New Schiit SYN - Analog Surround Sound Processor

[Matias]

Crossfeed is just a tiny part. DSP can do much more than that. See below link for some ideas of what Dr. David Griesinger did with his Logic 7 upmixer, and the issues he was trying to address. And that was 15-30 years old. The "technology" used in this Schiit product is about as primitive as it gets.

http://www.davidgriesinger.com/surround_from_stereo2.ppt

Nice presentation.
But there always needs to be room left for improvement. Now I can see the "Syn 2" being released in a couple of years, right?

 

[Matias]

Anyone else notice the Schiit CD PLayer on the product page for this?

Just a 3D render, but still a nice easter egg there.

 

[617]

This plus 5 Kali LP6 would be a pretty fun office set up.

The fact it doesn't have amplifiers is a feature, not a bug.

 

[T.M.Noble]

Just a 3D render, but still a nice easter egg there.

No. That is an Urd. Nothing fake about it.

 

[TonyJZX]

i would suspect adding Dolby codecs misses the point of this entire device

its like adding sp/dif out on a turntable...

granted the whole point is this device is specious to say the least but hey... i expect this sort of thing from Schitt... maybe match it to their $300 2.5w desktop amps.... they love that Schitt!

 

[paudio]

I think it's an interesting product for stereo material but without 5.1 analog inputs or decoding I wouldn't be running it into a 5.1 system.

 

[DSS]

It's fun to see how polarizing this product is. A lot of different opinions. I am excited to see how it shakes out.

Soon you'll have to do a 2nd run

 

[Veri]

Just a 3D render, but still a nice easter egg there.

Not a render considering the speaker, headphones and room etc. Maybe it's the post-processing on the pic that made you think so

 

[Kagemusha]

A very niche product, you need 3 amps after that (main-center-surround) if you want the full surround effect I guess.
And not HDMI?

I would have used it as headphone amp for the PC.

 

[ThatGuyYouKnow]

Is a Dolby license really that cost-prohibitive? Or are they just stringent on what devices can use their decoders?

If not, Schiit could make a product that competes well against something like the expensive Smyth Realisers. Schiit keeps talking about their trepidation over changing HDMI standards, but the full feature set of HDMI 2.1 will be enough for a long time.

 

[Kagemusha]

you can get a 5.2 Yamaha receiver with 5 amps and all the regular formats for around $400
this photo shows Syn ($399) + two Gjallarhorn ($598) + two Rekkr ($298) thats $1292 for a system with no formats and very low output

i guess they can release what they want, but when they write a dusin pages on headfi explaining that Rekkr is alot more than it is because its small and has no power then you lost me.. stop clutching on previous costumers and sell what works.

and no cables seems like

 

[DSS]

Is a Dolby license really that cost-prohibitive? Or are they just stringent on what devices can use their decoders?

If not, Schiit could make a product that competes well against something like the expensive Smyth Realisers. Schiit keeps talking about their trepidation over changing HDMI standards, but the full feature set of HDMI 2.1 will be enough for a long time.

5 bucks a piece?

 

[juliangst]

Why should the Syn have HDMI when almost no other DAC has HDMI?

People don’t get that this is NOT a surround processor for home theatre; it’s a crossfeed, hafler circuit effect box that just happens to have a build in DAC for convenience.

 

[ThatGuyYouKnow]

Why should the Syn have HDMI when almost no other DAC has HDMI?

People don’t get that this is NOT a surround processor for home theatre; it’s a crossfeed, hafler circuit effect box that just happens to have a build in DAC for convenience.

I know what this is. Schiit brought up what it isn't, and I'm just trying to find out what sensible reasons they have to not make a product that would have decent demand.

The fact that there are few DACs with HDMI is more reason to make one. The new miniDSP Flex HT is one and it unfortunately only handles PCM signals. Some of us don't want a giant AVR that measures rather subpar compared to separates, and the separate HDMI processors out there with Dolby decoding, etc. are usually ridiculously priced and/or poorly designed.

 

[617]

You can plug a turntable into it. My only complaint is that it doesn't have a couple more inputs and a switch but I guess they already make a preamp.

 

[T.M.Noble]

A very niche product, you need 3 amps after that (main-center-surround) if you want the full surround effect I guess.
And not HDMI?

I would have used it as headphone amp for the PC.

That's how I use it, on my PC with headphones. Its fun to use the shaping when gaming.

 

[DSS]

I know what this is. Schiit brought up what it isn't, and I'm just trying to find out what sensible reasons they have to not make a product that would have decent demand.

The fact that there are few DACs with HDMI is more reason to make one. The new miniDSP Flex HT is one and it unfortunately only handles PCM signals. Some of us don't want a giant AVR that measures rather subpar compared to separates, and the separate HDMI processors out there with Dolby decoding, etc. are usually ridiculously priced and/or poorly designed.

In general schiit produce things with 'free' or their own standards. Hence no hdmi, no dolby, no MQA and so on

 

[Veri]

In general schiit produce things with 'free' or their own standards. Hence no hdmi, no dolby, no MQA and so on

I get Dolby, MQA etc but Stereo PCM HDMI in would have been nice, I guess.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

If not, Schiit could make a product that competes well against something like the expensive Smyth Realisers.

Add Dolby and it would still not be anything close to any of the Smyth Realisers.

 

[DSS]

Add Dolby and it would still not be anything close to any of the Smyth Realisers.

You also don't need to pay 10x the price ;-)