[ardbeg1975]

Good to see you like it with the VC. That’s my go-to headphone and the one I am most hopeful will perform well.

Yes, quite nice with the Auteur pads. Haven’t swapped over to Universe or BE2 yet as the Auteurs are just working so well.

 

[ardbeg1975]

Yes, quite nice with the Auteur pads. Haven’t swapped over to Universe or BE2 yet as the Auteurs are just working so well.

And definitely use high gain. They sound good on low gain too but high gain is “more better”.

 

[GumbyDammit223]

My original estimated arrival date was Thursday, updated to today. And of course FedEx had to play with my emotions, it is listed "in transit", not out for delivery. So who knows. Must be a bunch of sadists working at FedEx.

Tell me about it! Yesterday, mine was listed at "out for delivery" in a town 150 miles away! It's still "out for delivery" today....still 150 miles away. Sadists, idiots, take your pick.

 

[szore]

Tell me about it! Yesterday, mine was listed at "out for delivery" in a town 150 miles away! It's still "out for delivery" today....still 150 miles away. Sadists, idiots, take your pick.

I had to go to JFK airport to get my Denefrips Ares delivery from FedEx last week. Got home after 10pm. FedEx Sucks!

 

[JLoud]

I had an experience a few years ago with UPS. I got a notification that my package was delivered. I am sitting in my living room, so I get up and check. No package but I can see the truck 3 doors down. It leaves my neighborhood. So I call UPS which happens to have an office down the street. They tell me it was delivered to my house. So I drive to office and begin to explain what I saw. They tell me it must have been stolen off my porch as the driver confirmed he delivered it to the right house. As I am filling a claim my neighbor walks in and says “This package was delivered to my house by accident “ holding my package. UPS person hands it to me and walks away. Not a word of apology or explanation.

 

[ardbeg1975]

Standby. I’m trying the Vali and Gjallarhorn this afternoon.

Both work well in low gain. The change between impedance multiplier on/off is pretty subtle for both as they are very easy to drive (100+ db sensitivity). I can hear a bit more treble clarity, control on Vali with multiplier on. Much harder to hear treble differences on GH50 JM Mk2 as it is a dark headphone. Bass remains articulate on both testing with “Losing the Light” by Explosions in the Sky. “Air in the room” is thicker and there is more tubey slowness on both compared to VC which could be impedance and/or the fact that VCs have faster Be coated drivers. I’d swear this thing sounds more like an OPT amp with that transformer thickness on the Vali and Gjallarhorn rather than more OTL sound on the VC.

 

[Chucked]

I've been waiting for this amp ever since Jason first mentioned it. I love tubes in general (I collect and restore old Tektronix 500 series oscilloscopes) and tube audio in particular. And I happen to love planar headphones. Ideally driven by tubes (Incubus) or tube hybrids (Mjolnir).

Ordered the Folkvangr yesterday about 930 AM EDT. It's listed as "In Production", so hopefully I'll see it late next week.
Ordered a Gungnir last week, it shipped yesterday, arrives on Saturday. As do my in-laws. I may get as far as unboxing it and powering it up, probably won't listen to it for a few days. Schiit DACs always need time to warm up and settle in after arrival. I'm really interested to compare the sound of the Gungnir to my Bifrost 2.

Assembling a frame now using black MakerBeam components (kinda like minature 80/20 extrusions) to hold the Folkvangr, my Mjolnir 2 above the Gungnir. The Incubus will sit off to the side of the Folkvangr, my streamer will sit below it.

Tubes - I will probably swap out the 6n1p with Raytheon 6BQ7A which I've found sound the best to my ear for tonal balance and spaciousness. I've also got some Amperex 6DJ8s I can give a try as well, though so far in both my Valhalla 2 and Mjolnir 2, I've really come to like the Raytheon 6BQ7s.

Headphone choices, I have a few. HD650, DT990, HE400, LCD3, DCA Ether C. The DCA Ether C may not be compatible even with the impedance multiplier on as they are ~13 ohms. They do sound great with the Mjolnir 2 (bought expressly to drive the DCAs), so that may be their permanent pairing. Proof will be in the listening.

The Folkvangr is the first Schiit product that I've been able to buy at introduction. I'm looking forward to this adventure!

I received my Folkvangr Sunday, after letting it warm up I tried listening to it through Oppo PM-2 headphones I recently purchased (they are still available new) and was very impressed with the sound. I have been listening through headphones since, listening this morning the sound keeps getting better. I also have a Benchmark HPA-4, I enjoy both presentations (again the flavors thing) for different reasons. My thanks to Jason, Mike and the staff at Schiit for manufacturing such a product. Yes the device gets hot, one needs to consider proper placement for a long product life, looks like my oled is getting a wall mount as I have run out of room. Could this be the "sacred cow roaster" or is there something else cooking? Hmmm... time will tell.

