[maverickronin]

Thanks.

 

[MacedonianHero]

 
So far:

One thing I seem to be observing is that as the efficiency of a given headphone decreases, the liveliness of the Lyr seems to increase.  

 

Another thing I seem to be observing is that with high efficiency headphones, the gain structure of the Lyr does not seem to differ much from the Asgard, but as one listens to less efficient headphones, the Asgard seems to flatten out, while the Lyr seems to come to life.  

 

So with a high efficiency can, the Asgard may actually sound better than the Lyr, but for medium and low efficiency cans, the Lyr comes alive and keeps on going, while the Asgard seems to comparatively run out of steam in the bass and roll off on the extreme highs.  

 

That's just my subjective impressions so far, with seven different headphones ranging from the AKG-K1000, LCD-2, K-701, Vintage Sansui SS-100, T50RP, Excel Open Air 50mm drivers, with the Koss E90/ESP-950 as a control.  So far, the Lyr is clearly a keeper.  All but the Excel cans improve sonically when driven from the Lyr over the Asgard.  

 

More about specifics to come later.
 

 

So far, I completely agree with you Kevin. I prefer my more "efficient headphones" with my other 2 amps, but the LCD-2s and HE-6s really came to life with the Lyr. With the stock tubes (I am not a particular fan of the 6922 JJ tubes, I don't dislike them, just not a big fan), the Lyr is a very good amp, but with the Genalex Gold Lions it is a great amp. This weekend I plan to try my CV2492 (6922 variants....approved by Schiit Audio) with my Lyr to see how they sound. I really like these tubes with my WA2...so we shall see.

I would have tried it this week, but this week is our external ISO9001 audit....and there are some really long days at work and then catch up at home. :mad:

 

[Permagrin]

I hate external inspections. 9001? Yeesh.
 
April has become my least favorite month now as I have 2-3+ inspections annually then. Bust my arse for a month and when the inspectors show up they usually don't even dig for anything. /facepalm

 

[MacedonianHero]

I hate external inspections. 9001? Yeesh.
 
April has become my least favorite month now as I have 2-3+ inspections annually then. Bust my arse for a month and when the inspectors show up they usually don't even dig for anything. /facepalm

I had 2 in depth new customer audits last week...Mar-Apr have been difficult months. At least I can sit back with my new Lyr and HE--6s and unwind.

 

[deadie]

Quote:

I just got my Genalex tubes today, and they are noisy!  One of them has a very loud hum while the other is more tolerable.  Both are noticeably noisier than the stock JJ's (one of which is completely quiet).  I will see what I can do about RMAing the Genalexes.
 
In any case, the stock tubes are very quiet. 

Foaming -- my experience seems to mirror yours somewhat, in that my Genelex Lions are hummy.  Here's my post.
 
------------------
My Lion tubes arrived today.
 
holy hot dog on a stick what a pain it was to pull the stock tubes. 
 
On first listen with the Lions, major bummer, the hum that was present at 3 oclock is now always there - at min volume, with Transporter both off and on.  Letting the amp and tubes burn in for a couple of hours, the hum is still there, but now it's time to listen to tunes.
 
The good news is that the music quickly takes over, and the hum is not noticable even at low volume levels.  It comes back between songs, then only music.
 
I swapped out the stock power cable to a signalcable magicpower, and no difference with hum.
 
Right off the bat, I noticed that the Lions increased gain, db.  Overall volume is louder by a few mms on the dial.  Vocals in particular are a bit more forward, and have tons of life and realism.  Bass impact is only very slightly improved.
 
Ultimately, though, for tubes pretty much right out of the box the sound is awesome.  They certainly did nothing to hurt the sound.  The combination of the Lyr and the LCD2 is just magic, the best combination I've ever heard. 
 
The Lions right now give it a slight boost, but is the incremental improvement worth $90?  Eh, hard to say right now... frankly even if it doesn't improve, there's always that "peace of mind" knowing that I'm feeding the amp better tubes.
 
--------------
 
Please keep us up to date as to resolving your hum issues -- RMA, diagnosing the Lyr, etc. 

 

[deadie]

Follow up - it's not the Lyr nor the Lions tubes.  It's my room that's causing the hum, regardless of other equipment plugged in or not.
 
There's no hum with the Lyr when taking it out of my HT room, into the dining room.

 

[Skylab]

That is for sure an AC problem. Some pollution on the line, like from a dimmer, or a grounding issue.

 

[grokit]

Yeah I could hear the 60 hz cycling when I heard the hum, and the cheater plug minimized it. The Lyr seems a bit sensitive to line noise though because I don't hear that through my other amps.
 

 

[grokit]

I did figure out an easy way to remove the tubes from the Lyr. Just take some rubbing alcohol and clean off your finger/thumb tips to remove the natural oil from them temporarily, and the tubes are much easier to get a grip on.

 

[clowkoy]

Quote:

That is for sure an AC problem. Some pollution on the line, like from a dimmer, or a grounding issue.

I tried powering the Lyr with my pure sine wave inverter (a Paul Buff Vagabond Mini Lithium inverter for studio strobes), hum is still present. Right now, it already has about 50 hours. We'll see when it reaches 100 hours.

 

[Squuiid]

Quote:

I tried powering the Lyr with my pure sine wave inverter (a Paul Buff Vagabond Mini Lithium inverter for studio strobes), hum is still present. Right now, it already has about 50 hours. We'll see when it reaches 100 hours.

Move the Lyr to a different room in the house, chances are the hum will go. Trust me on this one... and let us know how you get on.

 

 

[gwangcho]

If Asgard is better than lyr with low impedence phones, would Asgard be better than lyr with W5000 40 ohm? Sorry for the abrupt question.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

If Asgard is better than lyr with low impedence phones, would Asgard be better than lyr with W5000 40 ohm? Sorry for the abrupt question.

The Asgard is not better than the Lyr with low impedance phones.  Simplistically, the Asgard is more appropriate for use with high sensitivity phones, and the Lyr for low sensitivity phones.
 
 

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

I tried powering the Lyr with my pure sine wave inverter (a Paul Buff Vagabond Mini Lithium inverter for studio strobes), hum is still present. Right now, it already has about 50 hours. We'll see when it reaches 100 hours.

It's entirely possible the tubes may be the source of the hum as well.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

I did figure out an easy way to remove the tubes from the Lyr. Just take some rubbing alcohol and clean off your finger/thumb tips to remove the natural oil from them temporarily, and the tubes are much easier to get a grip on.

Duct tape works very easily too.