Spent some time with the Hifiman Edition X last night. It sounds very good with the Folkvangr. Low gain and impedance multiplier on. Very little background noise and good control. These are low impedance and high sensitivity headphones so that speaks well of the Folkvangr. It drives my LCD4 very well with zero background noise.
Schiit Folkvangr - Impressions Thread
- Thread starter XERO1
- Start date
That is true of course, it would be great to have at least a ballpark number somewhere on the page though. Perhaps it’s there somewhere but I just didn’t see it?
Is noise when turning the volume knob (and nothing playing from source) normal? I know that's typically the sign of a bad pot, but perhaps it's expected with an OCL/OTL amp.
Nope. The T2 is ~$14K. I heard one driving a Stax 009S and it was (unfortunately) awesome. And it will haunt me (and my wallet).When the website only provides a “contact us” button instead of the price, you know it’s not going to be on the cheap side
There seem to be a fair number of Mjölnir KGSSHVs out there.
I hear the same thing on my Folkvangr. May have something to do with OTL/OCL design. I believe it is normal for this amp.
bagwell359
Headphoneus Supremus
The new version is supposed to be good. I didn't like the last one. Carbon is the gem but might as well get a BH at that price range.
Mjolnir has some interesting Stax refits right now - maybe 1 or 2 might have the juice I need.
More HFM Shang Ri La Jr used coming up at the $3500 range. That's a great match for the Voce - which is my target.
More reading on the Stat - it's not powerful enough.
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The BHSE is a good match with the Voce as well as the Shangra la jr and CRBN. I have all three and the BHSE.
mab1376
1000+ Head-Fier
The T70 actually sounds like they have a good bass punch with this amp, not boomy at all, and extremely tight. For a headphone I normally don't enjoy much, this amp makes them shine!
The kick drum sounds very close to a real one on this track.
The kick drum sounds very close to a real one on this track.
DigitalScrap
New Head-Fier
As always seems to happen whenever I get new audio gear, life has gotten in the way of me being able to spend much quality listening time. I had a splitting headache Tuesday night that would not go away, so no listening, and have been too busy since to spend much time. I'll come back and post more impressions once I have had some extended time with it this weekend, but I know there were a few people curious about how the LCD-2 fared with the FV, and I can say, I am quite happy so far with the combination.
I'll post more details about the actual sound after the weekend, but here's some quick thoughts. The impedance multiplier doesn't make a large difference, but does seem to open up the soundstage a bit, but more in perceived height rather than width. As an experiment, I thought I would try it with the impedance multiplier on and in high gain (I figured if the amp now sees the LCD-2 as a ~300 ohm headphone, why not?) and I have to say, it sounds GREAT. Super detailed, with a wonderful smooth tube sound. I never liked the LCD-2 with my Valhalla 2 very much, so they were usually run on solid state. I did not expect to like this so much. Currently listening to "The Joint" on Roy Hargrove's (RH Factor) Hard Groove, and it sounds absolutely divine.
As for the ZMF Atrium? Well, to me, it seems that this was a match made in heaven.
I'll definitely come back after the weekend with some more detailed sound impressions (and I will also give the ZMF Atticus a go as well - I have yet to listen to them on the FV).
I'll post more details about the actual sound after the weekend, but here's some quick thoughts. The impedance multiplier doesn't make a large difference, but does seem to open up the soundstage a bit, but more in perceived height rather than width. As an experiment, I thought I would try it with the impedance multiplier on and in high gain (I figured if the amp now sees the LCD-2 as a ~300 ohm headphone, why not?) and I have to say, it sounds GREAT. Super detailed, with a wonderful smooth tube sound. I never liked the LCD-2 with my Valhalla 2 very much, so they were usually run on solid state. I did not expect to like this so much. Currently listening to "The Joint" on Roy Hargrove's (RH Factor) Hard Groove, and it sounds absolutely divine.
As for the ZMF Atrium? Well, to me, it seems that this was a match made in heaven.
I'll definitely come back after the weekend with some more detailed sound impressions (and I will also give the ZMF Atticus a go as well - I have yet to listen to them on the FV).
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It seems to me that 1-2 Week production time is likely a production bottleneck. 3-4 weeks is very likely a production bottleneck.
I don’t think Schiit would willingly tell potential customers to wait a month. I suppose it’s possible Schiit is using scarcity as a marketing strategy (think Rolex), but that seems to be against the brand identity.
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I don’t think they would do that either, of course, and a production bottleneck of some kind is probably what is delaying it. That is what I tried to say too, but in speculating what that bottleneck may be.
It would be very interesting if Jason would write about the business and production side of the Folkvangr too in the future.
Folkvangr has arrived! It took only about three weeks from order to doorstep, even though I also ordered a 4-6 week out Gungnir at the same time, and it took FedEx one week to ship them over the pond. Very happy that Schiit shipped so quickly! Greatness!
I love the matte volume knob on the Folk and the matte select button on the Gungnir, btw.
Now to have them warm up for an initial listen..
I love the matte volume knob on the Folk and the matte select button on the Gungnir, btw.
Now to have them warm up for an initial listen..
