[sublime9]

That is a good point, it is pretty obvious when they are on. Coming out of China, allow about six weeks for delivery and luckily I have an extra set laying around if your pc board is not marked well. I did a complete wiring on the ones on the turntable in about 15 minutes, hopefully you have a hole saw for metal, that will be your biggest task along with any other cutouts you have to make. I like symmetry and being a Gemini I tend to do things in twos anyway, those meters with dual Alps pots and knobs off Fender guitar.

That is a cool little amp. Or pre-amp. Is that carbon fiber?

 

[Paladin79]

Headphone amp with preamp out, OTL.

Carbon fiber and eventually piano finish on case.

If you get ready to build just PM me and I will walk you through some of it if you run into issues. The fact you have that power supply module will help a bit.

 

[johnjen]

My 2¢, what being a long term Rok owner.

In my mind The Rok is still a statement amplifier and statements usually improve as refinements and ‘better’ comes along.

And we all know that refinements are what keep us all ‘in the hunt’ so to speak, even if it’s only to know about what is ‘better’.

But this news of a possible/probable replacement of The Rok amp* is good news for me in that it will free up my Rok for some tweaks that will not just break the warranty, but will send it in to apoplexy, and in no uncertain terms.

I’ve already posted about what wish list items I’d like to see for a Rok v.2
But let me reiterate my desire for a visual indication of which outputs are active.
There have been countless times I have had to step thru the output control cycle just to verify I’ve only got the HP’s cranked and I’m not rock’n the house at 3:30am.

And if the new designs are that much more refined and all the more musical, then my curiosity based tweaker plans will be given free reign on my trusty’ol Rok.

As for the feature set of v.2 I think adding just a scosche more power would be nice, just for those speakers that aren’t as efficient.
Even in a near field setup, sometimes I want to crank it up and fill the room, and having 85+watts (8Ω) would be my suggestion.

And if the SE HP output could match the SQ of the balanced output (no summers) that could be useful, along with more 4 pin xlr output connections.

As for the form factor, it’s not all that critical to me as I’ll accommodate what ever size and weight is involved.

I guess in the end, for me, The Rok v.2, is a temptation I dare not resist.
And I am very interested in comparing both versions (my modded v.1 to the stock v.2) to each other.

JJ


* I base this upon the facts that, #1 this is your statement amp, and #2 this is the 3rd attempt at updating it, and even if this design is schiitcanned, see #1, which means there will be a 4th attempt.

 

[ScubaMan2017]

Man, it sucks to hear that about FedEx.
At least in TN, we get 1/2-way decent service from FedEx.
Most things delivered by UPS are damaged by their reckless handling.

I noticed the absence of FedEx when I ordered my Loki & SYS tonight. The USPS option was cheaper for me (here in Ontario). UPS was going to hose me for ~$130-150. No. Just no.

 

[cizx]

So when Ragnarok comes back in stock and starts shipping June 3, it will be the old version, right?

 

[ScubaMan2017]

That's terrible news for us Canadians. UPS is the worst way to ship across the border. I've paid UPS $80 in brokerage fees and tax for a $120 item. Fedex charges $10 for brokerage fees, plus applicable taxes, which isn't bad. USPS is usually just tax (if they remember to charge it). But Fedex was cheaper than USPS in many cases for shipping Schiit, and way faster. Hopefully you can get Fedex sorted out.

We get hosed at the border & for shipping. Meh.

 

[gld3gld3]

Quick thoughts on the ~18W VidAr. I think you have to build it, revise it, massage it, tear it down, blow it up out back, see if it blends, anvil fire it. Caveat is... it has to sound *AMAZING* and absolutely *BLOW* away the high power Vidar, else what's the point. That will be the clear distinction/simplification/non-confusion... It'll need to be the little gem to get, and spread by word of mouth. The documentation/FAQ/Full Page AD can be: This will NOT power every speaker on the planet.

I don't want an antiquated M22 (speaker terminals on the front, corroded and in need of caps), an expensive firstwatt with unobtainioum JFETS– that Mr. Pass bought out the full inventory of, or an alibaba knock off classA krell etc. ;D

...color the sub chassis (the darker grey part) maroon ;D to physically tell the difference

I agree. This little watt amp would have to be something special SQ-wise. I can just as easily use a Vidar with my 95db sensitive speakers, which are rated to 200w power handling and call it good. What I want is to be able to take advantage of a better amp design by virtue of having these sensitive speakers. Class A, fleawatt amps seem like the ticket. I'd be floored if Schiit made one that performed close to the other competitors in this arena, because I know they would likely hit a price point I could afford!

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

So when Ragnarok comes back in stock and starts shipping June 3, it will be the old version, right?

Yes, only they will be yellow.

 

[garbulky]

It's not sliding bias. Review the Lyr 3 chapter, and the links regarding constant transconductance output stages.

And no, it wouldn't be called "Class A." It would be called a Continuity™ amp. We'd specify how much Class A bias the amp has. If it ever comes to pass.

I think that's very fair. My mistake, I meant to say high bias not sliding bias. An aside, I think my current amp actually has both. It's high bias but also slides the bias in case of overheating. Looking forward to your amp. I am a fan of class A in whatever form it comes in. I think there is a subtle difference in the sound that's worth it. An amp that's compact like this would be quite nice for my bedroom system I am considering building. Pair it say with a Thiel 1.6 or an airmotiv t1 and I bet it would sound quite nice.

