this makes me interested again…
I just wanna hear it now. Curiosity always gets me.
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A $400 amp that competes with $2400 amps!!
lol
We can debate this until the cows come home…but its the best $400 amp I have ever used.
Period. Mic Drop…
7+ watts
oh my
Alex
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Unless someone gets a defective unit, then not so much.
It’s a crappy situation for manufacturer and buyer. Seems to me they need to give some assurance for new purchases and a way to identify units that may have been affected by the issue.
As far I as know, there was one unit that was “bright”, and then a couple with obvious distortion in one channel. Many others, including mine, have been perfectly fine. No manufacturer is perfect - it’s how they deal with issues that counts, and Schiit has done a great job on that front in my experience.
They do give assurance for new purchases - it’s the five year warranty. What else do you need?
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Agreed.
I’ve had a Lyr 3 die and take a pair of Eikons with it. Schiit replaced the amp and had the headphones rebuilt. They paid for shipping. Sure, it took time to get the headphones repaired and back from Zach, but in the end I was out nothing. All it took was 2 or 3 emails to Schiit’s support.
Go see how Topping is handling that L30 fiasco and see how Schiit stacks up. (Pun intended.) Even if you’re not a L30 owner, it doesn’t inspire confidence that they will help if any of their other crap assplodes.
Look… people have called me a Schiit head. A ZMF shill. Fanboy. Etc. Whatever. Truth is, I’m just a real picky fuker with no filter, a realist and (at times) a pessimist, a tech-head, and to put it bluntly - my loyalties don’t come easy. Every manufacturer I’m a fan of has earned it.
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I’ve bought several Schiit products both new and on the secondary market, and Schiit customer service/ support has been impeccable whether I was the original owner or not. Not that I’ve had to have anything replaced, but they’ve assisted me and answered questions multiple times. Even when they knew I wasn’t the original owner.
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Maybe something like “A small number of units were affected by a manufacturing issue but they have been identified and all units shipping now are up to spec.”
Then the event can be in the rearview and people don’t have to worry.
Is it even an “event”? I don’t think anyone knows how many units were affected. Since we should expect all products to have some small percentage of defective units, perhaps the number of issues identified still falls within normal range.
I guess if you’re not comfortable buying one now, then don’t buy one.
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That statement makes everyone who isn’t / wasn’t worried, aware.
Releasing statements does not put things in the rearview, it brings them back to the present.
Don’t mistake what you want for what a manufacturer or business should do.
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Has anyone taken the time to contact Schiit or send them a not asking about this ???
Alex
+1 to Schiit for taking care of the headphones. Usually companies limit their support to the replacement of their products. Kudos to Schiit.
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Please don’t take this as unwarranted manufacturer bashing for fun, but this is where I stand:
I’ve come so close to pulling the trigger on a Schiit product but every time I start digging I come across a product issue that has put me off. Alarmingly, these issues involve either the product itself crapping out or taking out the headphones as well.
I haven’t come across this with any other manufacturer (although I’m sure there are cases to be dug up with every product) until the recent Topping fiasco.
I never purchase audio gear based on sound merits alone. Build quality, QC, design (does it have adequate safety features built in?), warranty etc. all play a big part in my purchase decision.
My ZMF VC is the best headphone I’ve heard but I would not have dropped that much cash on a pair of headphones were it not for the uniqueness factor, build and fantastic warranty/support.
I would go apeshit if my amp took it out. Hence, even though it might not be the most ideal source, I’ve settled on the RME adi-2 as I’m satisfied they have correctly implemented all the features that should prevent them from frying if the worst case scenario were to happen.
I know it would probably be fine if I were to go with a Jotunheim, or whatever, but I’ve seen too much to warrant the risk.
As for customer service, a fellow UK dweller on Reddit reported receiving a dead on arrival magnius and had to pay to ship it back regardless. As he put it, he had to pay to ship a dead unit around the world… F***k that!
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Yes, credit where credit is due!
Yep. Straight from the horses’ mouth.
That statement is not referring to any specific amp. The statement is merely saying that the performance of the Jotunheim 2 is similar to other amps that cost a lot more.
All the Best,
Tom E.
The question had nothing to do with the $2400 statement.
It was concerning the other issue…or concern.
A.
It sounds like you are definitely settling @Klmahnn and you really may want to consider some proper well implemented tube amplification for your incredible ZMF VC. I am pretty sure ZMF just added a dealer in the UK, maybe @zach915m can chime in as I know he has a new pendant on the horizon that is sure to sound amazing with ZMF headphones that you may be able to purchase in the UK. https://www.acornaudio.co.uk/
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I understand that feeling. I’ve read a lot of negative posts across multiple forums about Hifiman quality control issues, and that’s prevented me from pulling the trigger on one of their headphones. I realize that people tend to post when they’re either very happy or mad as hell, so my Hifiman reaction may be based on the experience of a very small number of people, but it’s still hard to get that thought out of my head.
Having said that, I’d bought 1 DAC and 2 amps from Schiit and had absolutely no issues before I got my troublesome Jot 2. I’ve read of only one other report of brightness on Headfi, and they said that it went away after a couple of days, whereas mine stayed. I should be really annoyed because I bought the Jot 2 to compare to my Burson Soloist 3XP while the latter was still within it’s return window, and my original intention was to return one of them. Now I own both of them! But Schiit happens (pun intended) and I’ll just put it down to bad luck. Fortunately, I like both amps and at some point, I’ll probably feel lucky that this happened.
Either way, the reason I don’t feel mad about the situation is Schiit’s amazing customer service. The original amp was not DOA. I didn’t have weird pops or crackle, or channel imbalances. It just didn’t sound the way I expected it to, based on my interpretation of other people’s posts. I wouldn’t have blamed them if they refused to do anything about it, but they paid for the return shipping and sent me out a new one. That’s what I call customer service, and is the reason why I will continue to buy their products.
I don’t blame him for being angry, and I have a general rule to only buy things that have a reputation for good QC, good warranty, as you said, but also where the seller is in the same country as me, to make it easy to return. I broke that rule when I bought the Burson, and I hope I don’t regret that, as I don’t fancy shipping it back to Australia if there’s an issue.
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I appreciate the suggestion. I can’t wait to hear what a well-suited tube setup will do for my VCs. It’s one of the things I’m most looking forward to after lockdown. However, I strongly suspect that whatever positives it brings, it will not be enough to make me purchase it.
What I HATE about the idea of using a tube amp is:
- Waiting for tubes to burn in to sound optimal (or even decent)
- Having to wait for the amp to warm up to sound optimal (or even decent)
- The nervosa brought on by wondering when tubes are past their peak / will die
- The nervosa brought on by which tubes are best and in what combination
- Sourcing new tubes (seems to involve ebay and obscure online dealers)
- The size
- The cost
- The fact I might burn my hand on it… lol
I’m being somewhat facetious, but these are for the most part genuine concerns. I feel that I’m better off becoming an expert with EQ and using the many features the RME offers to tune my sound as close to my ideal as possible.
Having said all this, my comments are valid in my current situational context. Perhaps down the road, with more time on my hands to divulge in my hobbies, I will see these things as less of an inconvenience and more of an inviting rabbit hole to dive into head first 
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Yes. If I were located in the US, I may have given them the benefit of the doubt on occasion.
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