30% extra is a lot… Makes Schiit a lot less competitive price/performance compared to brands that DO hold stock here (SMSL, Topping)
USA/UK/EU brands v’s ChiFi what do you won’t me to say…ChiFi’s cheaper than those 
then yes…but better built, sound better, last longer, better QC, better warranties well that’s something only you can decide on.
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Not what it’s about mate. If it was an EU brand there wouldn’t be any duties for us to pay. If Shiit just sold directly in Europe, there wouldn’t be any problem. My point wasn’t that Chinese is better or US is better. My point is if a $300 shiit and $300 brand x are competitive in performance, the Shiit loses out in europe because suddenly it’s €400 vs €300…
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Maybe, but not QC or warranties in my experience…you pays your money you takes your chance.
Brand X in this example was not chinese! It was ANYTHING sold in Europe. Are you telling me Shiit is so amazing NOBODY can compete with them on QC and warranty? Well damn
No i’m not saying that, but getting any problems sorted under warranty is gonna be a whole lot easier with an established brand like Schitt and iFi than a Chinese one, you only have to look through some of the threads on here regarding both customer service and ChiFi QC issues…No ones perfect, all i’m saying if “Schitt” goes wrong it’ll be easier to sort that Schitt with Schitt than have a Topping denial for example.
And that’s where Europe comes in clutch. There’s a lot of very strict warranty laws in Europe, so brands selling directly in Europe (like topping) have to obide by them. But if I buy a shiit in the US and ship it here, they don’t have to.
Yes. the chinese don’t give a shit about these laws (pun intended) so in order to still sell in Europe without much trouble they often just replace your stuff rather than repair it, which is fine by me 
So no. When you buy through an official European channel you are always safer than when you import yourself, from China or the US.
Once again, not my point though. My point is Shiit makes themselves less competitive by being out of stock 364/365 days a year in their European store. And if you deny that you’re just a fanboy. they design their stuff to fit a certain price, when you pull that price up by 30% it’s no longer competitve.
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You obviously didn’t read my link above (linked again)…
PS I don’t own one Schiit item i’m a UK iFi fan boy 
Another valuable upshot of a local (in my case European) channel is hassle-free returns. I am learning the hard way that in audio, as well as in menswear and shoes, the ability to try out is simply essential. As I complained in another thread, I am not completely happy with the way Cavalli LCX from Drop performs with my Verums. Honestly, if it were a purchase from a European store, I would return it and look for another option, but since it was ordered from the US, I am stuck with it.
Americans don’t understand that “Made in America” isn’t a golden ticket everywhere. For some people how stuff sounds matters too… but hey. I guess i’m wrong because I’m not American
I think iFi is a fairly good option for Europeans who don’t want to go Topping after recent events. Over here in the Netherlands a Zen Can will set you back €159, which is €24 more than a magni but hey, at least you can buy it. I was lucky (and mostly patient) enough to wait for the Liquid Spark to be available in the European Monoprice store. The advantage of the LS is that it was actually €105, so little to no extra duties and stuff. The disadvantage is that it has been available twice in the past year as far as I’ve seen…
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Ill second that. I truly believe with Schiit units stock in Europe, they would have much more presence on this market. Trying stuff aside - in case of any malfunction, to deal with customs for US repair/replacement is much more painful than covering shipping cost. And just yesterday Ive seen a thread here about Asgard dying on day 1…
I`d be planning my future desk setup in very different way if I could get Schiit products from EU dealer, even if they would include upfront all duties/VAT/service fees etc in their price.
Which events are those?
Didn’t a few DX3’s blow up some headphones and or speakers?
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The L30 blowing themselves and taking headphones with them. I’m not saying I’m going to, or anyone should, write them off from now on. But for some people it may be a definite deal-breaker depending how they handle it. There’s a dedicated post on the forum about it.
I feel like being between a rock and a hard place.
The Lake People g103 seems to be a great amp but the lack of the preout and the complicated gain control is not ideal.
The Asgard seems great but it costs about 350 usd by the time it gets here and i dont know if its worth that mutch.
The Atom seems to be out of stock in europe as well and importing makes it 200 usd.
And lastly the Zen Can it is available but i just dont like how it looks that should not matter mutch but i dont really want something i am not happy to look at.
I see… We have a dealer here in Greece but he sells them quite more expensive.
For reference, i am interested in Bifrost 2 and right now sells for 880 euros…
I had mine open out of curiosity. Honestly, no need to ever fiddle with the gain jumpers.
Concerning pre-amp functionality, you could get a Mackie BigKnob Passive and two RCA-to-TS splitters like these:
Then you just set up like so:
I’m pretty darn happy with the Motu M2. Sounds great and you get good build quality + seperate knobs for speakers/headphone (which to me was very important). If you don’t plan on amping power hungry beasts like fostex T50RP, it’s enough to power most headphones. USB-C, no additional power required, a nice input/output visualization. And of course all the jazz that interfaces come with, which is nice for homeoffice things. Also runs efficient IEMs like a charm. For 200€…
You could also connect an additional amp if you need the power for planars or whatever.
My HD558 has similar specs compared to your HD599
and my volume knob is usually under or max at 12 o’Clock.
I was in a smiliar situation, looking at schiit products, checking those cheap Fiio things and whatnot under 300€. What put me off most of the time was, no seperate control over line out. Alot of the budget DAC/amps won’t mute the speakers when u plug headphones in and then u have one volume knob uhh.