to have a hifi to get into drums, had to have drums to get into playing, had to have a camera to take pictures of your drums...

I didn't like Leo Quan's Bad A$$ bass bridge for the same reason! Believe me, my profanity and humor are intact, but we all have our sense of time and place.
Click to expand...
No doubt on all of that stuff... Though the whole "bad a**" thing roughly translates, as far as I can see to "very good" or even "excellent," and who doesn't want that?
 
"Show you how to walk the dog..."

If it's truly the Shiite or Bad A$$, it doesn't need to be spelled out.
 
rjw1678 said:
Finally got around to hooking my Bifrost 2 to my Mac Studio Ultra and then from the Bifrost 2 to my Klipsch the Sixes speakers. The Bifrost 2 is a big improvement when compared to the internal DAC in the Klipsch the Sixes. The sound is so much fuller and detailed.

Now I am deciding if I want to do the $300 Bifrost 2/64 upgrade.
Click to expand...
It's interesting they added the NOS mode to the dac- more ways to tune in your sound.
 
I am not a Schiit fan or owner, but I will comment on the existence of a company called Big Ass Fans, of which my company buys some of their product. Their logo is as such:

baf.jpg
 
At the HVAC trade shows it’s pretty hilarious when they announce product awards over the PA system.

“The Product of the Year award goes to….Big Ass Fans”

Back to Schiit. I love my Yggdrasil and look forward to owning other Schiit products, especially Vidar.
 
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