[Roman Johnston]

New to the forum. Been following this thread for the last few days. I consider myself a budget audiophile. My computer has a very nice Asus Essence STX II audio card that the headphone amp went sideways on me. The volume all of a sudden is uneven until I put the music WAY too loud. All clearance for the headphone input is fine (not grounding out).....So started to look for a dedicated desktop headphone amp and dac. I really want the Jotenheim but need to save a few bones for that. So settling on the Fulla 2. Ordered it yesterday (Friday) morning and paid for overnight shipping...it arrives on Monday. Strike one. for Schiit. They had it in Fed-Ex's hands by 9:40 per my confirmation email. Wrote them to let them ask them why the nd day shipping when i paid for overnight.

No biggie really 1st world problems aside I am anticipating the unit and excited. Using my Dragonfly Red in the interim. My headphones are the following. V-Moda Crossfade M-100, Sennheiser Urbanites (on ear), HiFiMan HE 400s, Grado SR80e, and Grado RS2e. All very efficient headphones and should be rather easy to drive. I should be able to report back how each headphone sounds on the unit as well as how it sounds compared to the Dragonfly Red as well. (which I have been very pleased with for "on the fly" listening). My understanding is that the Fulla will take a while (like my HiFiMan headphones) to break in properly. I think my cans took almost 150 hours before they really started to open up. Can anyone confirm? What I read was that the highs mellow out over time. I like bright in your face highs anyway....(read that open and airy...not clawing at your ears till their bloody)

Most reviews I have read all talk about how the Fulla 2 can't drive this special headphone or that special need headphone .....it's a $100.00 Dac/Amp. I think it is intended for more efficient models. It's like taking a Ferrari, putting in a Prius engine and complaining it will not reach 200mph.

To put my budget listening tastes into perspective, my upstairs editing near-field setup (I am a landscape photographer and music drives my passion and editing sessions) consists of an NAD receiver, Gold Ear Aon2 speakers, and a 1000w Golden Ear Force Field sub. (I do have 3 Super Sat 3's doing surround duty) I love "Bang For The Buck" audio....hoping this will prove an inexpensive jewel to add to my collection.

Again...pleasure to meet all of you!!

Roman

 

[Letmebefrank]

Hey Roman, welcome to head-fi. I've been using my fulla 2 at work since it came out and it does drive most headphones just fine. Despite the right channel scratching in the volume knob (which was a problem with the early units) I really love it.

As for the shipping you mentioned, they have a section in the FAQ about that specifically :

"If I order today, when will my amp ship?
If it’s in stock, most likely today or tomorrow, but we do state “1 to 3 business days.” We do everything we can to get 2-Day and Next-Day orders out the same day, unless you order late in the day. If you do that, send an email to orders@schiit.com and we'll try to make it happen. But if you order at 4:30PM and we don't make it, please don't be too disappointed.

If I order using 2-Day FedEx on a Thursday or Standard Overnight on a Friday, will I get my order on a Saturday?
The prices on our website for Express are for regular FedEx Monday-Friday delivery. FedEx Express will deliver on Saturdays, but the service is not available in all areas, and they charge an additional $15-25. If you want to have your item delivered on a Saturday, please email us at orders@schiit.com. We will work with you and FedEx to make that happen. We will need to bill you for the additional delivery charge. We'd love to give this to you for free, but our money tree just doesn't grow dollars like it used to."

 

[Roman Johnston]

Hey Roman, welcome to head-fi. I've been using my fulla 2 at work since it came out and it does drive most headphones just fine. Despite the right channel scratching in the volume knob (which was a problem with the early units) I really love it.

As for the shipping you mentioned, they have a section in the FAQ about that specifically:

If I order using 2-Day FedEx on a Thursday or Standard Overnight on a Friday, will I get my order on a Saturday?
The prices on our website for Express are for regular FedEx Monday-Friday delivery. FedEx Express will deliver on Saturdays, but the service is not available in all areas, and they charge an additional $15-25. If you want to have your item delivered on a Saturday, please email us at orders@schiit.com. We will work with you and FedEx to make that happen. We will need to bill you for the additional delivery charge. We'd love to give this to you for free, but our money tree just doesn't grow dollars like it used to."

