Another dissapointment from another U.S. manufacturer: Schiit

[Mister Pig]

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.

Actually the inside of an automobile is a pretty comfy place for electronics. They also perform far simpler tasks than a piece of audio gear, and are designed for that task. I never drove my F150 at a 100 MPH through snow and ice, or baja'd it like you suggest...but electronics failed anyways. And the quality of replacement parts were tied to cost. The cheaper ones being poorly built. I leaned that lesson the hard way on a Saab 9000 that was my work car. I wanted to buy an inexpensive water pump, but the cheap ones leaked in short order. I finally had to put a $300 one on there to get the car to be reliable. More times than not, you get what you pay for.

Regards
Mister Pig

 

[Bodyblue]

Actually the inside of an automobile is a pretty comfy place for electronics. They also perform far simpler tasks than a piece of audio gear, and are designed for that task. I never drove my F150 at a 100 MPH through snow and ice, or baja'd it like you suggest...but electronics failed anyways. And the quality of replacement parts were tied to cost. The cheaper ones being poorly built. I leaned that lesson the hard way on a Saab 9000 that was my work car. I wanted to buy an inexpensive water pump, but the cheap ones leaked in short order. I finally had to put a $300 one on there to get the car to be reliable. More times than not, you get what you pay for.

Regards
Mister Pig

HUH? The interior of a car can range from -10 degrees to over 160.......not to mention bumps and vibration issues. Home electronics simply dont have the same types of issues to deal with. If you dont understand that, I dont know what to tell you.

 

[Mister Pig]

HUH? The interior of a car can range from -10 degrees to over 160.......not to mention bumps and vibration issues. Home electronics simply dont have the same types of issues to deal with. If you dont understand that, I dont know what to tell you.

And they are simple circuits built for that environment. With costs spread over hundreds of thousands of units, so an economy of scale not found in the market of cheap DAC's.

 

[Bodyblue]

And they are simple circuits built for that environment.

WTF? A home DAC is NOT built or designed to the same durability standard as automobile electronics. That is like saying electronics built for the Space Station are the same circuit. That is simply a moronic statement.

 

[4-2-7]

More times than not, you get what you pay for.

Yep and the other thing I learned over my life. If I want to get into doing something like a hobby, I no longer buy entry level on the premiss I might loose interest and the loss will be less. For me if I do this I out grow the entry level very quickly, but when you want to try and dump the entry level stuff no one wants it that's involved in that hobby.

However if you buy in at a very good level or at the top end, what you bought will be in demand when you want to move on.

But then again we see people buying 45 year old stuff that was BOTL 45 years ago and since it's old they think it turned into something great.

 

[zebra03]

It happens. You grumble, take the car to a garage and get it fixed at your expense.

I meant the car is more expensive to fix than what it is worth .

 

[zebra03]

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

I guess your pockets are deeper than mine . For $99 , I want more than 34 months .

 

[kmulkey]

For the price of the entry level Schiit products ... I would just consider it disposable. Maybe that's just me.
I know it sucks to have a product go Tango Uniform 10 months out of warranty (been there before)...but ... it's just a roll of the bones.

Hopefully you'll have better luck w/ Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100. I've had good
luck w/ Cambridge Audio products.

Yeah I kinda agree here. I hate when anything quits working but below a certain price point I don't expect much.

 

[4-2-7]

I guess your pockets are deeper than mine . For $99 , I want more than 34 months .

Most likely the unit is fine, however with this type of equipment one needs to know about computers and finding work arounds to have components talk to each other.

 

[DaveVoorhis]

I meant the car is more expensive to fix than what it is worth .

Happened to a friend of mine who bought a Toyota Yaris that was nothing but trouble before the warranty ran out and nothing but trouble after the warranty ran out. It wasn't getting any better, so he sold it. What else could he do?

Sometimes you get a crappy thing, and the best you can do is cut your losses.

 

[4-2-7]

Perspective

Trying to think here, what's in my own system or used in it that cost $100 or less new...

Think now it has to be NEW

Turntable belts
Records
CDs
Record dust brushes
Stylus cleaners
That's about it for me

 

[zebra03]

Happened to a friend of mine who bought a Toyota Yaris that was nothing but trouble before the warranty ran out and nothing but trouble after the warranty ran out. It wasn't getting any better, so he sold it. What else could he do?

