Schiit Audio Gungnir 2

[PinkyPowers]

Currently rocking a BF 2/64, and thinking of upgrading to Gungnir2. It ought to fit on my desk. I'll just need to make some changes.

 

[bagwell359]

Anyone know if break in is a thing with Gungnir 2, or does its sound not really change from out of the box?

Hard to say. But if it is, it's less than a Gungnir MB A1.

 

[Orange5o]

Anyone know if break in is a thing with Gungnir 2, or does its sound not really change from out of the box?

TI chips. Not really. Plug and play!

 

[j0val]

TI chips. Not really. Plug and play!

Never thought about it until you mentioned it. With my OG BF2, there was definitely a change in sound over a couple weeks. However, the Gungnir 2 sounded great out of the box and hasn’t changed since.

 

[DACattack]

Throwing in my two cents: I've found that it's only the OG Schiit DACs that need a lengthy warmup. I give my G2 and the tubes in the Freya about 5 or 10 minutes to warm-up, usually while I'm prepping a record for the turntable, or mixing a drink to sip on while I listen, and it never needs more than that to sound great.

 

[Androxylo]

Found a shelf for my desktop stack. The Gungnir 2 looks great.

Your desktop stack, hello. My desktop stack thinks you are cute:

 

[j0val]

Your desktop stack, hello. My desktop stack thinks you are cute:

Wow. I’ve been staring at this for a couple minutes and still can’t figure out what I’m looking at.

 

[bagwell359]

Wow. I’ve been staring at this for a couple minutes and still can’t figure out what I’m looking at.

A Furman power conditioner, a Chinese AC cord, PC, cables with wire wrapped around them and then taped down, a box of tissue paper, and a crushed plastic bottle on the floor...

 

[Androxylo]

The Chinese AC cord hurts my feelings, feels like a stranger. Eventually, I will rebuild it with teflon coating and the ground wire wrapped outside, like the other proper cables.
The yellow wooden box in the middle is actually my DIY speaker. It's about 30 pounds each. I DIY everything I can, unfortunately my skills are limited. The Sh***t is hidden.

 

[Blindranger]

Your desktop stack, hello. My desktop stack thinks you are cute:

This gives me anxiety and it’s getting worse the more I look at it

 

[Androxylo]

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thank you! Now slightly different topic - I think it's unfortunate that you plan to limit EQ to 5 bands. It's not like I like many bands, it's the REW who likes them:

When I capture my speaker with REW and go to the EQ generator, that's what it makes - about 20 bands. I don't touch anything, I just feed this into Equalizer APO and HQPlayer, and that's what I get at the output measured by REW, and it sounds really really good. Flat but good:

I am scratching my head where I would strategically deploy the scarce 5 bands to get even half as decent as this. CC @Jason Stoddard

 

[bagwell359]

Thank you! Now slightly different topic - I think it's unfortunate that you plan to limit EQ to 5 bands. It's not like I like many bands, it's the REW who likes them:



When I capture my speaker with REW and go to the EQ generator, that's what it makes - about 20 bands. I don't touch anything, I just feed this into Equalizer APO and HQPlayer, and that's what I get at the output measured by REW, and it sounds really really good. Flat but good:



I am scratching my head where I would strategically deploy the scarce 5 bands to get even half as decent as this. CC @Jason Stoddard

Personally I don't go after every spot possible. Something like the HD-600 is happy with 3, after that there are a few more but if you listen like me to 20 ref cuts and you can not tease out any difference worth chasing - then it's done.

My biggest issue with the five bands that will deployed is they are confined to certain areas, so if you need to adjust two spots - say a rise at 80 Hz and a shortfall under 45 Hz but the single band runs from 20-100 (I don't know where they are setting them) you can only cover one.

The other issue is with a headphone like the HE-6 SE, there are 6-7 places where it needs PEQ IMO, and several of them are close enough in the treble that you won't be able to cover at least one, if not two.

However, compared to no control, this is a welcocme and solid step forward, so I'll take it, and use it as well as it can be.

The other question for me that concerns the Gungnir, after the Singular is offered - will there be be two Gungnirs, or will the current board be left behind, and of course how much will an 'upgrade' to the new board cost for us early adopters?

 

[Bowmoreman]

Given the positive impressions from Mimir, I wouldn't bet against on it. There are more high end D/S FPGA brands on the market than high end R2R DACs too

FPGA for the win. Software on top for the uber-win. Hardware, ever and always eventually, is a commodity.

Where it runs is a design decision. Mimir was hugely clever in that regard.

Based on Mimir (thus far, for me); I’m thinking of leaning of making my Yggy a Byggy… so very wonderful to have options! (Just spent this rather rainy weekend enjoying about 8 LPs worth of Stjärna infused musical heaven. 4 of them yesterday were my ECM box set of Keith Jarrett for the Bremen and Lausanne concerts.)

That we all can enjoy such amazing experiences, so close to “are there”, across all these decades (in this ECM/Jarrett case it was 1973 - the most momentous year in my young life having moved from Michigan to Arizona to become an entering HS freshman). So, yeah. Music matters. It maps our lives. Enjoy it.

As for the gear, as long as you are chasing what it sounds (sounded, but closer to now is always better) like live - to YOU - then gear in that direction is not only data-driven, but rewarding. If you aren’t chasing that goal, then what ARE you chasing?

Looking forward to my first hear of G2. Be interesting to compare with Mimir (which has been front-center for weeks now, with Yggy OG/A1 cooking along-side).

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

Thank you! Now slightly different topic - I think it's unfortunate that you plan to limit EQ to 5 bands. It's not like I like many bands, it's the REW who likes them:



When I capture my speaker with REW and go to the EQ generator, that's what it makes - about 20 bands. I don't touch anything, I just feed this into Equalizer APO and HQPlayer, and that's what I get at the output measured by REW, and it sounds really really good. Flat but good:



I am scratching my head where I would strategically deploy the scarce 5 bands to get even half as decent as this. CC @Jason Stoddard

3 to 5 bands are actually plenty for 99% if your room correction, driver correction, or personal preferences needs.

Plus:

 

[mwayned]

Does anyone know the status of the firmware update for G2 / Forkbeard? Will it be pushed to the Forkbeard app, or is it something I need to search for and download from Schiit?