Schiit not that Good?


Schiit was at AXPONA again this year. They were showing a Salk music server streaming into a Gungnir Multibit (?) feeding a Freya and two Vidars. Speakers were the Salk Song 3As.

 

So what happened?


Esoteric was just next door. This allowed attendees to move immediately from one room to another. Esoteric was showing a full stack of thier latest separates plus a VPI Avenger for analog. Speakers were a pair of Cantons I didn’t get the model of.

 

The Schiit room, while not bad, was completely destroyed by the Esoteric room. Esoteric played one SACD that unfurled a massive soundstage that I could sense even not being in the best seat. The sound of the Esoteric system, both via SACD and vinyl was dynamic, resolving, extremely musical, collected, vibrant, both large and delicately structured. It was a system that got all the minor details right. Such a good setup. The Schiit setup, while unoffensive, clean, and musical in its own right, simply couldn’t face the Esoteric in inner detail, soundstage, reality and low-level dynamics.

 

Why did the Schiit system fail so hard vs the Esoteric? Part of the reason might have been the junk cabling used by Schiit. Peaking behind the system I was Blue Jeans speaker cables and mess of power bricks, basic cabling, etc. I don’t know how much of the Schiit’s performance was compromised by inferior cabling, but I’m curious how close it would have come to the Esoteric had Schiit paid some basic attention to that area.


madavid0
https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/39108-schiit-embarrassed-at-axpona/

Soooo ... Is madavid0 also known as GUTB on the computeraudiophile.com forum, or did he copy and paste that post to stir up Schiit here?
The best sounding rooms were either only lightly treated with ASC, or used other brands of room acoustic treatment entirely.

I would put that up above cables as being the cause first.

Best,

E

I don't know E. Maybe speakers might be the cause first? Maybe edging out even the speaker cables? Tough call. It's a challenge to make a cable that passes sound intact. I'm surprised there aren't more patents on this tech. 
Esoteric is up  there with the best digital gear.

Shiit still beleive oversampling is a bad thing...  when we all know the best digital players are  << pcm ing >> everything to dsd.