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Hardware Teardown of Schiit Fulla (V2) DAC and Headphone Amplifier

έχω δίκιο

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The D30 is about the size of the Modi (https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...30-versus-schiit-modi-2-dac-review-jpg.12682/), which is larger than the fulla 2 or fulla 1.
Will either fit in my pocket? Nope. Will either require more than one hand to carry comfortably? Nope. So the only thing the smaller-on-spec-sheet size of the Schiit may offer is the ease of being pulled to the floor by the weight of cables.

It doesn't have a headphone amp. You buy the $120 A30 to stack on top of it, so for both dac+amp in this combo it is $240, not $99 like the Shit Fulla 2.
The Fulla 2 doesn't have optical and coaxial S/PDIF inputs, a front panel switch to select between USB/coax/optical, or the ability to do 192 kHz, DSD64, or DSD128 playback, so I'll be generous and say that's an even trade-off, value-wise, with the headphone amp in the Fulla 2.
 

έχω δίκιο

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So is there a direct competitor to Schiit Fulla V2 at similar pricing and features?
I'd be amused to compare it to the $10 Euros Speaka USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier dongle.

Outside of that, there are a bunch of USB DAC and headphone amp combos in the same price range, including the FiiO E10K, NuForce uDAC3, and SMSL VMV V2. I think that the Topping D3 at $115 would be a great one to compare to it:
Original-Topping-D3-Desktop-High-performance-Decoders-24Bit192kHz-USB-DAC-Headphone-Amplifier-CS8416-CS4398-Supports-5.jpg_640x640.jpg
 

RayDunzl

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RayDunzl

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Speaking of poorly chosen product names...

There is/was a Foreign Exchange Trading "brokerage" named eToro.

I looked that name up, and whoa...
 

Timbo2

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Shinola attaches its name on everything from handbags to bicycles. If their headphones happen to sound good I'm willing to bet it is a happy accident.
 

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Shinola attaches its name on everything from handbags to bicycles. If their headphones happen to sound good I'm willing to bet it is a happy accident.

If they sound bad on this DAC/headphone amp, you won't know if it's the fault of Schiit or Shinola.

But to be fair, Shinola's stated goal is to support manufacturing jobs in the U.S. They have their own factory in Detroit and they partner with other U.S. manufacturers for other Shinola-branded products. Their audio products include fairly expensive turntables, speakers, headphones, and in-ear monitors (earbuds as we call them). I don't know how well they are made or how well they perform.
 

Timbo2

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If they sound bad on this DAC/headphone amp, you won't know if it's the fault of Schiit or Shinola.

But to be fair, Shinola's stated goal is to support manufacturing jobs in the U.S. They have their own factory in Detroit and they partner with other U.S. manufacturers for other Shinola-branded products. Their audio products include fairly expensive turntables, speakers, headphones, and in-ear monitors (earbuds as we call them). I don't know how well they are made or how well they perform.
Interesting. Without wanting to dive into the rabbit hole, I wonder what criteria they use for their branding. And "US made" opens up another big can of worms as to how that is defined as well. I'd never heard of them though. Thanks for the info!
 

έχω δίκιο

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Interesting. Without wanting to dive into the rabbit hole, I wonder what criteria they use for their branding. And "US made" opens up another big can of worms as to how that is defined as well. I'd never heard of them though. Thanks for the info!

Us older folks in the U.S. have all heard of Shinola through a certain phrase which I won't repeat here. The link will explain why I found the notion of a Schiit headphone amp driving Shinola headphones to be a humorous one.

Shinola is serious about really having their products be U.S. made, and more specifically, being made in hard-hit Detroit. They have a factory in Detroit that has workers assembling watches right down to the little gears. They have the Shinola Leather Works in Detroit that produces bands for the watches and another facility that makes find handbags. Their bike frames are made in Wisconsin, but the the bicycle final assembly is done in Detroit. This is an interesting, 30 second who-we-are style video from their website:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/117512215?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ffffff&autoplay=1

I hope that their products are really good, because the U.S. needs more manufacturing jobs that pay a living wage.
 

Timbo2

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Us older folks in the U.S. have all heard of Shinola through a certain phrase which I won't repeat here. The link will explain why I found the notion of a Schiit headphone amp driving Shinola headphones to be a humorous one.

Shinola is serious about really having their products be U.S. made, and more specifically, being made in hard-hit Detroit. They have a factory in Detroit that has workers assembling watches right down to the little gears. They have the Shinola Leather Works in Detroit that produces bands for the watches and another facility that makes find handbags. Their bike frames are made in Wisconsin, but the the bicycle final assembly is done in Detroit. This is an interesting, 30 second who-we-are style video from their website:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/117512215?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ffffff&autoplay=1

I hope that their products are really good, because the U.S. needs more manufacturing jobs that pay a living wage.
Thanks. I’m old enough that I knew the phrase immediately.

In a past life I was also a watch nerd. To the point that I used to personally restore old American wristwatches. Aside from some very expensive boutique watches I wasn’t aware of an US manufacturers of watches anymore. After some Google work in this case Shinola buys Swiss components and assembles them in the US.

They are trying to start up a broad luxury brand which is not an easy task. From a watch nerd perspective simply assembling Swiss designs won’t give them much credibility given their pricing. I can’t speak with authority on any of their other products. But I certainly wish them well.
 
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