Schiit Audio Gungnir 2

[MattTCG]

IMO G2 is arguably even with and different then the MIB. In all other existing Yggy vars I have the G2 better.

But the Byygy and Singular card in the G2 (whenever it comes) could/will change the hierarchy.

I had the Gungnir MB A1 with all 3 USB's over 9 years and never thought I'd change, but IMO the G2 isn't just 5% or 15% better, it's qualitatively better.

That's a pretty strong endorsement. I appreciate the insights. I guess I will never know until I hear it for myself.

 

[bagwell359]

That's a pretty strong endorsement. I appreciate the insights. I guess I will never know until I hear it for myself.

Check out the full review here:

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/schiit-audio-gungnir-2.27785/reviews

@adydula hit the nail better and harder than any other review I've seen.

 

[ColtMrFire]

@ColtMrFire:

Gungnir MB A1 > Yggy A1 - read the threads related to both on HF, quite a few believe this. I had them both in early '16 and put them through very long evals, and the Gumby was more analog, more coherent, Yggy too cold.

The Yggy A2 I dislike, so the Gumby beats that, and others agree. My issue is its not coherent across the board - it seems to favor some FR over other, and the bass is way over the top.

The LIM is a bit like the Yggy A2 but a bit warmer and more coherent, but with too much bass, but not as much as the A2.

The MIB is a fair battle for the G2, and they beat all the DACs mentioned so far. It's honest with the timbre, and doesn't over do any area.

See post #451, #467, #524 for more @adydula and @theveterans (and others) also have insightful posts. As I mentioned @adydula has the best review.

Of course its best for you to decide for yourself.

This is what I mean by qualifiers and is more about component/system matching, synergies and preferences, rather than one DAC being "superior" to another. In the future please provide these when making declarative statements.

 

[bagwell359]

This is what I mean by qualifiers and is more about component/system matching, synergies and preferences, rather than one DAC being "superior" to another. In the future please provide these when making declarative statements.

If you expect every comment to contain all reasoning and data supporting it - you will find yourself sorely dissatisfied with most entries in HF.

 

[adydula]

If you expect every comment to contain all reasoning and data supporting it - you will find yourself sorely dissatisfied with most entries in HF.

And you did indeed state: "Of course its best for you to decide for yourself."

If one wants more plankton in responses in posts there are other sites that have plenty....

:>)

 

[Androxylo]

Next year.
Maybe.
No hard plans yet.

What is this Singular anyway and why Schiit is so comfortable that the Singular Yggy Biggy will completely differentiate itself from the new G2 the way that the price tag and bulky size will not be a detractor? We are reaching a big diminishing return factor here, imho. Why the eventual Singular Gungnir will not cannibalize this again when it comes?

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

What is this Singular anyway

Singular is our own delta sigma implementation. Developed entirely in-house, running on a high-performance FPGA. No off-the-shelf d/s DAC chip is used.
Singular is what we think delta sigma should be.

and why Schiit is so comfortable that the Singular Yggy Biggy will completely differentiate itself from the new G2 the way that the price tag and bulky size will not be a detractor?

Because Jason, Mike, myself, and a few others have already heard what it sounds like.
I, for one, have been using a version of it in my personal headphone rig at home for over a year, and I very much like it.

We are reaching a big diminishing return factor here, imho.

Then don’t buy it.
No, seriously. No snark intended. Our goal is to have you be a happy listener, not to goad you into constant upgrades.
If you like what you have, there’s literally no reason to change anything about it.

Why the eventual Singular Gungnir will not cannibalize this again when it comes?

It might. Who knows.
Again: We don’t do this to make you buy more stuff. Nor do we do this to build a designed-by-some-bean-counters product lineup across sensible price points with kneecapped specs and feature sets to ensure they never cannibalize their respective neighbors.
That, at least to me, doesn't sound like a fun way to run one's business.
We do this because it’s fun to push the envelope of what we can do. We do happen to also sell the result of that work, but it’s really mostly just for fun to try and see if we can do better every time we start a new project.

 

[mks100]

I purchased the G2 back in February. If the new Yggdrasil releases and I must have it, I can sell the G2. Worst case scenario, I can sell the G2 at that point for ~ $800. That's ~ $100/Month that I will have spent/lost to listen to an amazing component that I believe is S Tier value wise.
I used to get frustrated with my Dad. He loved the Sopranos and continued to watch it on on an old 25" RCA Colortrak 2000 for almost the entire run. Time is our most precious commodity and our experiences have an opportunity cost. I understand everyone has different means, but I think the sentiment applies. Apologies for the rant.

