Schiit Fulla 2 Released

As an update to my problems. I tested my Fulla 2 on my GF's Galaxy S7 and while it worked as a USB Audio device, it was garbled - it was as if the songs were playing at the right speed, but through one of those voice disguisers that changes the pitch. Just to verify that the cables were not the problem, I tested my Bifrost 4490 on both my Note 4 and the S7. It worked perfectly on both phones. Schiit has agreed to send me a new one in exchange. Tech and customer service has been very responsive. Very nice to get this kind of support for a $99 device.

 

Yes, the USB power going into it is 5V DC, and the Fulla 2 will draw a max of 500mA, as I recall. It doesn't take power directly from the mains.

 

Tested with all my current headphones yesterday and definitely happy with purchase. Great Price to Performance...
Comparing with Dragonfly Red, definitely has more power. I can hardly go beyond 11 o'clock on this one when I usually go 50-60% on Dragonfly Red (DFR). DFR sounds smoother and more polite comparing with Fulla2. Fulla2 has more versatility for sure.
The great match was Fulla2 with DT1350 for me.

One big downside with Fulla 2 is signal noise it generate when mobile phone is near on my desk... It is very noticeable and not sure why.
I have not had this with other portable integrated dac/amp..

 

My old Fiio E10 did this.

 

Good to know. Do you know what cause this and is there any way to avoid this signal noise other than moving phone away from the desk?

 

Sounds like shielding issues. The cheap and ugly way is to wrap it in aluminium foil (not kidding).

 

How would this help shield a device that is already in an aluminum enclosure?

 

The Fulla 2 is steel I think (never the less it should provide shielding), that's true... I'd guess the USB cable is already shielded, but worth mentioning too.

 

Hmm. I have not thought about cable. I use my own short USB cable, not the stock one. I might try stock cable to see if it helps.

 

If it doesn't, try checking your headphone and any other signal cables going in/out of it too.

 

I suppose that might make the difference. Admittedly, I never tried anything to remedy the E10; it was bad enough in general that I just moved on to something else instead.

 

This happens when your phone is on 3G/EDGE if I remember correctly. I'm not sure there is much shielding you can do, but move it away from the Fulla 2 or get better reception?

 

I'm in Australia right now with one. I can confirm that it works perfectly fine. Your phone charger/wall wart/laptop will provide the required voltage.

 

Have you been required to flip the unit upside down?

 

It is most likely one of the cables picking up noise from your phone. Put your phone in airplane mode and see if the noise goes away.

 

Yes. It was one of the cables that caused major noise and once I replaced, it is now much less.

Thank you very much for suggestion, guys...

 

Yeah, it's a nice plan- but one of my replacement units is so sloppily made that if you get the plug in there, it just destroys the lead when unplugging- it "degloves" the micro-USB connector neatly. It has been rather expensive to see if there's a way around this simply by wiggling. There isn't. It has destroyed several USB cables so far. It tends to require a pair of pliers to remove the plug.



Given that these are replacement units, it's a bit of a shame. I'm used to better quality from @schiit - even if this is a cheaper line.

 

That's one tight socket. If you don't mind me asking though, why not leave the cable captive, rather than plugging it in and out.

 

Yeah, that will work really well when you need to throw the unit in a bag. It won't snap the plug off in transit at all.

 

Ok, I got a spectacularly unhelpful reply from Schiit customer support:

"The port hole is designed to be used with standard sized micro USB cables, and is supposed to be tight to self-protect the port against damaged from prolonged cable wiggle. Exchanging the Fulla 2 would not change the size of the port. This cable looks to be particularly large, and potentially out of spec with a standard micro USB cable. "

This is apparently ignoring the fact that one unit set works fine, and the other destroys any microUSB cable plugged into it*. Sigh. Paging @schiit - Jason, you have a manufacturing tolerances issue here, and your customer service people don't seem to get it. You might prefer to jump on it early before it causes hysteria on Head-Fi. I've owned Schiitloads of your products, and never had so many problems with faults before.



* The one destroyed leaving a connector, in the picture, isn't even shown- so claiming a cable that you've never seen is "out of spec" is interesting. It has destroyed three different brands of cable so far.