[JohnBal]

   
I hope it will be better also, but I also somewhat doubt it. A company like Marantz, founded in '53, has been making quality stereo receivers and amps well before Schiit was even though of. Not saying it's impossible, but it's going to be hard to compete with somebody like that.
 
It's like a brand-new manufacturer of mics trying to compete with Shure

Schiit may not have been thought of in '53, but certain members of the design team have been in this business for a very long time as well, even before Schiit was even thought of. Just saying.  

 

[Joshua277456]

  Schiit may not have been thought of in '53, but certain members of the design team have been in this business for a very long time as well, even before Schiit was even thought of. Just saying.  

Yeah I have that in mind. I, in fact, want the new Schiit amp to be up there with Marantz

 

[magiccabbage]

 
Yeah I have that in mind. I, in fact, want the new Schiit amp to be up there with Marantz

If you look at Marantz best amp - the K1 pearl amplifier, it was over 3000 dollars. Can the Rag compete with that as a stereo amp? Maybe and maybe not. Schiit are very good at making products as cheap as they can so if a company like Marantz were to make an amp like the Rag I would expect it to be 2500 dollars and up. Marantz would insist on a remote and other unnecessary add on's. 
 
I think the Rag will compete with most of what Marantz have to offer (or at least i hope it does). Maybe it wont be as good as their best. As for Mcintosh, that is a different matter all together. Don't they make amps that cost - 15,000 dollars. 

 

[Barry S]

From the specs of the Rag--gain can be set at 1, 7, or 20. Doesn't a gain of 1 represent no amplification of the preamp signal? So you're getting a a straight signal from the preamp from all outputs when the gain is set to 1. If that's correct, does setting the gain to 1 bypass the amplifier circuit? I'm probably missing something here, but wouldn't a highly efficient headphone or earphone require some amplification of the preamp level signal. Or is the preamp level of the Rag hot enough to drive efficient transducers?

 

[45longcolt]

When you talk about Marantz, keep in mind that the company has been sold several times, gone through peaks and valleys in terms of quality, and that most of their stuff is made in China these days. In other words, the brand name doesn't necessarily mean a thing. (All that said, my CD/SACD player is a Marantz made in Japan.) Of course, this applies to a lot of brands you might have trusted in the past.
 
Schiit is still in the hands of its founders and thus represents their aspirations, vision and determination to make the best products they can. For those of us who appreciate the (somewhat idiosyncratic) way Schiit does things, this is the golden age (The Golden Age of Schiit?) and that's why we support the company.
 
I know the Rag sounds good, having heard it at the Orange County meet. Is it perfect? I'd like a balance control and a remote, but that's being picky. I predict few (if any) buyers will be disappointed.

 

[Jones Bob]

From the specs of the Rag--gain can be set at 1, 7, or 20. Doesn't a gain of 1 represent no amplification of the preamp signal? So you're getting a a straight signal from the preamp from all outputs when the gain is set to 1. If that's correct, does setting the gain to 1 bypass the amplifier circuit? I'm probably missing something here, but wouldn't a highly efficient headphone or earphone require some amplification of the preamp level signal. Or is the preamp level of the Rag hot enough to drive efficient transducers?

A gain of 1 would be the voltage gain. It would still require a current gain stage to drive a low impedance load like headphones.

 

[freddy1201]

A gain of 1 would be the voltage gain. It would still require a current gain stage to drive a low impedance load like headphones.

Sooo, if its the voltage gain… for my hd800(being a high impedance headphone) i would set it at 20???? I'm not sure how this thing work lol
 
And do you think it will be good with a hd800?? I mean with this multi-stage cyclotron thing

 

[Barry S]

A gain of 1 would be the voltage gain. It would still require a current gain stage to drive a low impedance load like headphones.

Ok, thanks. So the Rag includes separate voltage and current gain stages--with the voltage gain stage being adjustable. The current gain stage allows for wide range of impedance loads--does it change at all with adjustments to the voltage, or am I butchering Ohm's law?

 

[Jones Bob]

Ok, thanks. So the Rag includes separate voltage and current gain stages--with the voltage gain stage being adjustable. The current gain stage allows for wide range of impedance loads--does it change at all with adjustments to the voltage, or am I butchering Ohm's law?

Don't know what Jason has in mind for the Schiit Rag. Have to wait until it is released to see.

 

[OJNeg]

 
Ok, thanks. So the Rag includes separate voltage and current gain stages--with the voltage gain stage being adjustable. The current gain stage allows for wide range of impedance loads--does it change at all with adjustments to the voltage, or am I butchering Ohm's law?

I posed the same question a while back in this thread, but Jason doesn't seem to want to divulge his secrets. I would guess that the Rag controls gain by adjusting the amount of negative feedback applied, similar to the Asgard 2. So the voltage and current stages wouldn't be any different, just the feedback loop.
 
Or maybe they are using a super secret/complex proprietary circuit meant to stump any EE grad students.

 

[Argo Duck]

Circlotron - cyclotron - black holes - alien tech!

Where do you think Jason's sci fi novels come from?

 

[Barry S]

 
I posed the same question a while back in this thread, but Jason doesn't seem to want to divulge his secrets. I would guess that the Rag controls gain by adjusting the amount of negative feedback applied, similar to the Asgard 2. So the voltage and current stages wouldn't be any different, just the feedback loop.
 
Or maybe they are using a super secret/complex proprietary circuit meant to stump any EE grad students.

 

 
I've been trying to make some headway on the basics of amplifier design, but it's having trouble penetrating my biologist brain. The Mjolnir (circlotron CSPP) topology is described as an inherently balanced design, but the Rag is a circlotron topology with a single-ended output.

 

[Jones Bob]

I've been trying to make some headway on the basics of amplifier design, but it's having trouble penetrating my biologist brain. The Mjolnir (circlotron CSPP) topology is described as an inherently balanced design, but the Rag is a circlotron topology with a single-ended output.

Without massive kludging that destroys the simple elegance of the circlotron design, they do not have single ended outputs. An output transformer would work here, but is expensive. Circlotrons have floating outputs, opposite phase and symmetrical to each other, and not referenced to system ground.

 

[johnjen]

Not to mention 'several' isolated, independent, floating 'above' ground, power supplies, which can be a challenge in and of themselves!
 
JJ 

 

[TwoEars]

Looking at the outside of the case instead I have to say that the general case design with one big bent sheet of aluminium is genius.
 
It's cost efficient, simple, elegant, sturdy... 
 
I have a portable western digital hard drive that employs the same principle but at a smaller scale and is plastic instead, one bigger bent piece of plastic and then a smaller to make up the sides.
 
Great industrial design.