I never have a problem with any other Vender...so never thought I would have to go check the FAQ's. Would have been nice to have it pop up when I actually selected the overnight option. I would have paid the extra 15 bucks to get it on Saturday...or maybe if they popped up a message to get Saturday click this button and be charged 15 extra dollars. It' really is no biggy...just would not have paid the extra $35 if I new it was gonna be Monday anyway. Just feel I do not need to research to find out such things. My day job is IT and I learned a long time ago to create proper expectations. My advice to them is to either build it into the web site as a popup if certian conditions are met or just as a caveat in general when that option is selected instead of expecting the CUSTOMER to go digging for the information. Just not a great first handshake with the company is all.

Still excited about the product.....still have high hopes with all the hype around the company about the product.

Roman

 

[Letmebefrank]

I never have a problem with any other Vender...so never thought I would have to go check the FAQ's. Would have been nice to have it pop up when I actually selected the overnight option. I would have paid the extra 15 bucks to get it on Saturday...or maybe if they popped up a message to get Saturday click this button and be charged 15 extra dollars. It' really is no biggy...just would not have paid the extra $35 if I new it was gonna be Monday anyway. Just feel I do not need to research to find out such things. My day job is IT and I learned a long time ago to create proper expectations. My advice to them is to either build it into the web site as a popup if certian conditions are met or just as a caveat in general when that option is selected instead of expecting the CUSTOMER to go digging for the information. Just not a great first handshake with the company is all.

Still excited about the product.....still have high hopes with all the hype around the company about the product.

Roman

I sympathize with you on that. I have a degree in IT and create websites for work. This sort of thing would be a nice feature to add into the shipping section of the checkout page.

 

[Roman Johnston]

Anyone have experience with Grado RS2e and the Fulla 2?

 

[dr cornelius]

Anyone have experience with Grado RS2e and the Fulla 2?

I don’t think I’ve used my RS2e’s with the Fulla 2 yet, I’ve been using a Jotunheim with the Grados. The Fulla 2 is a good improvement over listening straight out of the Mac so I imagine they’ll sound good together...

 

[Roman Johnston]

I’ve been using a Jotunheim with the Grados..

That is my end game....what do you think of the Jotunheim and the RS2e's?

Roman

 

[dr cornelius]

That is my end game....what do you think of the Jotunheim and the RS2e's?

Roman

They sound great together, very revealing - I use that combo to check mixes... Grados are easy to drive, so I don’t need all of that power, I mostly got the Jot to drive balanced monitors and Sennheisers...
But even for regular listening, I like the RS2e/Jot together. Compared to the Fulla 2, the Jotunheim is more refined, but for $99 the Fulla2 is great.

 

[CoffeeCutie]

Hi Folks!

I recently received my Fulla 2- and it is turning right around, and heading back to schiit (across the USA, the long way). I do not know (enlighten me?!) if this is usual, but the Fulla 2 distorts beyond usability with MrSpeakers AEON. Sounds bad- real bad- worse than stock amps built into any other audio devices I have. the amp distorts more on the right channel. ?!?! the dac is good, quite good, but the poor power management on USB scuffs that "win" too (gets weird even on a powered usb hub). In fact, when listening with both usb ports active, the amp would cut out completely with bass-heavy material. That is bad. (meanwhile) the tiny dragonfly red is cruising along with no extra power, fueling these planars passably. My Hifiman edition S sound ok though the Fulla, but sound better with the dac-outs into a fiio e12. (and that is not a "great" amp either...) [and the edition S would sound ok plugged into a AlphaSmart, let's be real....)

I hope to get a response from Schiit soon- I have heard much better from them. I was hoping for a inexpensive in for a quasi-movable tablet rig.

 

[dr cornelius]

Anyone have experience with Grado RS2e and the Fulla 2?

I had a listen with the Rs2e’s. This is non-level matched listening between the Jot and the Fulla2 - the Jot is the better match for the RS2e - smoother treble and (the impression at least) of more low end which is a good thing for the RS2e, which can be lite on bass. Soundstage opens up with the Jot so more detail - the Fulla 2 sometimes sounds a little in-your-head... Again, these are un-scientific comparisons, I really should be using a switcher of some kind and level matching, etc...

 

[ShumDizzle]

Hi Folks!

