Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up
Apr 7, 2019 at 7:18 AM Post #45,661 of 145,665
Paul McGowan, the co-founder of PS Audio, sends out a short email each day with some thoughts about audiophile, gear, music, etc. You can read them, and sign up to receive these musings on the PS Audio website. Today's post by Paul is pertinent to our on-going discussions here:

Cats and stereos

Cats have always loved our products. Not because they’re qualified listeners that appreciate the fine sounds PS products produce, but because of our equipment’s heat.

Cats love nothing more than to curl atop a warm metal box and bask in the glow of a south-facing window.

My first encounter with feline audiophiles came from our 200C power amplifier of the 1980s. This 200 watt per channel amp was the biggest we’d ever made: 200 watts per channel into 8Ω and double that into 4Ω. Solid copper bus bars connected power supplies directly to the output transistors for unimpeded flow. It was a technical tour de force of the state of the art in 1980 and broke with the tradition of external heat sinks by internalizing them instead.

Not many amps had internal heat sinks in those days but we liked the svelt look the simple box offered. To get rid of the heat we copied what worked for tube power amplifiers, a perforated metal top and bottom to promote air flow. While this worked well for cooling the power amp there were unintended consequences from our feline friends. They liked to vomit hairballs into the amplifier’s innards.

This tendency of cats relieving their digestive tracts into warm metallic boxes was unknown to me from my days of cats and tube amplifiers. My guess as to why the 200C was preferred is because the vacuum tube amps were probably a little too hot for tabby to get a decent snooze. Those glass envelope fire bottles are pinpoint hot if you’re right over them. The 200C, on the other hand, had even heat distributed in a democratic fashion across the entire 19″ surface.

Most of us know of the dangers of cat claws and grille cloths, but I’ll bet few among us have spent much time contemplating the joys of taking a 200C amplifier to the local car wash to hose out cat vomit. I can tell you from experience it’s something very special.

Yes, we have an entire subset of furred audiophile admirers still in our camp, but we’ve since moved on to solid metal top covers.
 
Apr 7, 2019 at 10:18 AM Post #45,663 of 145,665
Hello. 1st post but longtime lurker. Hopefully i can get some advice...

I have been looking at Schiit gear for a while and am very excited for the Rag2. However i would like to ask which setup might make better sense for me. I currently have Klipsch Forte III’s (very efficient speakers). I would not like to get into the full on tube amp world. Please give me your thoughts on...

- Ragnarok 2 or
- Aegir/Saga/schiit dac/schiit head amp/mani......with my current fortes

Thank you
 
Apr 7, 2019 at 10:25 AM Post #45,665 of 145,665
Hello. 1st post but longtime lurker. Hopefully i can get some advice...

I have been looking at Schiit gear for a while and am very excited for the Rag2. However i would like to ask which setup might make better sense for me. I currently have Klipsch Forte III’s (very efficient speakers). I would not like to get into the full on tube amp world. Please give me your thoughts on...

- Ragnarok 2 or
- Aegir/Saga/schiit dac/schiit head amp/mani......with my current fortes

Thank you

Welcome to the freakshow!

Honestly either one would work fine, it just depends on what your needs are.
If you want all in one Rag 2 is a no brainer. However if you want a higher end DAC then the Aegir route would be the best way to go IMHO...
 
Apr 7, 2019 at 12:42 PM Post #45,667 of 145,665
Apr 7, 2019 at 12:44 PM Post #45,668 of 145,665
Hello. 1st post but longtime lurker. Hopefully i can get some advice...

I have been looking at Schiit gear for a while and am very excited for the Rag2. However i would like to ask which setup might make better sense for me. I currently have Klipsch Forte III’s (very efficient speakers). I would not like to get into the full on tube amp world. Please give me your thoughts on...

