[MacMan31]

This thing looks awesome. Unfortunately it's limited edition so I can't just save up and get one in perhaps a year from now.

 

[mrAbundio]

Unfortunately it's limited edition so I can't just save up and get one in perhaps a year from now

Sure you can. I'm pretty sure some of them will circulate in the used market. Others said it here: I wouldn't worry about not getting one now.

For example, emboldened by how this sounds, I might save up for some top-level amp (the ones that are custom-built and come in wood, marble, or unobtanium) and have enough money to get one in about three or four years. At that point, I'll probably sell mine

 

[Barnstormer13]

Sure you can. I'm pretty sure some of them will circulate in the used market. Others said it here: I wouldn't worry about not getting one now.

For example, emboldened by how this sounds, I might save up for some top-level amp (the ones that are custom-built and come in wood, marble, or unobtanium) and have enough money to get one in about three or four years. At that point, I'll probably sell mine

Your mileage may vary, but for my old ears, the extra few percent of improvement a unicorn amp gets you isn’t worth the cost of ownership.

For someone with lots of money, exquisite hearing, or both, it may make sense to buy a WA33, Stratos, studio B, etc. but the FV is my end game and it’s quite a good game.

 

[DigitalScrap]

Your mileage may vary, but for my old ears, the extra few percent of improvement a unicorn amp gets you isn’t worth the cost of ownership.

For someone with lots of money, exquisite hearing, or both, it may make sense to buy a WA33, Stratos, studio B, etc. but the FV is my end game and it’s quite a good game.

I agree to an extent, and I am beyond happy with my Folkvangr, but in some regards, the FV is a unicorn amp itself. I mean, it honestly shouldn't even exist. I'm glad that it does though.

 

[Pictograms]

The only headphone I notice the difference with is my DCA Stealth which has an impedance of 23 ohms. In high gain without the impedance multiplier, there is significant distortion on the Stealth, especially in the bass region. Once I flip the multiplier on, the volume increases noticeably and the distortion goes away completely. In low gain the output impedance is a bit lower so the distortion isn't as bad.

I do not hear any difference in volume or distortion for my 300 ohm cans when flipping the multiplier switch.

I found the same with the Aeon 2s

 

[bcowen]

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.

For someone that "sometimes lack the jargon," you did a great job faking it.

Seriously, thanks for sharing your thoughts in a nicely descriptive way. My FV arrived last Tuesday, but I was out of town all week. I'll give it some time to break in and then see how it pairs up with the ZMF Atticus.

 

[Zachik]

My FV arrived last Tuesday

I guess you're one of those folks who cannot pass on a tube amp, especially if it measures bad and has weird topology, and only works (well?) with a small subset of headphones...
At least you got the color right!!

 

[bcowen]

I guess you're one of those folks who cannot pass on a tube amp, especially if it measures bad and has weird topology, and only works (well?) with a small subset of headphones...
At least you got the color right!!

Well, yeah. I'm just so happy to finally have some company.

 

[cakewalk101]

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.

You under sold your ability to describe. Well done!

 

[mrAbundio]

Update: Folkvangr + Klipsch HP-3:

The HP-3's are part of my gaming rig. I chose them because they have a gentle, a-lá Fostex 'V' shape but controlled treble, which normally make everything sound more exciting. They worked their best in low gain, definitely with the impedance multiplier on (which didn't make much of a difference to my HE's yesterday)

To my ears, these confirm three things:

1. As I expected, the low-end is punchier than my HE1000SEs, in a good way: lush, full-bodied, detailed and engaging.
2. However, too much was sacrificed in the treble and mids...
3. The FV now sounds what I could only qualify as "ok" but also "mundane," instead of the goosebumps-giving experience that kept me up until 2 am.

What others say is true on my end: this is a synergistic amp, it will sound alright with most things, but it will get bunnies out of a hat with the right headphones, and my HP-3's ain't.

I suspect part of the magic of the FV is in the detail it can conjure and throw into the wind, and if your headphones can paint that, then you'll be transported to faraway places.

