Just to be clear, I wasn't referring to you when I mentioned preconceptions/biases. But yeah, you have the right idea - listen for yourself, with your music, your gear (if possible), and most importantly - your ears. That's by far the best way to know for sure.
Understood. I was just stating that I have to keep an open mind when deciding on either of these 2 amps. I won't be buying another such amp again. I do have a preference for a slightly warmer tone.
In 3 hours time, I'll make my way to A2A. To say that I'm excited is an understatement. A2A has all the gear there so I don't need to bring anything. They have a black Yggdrasil, black Violectric V281 and I'll make sure they hooked me up with a balanced HD800 and LCD2.2
Would love to hear your thoughts, I was contemplating pairing the V281 with Yggdrasil and my stock HD800. Unfortunately where I live I can't demo any equipment.
Would love to hear your thoughts, I was contemplating pairing the V281 with Yggdrasil and my stock HD800. Unfortunately where I live I can't demo any equipment.
Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for the write up.
That black Yggdrasil looks great, too bad their V281 was actually silver and thus didn't match. I normally prefer silver in general but the Schiit stuff looks killer in black.
I first heard V281 at a Sydney meet in 2016 with a T1 in balanced mode. It sounded warm and nice, unlike an ss amp. If I had no other choice I would buy it because I like what I heard.
However, recently I audition Yggdrasil with Ragnarok with HD800 at Addicted To Audio in Newton Sydney. That day I walk away with Yggy and HD800, making a mental note to myself that I will be back to buy the Rag. I definitely like / love what I heard in Yggy Rag and HD800. I wish there was a LCD3 around.
Thanks again Topspin. Wish you all the best in your eventual amp choice.
Ahh did you get the HD800 during their year end sales? They were going mad cheap at A$999. I actually placed an order for 2 units, but had to change my order to 1 HD800S instead since they were out of stock and the restocking delivery was delayed. As i'm no longer in Australia, I had to send them to my friend as he was returning for a visit so I had a short time frame. Wished I managed to get the HD800 though, get to save more cash to pump into other stuffs.
Ahh did you get the HD800 during their year end sales? They were going mad cheap at A$999. I actually placed an order for 2 units, but had to change my order to 1 HD800S instead since they were out of stock and the restocking delivery was delayed. As i'm no longer in Australia, I had to send them to my friend as he was returning for a visit so I had a short time frame. Wished I managed to get the HD800 though, get to save more cash to pump into other stuffs.
Unfortunately I paid $1284 for my HD800 and that was 3 weeks before the EOF year sale. I didn't know about the sale. However I did get further discount on both Yggy and HD800 as a package. Tom is superb to deal with.
Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for the write up.
That black Yggdrasil looks great, too bad their V281 was actually silver and thus didn't match. I normally prefer silver in general but the Schiit stuff looks killer in black.
I know. Things are not going well for me colour wise. My Yggy is silver but when I saw that black version, it is so striking. I want it.
Also they only have V281 in silver atm for their standard version. They have a version 2 in black but the price jumps to $3399. Version 1 is $2999 and standard is $2699. I think it's a different volume pot. Must be fancy ones.
However with sound that good, I don't care what colour they come in.
The relay-based volume pot upgrade makes a small difference. I could spot the increased transparency when I had one of each on hand for direct comparisons, but I don't normally recommend it based on the cost. It's only for those who demand the absolute best - on a conceptual level if nothing else - to the point where knowing they missed out on the slightest improvement would reduce their enjoyment.
The relay-based volume pot upgrade makes a small difference. I could spot the increased transparency when I had one of each on hand for direct comparisons, but I don't normally recommend it based on the cost. It's only for those who demand the absolute best - on a conceptual level if nothing else - to the point where knowing they missed out on the slightest improvement would reduce their enjoyment.
There's another, quite significant advantage to the motorized pot upgrade: it has 128 steps, approximately 3X the 43 steps of the standard pot. This allows more accurate, fine-tuning of volume, whether listening to headphones or speakers via line outputs.
Also, as a number of recent posts (mine among them) will attest, the rather extravagant gain of the V281, when set to unity gain, can be lowered using internal & external dip-switches for that purpose--in effecting, moving the effective range of volume control further up the dial. In my case, after dropping the V281's gain by 26 dB overall, the effective range went from ~7:30 - 9:00 o'clock on the dial (low volume to medium loud volume) up to ~9:00 - 12:00 o'clock on the dial, where I have approximately 1/4 of those 128 steps to work with now--in other words, about 75% of all the volume steps available on the entire stock, stepped pot.
I know. Things are not going well for me colour wise. My Yggy is silver but when I saw that black version, it is so striking. I want it.
Also they only have V281 in silver atm for their standard version. They have a version 2 in black but the price jumps to $3399. Version 1 is $2999 and standard is $2699. I think it's a different volume pot. Must be fancy ones.
However with sound that good, I don't care what colour they come in.
My silver one looks like a pimple in my rack. It also sits in a top shelf home Theater and reflections off the projection screen reflect off the silver surface causing distraction while viewing films.
I wonder if a black case can be shipped and the user can switch out the case. . I've even debated getting it painted. Best sounding DAC I've heard tho.
I wonder if a black case can be shipped and the user can switch out the case. . I've even debated getting it painted. Best sounding DAC I've heard tho.
I don't know if you can get it painted as well as what Schiit does. It's a very nice coarse black powder coating. Agree on the sound of Yggy.
Yggy sounds dynamic and lively, with details galore. I think it paired beautifully with v281, the latter controlling, taming the HD800 to brilliance. I do wish to hear a Audeze LCD2.2 or 3 on it or any planar magnetic or one of ZMF new range of dynamic headphones.
I don't profess to be much of an audio expert but I have the v850/v281 combo (in black) which I got from A2A (for those Aussies I see discuss in the thread above, A2A is expensive but the online service and shipping is excellent, never made it to a store) and I love the combo with my HD800S (balanced) or R70X (unbalanced). I have to say I didn't notice how much I liked them until I used some lesser kit recently and really noticed the difference. The main difference the v281 brings is the completely silent background and full bodied sound, you can hear the power (even with the Senns).
Very happy with my setup though I'd love to add a tube amp at some point just because I've never tried one.
I imagine the v850/v281 combo to be good in sound and looks. A2A is indeed more expensive but they do have sales regularly. Plus being able to audition gear before purchase is great. An in store experience is worth it. You can listen to any of the high end headphones there. The store price are the same as the online price. Plus if you are a repeat customer, they will discount those items even lower than the online price.
You are the opposite of me. I had several tube amps but now I want to get an ss amp to go along with it.
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I was just stating that I have to keep an open mind when deciding on either of these 2 amps. I won't be buying another such amp again. 
A2A has all the gear there so I don't need to bring anything. They have a black Yggdrasil, black Violectric V281 and I'll make sure they hooked me up with a balanced HD800 and LCD2.2