 

[Barnstormer13]

A review on another headphone forum compared the Folkvangr to a Mjolnir 2, Jot 2 and DNA Starlet. The reviewer put the FV & Starlet at the same level, both ahead of the Mj2 and Jot2. He was using a Senn HD800 (modded?) for his comparison.

 

[adydula]

A review on another headphone forum compared the Folkvangr to a Mjolnir 2, Jot 2 and DNA Starlet. The reviewer put the FV & Starlet at the same level, both ahead of the Mj2 and Jot2. He was using a Senn HD800 (modded?) for his comparison.

Link ? Never mind I think I found it at SBAF.

I would love for someone with the ADX 5000's at 420 ohms to try with this amp.

Alex

 

[Barnstormer13]

Link ? Never mind I think I found it at SBAF.

I would love for someone with the ADX 5000's at 420 ohms to try with this amp.

Alex

I don’t think we’re allowed to post links to other headphone forums, but you’re looking in the right direction.

 

[JLoud]

The Eagle has landed! FedEx came through.

 

[JS27]

In my scant first few hours sneaking listens around work......sounds vedy, vedy nice (no immediate "Oh No!' spots, not going to listen for reals until this evening in terms of granular feedback) but is obviously its own unique beast in terms of playing with headphones. ZMF Atrium, HD800S sound A-OK on High-gain.....but this is not a raw power-pusher.....my DT880 600 ohms had to be cranked up pretty good on the dial to get average/loud levels. Grado's sounded great on high-gain, though I did slip into low gain to test/get a bit more headroom. Tried a couple Grados, aforementioned Sennheiser and ZMF...Focal Elex....DT880/600.....again very early but a unique beast in that High-Gain (not using the solid-state chip) early here seems to play best 32-300 Ohm (for the selection of DD's I have).

I share this as I see a lot of folks with Planars.....and some farther-flung Planars...going "would this work"? Groove how you like children, but this would not be $2K gamble I would take if Planars were my dailies. Not at all saying it won't aces with some.....just sharing that this is one of the more unique outputs I've come across and not the safest bet to use assumptions from more mainline tube amps.

 

[JLoud]

I only listened to a couple of songs on my Grado GS3000e before work. Impedance multiplier on/low gain. Plenty of headroom and silent background. Sounded really good but will do some serious listening tonight.

Also my 200 ohm LCD4 will get a try tonight as well.

 

[Orange5o]

In my scant first few hours sneaking listens around work......sounds vedy, vedy nice (no immediate "Oh No!' spots, not going to listen for reals until this evening in terms of granular feedback) but is obviously its own unique beast in terms of playing with headphones. ZMF Atrium, HD800S sound A-OK on High-gain.....but this is not a raw power-pusher.....my DT880 600 ohms had to be cranked up pretty good on the dial to get average/loud levels. Grado's sounded great on high-gain, though I did slip into low gain to test/get a bit more headroom. Tried a couple Grados, aforementioned Sennheiser and ZMF...Focal Elex....DT880/600.....again very early but a unique beast in that High-Gain (not using the solid-state chip) early here seems to play best 32-300 Ohm (for the selection of DD's I have).

I share this as I see a lot of folks with Planars.....and some farther-flung Planars...going "would this work"? Groove how you like children, but this would not be $2K gamble I would take if Planars were my dailies. Not at all saying it won't aces with some.....just sharing that this is one of the more unique outputs I've come across and not the safest bet to use assumptions from more mainline tube amps.

On a lark I tried it with he6's, and yes, it sounded bad.

I think more reasonable spec'd planars have already been proven to pair well between reports here and other forums. My LCD-2's are out for delivery and Sundaras sounded pretty good. Doing a deep dive tonight with those 2 and some dynamics.

 

[ardbeg1975]

I share this as I see a lot of folks with Planars.....and some farther-flung Planars...going "would this work"? Groove how you like children, but this would not be $2K gamble I would take if Planars were my dailies. Not at all saying it won't aces with some.....just sharing that this is one of the more unique outputs I've come across and not the safest bet to use assumptions from more mainline tube amps.

Sweet spot definitely seems to be 300 ohm DDs. Also good fun with lower impedance (~32 ohm) DDs. Trying a Kennerton Rögnir planar (42 ohm, 100 db) now and the tubeyness works with 60s/70s guitar tracks. Not sure I’d run a tight, heavily layered 50s jazz track to planars with this amp over a SS or my LTA MZ3 however. I take it back - 50s/60s Jazz sounds pretty darn good too upon longer listening but I think I still prefer the speed of the MZ3 or SS amps with planars.