I recently received my Fulla 2- and it is turning right around, and heading back to schiit (across the USA, the long way). I do not know (enlighten me?!) if this is usual, but the Fulla 2 distorts beyond usability with MrSpeakers AEON. Sounds bad- real bad- worse than stock amps built into any other audio devices I have. the amp distorts more on the right channel. ?!?! the dac is good, quite good, but the poor power management on USB scuffs that "win" too (gets weird even on a powered usb hub). In fact, when listening with both usb ports active, the amp would cut out completely with bass-heavy material. That is bad. (meanwhile) the tiny dragonfly red is cruising along with no extra power, fueling these planars passably. My Hifiman edition S sound ok though the Fulla, but sound better with the dac-outs into a fiio e12. (and that is not a "great" amp either...) [and the edition S would sound ok plugged into a AlphaSmart, let's be real....)

I hope to get a response from Schiit soon- I have heard much better from them. I was hoping for a inexpensive in for a quasi-movable tablet rig.

I also tried a Schiit Fulla 2 with my Aeons and found it severely lacking. I heard crackling/distortion with the volume knob at just 11 o'clock on some tracks, such as classical piano. The Fulla 2 was supposed to replace my Audioengine D1 and, distortion aside, the Fulla 2 sounded better than the D1, but the D1 could get much louder without audible distortion, so I sent the Fulla right back.

For my next attempt, I've decided to take a chance on the intriguing H2 MIYO (currently available on Massdrop) which will hopefully have both decent sound and power, though I'm not sure if it was purely a power issue or something else that makes for such a poor match between Fulla 2 and Aeon.

 

[SomeTechNoob]

Does anyone with a more recent Fulla 2 know if the QC issues that affected launch still occur?

e.g.
1. Static when adjusting volume
2. Crooked Knob
3. Channel imbalance
4. Tight USB ports(afaik this is fixed now)
etc

 

[mkozlows]

I also tried a Schiit Fulla 2 with my Aeons and found it severely lacking. I heard crackling/distortion with the volume knob at just 11 o'clock on some tracks, such as classical piano. ... I'm not sure if it was purely a power issue or something else that makes for such a poor match between Fulla 2 and Aeon.

That's very weird. I've been using a Fulla 2 with Aeon, and it works great. I've never encountered any kind of distortion or crackling with it. (Although I'm also boggling a bit at "just" 11:00 -- I usually listen around 9:00, and only a few very quiet tracks need to be cranked up as high as 11:00. So maybe I'm just not listening to things as loud as you're used to.)

My only complaint with the Fulla is that, at least with my phone (Nexus 6p), it draws power from the phone even when it's plugged into a wall charger. That makes it non-awesome for all-day listening at work.

 

[CoffeeCutie]

I also tried a Schiit Fulla 2 with my Aeons and found it severely lacking. I heard crackling/distortion with the volume knob at just 11 o'clock on some tracks, such as classical piano. The Fulla 2 was supposed to replace my Audioengine D1 and, distortion aside, the Fulla 2 sounded better than the D1, but the D1 could get much louder without audible distortion, so I sent the Fulla right back.

For my next attempt, I've decided to take a chance on the intriguing H2 MIYO (currently available on Massdrop) which will hopefully have both decent sound and power, though I'm not sure if it was purely a power issue or something else that makes for such a poor match between Fulla 2 and Aeon.

Yep, Just try (not my favorite track, but...) "Partition" by Beyonce past 11 o'clock or "Midnight" by Lianne La Havas . (Loud) These tracks both start with a relatively clean deep but over the top bass (808/909 esque and low electric bass guitar respectively)- Fulla 2 literally died on both songs when the bass drops. Like, crackle, pop, no sound at all.

 

[CoffeeCutie]

That's very weird. I've been using a Fulla 2 with Aeon, and it works great. I've never encountered any kind of distortion or crackling with it. (Although I'm also boggling a bit at "just" 11:00 -- I usually listen around 9:00, and only a few very quiet tracks need to be cranked up as high as 11:00. So maybe I'm just not listening to things as loud as you're used to.)

My only complaint with the Fulla is that, at least with my phone (Nexus 6p), it draws power from the phone even when it's plugged into a wall charger. That makes it non-awesome for all-day listening at work.

Wait a minute. Really?! I usually listen to jazz at "average" levels, and other stuff just a touch over (snarky puppy is "loud" enough for me on the AEON out of my iphone SE without maxing out... ...doesn't do an ounce of justice to the cans though) I need to investigate this further. Mine also distorts more on the right channel... ...and is packaged up with an RA. I really am not digging the 15% restock on a defective box...