[LeMat]

So overall, how does the Auralic Taurus MK.II, and the Schiit Ragnarok compare head to head when driving various headphones such as the:
HD650, HD800/800S, Hifiman HE-6, HE1000 mk2, etc?
They both can be had for nearly the same price.

Being in the same boat, i.e. looking on what's next after the Taurus, I've looked into this comparison and found out the Rag was not a real set up. While being a real swiss knife, its sound is supposed to be more edgy and harsh than the taurus but a bit more resolving. Not a true upgrade.
I've explored all options I could find, and in my case, I wanted to keep the balanced output that I use with active monitors. Result....nothing. TOTL tube amp are mostly SE, sometimes balanced (WA22) but couldn't find any with a balanced output. 
Some model like the Moon seem interesting but I have no interest in an integrated DAC. Not worth its price without the DAC IMO.
As a TOTL tube amp, DNA,  Lampizator or the yet to be released new cavalli seem to be good options but their features remain basics and are pretty pricey, 
Wait for Taurus 3?
Bottom line, it seems there is no TOTL tube amp (or more analog sounding SS amp) with the same feature available on the Taurus. 
 
CoLdAsSauLt let us know how the status will compare with your Taurus

 

[daltonlanny]

I have a Auralic Taurus MK II coming next week that I bought off Ebay.
I have another question that may or may not have been discussed in this thread or other ones:
Besides the Schiit Ragnarok, has anyone owned both, or compared the Auralic Taurus mk.II with the Audio gd Master 9?
If so, how do they compare sonically, and what are the sonic advantages and disadvantages in comparison to one another?
Which headphones does each of these amps match best with in comparison to one another?
Thanks again.

 

[MannerPylon]

Haha are you the one that bought the Taurus that was posted on ebay? I'm looking to sell my Taurus right now as I have way too many amps.
 
Too bad I didn't know you were looking as I would've beaten that price for sure.

 

[daltonlanny]

Yep, I wish I would have known you had one for sale.

 

[daltonlanny]

HIFIMAN HE-6 OUTPUT ISSUE:
I do have an important question for people who own, or have owned both the Auralic Taurus or Taurus Mark II, and the Hifiman HE-6 headphones, or people who have tried driving the Hifiman HE-6 with the Auralic.
First, let me explain:
My sources are mainly Marantz CD players with Single-ended outputs, putting out about 2.2 volts.
I have also tried an Oppo BDP-95 disc player using the Single-ended and balanced outputs on the player.
I bought a used Auralic Taurus Mark II off ebay last week.
It drives my Sennheiser HD800 with SDR mod very well and actually makes the HD800 sound great.
On the other hand, it doesn't drive my HE-6 very well at all.
I was somewhat disappointed considering all the reviews stating how well the Auralic Taurus Mark II would drive them.
Using the balanced output, the sound goes fairly loud with the volume knob turned almost all the way up, but the amp sounds like its clipping and/or distorting at times.
With the Single-ended output, the sound never gets really satisfying cause it simply doesn't get loud enough, even with the volume knob maxed out. Fortunately, it doesn't clip and/or distort through the Single-ended output, but the volume is almost inadequate to be satisfying.
I figured the single-ended output should be louder than the balanced output, since the amp is rated to put out considerably more power at 32 to 50 ohms into the single-ended output vs the balanced output?
Is the above scenario I described normal, when driving the Hifiman HE-6, or do you think there may be some kind of issue with my used Auralic Taurus Mark II amp?
Anyone else had similar results?
Should I send the amp in to Auralic and have it checked out?
My single-ended Beta 22 has lots more output driving the HE-6 than the Auralic, which kinda surprises me.
Any help or answers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[phaeton70]

I have an HE6 and a Taurus MKII driven by a Vega.
 
I never had any issue with clipping/distorsion, both with std and bal.
 
with HE6  and std, with half pot the volume for me is just too high, but it will depend on how loud you like to listen and the tipical rms of your recording (I listen tipically to acustic jazz and the rms is somewhat low). 
 
IIRC the max output of Taurus is reached with 4V input, both RCA and XLR . maybe that's your problem.

 

[daltonlanny]

The unit must have an issue then.
Its not being underdriven nor over driven by the sources.

 

[ruffra]

Just got a pair of Mr Speaker Either Flows which are a low impedance Planar  type but probably not as power hungry as the HE-6.
No problem driving them in fact they are quite a magical combination better than the HE 6 combination I heard a little while ago at a show.. Also  the Auralic is easy to drive the low impedance Grado Ps1000 Balanced.  Both Phones can display a hiss when no signal though think the output impedance in balanced mode might be a tad high on the output.