Sometimes you get a crappy thing, and the best you can do is cut your losses.

But , he did get value out of it . Not a total loss .

 

[twiiii]

Though I worked officially 34 years for a sound company that sold retail and provided professional services I had been involved in the industry 45 + years. And over the years the numbers of units needing repairs declined versus the numbers sold was our experience. Every one thought when tube units disappeared and SS became the norm that the repair business would decrease. Well if anything as the cheap Japanese products became the electronics of choice repairs increased per units sold. European products had issues also.

A product that costs $99.00 today would have cost under $20,00 in the 60's and early 70's. During the period the big issue at the time was the quality control of stereo cartridges. Stylus diamonds falling out or becoming dislodged were very common. We ended up having to invest in very expensive Wild microscopes and using Sound Technology test equipment to check the performance of every cartridge we sold. Shure Bros was our largest offender. Some models had 2 to 3 units out of a dozen that didn't measure up. AT wasn't much better. But at least we got replacements. AT had to introduce the Signet line so they could increase their prices to increase the quality control and performance standards was my observation. It worked for us. Fortunately for Shure the V -15 Series introduction pulled their fat out of the fire. Stanton was my preferred choice for Magnetic cartridges. Moving coils of the time had much fewer issues, but were behind the times in tracking capabilities. But we were almost forced to stay with Ortofon. Fortunately they introduced their own MM cartridges in the 70's.

It was a challenging time back then, its even a more challenging time today. How a company can build any intricate phono cartridge or DAC with quality components for under $100 is almost a miracle today.

I can remember a Ford Galaxy or Chevrolet Impala selling for $3300.00 dollars and having to visit the shop multi times a year. Today the better grades of Chevy or Ford SUV's have taken the place of full sized sedans can easily set you back over $30,000 to $40,000 dollars some models $70,000. I think the cars are better built with better fuel milage, fewer shop visits and better customer service. We don't experience any of that with purchases of home entertainment products today, Unless you are willing to purchase upper echelon products from speciality businesses. Its very unfortunate for a lot of us that are trying to raise a family, buy home, and put food on the table that when it comes to certain industries a price point and not quality is the goal. Wouldn't it be better for all of us if products were made for the long term. It would cost us less personally over the long haul, but I don't know if the wide variety of choices would still be available. Then again why not. As always the thing to remember is do your home work and don't forget. Buyer be Ware, there is A Succor born every minute.

 

[4-2-7]

But , he did get value out of it . Not a total loss .

So did the OP, three years of sound they liked.

 

[zebra03]

So did the OP, three years of sound they liked.

Monetary value .

 

[Mister Pig]

Monetary value .

I would take the monetary loss of a $99 DAC over the loss the guy took on the Yaris. Any day of the week.

Regards
Mister Pig

 

[zebra03]

I would take the monetary loss of a $99 DAC over the loss the guy took on the Yaris. Any day of the week.

Regards
Mister Pig

That's where you and I differ . I expect more for my money .

 

[Bodyblue]

But then again we see people buying 45 year old stuff that was BOTL 45 years ago and since it's old they think it turned into something great.

Or maybe they just happen to like what they like and find old things that still work interesting and worth collecting. That somebody cant understand that is truly puzzling.

 

[Condorsat]

It was a challenging time back then, its even a more challenging time today. How a company can build any intricate phono cartridge or DAC for under $100 is almost a miracle now days.

QFT

Currently ... the Schiit Modi 2 Uber DAC ($150) is at the heart of my mains rig. I'm using it for ... Streaming (USB), Satellite DVR(optical) & Universal Blu Ray (digital coax) ... the sound is just stunning for the price IMHO.

Bought it with the idea of moving up the food chain later ... but I have to admit to being impressed and I'm in no hurry to move on. At $150 ... it's the least expensive hardware in my rig.

 

[Tim64]

There was a time when warranty period wasn't considered the expected life span of an item and it wasn't considered a "privilege" to pay to have the item repaired by the manufacturer.

Exactly just like my Onkyo C7030 CD player three months out of warranty and it goes DOA. Onkyo's reply is it's out of warranty sorry, people are sick of this shit.