Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up

[Odin412]

And, another recommendation: Saga and one Vidar are an amazing combo. That's what I'll be using.

I have the Saga and I really like it. It's a really good and well-made preamp, and for its price it's simply insane. Before buying the Saga I was really tempted by the Freya, which looks soo sexy with its four tubes - and who doesn't want a preamp named after the goddess of fertility? Anyway, reason prevailed and I'm glad it did. The Saga is wonderful and gives you the option to roll tubes to tweak the sound, should you so prefer. The Vidar sounded really good at LA Audio Show and it will be fun to hear it again when it's released.

 

[jimmers]

...I think everybody you know wants the Cane Toad around...

Not in Queensland

 

[Mike Foley]

Saga is a bargain, and is a genuine high performance pre-amp at budget hi-fi price. Using it with Mani has transformed vinyl playback, and digital music from CD and files is the best I've ever heard at home. Next piece of Schiit is either Modi multibit or standard Bifrost. Vidar after that.

 

[MASantos]

Let me change topic here for a bit, I'm sure someone may have asked the same thing but I won't be reading 2800 pages...

When can we expect a higher grade phono amplifier? There are various DACs and amps now and I'm sure you guys can come up with a higher perfermance phono stage? Maybe a tube or hybrid design?

 

[Flynehome]

In the run up to the LA Audio Show and at the show itself, I had the opportunity to run the Vidar into several speakers and at times played them louder than I would ever normally recommend. Power was never an issue.
Here are the ratings for sensitivity (rated at either 2.83V/1m or 1 watt/1 meter) and and minimum or average impedance for each speaker:

ELAC Debut F5 85.5 dB 5.8 ohms
Magneplanar .7 86 4 ohms
Emotiva AirMotiv B1 86 8 ohms
ELAC Debut B6 87 6 ohms
Tekton Lore 98 8 ohms
Tekton Double Impact 98.8 4 ohms

The Magneplaners were the most power hungry of the bunch, but we had no issue playing as loud as anyone would have wanted with the single Vidar. We did have someone from Magnepan check out our setup, as they wanted to be sure it was sounding good and that our choice of amplification was up to their standards. They were very impressed with how our display sounded.

We only caused the protection to kick in once, and that was when the volume control on the Freya inadvertently ended up all the way up (in tube mode) while I was switching some other things around. We had the Maggies hooked up, and when I started playing it took a couple tenths of a second at most for the protection circuit to shut the amp down. Restarting the amp was all that was needed, and the Maggies survived. I have three different 100 watt amps at home, and have never felt a need for more power with any speaker I have tried.

I

 

[Flynehome]

Your speaker choices are awesome! All really high performing speakers that are within the price range for most people. I have the ELAC F5's and are very pleased with them.

 

[Thouston]

Saga is a bargain, and is a genuine high performance pre-amp at budget hi-fi price. Using it with Mani has transformed vinyl playback, and digital music from CD and files is the best I've ever heard at home. Next piece of Schiit is either Modi multibit or standard Bifrost. Vidar after that.

Go with the multibit, especially if you like vinyl. After I bought a Gungnir Multibit, there is no way I would go back to delta-sigma.

 

[hornytoad]

Not in Queensland

I love to eat toad!

 

[MWSVette]

You are not the first to ask about a Saga or Freya level phone preamp.

However to date I do not recall reading anything about one being in the works...

 

[Mike Foley]

Go with the multibit, especially if you like vinyl. After I bought a Gungnir Multibit, there is no way I would go back to delta-sigma.

I am leaning towards the multibit, but maybe save up for a Bifrost multibit. I have a Marantz CD94, multibit DAC inside, which is in retirement, and whenever I do give it a whirl I'm always impressed by the sound. It doesn't always read discs, otherwise it would be my main player. If I can get a 21st century version of that sound then I'll be happy.

 

[US Blues]

You are not the first to ask about a Saga or Freya level phone preamp.

However to date I do not recall reading anything about one being in the works...

People have asked Baldr about it, and he has given it thought, but we've seen no info about whether he is cooking one up. Jason as hinted at a number of new products, who knows if they spring a high-end phono preamp on the world?

 

[Mike Foley]

Let me change topic here for a bit, I'm sure someone may have asked the same thing but I won't be reading 2800 pages...

When can we expect a higher grade phono amplifier? There are various DACs and amps now and I'm sure you guys can come up with a higher perfermance phono stage? Maybe a tube or hybrid design?

I'd buy one!

 

[Aaron Shi]

Let me change topic here for a bit, I'm sure someone may have asked the same thing but I won't be reading 2800 pages...

When can we expect a higher grade phono amplifier? There are various DACs and amps now and I'm sure you guys can come up with a higher perfermance phono stage? Maybe a tube or hybrid design?

I'd get one for my Marantz.

 

[Odin412]

I am leaning towards the multibit, but maybe save up for a Bifrost multibit. I have a Marantz CD94, multibit DAC inside, which is in retirement, and whenever I do give it a whirl I'm always impressed by the sound. It doesn't always read discs, otherwise it would be my main player. If I can get a 21st century version of that sound then I'll be happy.

I have the Bifrost Multibit for my headphone setup and the Modi Multibit for my speaker setup. The Bifrost sounds a little bit better and is upgradeable, but the Modi Multibit sounds great and is a really good deal at its price.

 

[captkirk]

I have the Bifrost Multibit for my headphone setup and the Modi Multibit for my speaker setup. The Bifrost sounds a little bit better and is upgradeable, but the Modi Multibit sounds great and is a really good deal at its price.

I'm running the same configuration, Bifrost MB for headphones and Modi MB for 2-channel. Aside from the Modi not capable of an upgrade (which only holds salt if an upgrade ever comes down the line for the Bimby), you can't knock the little guy for performance. It's stunning for the price.