 

[damier]

Hey Guys,
 
Just wondering if anyone has had any issues with their Taurus MKII? I've had mine coming on three months (basically powered on 24/7) - and sometimes the audio will be all static-y (resolved by power-cycle) - and more recently the sound drops in and out when in balanced mode (sometimes the AMP will click at the same time).
I've done a lot of troubleshooting, with exception of using different balanced cans/headphone cables.
 
Haven't experienced any issues with sound when switching to Standard mode (which I never use). Switching from Balanced and back, or power-cycling normally resolves issue for an uncertain period of time too.
 
Reference cans are HD800, DAC is Schiit Gumby - I've ruled out the DAC out since it happened prior to the addition of Gumby. Have added an online UPS to the stack recently too and a USB regen from Uptone Audio

 

[ubs28]

Never experience that before myself.

 

[Triode User]

Anyone else trying the Aries firmware beta upgrade that enables MQA unfolding?

 

[thomascrown]

Hey Guys,

Just wondering if anyone has had any issues with their Taurus MKII? I've had mine coming on three months (basically powered on 24/7) - and sometimes the audio will be all static-y (resolved by power-cycle) - and more recently the sound drops in and out when in balanced mode (sometimes the AMP will click at the same time).
I've done a lot of troubleshooting, with exception of using different balanced cans/headphone cables.

Haven't experienced any issues with sound when switching to Standard mode (which I never use). Switching from Balanced and back, or power-cycling normally resolves issue for an uncertain period of time too.

Reference cans are HD800, DAC is Schiit Gumby - I've ruled out the DAC out since it happened prior to the addition of Gumby. Have added an online UPS to the stack recently too and a USB regen from Uptone Audio

Yes same problem, apparently it's an issue with the gumby xlr output

 

[damier]

Yes same problem, apparently it's an issue with the gumby xlr output, too hot for the Taurus. I tried some better quality cables and it almost solved the issue, but it still rarely occurs. With the nad it never happened. Anyway never had a drop but I mostly use the coax and some usb

@thomascrown - thanks for the response. Do you mind sharing where you sourced that information?
 
I unfortunately think my issue differs somewhat. It has actually been particularly bad today (used to be very infrequent) and I have gone as far as isolating the AMP to have no input. The AMP-click, headphone-pop still occurs even then. It's worse in that it is happening not far from cold now too. But... only in Balanced mode. The clicking and popping doesn't appear to occur in Standard mode, even through the XLR headphone output.
 
I'm thinking there might be something wrong with whatever extra logic the MKII recruits in Balanced mode.

 

[thomascrown]

 
@thomascrown - thanks for the response. Do you mind sharing where you sourced that information?
 
I unfortunately think my issue differs somewhat. It has actually been particularly bad today (used to be very infrequent) and I have gone as far as isolating the AMP to have no input. The AMP-click, headphone-pop still occurs even then. It's worse in that it is happening not far from cold now too. But... only in Balanced mode. The clicking and popping doesn't appear to occur in Standard mode, even through the XLR headphone output.
 
I'm thinking there might be something wrong with whatever extra logic the MKII recruits in Balanced mode.

Please ignore what I wrote, that was my evil twin, this is the actual explanation from schiit tech:
 
"The other odd thing is that the RCA outputs are summed from the balanced output so if there is no distortion there the only option is that the XLR input on the Taurus is overloading the XLR output of the Gungnir."
 
and more:
 
"It’s possible a low enough input impedance could cause the output circuit to clip (similar to how a speaker amp clips but at much lower power levels) a well designed circuit can tolerate this without damage (our line outputs do tolerate being shorted to ground).Bad cables could also explain the issue."
 
So it's an impedance issue, not a voltage one.
 
So the solution suggested by schiit was to add a buffer to see if this could fix the problem (like a preamp), I changed cables (nothing too expensive, just 20$ each from a local pro audio equipment store) but the issue is still there, not as often as before.

 

[damier]

@thomascrown - thanks for the correction man - that certainly makes sense logically.
 
My issue started to present itself before I got my Gumby - and while it is possible the same issue was happening to my previous DAC, it doesn't explain the issue still being present when nothing is connected to the Taurus. So to clarify, the issue is still there when nothing is connected to the MKII (ie. only power input).
 
It has gotten much worse now, to a point where I can't even use Balanced. Looks like it's defective, which is a shame.
 
Please note also, there still doesn't appear to be any issue in Standard mode. I can use it normally as long as it is not in Balanced.
 
A question for you: have you reached out to Auralic support for your issue at all? You mention that you don't use Balanced mode - which I used exclusively and is the only mode I have issues with... it is possible you might have the same issue as me, but it's not as bad due to lack of utilisation of Balanced. May be better to get some advice if warranty still applies.
 
My serial is 28XX - so if it is close it could be from the same batch? I'm seeking advice from Auralic now, and will reach out to the reseller next week with regard to an RMA.