 

[ScubaMan2017]

Yes, only they will be yellow.

...with RGB lighting.

 

[PolarBehr]

2018, Chapter 6:
Amplifying the Future. Maybe.


Yep, I know, I’m monumentally late at getting the coaster amp chapter done. Which is pretty hilarious when we already have the coasters in stock. So yes, I should knuckle down and get the chapter done. But I won’t. Not this week.

...


Maybe #2: let’s talk going low, or Captain Obvious strikes again.

Remember that 25W Class A amp in a Vidar chassis I mentioned in a previous chapter? Yeah, we’re playing with that. Take the Lyr 3’s Continuity™ constant-transconductance output stage, scale it up, bias it wayyyy up, and you might have a pretty neat product, right?

Well, except for one thing. It’d really be more like a 20W Class A amp, or else it gets too hot. How excited would you be about a 20W Class A amp?

Wait. Before you answer, let’s break that down:

• 20W real honest Class A per channel into 8 ohms
• 40W into 4 ohms, falling out* of Class A
• 80W mono into 8 ohms, again falling out* of Class A

*Rather than “falling out of Class A,” a better term may be “transitioning to the Continuity™ constant-transconductance region.” This is, after all, the whole point of the Continuity output stage—it seeks to keep the output stage operating in the gm-doubled region, even when out of Class A. Is it perfect? No, of course not. But it blurs the line between Class A and Class-AB amps, at least in my opinion.**

**Of course, many people think I am crazy. Or incompetent.​

Still, that’s a big, hot, heavy 20W amp. Think 50 degrees C heatsink temperatures in a 20 degree C room. And it’s only 20 watts.

On one hand, I really like the idea of going with a low-power amp. It’s the exact opposite of what most people expect us to do—most expect us to go into welding-class amps next, but I’m not convinced that’s the right direction for us…an may be something we simply don’t need to do.

On the other hand, 20 watts.

Jeez, that’s small.

How do you explain to someone that a 20W amp costs more than your 100W amp? Even though it’s in the same basic packaging, differences in the chassis and feature set would put if about $100 more than a Vidar.

Aside: “feature set” differences are mainly a planned front-mounted button for output stage shutdown, so you can press a button and have the amp go into a low-power standby mode, where it burns very little power (probably less than 10W). But this hasn’t been fully tested. It might work. It might not.​

Am I being too sensitive to the low-power issue?

Would we be better off rating it at 25W/50W/100W (8 ohms, 4 ohms, mono), and specifying a lower class A bias (like, 15W into 8 ohms Class A—the total bias has to come down, because the rails get larger.)

Or would we be better off not doing it at all? Is it too much confusion in the line?

What say you?

...

Jason- thanks for the chapter! A interesting read as usual.

Since you asked my vote is for the high biased 20 Watt Class A amp (80 Watts Mono).

I will be very interested in getting these. It makes it easy see why I would pick this over the Vidar (class A over AB).

A 25 Watt Continuity (15 Watt Class A?) is harder for me to understand why this would be better than the 100 Watt Vidar.

 

[alpovs]

And, as further proof that life is never dull, it looks like our FedEx account got hijacked and used for a whole lot of third-party shipments (something we don't do), and, as a result, has been shut down.

Like, shut down. No warning, no calls, no "hey, why are you guys sending all these wacky packages everywhere all of a sudden," they just sat on their asses for 3 weeks and let it happen, then shut us down. Again, without notification. This is a company that has no problem calling us when they think we're asking for too many envelopes or shipper pouches. Buttheads.

So, if you see UPS up on the site for a while, that's the reason why. We'll see if FedEx comes back or not.

Sorry to derail us further; I'm still interested in amplifier plan feedback, but the FedEx thing is something that will be causing Alex some pain in the near-term.

I have a FedEx account I rarely use. I set it up with a unique email address based on my personal domain name. I never used this email for anything else. About a month ago I received spam to it. I think there was a breach at FedEx. I expect to hear about it in the news soon.

 

[alpovs]

I must be old. I've made a crystal radio.

Students still make them in physics labs.

Interesting to think that we may not have analog radio broadcasts for much longer. TV is all digital now—old TVs receive nothing.

Analog broadcasts will stay for a while for mission critical purposes like weather announcements, navigation communications etc. where stable signal required for digital cannot be guarantied.

 

[Rensek]

For all of you Canadians out there, look to use a parcel service. US shipping rates to a US location near/at the US/CA border. You order the goods & pay the parcel service to receive them for you ($5 in my area), and then you either pick them up in the US or you pay a little bit more for a local courier to run them into Canada and put them into domestic shipping.

I'm a licensed US customs broker, and I've noticed one of our larger accounts has started using Purolator/UPS more often instead of FedEx Ground like they usually do. Probably something going on company wide. It's ok with me, UPS is superior in many areas (but not perfect).

 

[dieslemat]

Ragnarok v2 and Vidar class A - the big question on my mind is which one will come out first.

All the talk about Class A made me curious about Class A. As a newbie I have totally no clue. That's the problem I created for myself when I was choosing which Schiit product to get. So many options for me and I just told my wallet: F it! i'll just get the higher models (Ragnarok and Mjolnir 2) and be done with it.

Now I'm using Ragnarok mainly for 2 channel. But when I heard tubes (for the first time) in Mjolnir 2 I was very impressed and wished that I can get Freya + Vidar. but with this Vidar class A in the works maybe I will wait for that.