Lyr 3 - The new Coherence™ and Continuity™ hybrid amplifier from Schiit - Impression & discussion thread

[aldinho878]

how is the multibit dac in the lyr 3 multibit compared to something like a mojo/Hugo/hugo2 or any of the IFi dac/amps? Do you feel that that the multibit dac limits the Lyr 3 performance or is it a solid dac overall?

 

[tafens]

how is the multibit dac in the lyr 3 multibit compared to something like a mojo/Hugo/hugo2 or any of the IFi dac/amps? Do you feel that that the multibit dac limits the Lyr 3 performance or is it a solid dac overall?

I don’t know about the DACs you mention, but the Bifrost2 improves on the multibit card considerably, however, it is also considerably more expensive. That doesn’t mean that the card isn’t a solid dac for what it is and what it costs, of course.

 

[asiegel]

Hi everyone, just a warning to anyone considering purchasing a Psvane 6SN7-SE for the Lyr3. I acquired one recently and immediately noticed an extremely loud hum, even at only 1/2 volume - to the point where the amp was unlistenable. I have not had this issue with any of my half dozen other NOS and new production tubes.

I contacted Vivatubes and they informed me that "Psvane 6SN7-SE tubes do not play nice with Schiit gear (any model, it seems)" and "we never recommend them" to Schiit owners. Thankfully, Vivatubes immediately processed an RMA and sent me a return label.

I am extremely disappointed in Psvane. If they are going to manufacture tubes that are fundamentally incompatible with one of the most popular hybrid amps on the market, then they need to make that very clear in their product descriptions (i.e. prominently publish a list of compatible gear). I will be avoiding Psvane products in the future.

But, I am very impressed with the service from Vivatubes. They responded promptly with a painless return process, and I can highly recommend them.

 

[dilbertprogrammer]

Hi everyone, just a warning to anyone considering purchasing a Psvane 6SN7-SE for the Lyr3. I acquired one recently and immediately noticed an extremely loud hum, even at only 1/2 volume - to the point where the amp was unlistenable. I have not had this issue with any of my half dozen other NOS and new production tubes.

I contacted Vivatubes and they informed me that "Psvane 6SN7-SE tubes do not play nice with Schiit gear (any model, it seems)" and "we never recommend them" to Schiit owners. Thankfully, Vivatubes immediately processed an RMA and sent me a return label.

I am extremely disappointed in Psvane. If they are going to manufacture tubes that are fundamentally incompatible with one of the most popular hybrid amps on the market, then they need to make that very clear in their product descriptions (i.e. prominently publish a list of compatible gear). I will be avoiding Psvane products in the future.

But, I am very impressed with the service from Vivatubes. They responded promptly with a painless return process, and I can highly recommend them.

Sorry to hear about your experience! I also ordered the Psvane 6SN7-SE for my Lyr 3 from VivaTubes and I have not had any issues with it.

I also have the Psvane CV181-T (black glass) and it does great in my Lyr 3 also.

 

[asiegel]

Sorry to hear about your experience! I also ordered the Psvane 6SN7-SE for my Lyr 3 from VivaTubes and I have not had any issues with it.

I also have the Psvane CV181-T (black glass) and it does great in my Lyr 3 also.

Interesting. When did you order it? I've heard from others who had ok experiences with Psvane tubes as well, and I'm wondering if something's changed recently... maybe older Psvane tubes are fine, but something is up with their more recent production?

 

[dilbertprogrammer]

Interesting. When did you order it? I've heard from others who had ok experiences with Psvane tubes as well, and I'm wondering if something's changed recently... maybe older Psvane tubes are fine, but something is up with their more recent production?

My "New Gain Tested Psvane 6SN7-SE Tennis Ball Vacuum Tube" from Viva Tubes was ordered on 01/30/22. It shipped on 01/31/22 and arrived 02/04/22.

 

[JS27]

Hi everyone, just a warning to anyone considering purchasing a Psvane 6SN7-SE for the Lyr3. I acquired one recently and immediately noticed an extremely loud hum, even at only 1/2 volume - to the point where the amp was unlistenable. I have not had this issue with any of my half dozen other NOS and new production tubes.

I contacted Vivatubes and they informed me that "Psvane 6SN7-SE tubes do not play nice with Schiit gear (any model, it seems)" and "we never recommend them" to Schiit owners. Thankfully, Vivatubes immediately processed an RMA and sent me a return label.

I am extremely disappointed in Psvane. If they are going to manufacture tubes that are fundamentally incompatible with one of the most popular hybrid amps on the market, then they need to make that very clear in their product descriptions (i.e. prominently publish a list of compatible gear). I will be avoiding Psvane products in the future.

But, I am very impressed with the service from Vivatubes. They responded promptly with a painless return process, and I can highly recommend them.

