Another dongle? Yep, but this time it’s done in typical Schiit fashion with Vestri billed as the only Mesh™ Portable.
Mesh refers to Schiit’s proprietary digital filter here implemented in their proprietary 32-bit Unison USB microprocessor combined with an ESS ES9018 Sabre D to A processor.
The Vestri can handle balanced or single-ended headphones with its 4.4mm and 1/8″ jacks housed in a milled aluminum chassis with a touch glass top that has LEDs embedded below the glass to illuminate volume level, Phase Invert, NOS Mode, and Loudness. Vestri draws its power from the attached USB-C device (phone, tablet, computer).
Why LEDs in glass?
“No screens,” Jason [Stoddard] said. “Screens burn in and are a wear item. We want to design for the next generation, not the next sale.”
Size wise, the Vestri measures a mere 2.4 x 1.4 x 0.44” and as the “Specs That Matter” tell us, it gets slightly warm (don’t be a baby, it only draws 1W, seriously) while pumping out 400mW RMS (32 ohms) via its balanced output.
The new $99 Schiit Audio Vestri made its debut yesterday at CanJam Singapore and is available for pre-order directly from Schiit with units shipping out beginning May 28, 2006.
Press Release:
Vestri? I Hardly Knew Ye!
Introducing Vestri, the only Mesh™ Portable
May 15, 2026, Corpus Christi, TX. Today, Schiit Audio debuted Vestri at CanJam Singapore, and opened pre-orders for shipments beginning on May 28. Vestri provides balanced and single-ended headphone outputs, touch controls, and conveniences like our exclusive Loudness contour. Featuring Schiit’s exclusive Unison USB™ receiver and unique Mesh™ D/A conversion with time- and frequency-domain optimized digital filter, Vestri offers sonic performance far above its peers.
“I joke when I say ‘Vestri is the only dongle that matters,’” said Jason Stoddard, Schiit’s Co-Founder. “Which is beyond cheeky, but in a field of 10,000 lookalike products all using the same off-the-shelf technology, it has a grain of truth.”
In addition to Schiit’s exclusive Mesh and Unison USB digital technology, Vestri also includes a unique balanced- or single-ended output stage, with 4.4mm balanced and 1/8” single-ended headphone jack. With up to 400mW available through the balanced output, Vestri drives virtually all headphones to their peak of performance.
Vestri is a fully modern design, with a seamless milled aluminum chassis and glass front, with touch controls and no moving parts. However, unlike other portables, Vestri doesn’t use an OLED screen.
“No screens,” Jason said. “Screens burn in and are a wear item. We want to design for the next generation, not the next sale.”
Instead, Vestri uses individual lighting LEDs embedded below the glass, run so conservatively that they will almost literally last forever.
“It’s the ‘eternal screen’,” Jason joked. “If you don’t drop it in the sand or in your coffee, Vestri should last far past its warranty.”
Vestri offers an industry-leading 2-year warranty.
Unison USB ensures that Vestri simply plugs in and works seamlessly with modern phones, tablets, and even computers and streamers. Controls include volume, Loudness, invert, and NOS modes, all accessible via touch.
Also unlike most portables, Vestri is made in the USA on Schiit Audio’s own SMD assembly line in Corpus Christi.
“We’ve been making products in the USA since we started in a garage 16 years ago,” said Jason Stoddard. “No need to change anything for Vestri.”
Vestri is available now at schiit.com for $99.
About Schiit Audio
Since its founding in 2010, Schiit has grown to be the leader in affordable high-end audio, with a broad portfolio of unique analog and digital technologies spanning a wide range of products, from DACs and preamps to power and headphone amps, from $49 to $3499.
Schiit’s unique digital technologies include Forkbeard™, the unified control, visualization, and optimization platform; Singular™, Multiform™, True Multibit™, and Mesh™ DACs, using proprietary digital filters based on closed-form math, Unison USB™, a purpose-built UAC2 audio interface based on 32-bit Microchip microprocessors, and Autonomy Architecture™, a modular, upgradable platform to help customers preserve the value of their DAC investment.
Schiit’s unique analog architectures include the Nexus™ discrete differential topology, Continuity™ transconductance-equalizing output stages, Coherence™ DC-coupled hybrid topology, Halo™ mixed-mode motion feedback, and a focus on proprietary, low- or no-feedback, fully discrete, highly linear gain and power stages.
Schiit designs and produces its products in the USA, including on our own dedicated SMD assembly line in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Company Website: Schiit Audio
SPECS THAT MATTER
Power: plenty for most headphones except a handful of the hardest-to-drive ones
Noise: inaudible on all headphones and IEMs
Distortion: unmeasurable at normal listening levels; 1000x lower than the typical headphones you’re using
Heat: gets slightly warm (don’t be a baby, it only draws 1W, seriously)
Size: extremely desk-friendly
OTHER SPECS
Frequency Response: 20Hz-20Khz, +/-0.05db
Balanced 4.4mm Output
• Maximum Power, 32 ohms: 400mW RMS
• Maximum Power, 50 ohms: 320mW RMS
• Maximum Power, 300 ohms: 120mW RMS
SE 1/8” Output
• Maximum Power, 32 ohms: 200mW RMS
• Maximum Power, 50 ohms: 150mW RMS
• Maximum Power, 300 ohms: 40mW RMS
Either Output
THD: <0.0002%, 20Hz-20KHz, at 3V RMS SE, 6V RMS balanced
IMD: <0.0003%, CCIR
SNR: >118db, A-weighted, referenced to 2V RMS
Crosstalk: >-80dB, 20Hz-20KHz
Output Impedance: less than 0.5 ohms
USB Receiver: Schiit Unison USB™
D/A Conversion: Schiit Mesh™, a unique combination of our time- and frequency-domain optimized digital filter and a standard delta-sigma modulator, in this case an ES9018
Sample Rates and Bit Depths: 16/44.1 to 32/192
Outputs:
• 4.4mm balanced output
• 1/8” single-ended output
Analog and output Stage: TI OPA1656 x 2
Power Supply: USB powered, with +/- 5V rails via high-current dual-polarity switching regulator, with inductor filtering and local regulation
Controls: volume, NOS, invert, and Loudness, all accessible via capacitive touch buttons under glass
Power Consumption: 0.9W typical
Size: 2.4 x 1.4 x 0.44”
Weight: 4 oz