Review of the new Schiit URD

[Victor Martell]

Example(s)?

Why?
It is just a personal preference, You are erroneously thinking I am attacking streaming. I am not - I use it. I just prefer physical media - you do you.

It is a moving target, so I agree that examples might expire or vary by region, one example close to my heart are the Camel albums post "I can't see your house from here" up to "Stationary Traveler", which were not available for streaming the last time I checked about a month ago and haven't been for a while, at least in the US.

While not extremely commercially successful, they are not obscure and have always been available on CD. (thanks Cherry Records!)

Not mentions things like specific editions and masters, if you care about that stuff.

[Edit: request for examples just rubbed me the wrong way, so I lashed out. I do apologize]

 

[rfernand]

Example(s)?

Obscure:
- Cavalleria Rusticana directed by Mascagni himself (with intro speech). I’m hanging on to the vinyl.

Less obscure:
- You cannot find the original “Amused to death” from 1991. The current streaming versions have HAL speaking “correctly”, and a couple of guitar fixes here and there.
- Can’t find The Beatles in Mono (The original mixes) on streaming.

 

[mhardy6647]

It's fine. I don't do streaming, for a number of reasons, but I was genuinely curious. I will say that if a specific version or mix of a recorded work isn't available, but other versions are -- that doesn't really seem to me to validate the "there are recordings that are not obscure that are really not available for streaming", but maybe that's just me.

Are there no mono Beatles on any streaming services? That would be noteworthy.
I have no idea.

 

[rogu3]

Careful! that is a personal preference! And not 100% accurate - there are recordings that are not obscure that are not available on streaming.

I prefer CDs - physical media actually. Even for stuff that is widely available on streaming. I like things. As long as I don't make an anti-scientific case for it, is all good, right?

That's totally fair! I guess a related question is -- why not just rip CDs to a NAS or external hard drive? You get all the convenience of streaming but still get to keep your physical library, and therefore no need for a CD transport. That's what I've done on the occasion that I can't find something in Tidal or Qobuz's catalog.

 

[tmtomh]

That's totally fair! I guess a related question is -- why not just rip CDs to a NAS or external hard drive? You get all the convenience of streaming but still get to keep your physical library, and therefore no need for a CD transport. That's what I've done on the occasion that I can't find something in Tidal or Qobuz's catalog.

Totally reasonable, and speaking for myself, I've got well over 95% of my physical disc collection ripped and available to stream directly from my computer-based streaming setup. I've paired down my system to make it as simple as possible - disc transport, computer streamer, digital component (for input switching and easy volume control), and active speakers with digital input. But I could get rid of the disc transport and swap the digital component for a much simpler USB-AES converter if I just played music from the computer streamer exclusively.

But while I do tend to play music that way about 80-90% of the time, like @Victor Martell I just enjoy putting a disc in the transport and playing it directly once in a while. It's got nothing to do with any subtle differences in sound quality between disc vs streaming, since there are none - it's an all-digital chain. It's just about nostalgia and enjoyment.

I am actually considering that simpler setup, for a few reasons. But for now it just feels weird to me to have all these CDs and other physical discs around but never to physically play them. Of course I could get rid of the discs too, but I don't want to do that - they have a very strong pull for me emotionally and I just like looking at them and having them around; and my entire collection takes up less than 4 square feet of floor space aka less than 2% of the entire available floor space in my listening room.

 

[tjf]

Why?
It is just a personal preference, You are erroneously thinking I am attacking streaming. I am not - I use it. I just prefer physical media - you do you.

It is a moving target, so I agree that examples might expire or vary by region, one example close to my heart are the Camel albums post "I can't see your house from here" up to "Stationary Traveler", which were not available for streaming the last time I checked about a month ago and haven't been for a while, at least in the US.

While not extremely commercially successful, they are not obscure and have always been available on CD. (thanks Cherry Records!)

Not mentions things like specific editions and masters, if you care about that stuff.

[Edit: request for examples just rubbed me the wrong way, so I lashed out. I do apologize]

Camel's "I can see your house from here" is avaialble on Amazon "HD" (16 bit lossless)

 

[rogu3]

Camel's "I can see your house from here" is avaialble on Amazon "HD" (16 bit lossless)

Available via Qobuz in the US as well - just checked.

 

[rogu3]

I just enjoy putting a disc in the transport and playing it directly once in a while. It's got nothing to do with any subtle differences in sound quality between disc vs streaming, since there are none - it's an all-digital chain. It's just about nostalgia and enjoyment.

Makes good sense. Vinyl fans have similar viewpoints with respect to enjoyment, in that selecting an album, looking at the artwork, and playing it all add to the overall experience. But hey at least CD's aren't noise-ridden and don't degrade each time you play them

 

[AaronJ]

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From a value standpoint these obliterate the Urd.

 

[mhardy6647]

That's totally fair! I guess a related question is -- why not just rip CDs to a NAS or external hard drive? You get all the convenience of streaming but still get to keep your physical library, and therefore no need for a CD transport. That's what I've done on the occasion that I can't find something in Tidal or Qobuz's catalog.

yup.
That's what we do here.