- Ragnarok 2 or
- Aegir/Saga/schiit dac/schiit head amp/mani......with my current fortes

Thank you
Welcome to the thread, @bdemz (the shadows are where the interesting lurkers hover [and that's one reason I watch my Ps & Qs online]). May I ask a question: do you prefer having a bunch of smaller, brushed aluminum boxes (Modi/Gungnir/Asgard/...) or a single, do-it-all monolith (Rag...)? I like the adult-version of audio-LEGO and mixing-and-matching. And tinkering, oh lord, my lady-love can attest to THAT.
 
Apr 7, 2019 at 12:56 PM Post #45,669 of 145,665
Hello. 1st post but longtime lurker. Hopefully i can get some advice...

I have been looking at Schiit gear for a while and am very excited for the Rag2. However i would like to ask which setup might make better sense for me. I currently have Klipsch Forte III’s (very efficient speakers). I would not like to get into the full on tube amp world. Please give me your thoughts on...

- Ragnarok 2 or
- Aegir/Saga/schiit dac/schiit head amp/mani......with my current fortes

Thank you

Welcome to the asylum. The multibit DAC or your choice > Saga > Aegir will make your Forte's sing.
 
Apr 7, 2019 at 1:20 PM Post #45,670 of 145,665
A question about Magni 3. On the Verum Audio Kickstarter page (planar headphones built by a Head-Fier) a poster has a 5 db channel imbalance using a Magni 3. Other headphones are perfectly centered on the Magni. The Verum 8 Ohm headphones are perfectly centered on other systems. The designer posted that he had already encountered this with another Magni. He recommended using an impedance jack to solve the mismatch.

Hadn't heard of this before. What is going on? Does the Magni not like 8 ohm headphones? Just curious, trying to learn more about how all this works. Thanks.
 
Apr 7, 2019 at 2:17 PM Post #45,672 of 145,665
Hello. 1st post but longtime lurker. Hopefully i can get some advice...

I have been looking at Schiit gear for a while and am very excited for the Rag2. However i would like to ask which setup might make better sense for me. I currently have Klipsch Forte III’s (very efficient speakers). I would not like to get into the full on tube amp world. Please give me your thoughts on...

- Ragnarok 2 or
- Aegir/Saga/schiit dac/schiit head amp/mani......with my current fortes

Thank you

I would recommend the Aegir/Saga/Schiit DAC route - more options to change/upgrade later. (And the joys of tube rolling, too!)
 
Apr 7, 2019 at 2:30 PM Post #45,673 of 145,665
Dogs better than cats or vise versa?
How stupid can we be?
Dogs are better than humans. That's for sure.

When you have both of them and over the years are able to witness all the awesome, adorable and hilarious interactions between them is when you realize how imbecile is this Dogs vs Cats conversation.
 
Apr 7, 2019 at 4:14 PM Post #45,674 of 145,665
A question about Magni 3. On the Verum Audio Kickstarter page (planar headphones built by a Head-Fier) a poster has a 5 db channel imbalance using a Magni 3. Other headphones are perfectly centered on the Magni. The Verum 8 Ohm headphones are perfectly centered on other systems. The designer posted that he had already encountered this with another Magni. He recommended using an impedance jack to solve the mismatch.

Hadn't heard of this before. What is going on? Does the Magni not like 8 ohm headphones? Just curious, trying to learn more about how all this works. Thanks.
The same thread (I assume) also has someone raving about the sound connected to a modi/magni combo. YMMV.
 
Apr 7, 2019 at 4:14 PM Post #45,675 of 145,665
A question about Magni 3. On the Verum Audio Kickstarter page (planar headphones built by a Head-Fier) a poster has a 5 db channel imbalance using a Magni 3. Other headphones are perfectly centered on the Magni. The Verum 8 Ohm headphones are perfectly centered on other systems. The designer posted that he had already encountered this with another Magni. He recommended using an impedance jack to solve the mismatch.

Hadn't heard of this before. What is going on? Does the Magni not like 8 ohm headphones? Just curious, trying to learn more about how all this works. Thanks.
What is an "impedance jack"?
 

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