[pyramid6]

Anyone listened to the Ragnarok at RMAF?

 

[Pidgeon]

I'm interested too, but it seems that no one has listened to it, yet.

 

[BournePerfect]

Looking for some Rag/HD800 impressions-especially compared to MJ/HD800...
 
-Daniel

 

[Gneiss]

Well the Ragnarok was the main reason I went to RMAF; if it was not there I would most likely not have even gone. On paper it is everything I could want, and has a collection of features which no other amp on the market has. I even brought my check book in case there was some pre-order discount. I was pretty sold on the amp in advance and was quite certain I would purchase it.
 
Unfortunately I do not think they should have brought the Ragnarok. It was the worst sounding amp I listened to, although in its defense I think this was due to the fact that it essentially was non-functional. When I first plugged my HE-6 into it there was no sound, but I quickly saw it was just because the amp was off. It has been overheating so much that they keep it turned-off between people coming to listen. After a little bit and a lot of various clicking noises the amp was powered up. My first surprise was that to get decent volume out of my HE-6 I had the volume knob at about 4:30, which is pretty close to maxed out, and pretty close to what my Burson Soloist is at even on low gain. I suppose/hope that it really ramps things up in high gain, but I did not want to mess with it too much, and did not think high gain would be necessary just to get decent volume out of the HE-6 out of an amp that powers speakers. Then only a few minutes into a track distortion or some such noise, interference creeps into the track and very quickly the music becomes essentially static and unlistenable. The guy behind the booth mentions overheating, toggles through the gain switch and the music is back, for a moment.  
 
I come back later for another listen and switch my HE-6 out for Schiit's LCD-2. All is fine for a minute, but then again huge huge ammounts of distortion jump in. The main behind the booth this time mentions that whenever you switch an input or output, that basically everything in the amp resets and becomes unhappy, or something? I did not quite understand the issues, but between the heat and the actual topology of the amp there were more than one. I thought amps sounded better warm? And the Schiit was not burning hot to the touch. Even between the mostly unlistenable periods, I cannot say that I saw a ray of sunshine through the clouds. Music sounded somewhat flat and harsh, even the EF6 which does not get a lot of love over here sounded worlds better. And I am not a Schiit hater, their Mjolnir sounded amazing, just not what I am looking for. And I might add on the Mjolnir I had the volume closer to 11 o'clock for the HE-6, very strange. But prototype Ragnarok vs. Mjolnir, the Ragnarok gets destroyed.
 
Before going to RMAF I was 90% sure I would buy the Ragnarok, now there is still a chance, but it seems to me they have a lot of work to do. Honestly I would really like to be able to just plug my headphones into something and enjoy. I certainly do not want some massive procedure to be necessary every time I want to listen to music.

 

[elwappo99]

   

 
Thank you for posting some first comments. Sounds... disappointing to be honest, however at T.H.E. Show when they had the prototype Mjolnir people had similar disappointments. 

 

[Argo Duck]

Yes given it was misbehaving to that extent, seems unlikely it was performing normally even in its "sane" moments. Disappointing to not get to hear it as it should sound in that case. Thanks for the report.

 

[ardilla]

Strange about the malfunctioning Ragnar . But they'll sort it out.....

 

[M-13]

I guess the Rag is not ready for primetime yet. Jason will sort it out eventually.

 

[Pidgeon]

  Well the Ragnarok was the main reason I went to RMAF; if it was not there I would most likely not have even gone. On paper it is everything I could want, and has a collection of features which no other amp on the market has. I even brought my check book in case there was some pre-order discount. I was pretty sold on the amp in advance and was quite certain I would purchase it.
 