Yes, yes, of course I didn’t manage to wait more than ten minutes before taking a listen (warmup be screwd!)
So.. Schiiit Folkvangr and Gungnir first impressions with Sennheiser HD6XX is
!
There is a lot of bass, plenty of detail, imaging and soundstage. The bass is tight and well defined. I know it doesn’t measure very well, but I don’t care because it sounds great! A lot of toe-, leg- and finger-tapping goodness in there there is.
The impedance multiplier didn’t seem to do much with the HD6XX, but that was as expected, their 300 ohms are enough for a good match anyway. The gain switch oddly sounds better when in the low gain position, contrary to my other Schiit amps which I think sounds better in high gain.
Fellow head-fier @NoahFence said it well in this post in the Schiit Happened thread:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sch...most-improbable-start-up.701900/post-17041812
A big thumbs up to Jason and team for introducing the Folkvangr, and I’m very glad I got one!
So.. Schiiit Folkvangr and Gungnir first impressions with Sennheiser HD6XX is
!There is a lot of bass, plenty of detail, imaging and soundstage. The bass is tight and well defined. I know it doesn’t measure very well, but I don’t care because it sounds great! A lot of toe-, leg- and finger-tapping goodness in there there is.
The impedance multiplier didn’t seem to do much with the HD6XX, but that was as expected, their 300 ohms are enough for a good match anyway. The gain switch oddly sounds better when in the low gain position, contrary to my other Schiit amps which I think sounds better in high gain.
Fellow head-fier @NoahFence said it well in this post in the Schiit Happened thread:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sch...most-improbable-start-up.701900/post-17041812
A big thumbs up to Jason and team for introducing the Folkvangr, and I’m very glad I got one!
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mrAbundio
New Head-Fier
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Folks,
My Folkvangr arrived yesterday, and I finally had a chance to sit down and listen. I wanted to write my first impressions.
To the disclaimers! First, I honestly don't understand how people can compare amps. It takes me so long to switch from one to the other that my brain has already forgotten the nuances of what I was hearing, which is particularly problematic if the two amps are 'close' enough. Second, I'm a beginner audiophile and sometimes lack the jargon to describe the marvellous things tickling my cerebellum via the auditory cortex. Third, I haven't listened to much audio equipment, really, and even though I have, like, five headphones and four amplifiers and three computers and two cats, I've never really been to an audiophile gathering to see what all the other equipment in the world sounds like, so my point of comparison is pretty small.
That said, I'll describe how this sounds rather than how it may compare to other things, and that shall be enough to paint an image of what I felt when I started listening to this little heater.
On to the equipment: Original Yggdrassil via USB to the Folkvanger to my HE1000SE's. I wanted to try with my Beyerdynamic 1990's and my Klipsch HP-3's, but I have spent too much time listening to music in the last two hours and have some stuff to say, so I'll leave the other-headphone-impressions for later and write this down while I remember (I'm getting old). Also, my other amplifier is a solid state Bryston BHA-1, not the best out there but also recognized as one of the most transparent, powerful, faithful-to-the-source, drive-everything-well amps.
On to the music. I listened to (among others):
- Michael Jackson
- Tool
- Dreamer's Circus
- Shakira
- Joaquin Sabina
- Diana Krall
- Cirque du Soleil (yeah, don't laugh!)
- Archive
- Unkle
What is the FV's experience like? I'd say that other amplifiers (BHA-1, Lyr, that $5K SS I listened to the other day at my local store, ...) increase the signal of each frequency linearly, as in things get louder to the point where everything is too loud to be enjoyable. The FV seems to reach into the quantic reality of the universe, arrive at the stage where the music was recorded, and increase the volume of each instrument at the source. As volume increases, the soundstage gets bigger and wider, separation grows proportionally, no wall-of-noise effect but a very enjoyable you-arrived-at-a-live-concert-and-everything-just-happens-to-be-loud effect.
This thing is dangerous. I hope I didn't spend too much time listening beyond 90 dB!
Second important revelation: that piano Regina Spektor plays in 11:11 has a very interesting tuning; it's almost like the tone shifts a little after the transient of the key hitting the chord. Oh, and I can hear her lips opening before she starts singing "Braille." That lower koto string on Noriko Tadano's Staircase to the Moon vibrates a second time some 1/10th of a second after she plucks it on certain notes. Joaquin Sabina's guitar is weird on Nos Sobran Los Motivos: one of his lower three strings must have been metallic (while the other were nylon) because I can hear it moving differently. I could go on: this amp is a direct connection to the nuances of the instruments, of the voices; to say it is resolving is an understatement; perhaps I was waiting for some gooey, warm tube sound, but like someone else said: this thing must be somewhere in between a SS and a tube amp. I feel engaged and transported. I'm there. I can see the specs of dust flying on the stage or the recording room.
Also, strange effect: all instruments in the songs I listened to shifted "a little bit" around the stage I remembered. They blend better, are more resolved, and stopped competing for the same frequency space.
How does it drive the HE1000SE's? High gain, impedance multiplier on, these cans disappear. I'm left with a geosphere of sound, and I only think I have headphones in my head because I feel them in my ears.