 

[rogu3]

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From a value standpoint these obliterate the Urd.

Urd is also kind of an unfortunate name, though being Schitt they might as well as just put a "T" in front of it and call it a day

 

[mhardy6647]

Urd is also kind of an unfortunate name, though being Schitt they might as well as just put a "T" in front of it and call it a day

They didn't have to -- The company name put the "t" there already.

Review of the new Schiit URD

I'm just baffled there's still a market for this. I guess CDs are nice if you really need a specific master or some obscure recording, but pretty much everything else is available on Tidal/Qobuz. Well, a lot of us still do have a significant CD library (I think I have about 1,500). Until we...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[rogu3]

They didn't have to -- The company name put the "t" there already.

Review of the new Schiit URD

I'm just baffled there's still a market for this. I guess CDs are nice if you really need a specific master or some obscure recording, but pretty much everything else is available on Tidal/Qobuz. Well, a lot of us still do have a significant CD library (I think I have about 1,500). Until we...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Ohh, I get it now!

 

[mhardy6647]

It's like an album by that amusing (and once hyper-popular) Canadian band Barenaked Ladies.
The album is called Born on a Pirate Ship
The album cover art looks thus:

Why? I hear you ask.
The story goes: If one adopts such a posture and, while so configured, says the album title, it sounds more like "Born on a Pile of S**t".
Which is right in line with Schiit's level of humor, I would opine.

Postscript: Everything about Schiit is unfortunate.

 

[Victor Martell]

Camel's "I can see your house from here" is avaialble on Amazon "HD" (16 bit lossless)

POST I can see your house from here - just double checked - I SAID POST "I can see your house from here" - The Single Factor, Nude, Stationary Traveler, Pressure Points

 

[Victor Martell]

Available via Qobuz in the US as well - just checked.

Again, one more time to encourage people to actually read:

POST I can see your house from here - just double checked - I SAID POST "I can see your house from here" - The Single Factor, Nude, Stationary Traveler, Pressure Points


That said, I know it is a moving target - also wrote that, but one counterexamples do not make me wrong - NOR invalidate my personal preference for physical media... some of the replies to my post baffle me - I actually was careful to say it was just a personal preference, never I implied sound quality arguments or challenged anyone's preference for streaming... People please, read fully and chill - no wonder they hate us in other forums...

 

[redwingnine]

I think you only get in trouble here if you claim that physical media sound better.

Well, my limited experience with TIDAL has shown that the sound quality with many of the track selections are not as good as optical or ripped CD media. The presence region seems a few db down from media sourced locally. Not sure why this is. It's like the difference between an 80's SS amp and a restored HK Citation II amp, which has a great sounding midrange.

Combine that with the fact that TIDAL's library is more limited than one would think, I don't use TIDAL for serious listening.

 

[Sonny1]

And Make Coffee while doing the laundry.

And give you a massage with happy ending, and a sandwich. My expectations are high for this price point.

 

[Rednaxela]

What’s next? Schiit OLE?

 

[rfernand]

Don’t read this if you don’t care about what this thing does or how it sounds. I haven’t measured anything and very competent dScope folks are already on it.

- It plays CDs, and it plays them well. That’s sort of the minimum you’d expect.
- The other thing it does is receive 2 USB inputs and either do USB output or SPDIF.
- The USB implementation is custom - they call it Unison - and they claim to have focused on getting PCM performance right. There are plenty of CMedia DACs and gizmos out there that measure and sound good, too.
- If you compare, say, its SPDIF output and its USB output into a DAC that supports both inputs and A/B, you do hear differences in soundstage and attack. This could be explained by the receiving DAC having separate clock strategies for each input. I could not run a similar test with a PiAES because the USB output and the hat’s SPDIF output have very different volumes and that makes listening hard. However, I will say having the unison output go into a DAC with unison input does sound different - whether it’s distortion one subjectively enjoys more or not is a different point. Changes are simple to hear: the attacks are precise but are slightly bloomier (gated reverb drums, harp plucks, or acoustic guitar is where you’ll notice it the most). With various amplifiers I consistently experienced differences in the soundstage width, which surprised me (Considering in the end I was not switching DACs). I think it would be fun to have a DAC that ”measures” the same with SPDIF and USB input and try it there. I don’t think the SPDIF output in this thing is crippled, sounds as fine to me as the PiAES SPDIF out. Those are objective things someone can measure and rule out.
- It is also a new toy. Comparing streaming input to CD is fun. And yes, some of us have decades-worth of CDs, and current mixes are different from what we got in the 80s/90s. And if you have “no idea” of what the fuzz is about with loudness and mix changes and unavailability of certain recordings, well, then you are probably not interested in a CD player anyway.
- I compared the CA CXC to this thing, both outputting SPDIF into the same DAC, I can’t hear a difference.

Value/Performance is a subjective thing. Go cheaper (CXC or a computer drive that reads at 40x and also does DVDs) or burn 4K or more on an MCT80. Whatever you enjoy your music (and/or your APx555) the most with is the right choice