[Jason Stoddard]

@Jason Stoddard for the crazy or craziest products, is there a price range you can share for any of them.

Also, absolutely enamored with the MMb2! That’s a packs-a-punch DAC purchase!

Cheapest crazy product should be $149, most expensive $449. Maybe a little bit more due to assembly cost increases. We'll see.

All 3 are products we've not done before.

(And no, none of them is a streamer. Nor a turntable. Nor a toaster.)

 

[jaxtherogue]

1. Multiple inputs (is this really important?)
2. Simple vs complex (how many gains and how many loads do you really need?)
3. Discrete vs op-amp (thoughts, do you care?)
4. Balanced vs SE (system matching, don't care, gotchas?)
5. How important is great MC vs MM performance (and vice-versa?)

Excited about this possibility. I am close to pulling the trigger on a Scandinavian maker's phono but it could wait...
1. not important to me
2. simple, 4-5 gain/load options each. is that simple?
3. the romantic in me would like discreet but i don't know enough to really care
4. Balanced for me, so I can occupy the second (lonely) balanced inputs on the Freya
5. I've got MI..so if you have to favor one, I guess MM for me.

 

[JanMc]

Oh dang. I know that look.

I co-habitated with a Russian Blue for almost 18 years and I still miss him. An outdoor cat, I would budget about $500 a year for visits to the vet to get various bits sewn back on.

Thanks for the pic.
.

Ha! Thanks for reminding me. When he was young he was completely my cat. After years of torturing him to clean him up after fights with things like dogs and racoons he came to dislike me and became my wife's cat. He almost killed the next door neighbors dog just because we brought home a new kitten and he was pissed about it. At the same time, racoons almost killed him a time or two. It was never a fair fight with another cat because he weighed 17 pounds and you can see that he has not an ounce of fat on him.

 

[lemp]

No.

Or I can name this one "Sol" and confuse the heck out of everyone. We've re-used names before.

Maybe Sol2 <grin>

 

[Paladin79]

Cheapest crazy product should be $149, most expensive $449. Maybe a little bit more due to assembly cost increases. We'll see.

All 3 are products we've not done before.

(And no, none of them is a streamer. Nor a turntable. Nor a toaster.)

If there were excess Sol parts laying around I would love to create my own plinths and work with the platters, motors, and tone arms. Naturally you need to keep some around to cover warranties.

 

[ImagesbyMurray]

So...keeping this open ended, what might you want to see from a higher end Schiit phono preamp?

And...making this more pointed, let's talk:

1. Multiple inputs (is this really important?)
2. Simple vs complex (how many gains and how many loads do you really need?)
3. Discrete vs op-amp (thoughts, do you care?)
4. Balanced vs SE (system matching, don't care, gotchas?)
5. How important is great MC vs MM performance (and vice-versa?)

1. Single Input
2. Simple (maybe a custom user stuffed load board?)
3. Tube
4. Nexus final stage
5. MC preferred (long time DL-103D fan)

6. Rear mounted power switch, of course.

 

[Orange5o]

Don't really see need for multiple inputs, and there's no point in balanced since everyone's table sends SE to their phono pre. If you are doing high end, MC is probably a must IMO.

 

[Brubacca]

@Jason Stoddard


Multiple inputs (is this really important?) - Single Input
Simple vs complex (how many gains and how many loads do you really need?) Complex
Discrete vs op-amp (thoughts, do you care?) Don't care-- unless tube output
Balanced vs SE (system matching, don't care, gotchas?) SE fine
How important is great MC vs MM performance (and vice-versa?) Think at the price range you are looking at you need both.

Other--> onboard power supply with regular IEC socket for power cord.

Other/other- A to D converter with USB output for digitizing records. Maybe Option board.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

no point in balanced since everyone's table sends SE to their phono pre.

Not necessarily...

 

[OldRoadToad]

For internet radio, I've just used the Tunein app on the Bluesound Node. I've looked around for a tuner that will support both analog and digital over-the-air FM stations in the US, but the pickings seem to be slim.

Como Audio makes just want you want then. Unfortunately they are going out of business but their products have been reduced quite a bit. Their internet radios have an FM tuner built into them so again, I think this might be what you want. All the best!

ORT

 

[macdonjh]

UR - thems the Babylonians handwriting

Yeah, but, "In a state of d'Tigris" doesn't sound as clever as, "In a state of d'Nile". d'Euphrates doesn't work well, either.