Wonder how it will sound with the DT 1990's...

 

[1Audiophool]

Update: Folkvangr + Klipsch HP-3:

The HP-3's are part of my gaming rig. I chose them because they have a gentle, a-lá Fostex 'V' shape but controlled treble, which normally make everything sound more exciting. They worked their best in low gain, definitely with the impedance multiplier on (which didn't make much of a difference to my HE's yesterday)

To my ears, these confirm three things:

1. As I expected, the low-end is punchier than my HE1000SEs, in a good way: lush, full-bodied, detailed and engaging.
2. However, too much was sacrificed in the treble and mids...
3. The FV now sounds what I could only qualify as "ok" but also "mundane," instead of the goosebumps-giving experience that kept me up until 2 am.

What others say is true on my end: this is a synergistic amp, it will sound alright with most things, but it will get bunnies out of a hat with the right headphones, and my HP-3's ain't.

I suspect part of the magic of the FV is in the detail it can conjure and throw into the wind, and if your headphones can paint that, then you'll be transported to faraway places.

Wonder how it will sound with the DT 1990's...

Don’t have the DT1990s but 990 600ohm is a great pairing. That bass…wow. Thinking of getting the 880 600ohm just to try on Folkvangr

 

[mrAbundio]

990 600ohm is a great pairing

Can confirm! I hear they're not that different spec-wise (except for the ohms, mine are the 300 version), and I just tried my 1990's.

The magic is back, bunnies coming out of hats, goosebumps, etc. Interesting difference, though: the 1990's are studio headphones; I have the so-called 'analytic' pads on because I use them to mix music. The insane amount of detail is back, and I can now realize the coloration that the HE1000SEs were serving me yesterday.

I'd say music is still more engaging with the HE1000SEs, mostly because they bring the treble to the front stage, but the Beyers are the kind of headphones that can render the detail the FV provides.

Bottom line: the entry price for this amp is headphones capable of drinking from the fountain of supreme music resolution. After that, what you hear is their coloration at its best, and you'll be fine because that coloration is probably why you bought them in the first place.

 

[GenEricOne]

Been spending some time today listening to my modded TH-X00 Purplehearts on the FV in low-gain, no multiplier.

For being only 25ohm, they're working really well. Very fun combination.

Still can't over how open and immersive the FV makes many headphones sound. My Elex, Noires, and TH-X00 had sub-mediocre headstage to me for my entire time owning them...until using them on FV. I've used them on Lyr 3, Jot 2, Phonitor XE, and the Noires on Formula S, all amps that are good/great.

Likely to pull the trigger on a stabilized Atrium tomorrow, will likely be the permanent pairing with the FV.

 

[SDBiotek]

Here's a good example of how pairing a relatively inexpensive headphone with an expensive amp can be surprisingly good: Sennheiser HD 560S and Folkvangr. It's that pesky synergy again, lol. While the 560S is not as refined as the more expensive HD series, wow, it sounds very full and brings out recording soundstage cues very well. This must break one of those audio-fool rules, lol.
Edit: This works best for me on low gain. In general, I prefer Folkvangr on low gain, high gain with most headphones I've tried seems to collapse the soundstage or at least move everything "forward" in the mix.

 

[tinariwen]

Can I anyone share a more in-depth opinion of the atrium matched with the Folkvangr?

I had the Cayin HA-6A at one point, which is a fantastic amp with the VCs - slowing down the transients a touch, softening the treble peaks and filling out the midrange.

It was too much of a good thing for the Atriums, though. So I got a Feliks Euforia AE which brings the transients to SS speed (almost), adds great extension both ends, has a more neutral tone yet maintains the heft / weight of the midrange. It really is a match made in heaven.

Then along comes the Folkvangr, which has conflicting reviews. A lot of people have commented how detailed this amp is, but I can’t find much on the speed. I’ve read that it rolls the treble off, too; and other reviews don’t really touch on that.

So, would it be a step up from the Euforia, or more akin to the Ha-6A?