My ears are just too damaged to appreciate that 0.0001% and it frustrates me
Schiit Audio Bifrost 2
- Thread starter starence
- Start date
darylobert
New Head-Fier
I think my Bifrost2/LYR3 combo just blew up my Campfire Altas. It powered off with a pop, and now the headphones will not make any sound. So upset
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Ripper2860
Headphoneus Supremus
Sorry about that. I fully understand your frustration and anger. Obviously something went wrong as Lyr 3 has a mute relay that is supposed to engage and disable output to the headphone jack at power-off in order to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Perhaps engaging support at Schiit will get the ball rolling on repair and identifying what actually happened. CA seems like a pretty good company and may very well repair your Atlas at N/C.
darylobert
New Head-Fier
I am hoping so, and I just found the receipt, and they are still under warranty, so fingers crossed. Power stip was turned off, so the pop could have been from the Bifrost. It was powered down at the same time.
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EagleWings
Headphoneus Supremus
Damn, another Lyr3 blowing up headphones incident. Contact Schiit immediately and let them know.
Smoothstereo
100+ Head-Fier
Just curious what amp are you using? Are both the RCA and XLR cables the same brand and model? With Jot2, if I toggle to Balance inputs, its louder at the same volume dial position vs the RCA input switch. Once I volume matched the two inputs, I can hear sonic differences like I mentioned in my previous post. Not huge difference, but noticeable. But if you don't hear any differences, I wouldn't go crazy looking for it and save some money and return the XLR cables if possible. You can achieve sonic differences somewhere else in the set up.
Ripper2860
Headphoneus Supremus
As far as I know, the other incidents happened while Lyr 3 was in operation or powered on, not the result of a pop while 'powering off'. I know because I was one of that had a Lyr 3 fail in dramatic fashion. I happened to be there when it happened and immediately unplugged my HPs before the damage was done. Smoke and very loud HUM and pops as the left channel servo and resistor went out. As the OP stated, it could have been related to a signal coming in from Bifrost. If the Lyr 3 did not let the magic smoke out and is still operational, I do not believe that it was the root cause. The OP only states his HPs no longer worked.
Not sure if this happened, but if the gear was switched off via a power-strip as opposed to the actual on/off switch, it may not allow the muting relay to engage or adequately engage in sufficient time, but Schiit can provide more clarity on whether this could be a possible scenario.
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darylobert
New Head-Fier
It was the power strip switch, so both the LYR3 and Bifrost came down and went back on simultaneously. Not sure if the damage happened when going on or off. I should also mention that the LYR3 always has a little pop when powering up about a few seconds after turning it on when the tube kicks in.
Rensek
Headphoneus Supremus
I often think my Ragnarok 2 sounds a tiny bit better with SE in from Bifrost 2 then via balanced. I always attribute the difference to my SE cables being silver coated copper and my balanced being straight copper. Better being highly subjective and meaning a tiny bit fuller with more body.
Ok, so this has me intrigued, to the extent I’ve got a Vali2+ in my cart, yeah I’m a cheapskate, for now anyways..
Just to be clear, this config will provide tubey goodness from the preamp of the first amp as input to the second amp?
I'm assuming the first amp would have to be powered on to get a signal to the second, right? Might not always want to use the tube is what I'm thinking, would be a pain to switch cables out of the BF2…
ctrlm
100+ Head-Fier
It's been about 3 weeks with the BF2 now.
I pitted it against my Qutest in my desktop headphone setup for a week or so but in the end I settled on the Qutest in that application as it just seems to pair so nicely with the Violectric amp.
It's now in my speaker setup where I'm really enjoying it feeding my Musical Fidelity M6 500i integrated. I suck at describing the way things sound but the layering and placement of instruments is really very good compared to what was there before.
The only con I have is that it hums, you can just hear it when nothing is playing & the room is dead quiet when standing right next to it. I have a DC blocker that I don't use so I tried putting that in the chain but no difference. Not a big deal as it's not an issue when in use, just mildly annoying as none of my other DACs do it.
I pitted it against my Qutest in my desktop headphone setup for a week or so but in the end I settled on the Qutest in that application as it just seems to pair so nicely with the Violectric amp.
It's now in my speaker setup where I'm really enjoying it feeding my Musical Fidelity M6 500i integrated. I suck at describing the way things sound but the layering and placement of instruments is really very good compared to what was there before.
The only con I have is that it hums, you can just hear it when nothing is playing & the room is dead quiet when standing right next to it. I have a DC blocker that I don't use so I tried putting that in the chain but no difference. Not a big deal as it's not an issue when in use, just mildly annoying as none of my other DACs do it.
You could connect both a Jotunheim and a Lyr3 to the Bifrost2 at the same time: Bifrost2 (balanced out) to Jotunheim and Bifrost2 (SE out) to Lyr3. Both outputs are always active on the BF2. Then you can listen to either amp without having to switch any interconnect cables. Only downside being that Lyr3 only has SE out and obviously won’t connect to a balanced headphone cable..
With an adapter like this you can at least make it easy to switch between them while still using a balanced cable. You'll get the best each amp can to, provided the adapter is transparent (I have it, but did not use it much).
cgb3
500+ Head-Fier
I find the Lyr 3 is a fantastic pre-amp to the the Jot 2, for my music.
Before I purchased my Jot 2, the Lyr 3 was my main amp. Purchased second hand (from another Head-Fi member), the Lyr3 came with the stock JJ 6SN7, and a NOS Sylvania 6SN7. I purchased a new manufacture Tung Sol 6SN7, that I perceived as superior to the JJ and Sylvania.
The rabbit beckoned, and I followed. 2 6F8G>6SN7 adapters from Poland (better plastic and wire than China, don't you know). 6 6F8G tubes, all supposedly NOS (one, an RCA VT99 I was assured was originally installed on the Enola Gay, just kidding). $450 worth of tubes later, I'm pretty pleased with my headphone rig.
Enter Jot 2. I purchased this on introduction, as I'd been curious about balanced, and I wanted a solid state amp for the summer. From the beginning, I liked the slam the Jot had over my Lyr 3 for classic rock, but I preferred the Lyr for Jazz, Blues, Female vocals. Somewhere, maybe here at head-fi, I read that someone was using the Lyr3 as a pre-amp.
I configured my Jot2 to take the pre-amp from the Lyr3, and started trying tubes (as a pre-amp). I found several of my more expensive 6F8G/VT99 tubes very nice, but the heat transfer isn't great in the summer. I tried the 6SN7 tubes. The Tung Sol was mediocre. The NOS Sylvania was a hit. The equal of several of my much more expensive 6F8G/VT99 valves.
I don't know if my explanation helps you in any way. Even if one uses the exact same equipment, and listens to the same music, we all have different ears, and different expectations.
I'm very pleased with the Jot2/Lyr3 combo. The best I've ever heard, to this point.
A strange observance. I've recently found Woo Audio adverts littered around my home.
Be careful. The rabbit is always there.
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Mate, thanks much for this.
I've resisted tubes for a while, as I can tell from the various tube-rolling threads they are highly engaging/addictive.
Vali2+ it is then for now, you know, just for a taste, I'm sure it will stop there..
