Schiit Sol- The Next Great Turntable?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by msinderson, Sep 5, 2019.

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  1. Ripblade

    Ripblade Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Six
    I agree with Todd....the arm is excellent....the easiest to align by far, and very tuneful in terms of listening fun. The rest is ok. I like that it's plinthless, I like the metal platter as it affords flexibility in the choice of mats, and that it's made in NA. But add it all together, it doesn't measure up to my Delphi in terms of isolation, speed stability and ease of use. But that's comparing apples to oranges. For the price, the Sol is a bargain.
     
  2. wavethatflag

    wavethatflag God is love, but get it in writing.

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    It would be great if they'd just say that, but maybe that's not it. I wanted to buy a Sol, but after the rollout, and the on the fly beta program, I looked elsewhere. I have a Jotunheim, a Mani, a Loki and a Vali, and I really like them all. It's a great company, but sometimes things don't work out, although it's not real clear to me why based on what they say in the video posted above. Charge more for the table! They were probably hemorrhaging money on it, but it seems like they could have worked out their assembly issues, if they wanted to. I think it's a red flag that Moffat was proclaiming his love for digital and poking fun at vinylphiles even when he first started talking about the Sol. :D Maybe it was a good business decision to end it, or maybe their hearts weren't really in it.
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2021
    trd likes this.
  3. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    It's never as simple as just charging more. They could raise the price, but that would likely alienate some potential customers and leave the product less competitive in the market. Then you have to consider what their time is worth. A product that demands constant troublehooting and babysitting and outside help means it's a time suck. And this company has probably figured out by now that the easiest way for them to make money is to churn out entry level DACs and headphone amps, not dickering around with a product that will take years to work out kinks with and have a very limited customer base.
     
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  4. audiomaniac

    audiomaniac Shamalamadingdong

    Location:
    Colorado
    I think it was just new territory for them and out of their comfort zone. Nice try.:cry:
     
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  5. Soundsense

    Soundsense Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado USA
    I wonder if the apparently intended CD transport from Schiit falls into the category of 'new territory' and 'mechanical' thus not to be a reality?
     
    audiomaniac likes this.
  6. Classicrock

    Classicrock Senior Member

    Location:
    South West, UK.
    Not. If they can't go through with the design properly and don't have the knowledge don't foist it on the public to begin with. I'm sure some other company could sort the issues out in weeks and relaunch an improved version with a modest price increase. The existence of Technics is neither here nor there, different type of customer. Parts will dry up pretty soon I would think leaving customers in the lurch long term.
     
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  7. audiomaniac

    audiomaniac Shamalamadingdong

    Location:
    Colorado
    I guess you won't be first in line for their transport.
     
  8. audiomaniac

    audiomaniac Shamalamadingdong

    Location:
    Colorado
    Yes, definitely makes you wonder. I don't think it is going to be inexpensive either. I believe I heard $1500 mentioned somewhere.
     
  9. Soundsense

    Soundsense Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado USA
    The Sol always seemed to me to be a tinkerer's delight by design.....funly tweakable forever by turntable nerds. I liked that idea a lot. But a CD transport can't really participate in that kind of adventure. I hope they simply wring the best results from the extant technology of today, so we can plug it in and be amazed.
     
  10. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    Definitely that "science project" look. I'm not really into that look. I hate all the external speed boxes and such. Looks finicky. I think the most interesting thing about new turntable design... is that there are no new designs. The best adaptation here is the skinny Black Widow tonearm. I approve.
     
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  11. vinylontubes

    vinylontubes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Katy, TX
    I bought a Loki. Not the equalizer they make presently. It's a DSD DAC. They killed it off because they could sell the ones they made. They even had a wake for product's death. If something doesn't make them money, they ditch it. I tend to think if they just added the circuitry in the original Loki to one of their other DACs, they would have sold plenty of them. But not as a stand alone product.
     
    patient_ot likes this.
  12. OhHiMahk

    OhHiMahk The search function is your friend

    Location:
    USA
    Except that when Mike was at Theta, they made transports. Really good ones. It isn’t anything new except for trying to integrate Unison so that it’s compatible with other companies USB DACs. This is one of the reasons for the beta testing that is in progress now.
     
  13. Soundsense

    Soundsense Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado USA
    That is an encouraging report. I'm looking forward to seeing how they implement the tech.
     
  14. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    And one of their transports was simply someone else's laser disc player in a fancy box.

    Theta
     
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  15. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    I would agree. There never was much of a market for a very narrow product like that. DSD is basically on life support now, so many DAC manufacturers don't support it, or only offer limited support like DoP.
     
  16. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    That was also back in the early years of digital. Back before there was an understanding of how jitter and other digital noise affected the audio. Theta was one of the early pioneers looking at how jitter affected things. And they experimented with how to reduce jitter and how to make a better transport.

    The business model at Theta at that time was to modify existing transports. Because it was too expensive to design a transport from scratch, both in production costs and licensing costs. They also sold the gear with an upgrade plan. Where the buyer would send the gear back to Theta or take it back to the dealer for an upgrade. Theta would offer regular hardware upgrades for their gear as they figured out how to better address jitter and other digital noise. That was the business model. The customers understood that and were willing to send the gear back to Theta or the dealer to get upgraded. That was the plan. Strange times back then. People paid by check and did mail order by mailing checks. Product communication was done through newsletters mailed out to customers. Digital audio was all kind of new and companies were trying to figure out how to do it and make digital sound better.
     
  17. geezin'

    geezin' Forum Resident

    Location:
    Flintstone MD
    Well it's gone. No longer on the website.
     
  18. Ripblade

    Ripblade Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Six
    Bummer....:confused:
     
  19. JackG

    JackG Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    We hardly knew ya...
     
  20. AlmanacZinger

    AlmanacZinger Zingin'

    Location:
    The Land of Zaat
    Some of us, not even that much. Schiit :disgust: .
     
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  21. Nathan Z

    Nathan Z Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I consider this a high-fidelity tragedy...
     
  22. wavethatflag

    wavethatflag God is love, but get it in writing.

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    A digital oriented company decided to take a stab at analog, and ultimately I don't think they cared enough to see it through. Meanwhile I have an AT LP-7, and I like it a lot.

    And my phono amp is a Mani. :D
     
    Victor Martell likes this.
  23. bjlefebvre

    bjlefebvre Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington DC-ish
    One man's high-fidelity tragedy is another's high-fidelity farce :).
     
  24. Aftermath

    Aftermath Senior Member

    You want how much for that used Sol?! :whistle:
     
  25. geezin'

    geezin' Forum Resident

    Location:
    Flintstone MD
    Wonder if there's really enough of them out there for that to happen often.
     
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