I know this sounds very favourable. But if the FV sounds like this, I can only imagine what a WA22 or a DNA Stratus could sound like! Perhaps when I have that kind of money, I'll know. In the meantime, the FV renders my music using an entirely different equation. I'm going to listen for a bit and see how things settle. Oh, and my cables are new, too (using Blue Jean's LC-1's that I ordered for this amp)
Downsides. This thing is VERY hot (but looks nice in the dark), and now I know some of my music is not as good as I thought. Not because sources-have-to-be-good, but because the FV reveals many details behind the sound's recording and mixing. Some drums that sounded loud (and engaging?) now just feel like the microphones were not placed in the right place, and they had been stealing the space of the other instruments. Also, balance is the game's name: this thing loves the treble and does not exaggerate the bass (though it is still very well defined), and part of me thinks that's the synergy with the HE's. We'll see later what happens with other headphones.
My Folkvangr arrived yesterday, and I finally had a chance to sit down and listen. I wanted to write my first impressions.
To the disclaimers! First, I honestly don't understand how people can compare amps. It takes me so long to switch from one to the other that my brain has already forgotten the nuances of what I was hearing, which is particularly problematic if the two amps are 'close' enough. Second, I'm a beginner audiophile and sometimes lack the jargon to describe the marvellous things tickling my cerebellum via the auditory cortex. Third, I haven't listened to much audio equipment, really, and even though I have, like, five headphones and four amplifiers and three computers and two cats, I've never really been to an audiophile gathering to see what all the other equipment in the world sounds like, so my point of comparison is pretty small.
That said, I'll describe how this sounds rather than how it may compare to other things, and that shall be enough to paint an image of what I felt when I started listening to this little heater.
On to the equipment: Original Yggdrassil via USB to the Folkvanger to my HE1000SE's. I wanted to try with my Beyerdynamic 1990's and my Klipsch HP-3's, but I have spent too much time listening to music in the last two hours and have some stuff to say, so I'll leave the other-headphone-impressions for later and write this down while I remember (I'm getting old). Also, my other amplifier is a solid state Bryston BHA-1, not the best out there but also recognized as one of the most transparent, powerful, faithful-to-the-source, drive-everything-well amps.
On to the music. I listened to (among others):
- Michael Jackson
- Tool
- Dreamer's Circus
- Shakira
- Joaquin Sabina
- Diana Krall
- Cirque du Soleil (yeah, don't laugh!)
- Archive
- Unkle
What is the FV's experience like? I'd say that other amplifiers (BHA-1, Lyr, that $5K SS I listened to the other day at my local store, ...) increase the signal of each frequency linearly, as in things get louder to the point where everything is too loud to be enjoyable. The FV seems to reach into the quantic reality of the universe, arrive at the stage where the music was recorded, and increase the volume of each instrument at the source. As volume increases, the soundstage gets bigger and wider, separation grows proportionally, no wall-of-noise effect but a very enjoyable you-arrived-at-a-live-concert-and-everything-just-happens-to-be-loud effect.
This thing is dangerous. I hope I didn't spend too much time listening beyond 90 dB!
Second important revelation: that piano Regina Spektor plays in 11:11 has a very interesting tuning; it's almost like the tone shifts a little after the transient of the key hitting the chord. Oh, and I can hear her lips opening before she starts singing "Braille." That lower koto string on Noriko Tadano's Staircase to the Moon vibrates a second time some 1/10th of a second after she plucks it on certain notes. Joaquin Sabina's guitar is weird on Nos Sobran Los Motivos: one of his lower three strings must have been metallic (while the other were nylon) because I can hear it moving differently. I could go on: this amp is a direct connection to the nuances of the instruments, of the voices; to say it is resolving is an understatement; perhaps I was waiting for some gooey, warm tube sound, but like someone else said: this thing must be somewhere in between a SS and a tube amp. I feel engaged and transported. I'm there. I can see the specs of dust flying on the stage or the recording room.
Also, strange effect: all instruments in the songs I listened to shifted "a little bit" around the stage I remembered. They blend better, are more resolved, and stopped competing for the same frequency space.
How does it drive the HE1000SE's? High gain, impedance multiplier on, these cans disappear. I'm left with a geosphere of sound, and I only think I have headphones in my head because I feel them in my ears.
I know this sounds very favourable. But if the FV sounds like this, I can only imagine what a WA22 or a DNA Stratus could sound like! Perhaps when I have that kind of money, I'll know. In the meantime, the FV renders my music using an entirely different equation. I'm going to listen for a bit and see how things settle. Oh, and my cables are new, too (using Blue Jean's LC-1's that I ordered for this amp)
Downsides. This thing is VERY hot (but looks nice in the dark), and now I know some of my music is not as good as I thought. Not because sources-have-to-be-good, but because the FV reveals many details behind the sound's recording and mixing. Some drums that sounded loud (and engaging?) now just feel like the microphones were not placed in the right place, and they had been stealing the space of the other instruments. Also, balance is the game's name: this thing loves the treble and does not exaggerate the bass (though it is still very well defined), and part of me thinks that's the synergy with the HE's. We'll see later what happens with other headphones.
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