Unfortunately I do not think they should have brought the Ragnarok. It was the worst sounding amp I listened to, although in its defense I think this was due to the fact that it essentially was non-functional. When I first plugged my HE-6 into it there was no sound, but I quickly saw it was just because the amp was off. It has been overheating so much that they keep it turned-off between people coming to listen. After a little bit and a lot of various clicking noises the amp was powered up. My first surprise was that to get decent volume out of my HE-6 I had the volume knob at about 4:30, which is pretty close to maxed out, and pretty close to what my Burson Soloist is at even on low gain. I suppose/hope that it really ramps things up in high gain, but I did not want to mess with it too much, and did not think high gain would be necessary just to get decent volume out of the HE-6 out of an amp that powers speakers. Then only a few minutes into a track distortion or some such noise, interference creeps into the track and very quickly the music becomes essentially static and unlistenable. The guy behind the booth mentions overheating, toggles through the gain switch and the music is back, for a moment.  
 
I come back later for another listen and switch my HE-6 out for Schiit's LCD-2. All is fine for a minute, but then again huge huge ammounts of distortion jump in. The main behind the booth this time mentions that whenever you switch an input or output, that basically everything in the amp resets and becomes unhappy, or something? I did not quite understand the issues, but between the heat and the actual topology of the amp there were more than one. I thought amps sounded better warm? And the Schiit was not burning hot to the touch. Even between the mostly unlistenable periods, I cannot say that I saw a ray of sunshine through the clouds. Music sounded somewhat flat and harsh, even the EF6 which does not get a lot of love over here sounded worlds better. And I am not a Schiit hater, their Mjolnir sounded amazing, just not what I am looking for. And I might add on the Mjolnir I had the volume closer to 11 o'clock for the HE-6, very strange. But prototype Ragnarok vs. Mjolnir, the Ragnarok gets destroyed.
 
Before going to RMAF I was 90% sure I would buy the Ragnarok, now there is still a chance, but it seems to me they have a lot of work to do. Honestly I would really like to be able to just plug my headphones into something and enjoy. I certainly do not want some massive procedure to be necessary every time I want to listen to music.

 
It seems that at RMAF has been shown an incomplete/non-working prototype, so hopefully everything will be fixed... At this point I believe that Ragnarock will hardly be released before the end of the year, as originally planned? Well, as long as it will still be the end-game amp, I suppose a delay of few months won't be the end of the world.
 
Moreover, I still hope the final version will be on par with the Beta22 in terms of audio quality, given the price and the great price/performance ratio typical of Schiit products, so I'll finally be able to decide on which one to buy/build.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Yep, in case the unanodized, hand-sanded, unsilkscreened chassis or the prominent sign on the top of the Ragnarok didn't make it obvious it is a prototype, it is a prototype. A very complex prototype that is having some problems. It turns out we need to make some changes to the firmware, mainly.
 
Come back today and we'll see if it will behave. When it runs, it sounds very good, but it is pretty temperamental at the moment.

 

[brunk]

  Yep, in case the unanodized, hand-sanded, unsilkscreened chassis or the prominent sign on the top of the Ragnarok didn't make it obvious it is a prototype, it is a prototype. A very complex prototype that is having some problems. It turns out we need to make some changes to the firmware, mainly.
 
Come back today and we'll see if it will behave. When it runs, it sounds very good, but it is pretty temperamental at the moment.

Great point, and I'll reiterate that too before things get funky around here. It is a prototype folks, Schiit happens and changes with prototypes. Jason, is there any chance you could indulge us with some internal shots of this complex beast yet?

 

[kenman345]

Great point, and I'll reiterate that too before things get funky around here. It is a prototype folks, Schiit happens and changes with prototypes. Jason, is there any chance you could indulge us with some internal shots of this complex beast yet?

Or as one member asked, for some butt shots of this sucker?

 

[livewire]

Maybe post some butt shots with the kimono off?

 

[brunk]

  Maybe post some butt shots with the kimono off?

God, I hope it's not too hairy under there 

 

 

[Dopaminer]

  God, I hope it's not too hairy under there 

 

Given the premature state it`s in, I doubt there is any hair at all .