It’s a not-untypical tale. Two veteran engineers, Jason Stoddard, who had extensive experience in product design, development, manufacturing, and marketing,1 and Mike Moffat, who had an impressive track record designing hi-fi products,2 got together in June 2010 to start an audio company. What wasn’t typical was the new company’s brand name: Schiit Audio. What also wasn’t typical was the company’s business strategy. Instead of introducing a small number of very expensive products, an approach that’s increasingly common in hi-fi,3 Schiit products would be affordably priced. What’s more, affordability would not be due to subcontracting manufacturing to a Chinese company: Schiit products would be made in America. Schiit products would not be available from traditional audio dealers; instead they would be sold direct, with a 15-day money-back guarantee after purchase. (Schiit recently opened a retail store, the Schiitr; see the Specifications sidebar.)
has reviewed several Schiit products since the company appeared on the scene. Some have been idiosyncratic, but all have been well-reviewed and offered generally excellent measured performance. One such was the Aegir two-channel power amplifier, which Herb Reichert reviewed in October 2019. According to the specifications, it offers up to 20Wpc into 8 ohms—I measured the maximum power as 28Wpc into 8 ohms—and cost just $799. The Aegir’s output stage features a constant-transconductance topology called “Continuity,” which was based on a concept developed by Robert Cordell and John Broskie. According to Jason Stoddard in an email he sent Herb Reichert, “Continuity is