Cheapest crazy product should be $149, most expensive $449. Maybe a little bit more due to assembly cost increases. We'll see.

All 3 are products we've not done before.

(And no, none of them is a streamer. Nor a turntable. Nor a toaster.)

Color me bummed. Checking out until Crazy/Craziest Round 2...

 

[Cliffh93]

Cheapest crazy product should be $149, most expensive $449. Maybe a little bit more due to assembly cost increases. We'll see.

All 3 are products we've not done before.

(And no, none of them is a streamer. Nor a turntable. Nor a toaster.)

I am very happy with my Mani 2, and when I need another, I don’t imagine I’ll be in the market for a four figure Mani 3. I don’t have champagne tastes on the vinyl side of things.

 

[OldRoadToad]

If you do make a phono preamp, it would not hurt if it were good looking. Something tubed and Metropolis (the film). Never mind, I am well aware that my taste is my own and as such I am likely to end up buying something by Schiit for someone else and not for my self.

ORT

 

[Jason Stoddard]

2. simple, 4-5 gain/load options each. is that simple?

This is where it gets interesting. It can be simple...or it can be very complex.

Simple? DIP switches are simple and can be switched right where you need them and are generally good quality. The catch is that this means flipping the preamp over and fiddling with fingernails and toothpicks until you get the right combo. So, simple, but a PITA to use.

Complex? Do it with switches. But you'll want custom super-high-quality rotary switches and you'll want them near the gain stage, not on the front panel, so you're talking custom switches and switch extenders and mechanical stuff like bearings. Not impossible, but much more painful and expensive. Also, when you're switching gain, will there be transients? I'm not talking clicks, I'm talking big bangs that take out speakers. That's a real possibility when switching gains, depending on the specifics of the gain stages.

Very complex? Do it with relays. Then they can be used at the point where you need them, and they can be run by a microprocessor to manage any glitches on switching. But you need a ton of relays. Like, one for each loading or gain level. Yeah, you can do ladders, but that only gets you so far. You don't save as much as you think. Aaaaaaand...are relays good enough for MC level signals? We're talking 1000x gain there. That's before your preamp (4-10x) and amp (10-20x). That's a metric ass-ton of gain. Yeah, you can get good relays, and maybe they're fine, but will the relay coils affect the signal? As in, will the tiny bit of ripple on the power supply running the relay be inductively coupled into the signal lines? Sure, you can filter that power supply even more, but it's worth asking. Also, how well with this super-high-gain device work with the noisy microprocessor running inside the box? Yeah, you can do "sleep and wait" on the micro and turn off the clock, etc, but now we're talking firmware and fancy relays and super-quiet power supplies...

This is my life. Most of the time it's fun!

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

This is where it gets interesting. It can be simple...or it can be very complex.

Simple? DIP switches are simple and can be switched right where you need them and are generally good quality. The catch is that this means flipping the preamp over and fiddling with fingernails and toothpicks until you get the right combo. So, simple, but a PITA to use.

Complex? Do it with switches. But you'll want custom super-high-quality rotary switches and you'll want them near the gain stage, not on the front panel, so you're talking custom switches and switch extenders and mechanical stuff like bearings. Not impossible, but much more painful and expensive. Also, when you're switching gain, will there be transients? I'm not talking clicks, I'm talking big bangs that take out speakers. That's a real possibility when switching gains, depending on the specifics of the gain stages.

Very complex? Do it with relays. Then they can be used at the point where you need them, and they can be run by a microprocessor to manage any glitches on switching. But you need a ton of relays. Like, one for each loading or gain level. Yeah, you can do ladders, but that only gets you so far. You don't save as much as you think. Aaaaaaand...are relays good enough for MC level signals? We're talking 1000x gain there. That's before your preamp (4-10x) and amp (10-20x). That's a metric ass-ton of gain. Yeah, you can get good relays, and maybe they're fine, but will the relay coils affect the signal? As in, will the tiny bit of ripple on the power supply running the relay be inductively coupled into the signal lines? Sure, you can filter that power supply even more, but it's worth asking. Also, how well with this super-high-gain device work with the noisy microprocessor running inside the box? Yeah, you can do "sleep and wait" on the micro and turn off the clock, etc, but now we're talking firmware and fancy relays and super-quiet power supplies...

This is my life. Most of the time it's fun!

I vote for jumpers.
On the board.
Inside an Asgard 1-like case, where you can't reach schiit.