Schiit Audio (commonly referred to as Schiit) is an American privately held audio company founded in June 2010 that specializes in the design, development, and production of various

high-fidelity High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) f ...

audio products targeted at the

audiophile An audiophile (from + ) is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. The audiophile seeks to achieve high sound quality in the audio reproduction of recorded music, typically in a quiet listening space in a room with ...

market, such as standalone

digital-to-analog converter In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC, D/A, D2A, or D-to-A) is a system that converts a digital signal into an analog signal. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) performs the reverse function. DACs are commonly used in musi ...

s (DACs),

headphone amplifier A headphone amplifier is a low-powered audio amplifier designed particularly to drive headphones worn on or in the ears, instead of loudspeakers in speaker enclosures. Most commonly, headphone amplifiers are found embedded in electronic devices t ...

s, equalizers,

preamplifier A preamplifier, also known as a preamp, is an electronic amplifier that converts a weak electrical signal into an output signal strong enough to be noise-tolerant and strong enough for further processing, or for sending to a power amplifier a ...

s, and speaker amplifiers, as well as combination DAC and amplifier products. The company is based in California with additional manufacturing operations in Texas.

History

2010-2013: Founding, initial product launches

The company was founded in June 2010 by Jason Stoddard and Mike Moffat. The company announced its first products, the ''Asgard'' and ''Valhalla'' headphone amplifiers, on June 1, 2010, with a launch date of July 21, 2010, and August 15, 2010, respectively. Schiit later announced ''Lyr'', a "hybrid" high-power headphone amplifier, on December 28, 2010, with expected availability in March 2011. In June 2011, Schiit announced a user-upgradable digital to analog converter called ''Bifrost'', a standalone DAC with the ability to purchase a model that offered support for

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...

input. The Bifrost was user-upgradable in that it allowed users to install optional upgrade cards that would upgrade the Bifrost's DAC or USB capabilities and would be released depending on when significant changes were made to the respective technologies.

Products

Digital-to-analog converters

Schiit designs, develops and manufactures several standalone digital-to-analog converters (DACs), with the first DAC released by Schiit being the ''Bifrost'', having been released in 2011. Several other DACs have since been released by Schiit, such as the ''Modi'', ''Modius'', and the ''Gungnir''. A DAC converts a digital signal sent by a

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

or various other electronic devices to an analog signal that can then be decoded by a separate device typically connected via RCA cables such as a speaker amplifier or headphone amplifier in order to transmit audio to

headphones Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an ...

, speakers,

in-ear monitor An in-ear monitor (IEMs), in-ear, or colloquially earpiece is a listening device placed into the ear. More narrowly, the term in-ear monitor is defined as such a device used by musicians, audio engineers and audiophiles to listen to music or to ...

s, and other audio devices. Common inputs available on DACs manufactured by Schiit include

S/PDIF S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) is a type of digital audio interface used in consumer audio equipment to output audio over relatively short distances. The signal is transmitted over either a coaxial cable using RCA connector, RCA or BN ...

(

coaxial In geometry, coaxial means that several three-dimensional linear or planar forms share a common axis. The two-dimensional analog is ''concentric''. Common examples: A coaxial cable has a wire conductor in the centre (D), a circumferential ou ...

and TOSLINK) as well as

. Schiit primarily designs their DACs around digital-to-analog

integrated circuit An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

s (ICs) manufactured by

ESS Technology ESS Technology Incorporated is a private manufacturer of computer multimedia products, Audio DACs and ADCs based in Fremont, California with R&D centers in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada and Beijing, China. It was founded by Forrest Mo ...

(ESS),

Analog Devices Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI), also known simply as Analog, is an American multinational corporation, multinational semiconductor company specializing in data conversion, signal processing, and power management technology, headquartered in Wilming ...

, and

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...

(TI), such as the ESS 9018/9028 and the TI DAC8812. Audio ICs manufactured by AKM Semiconductor, Inc. (AKM) were previously used, however in November 2020 a fire broke out at AKM's primary manufacturing facility, causing Schiit and other manufacturers of audio equipment to switch over to competing audio IC manufacturers, such as previously mentioned ESS, due to the fire destroying the facility. Schiit began the process of moving over to ESS audio ICs in August 2021, with the release of a new installable "upgrade card" that replaced the AK4490 audio IC used in their older upgrade cards with the ES9028.

DAC specifications

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{Official website American brands American companies established in 2010 Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States Companies based in California Electronics companies established in 2010 2010 establishments in California