Cavalli Liquid Fire and Schiit Lyr

Two different beasts altogether, in the Lyr's case a feral cat compared to the roaring tiger that is the LF.  I have heard the lyr and its folly to compare it to the EHHA or B22 let alone the LF which is far ahead of both those two amps.

I'd leave it to someone else with more expertise to comment on the technical side of things, but they are quite different.  I was impressed by what the Lyr was at its price-point. I think it punches well in the "under 1k" bracket, but is just not in the same league as some of the more "performance" amps.  Specifically, while the Lyr has a ton of bass presence, it's not as tight and controlled as the LF or any other amp I've heard in that price range.  It's just not as clean and defined across the board, IMO.  This is from listening impressions either at a meet or late at night after a meet with my LCD-2's.  YMMV.

Quote:

Originally Posted by USAudio 

Was the LF designed with the LCD-2 in particular in mind?

 

No amps were designed for LCD 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachu 

Two different beasts altogether, in the Lyr's case a feral cat compared to the roaring tiger that is the LF.  I have heard the lyr and its folly to compare it to the EHHA or B22 let alone the LF which is far ahead of both those two amps.

I find it's tough to believe this. Better than B22? Would be interested in trying the LF some time in the future.

EHHA, B22 are on the same playing field in my book. Choose which you want based on your personal preference. some have chosen the EHHA over the B22 and others the other way round.

For what it costs, the LF should sound like heaven because one can get a balanced B22, GS-X or Zana Deux for less than that.

Any idea on the PSU? Is it in the same chassis with the amp or in separate chassis? Also, what's the attenuator used?

I am yet to find an instance where balanced headphone amp helps especially for dynamic and orthos. but lets leave that out of this thread.

I believe everything is going to be in one chassis. My information is from whatever is available on the website.

As for sonic abilities..i think one needs to hear it before making any conclusions, I am thankful to Alex for letting me have the prototype for a couple of weeks to try it out.

Its well worth the price and then some if you ask me. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachu 

Two different beasts altogether, in the Lyr's case a feral cat compared to the roaring tiger that is the LF.  I have heard the lyr and its folly to compare it to the EHHA or B22 let alone the LF which is far ahead of both those two amps.

Can you please qualitatively and quantitatively provide us with a description of what "far ahead" means please?

Far ahead in price yes, and unless you provide further information, far ahead in defensive rhetoric as well...

lacking prat, resolution. Good bottom end weight but lacking definition. Midrange is alright compared to the EHHA or the B22. The LF is even better here.

Restricted soundstaging.

Overall the amps listed above are just that much better. But frack..don't need to go all on the defensive just cause i didn't say your schitty amp is equal to something like the EHHA or the B22 let alone the LF.

How does an amp have prat?  It's not a turntable...

sachu, care to elaborate on how the LF is ahead of the EHHA/B22? 

Even as i type this, I am listening to the prototype that was on display at Canjam 2010. To put it simply, the LF makes the other two veiled in comparison.

Coming to straight comparisons , detail retrieval is brilliant but yet more engaging, especially so in the midrange. The bottom end of the frequency spectrum its by a fair margin the best that i have heard. The LF is truer to the recording (as in does what an amplifier is meant to do) without embellishing any particular frequency range. The soundstage and imaging too the LF is ahead.

The only place where the LF falls short is the total engagement level, the stacker 2 still rules the roost there. Nothing I have heard thus far is quite as (apologies for the lack of a better word) "organic" sounding as the Stacker 2. 

Oh and  the LF looks wicked nice with the lights turned way down low :)