Forkbeard is Schiit’s patent-pending, multi-product, multi-stack control system that uses an app for complete control and system health visibility. Announced and launched at the end of 2024, with a series of Forkbeard-enabled products, Forkbeard modules, and the Forkbeard iOS app, the initiative provided Schiit Audio with a complete platform for unified control of multiple products in multiple systems.
If Schiit Audio always had a unique way to approach the design of its products, the new platform project it to a whole new level, with the possibility to control instant power output and system health metrics, and implement advanced inter-product features for better understanding and optimization of an audio system.
“Forkbeard allows us to answer questions that challenge all audio manufacturers,” says Jason Stoddard, Schiit Audio’s co-founder. “Questions like 'is this amp enough for my speakers,' and 'how far can I turn up the volume?' It sounds simple, but really, those are two top questions that are surprisingly difficult to answer. Forkbeard correlates the actual gain of the system, the operating conditions of the amplifier, and the instant power output to provide real answers in real time."
Stoddard refers to Visual Volume, a unique feature that is enabled when a customer creates a system with a Forkbeard-enabled DAC, preamp, and amp. This shows "caution" and "clipping" ranges on the volume control at all times, and dynamically updates based on the system mode and amplifier.
However, even if used on a single product, Forkbeard allows total control of all products in all stacks, including volume, input select, output mode, gain, standby mode switching, feedback switching, mute, and more. Forkbeard also provides system health information, including temperature, current, triggered protection, tube heater integrity, and more.
Forkbeard is completely modular and optional. All Forkbeard-enabled products use a single standard external Bluetooth module that plugs into a unique, keyed slot on the back of the product. Products can be ordered without the module, saving $50, or the module can be added later for $50.
Users just need to install an app and add nearby Schiit products to one or more “stacks.” No pairing, no account creation is necessary. All products are displayed in logical order, with most-used controls appearing prominently in a dynamically reconfigurable interface. It easily accommodates a “main listening system,” a “desk system,” and a “bedroom system.”
Forkbeard launched for iOS in November 2024, supporting both iPhones and iPads. An Android version is planned for the future.
The Red Schiit Thing
Already available on 8 Schiit products, Forkbeard is now available on two phono preamps. Skoll F, a high-performance, flexible, least expensive balanced phono preamp, now with Forkbeard. And Stjarna, a “cost-no-object” (for Schiit standards) tube phono preamp, coupled with dead-quiet power supplies, and Forkbeard remote control app integration that nobody in the tube era could have imagined.
"Stjarna is our ultra-high-end all-tube phono preamp," explains Jason Stoddard. "It's 100% pure Class A triode gain, no step-up transformer, no JFET pre-preamp, no hidden sand. And with up to 60dB of gain, Stjarna can handle both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges with ease."
“Stjarna's design includes discrete high voltage regulation, regulated tube heaters, full dual mono construction back to the AC socket, and a host of precision relay-switched loading, gain, and input options. The RIAA stage is fully passive and uses exotic 1% film capacitors and 0.1% resistors for exceptional accuracy.
“In addition, Stjarna includes full IR remote control for all functions, including a standby mode that puts the tubes into complete shutdown - no anode voltage, no tube heater - to save power and conserve tube life when not in use,” Stoddard describes.
"Skoll F is Skoll... with Forkbeard," Jason adds. "We took Skoll, which already had microprocessor control and a remote, and gave you the option of adding Forkbeard for system-wide integrated control.”
“Skoll F is a highly capable, fully balanced, fully discrete, JFET-input, Class A, no-feedback, high-rail-voltage phono preamp that offers even higher performance and more gain than Stjarna. With a low noise floor and up to 70dB of gain, and the ability to accept balanced inputs, Skoll offers the highest price/performance ratio in phono preamps,” Stoddard concludes.
Stjarna and Skoll F extend Schiit's unique Forkbeard system to 10 products, taking the company that always intended to be “the leader in affordable high-end audio,” to a new era of unique analog and digital technologies that now include Forkbeard, the unified control, visualization, and optimization platform. And Schiit continues to design and produce its products in the USA.
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