 

[MattTCG]

I purchased the G2 back in February. If the new Yggdrasil releases and I must have it, I can sell the G2. Worst case scenario, I can sell the G2 at that point for ~ $800. That's ~ $100/Month that I will have spent/lost to listen to an amazing component that I believe is S Tier value wise.
I used to get frustrated with my Dad. He loved the Sopranos and continued to watch it on on an old 25" RCA Colortrak 2000 for almost the entire run. Time is our most precious commodity and our experiences have an opportunity cost. I understand everyone has different means, but I think the sentiment applies. Apologies for the rant.

And you can sell it to me I live close and have very good feedback...

 

[adydula]

According to Jason the Gungnir 2 will eventually have a singular "option" if your curiosity needs to be "entertained"....
Best of both worlds, Multiform implementation the gave Mike "audio wood" and a future DS upgrade...
Almost future proof , well to some extent.

FOMO is alive and well!

:>)

 

[theveterans]

According to Jason the Gungnir 2 will eventually have a singular "option" if your curiosity needs to be "entertained"....
Best of both worlds, Multiform implementation the gave Mike "audio wood" and a future DS upgrade...
Almost future proof , well to some extent.

FOMO is alive and well!

:>)

A little bit confused:
Multiform is the new analog stage from G2 right or it literally means the you can now choose between DS or R2R because you now have USB Unison 384 which lets you “form” your own digital filters to feed G2 (bypassing the Burrito completely)

 

[Clemmaster]

I purchased the G2 back in February. If the new Yggdrasil releases and I must have it, I can sell the G2. Worst case scenario, I can sell the G2 at that point for ~ $800. That's ~ $100/Month that I will have spent/lost to listen to an amazing component that I believe is S Tier value wise.
I used to get frustrated with my Dad. He loved the Sopranos and continued to watch it on on an old 25" RCA Colortrak 2000 for almost the entire run. Time is our most precious commodity and our experiences have an opportunity cost. I understand everyone has different means, but I think the sentiment applies. Apologies for the rant.

I think you’ll be able to sell it for more than that. Most likely $1250.
One just sold quickly for $1400 last week

 

[Androxylo]

It might. Who knows.
Again: We don’t do this to make you buy more stuff. Nor do we do this to build a designed-by-some-bean-counters product lineup across sensible price points with kneecapped specs and feature sets to ensure they never cannibalize their respective neighbors.
That, at least to me, doesn't sound like a fun way to run one's business.
We do this because it’s fun to push the envelope of what we can do. We do happen to also sell the result of that work, but it’s really mostly just for fun to try and see if we can do better every time we start a new project.

Now I'll be really cynical and I'll say things that no Schiit employee will ever say publicly. So they should not comment on this. Topping came with their latest and greatest Centaurus and Topping D90 Discrete. That's the best they can do, the top of the Topping. I've listened a bunch of reviews of those products, that's just one of them:



Almost all of them agree. In short, the best Topping cannot reach Bifrost and Geshelli Labs sound quality, with everything they have. Even though Geshelli Labs easily outdo Bifrost with proper opamps rolling they are mama and papa shop, they will never ever have a robotic assembly line to compete with G2, so they are not a competitor in volume. With those new 30% China tariffs, no idea if they affect Topping or not but eventually they will, Schiit has a unique and once in a lifetime opportunity to push the brand forward.

This is why I am watching the Bifrost chassis upgrade program - even though G2 is already incomparable to Topping the competition should be in the price range. I suspect that Schiit is actually willing to lose money on this chassis upgrade just to get as many as possible of BF users up to the comparable platform with Forkbeard and stuff, just to have a seamless apple-to-apple experience between BF and G2, same thing with the same price/performance, less confusion for anyone onboarding the train in 2026.

I am watching this from the side of consumers benefit, not like a fanclub member. Topping has the whole Guangzhou industrial zone at their service and they can do millions of those DACs. And the measurement only crowd usually start with entry level equipment where any reasonable DAC sounds good enough and then they stay with brand loyalty. I want the quality and innovation to win. I really don't want this to sound political.

 

[ColtMrFire]

If you expect every comment to contain all reasoning and data supporting it - you will find yourself sorely dissatisfied with most entries in HF.

I don’t expect it given that it’s head-fi. But it should be done and you don’t need to write a dissertation.

And as often as people post here I find it odd that a request to add a few lines of qualifiers would somehow be seen a major task or something. If you can type a few lines about shipping updates you can type a few lines of qualifiers.

At the end of the day it’s to protect people from wasting money on gear that doesn’t synergize with their setup because they saw someone say X DAC was better than Y DAC. It’s never that simple.

 

[adydula]

I don’t expect it given that it’s head-fi. But it should be done

Wow!

Reported.