The Psvane tennis ball/SE (especially the SE) are my favorite tubes by far for the Lyr 3. I have many "big rep" NOS 6SN7's....and to me the Lyr 3 shines with new make. I think the stock JJ's sounded pretty darn good in the amp frankly. That said.....Psvane has been a Q&A hit or miss, I don't think it's anything to do with Schitt. I've used the same vendor/returned a bunch of Psvane's that were noisy/had a noticeable hum. Some had funky/crooked internals. Not said to dump on said vendor.....but I know others do the same and those swapped/returned tubes probably go right back inventory.

 

[Melting735]

I am extremely disappointed in Psvane. If they are going to manufacture tubes that are fundamentally incompatible with one of the most popular hybrid amps on the market, then they need to make that very clear in their product descriptions (i.e. prominently publish a list of compatible gear). I will be avoiding Psvane products in the future.

It's very common that some type of tubes don't go well on some amps. I had many tubes (both driver and power tubes) in the past having hum/noise on certain amps but disappeared like magic on others. This is the pain everyone has to experience once get into tube world.

Btw, I had positive experience in psvane tubes in terms of build quality and SQ

 

[JamminVMI]

Hi everyone, just a warning to anyone considering purchasing a Psvane 6SN7-SE for the Lyr3. I acquired one recently and immediately noticed an extremely loud hum, even at only 1/2 volume - to the point where the amp was unlistenable. I have not had this issue with any of my half dozen other NOS and new production tubes.

I contacted Vivatubes and they informed me that "Psvane 6SN7-SE tubes do not play nice with Schiit gear (any model, it seems)" and "we never recommend them" to Schiit owners. Thankfully, Vivatubes immediately processed an RMA and sent me a return label.

I am extremely disappointed in Psvane. If they are going to manufacture tubes that are fundamentally incompatible with one of the most popular hybrid amps on the market, then they need to make that very clear in their product descriptions (i.e. prominently publish a list of compatible gear). I will be avoiding Psvane products in the future.

But, I am very impressed with the service from Vivatubes. They responded promptly with a painless return process, and I can highly recommend them.

Interesting. I’ve got an SE in Lyr right now, and have had since May last year. No issues, sounds great. There was another member here who had isses with the SE a few months ago. Don’t know if it’s just recent production or what…

 

[TrumpOrMonkey]

How do you guys find the Schiit Lyr 3 with IEMs and sensitive headphones? I currently have a Jotunheim 2 and I can hear an audible noise floor with my IEMs and more sensitive headphones through the SE out while using the balanced input (balanced out is noiseless though). I'm thinking of either getting the Asgard 3 or Lyr 3 primarily for daily single ended duty with these, as well as for the added benefit of having something complementary in sound while I use my Jotunheim 2 in balanced for everything else. I've been meaning to pull the trigger on either one but ultimately the noise floor difference will determine it for me.

Any input is greatly appreciated !

 

[davidfrance]

How do you guys find the Schiit Lyr 3 with IEMs and sensitive headphones? I currently have a Jotunheim 2 and I can hear an audible noise floor with my IEMs and more sensitive headphones through the SE out while using the balanced input (balanced out is noiseless though). I'm thinking of either getting the Asgard 3 or Lyr 3 primarily for daily single ended duty with these, as well as for the added benefit of having something complementary in sound while I use my Jotunheim 2 in balanced for everything else. I've been meaning to pull the trigger on either one but ultimately the noise floor difference will determine it for me.

Any input is greatly appreciated !

I don't know, but I would be surprised if either the Asgard 3 or Lyr 3 have a lower "noise floor" than the Jotunheim 2. In fact, I own both a Asgard 3 and a Lyr 3, and I really like them both, but this would be surprising, if either of them have a lower "noise floor". That they sound a bit different than the Jotunheim 2... yes, that, but not a lower noise floor. That is my guess.

 

[JamminVMI]

How do you guys find the Schiit Lyr 3 with IEMs and sensitive headphones? I currently have a Jotunheim 2 and I can hear an audible noise floor with my IEMs and more sensitive headphones through the SE out while using the balanced input (balanced out is noiseless though). I'm thinking of either getting the Asgard 3 or Lyr 3 primarily for daily single ended duty with these, as well as for the added benefit of having something complementary in sound while I use my Jotunheim 2 in balanced for everything else. I've been meaning to pull the trigger on either one but ultimately the noise floor difference will determine it for me.

Any input is greatly appreciated !

Please hold… I’ll give my Moondrop Kxxx a kick with Lyr3, Asgard 3 and Jotunheim 2 later this evening and will advise. Might also drag out the UE Triple.fi 10s to check noise floor, but we shall see with the Moondrops first.

 

[jonathan c]

Posted on a different thread:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/grado-fan-club.530965/post-16989643

 

[TrumpOrMonkey]

I don't know, but I would be surprised if either the Asgard 3 or Lyr 3 have a lower "noise floor" than the Jotunheim 2. In fact, I own both a Asgard 3 and a Lyr 3, and I really like them both, but this would be surprising, if either of them have a lower "noise floor". That they sound a bit different than the Jotunheim 2... yes, that, but not a lower noise floor. That is my guess.

I'm not the only person who has experienced this as Currawong had written about this in his written review of the Jotunheim 2, mentioning that out of SE - its not suitable for sensitive IEMs (such as the CA Ara he tested with) as he noticed both a significant hiss and slightly noticeable hum component (same experience as me). However for me, I find this extends to even sensitive headphones like the AD2000 and HD598SE. I can't hear any noise through XLR out with the headphones I have a balanced cable for, but SE output is significantly noisier. I'm feeding the Jotunheim with Modius through its balanced outputs, but the noise floor is the same even when using unbalanced. For comparison I also have the Cavalli Tube Hybrid (an SE tube hybrid amplifier) which to my ears has a significantly (but still slightly audible) lower noise floor than the Jotunheim 2 through SE. I've also tried the iFi Zen DAC and I can't hear any noise with that. Singxer SA-1 also has no noticeable noise from both SE and Balanced but that's to be expected from a top measuring amp, but I'd like to move back to Schiit as I prefer the sound of their amplifiers.

By all means the Jotunheim 2 is an excellent amplifier, and my favourite when I use the balanced outputs. But I believe because the Jotunheim 2 is a balanced differential amplifier, and optimised for balanced operation, I think they are only using part of the differential amplifier circuit to facilitate the SE output which has noise constraints (balanced differential operation allows cancelling noise components), while Asgard 3 and Lyr 3 are designed and optimised for SE operation. That's my rationale behind believing they would possibly have a better noise floor than the Jotunheim 2 in SE.

Please hold… I’ll give my Moondrop Kxxx a kick with Lyr3, Asgard 3 and Jotunheim 2 later this evening and will advise. Might also drag out the UE Triple.fi 10s to check noise floor, but we shall see with the Moondrops first.

Will do, thanks! I'm keen to hear your findings

 

[JamminVMI]

I'm not the only person who has experienced this as Currawong had written about this in his written review of the Jotunheim 2, mentioning that out of SE - its not suitable for sensitive IEMs (such as the CA Ara he tested with) as he noticed both a significant hiss and slightly noticeable hum component (same experience as me). However for me, I find this extends to even sensitive headphones like the AD2000 and HD598SE. I can't hear any noise through XLR out with the headphones I have a balanced cable for, but SE output is significantly noisier. I'm feeding the Jotunheim with Modius through its balanced outputs, but the noise floor is the same even when using unbalanced. For comparison I also have the Cavalli Tube Hybrid (an SE tube hybrid amplifier) which to my ears has a significantly (but still slightly audible) lower noise floor than the Jotunheim 2 through SE. I've also tried the iFi Zen DAC and I can't hear any noise with that. Singxer SA-1 also has no noticeable noise from both SE and Balanced but that's to be expected from a top measuring amp, but I'd like to move back to Schiit as I prefer the sound of their amplifiers.

By all means the Jotunheim 2 is an excellent amplifier, and my favourite when I use the balanced outputs. But I believe because the Jotunheim 2 is a balanced differential amplifier, and optimised for balanced operation, I think they are only using part of the differential amplifier circuit to facilitate the SE output which has noise constraints (balanced differential operation allows cancelling noise components), while Asgard 3 and Lyr 3 are designed and optimised for SE operation. That's my rationale behind believing they would possibly have a better noise floor than the Jotunheim 2 in SE.



Will do, thanks! I'm keen to hear your findings

OK... WRT Noise floor. Tested both with nothing playing first, and then listened between tracks on a couple albums. With that said...

Asgard 3 - I was unable to hear anything on LO gain out of the amp and a very very slight hiss on near max volume in HI gain.

Jot2 (tested single ended only) - heard very slight hum throughout, but no hiss detectable to me. Occurs both on HI and LO gain.

Lyr3 - Got very slight hum starting at 12:00 on the knob indicator in HI gain only (Linlai 6SN7 HiFi). Switched tubes to Psvane 6SN7-SE (tennis ball envelope), and that changed. Zero noise until 2:00 on the knob, and that I had to hold my breath to hear). Note: Knob only goes to 4:00

If you are interested, I have one of the original LISST, and I'm personally interested to see if all the noise goes away with a solid state tube... I'm gonna listen to that this evening...

I used both Moondrop Kxxx and the UEs, same result. But my ears recently turned 62, so gosh only knows what that means in terms of my own noise floor. My system is Squeezebox server to Bifrost 2, then Lokius (bypassed for this test), Saga, and then into either Jot2 or Lyr3. For Asgard, squeezebox to Bifrost 4490 OG, Loki mini + to Asgard 3.