[Jason Stoddard]

Hey all,

Hopefully I'll see some of you at Axpona in a few days. I'll be in on Friday and Saturday (and Sunday morning for a bit). We'll have two areas, one for headphones and a speaker room. I expect I'll be bouncing around between the two areas. Sorry, nothing new to announce, though we are very close on a lot of kit. We will have Sol, Aegir, and Ragnarok 2 on hand, though.

In other news, the Schiitrmeet last Friday was very cool. We had our first piece of non-Schiit gear, a hand-built tube amp by Jeb DePaiva of DePaiva Audioworks. We A-Bed his amp against Ragnarok 1, then against Aegir and Freya, all on Magnepan 1.7s. To cut to the chase: it slaughtered Ragnarok 1, but Aegir and Freya got a lot closer. In the end, we were trading detail for harmonic richness with Aegir and Freya, but I think that everyone agreed that both options produced really good sound. If the custom amp's output transformers had been tapped for 4 ohms, maybe it would have pulled even with detail and retained the richness.

In any case, it was a convincing demo of how all-tube, transformer-coupled amps are a great listen. An interesting technical detail in Jeb's amp included a Compactron tube on the input, which is something I've considered in the past as NOS tubes continue to get more scarce, since Compactrons were some of the latest tubes produced, some had amazing performance, and most are available in large quantities and quite affordable even today.



I'm looking forward to hearing other gear—definitely bring both speaker and headphone gear and we'll do some A-Bing. In the meantime, definitely hit Jeb up if you're looking for something custom!

Now, back to the real work. There's a ton of stuff still to do....

All the best,
Jason

 

[judson_w]

Cool that someone finally brought in their own stuff for comparisons. If I were closer, I would maybe try to bring in my integrated or something.

 

[claybomb]

@Jason Stoddard
Any thoughts on 3-D printed PCBs with embedded parts (https://www.nano-di.com/)? I know you posted a bit about your 3-D printing adventures a while back. I've also noticed your adoption of more and more SMD parts from the evolution of Rag 1 to Rag 2. As always, thanks for your time.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

It's extremely nice technology but, alas, still very expensive.

 

[Leopold Nenning]

Design and implementation of the circuitry have a sound.

Class A amplifiers typically have a “family” similar sound that is different from class AB.

Tube amplifiers typically have a different ‘family” sound than solid state.

MOSFET amplifiers typically have a different “family” sound than BJTs.

Do all class A amps sound the same - no.

Not all tube amps sound the same, just like not all MOSFET amplifiers sound the same. —- BUT —-

If you know you typically favour tube sound over solid state, MOSFET over BJT, or class A over AB, it can help you narrow down what amps to consider buying.

In my area I do not have the opportunity to listen to a lot of different amps before purchasing. I do not have the budget to keep buying and trying different amps until I find the one I like best right now.

I typically like class A sound over class AB, but not the budget for class A. I typically prefer solid state over tube.

A pair of Aegir’s are on my list to purchase (with the 15 day trial) when the funds become available even if I haven’t heard Continuity yet or heard reviews or opinions yet. Yes I will still be watching for Aegir opinions and reviews as well as other amps while I wait to save the disposable income for the amp purchase.

Jason in a previous post had said he was using BJTs in Aegir but it might have changed.

All amplifiers have a sound. The better ones more or less disappear. We listen to sound (voices, noise, instruments, etc.) propagated in air, so to electrically approach that is the goal.

 

[Ableza]

Compactrons? Wow, shades of my dad's TV repair shop circa 1965... I guess everything old really is new again.

 

[PolarBehr]

All amplifiers have a sound. The better ones more or less disappear. We listen to sound (voices, noise, instruments, etc.) propagated in air, so to electrically approach that is the goal.

Nobel goal having the equipment disappear and having it sound like a live performance in your listening room!

I have just never hear a reproduction system that comes close enough I would say it disappears regardless of the price, particularly for all the different types of music I listen to.

Never heard a recording that sounds as good as a live orchestra, piano or organ.

Rarely hear a rock recording that sounds as bad as a live concert (from a sound quality perspective, the live show experience is another mater).

Certainly I’m looking for a system that sounds the most natural to me for most of the music I listen to at a price I can afford, but to expect the system is going to disappear is a goal I have given up at my budget level.

As Jason said we all hear differently, so what would disappear for me may sound horrible and artificial to others.

Long winded post to say I hear differences in amps, I have preferences in which ones I like and I would not say I have heard one that disappears.

 

[Leopold Nenning]

Nobel goal having the equipment disappear and having it sound like a live performance in your listening room!

I have just never hear a reproduction system that comes close enough I would say it disappears regardless of the price, particularly for all the different types of music I listen to.

Never heard a recording that sounds as good as a live orchestra, piano or organ.

Rarely hear a rock recording that sounds as bad a a live concert (from a sound quality perspective, the live show experience is another mater).

Certainly I’m looking for a system that sounds the most natural to me for most of the music I listen to at a price I can afford, but to expect the system is going to disappear is a goal I have given up at my budget level.

As Jason said we all hear differently, so what would disappear for me may sound horrible and artificial to others.

Long winded post to say I hear differences in amps, I have preferences in which ones I like and I would not say I have heard one that disappears.

I should mention that I (hopefully correctly) paraphrased N. Pass when I was talking about air. I should also mention that the goal for electrical reproduction if music can only be to make recorded music sound like recorded music. The emphasis being on music, not the futile attempt to recreate a live performance (as bad or as good as it may be.) Ain't gonna happen.

 

[Leopold Nenning]

Compactrons? Wow, shades of my dad's TV repair shop circa 1965... I guess everything old really is new again.

Hey all,

Hopefully I'll see some of you at Axpona in a few days. I'll be in on Friday and Saturday (and Sunday morning for a bit). We'll have two areas, one for headphones and a speaker room. I expect I'll be bouncing around between the two areas. Sorry, nothing new to announce, though we are very close on a lot of kit. We will have Sol, Aegir, and Ragnarok 2 on hand, though.

In other news, the Schiitrmeet last Friday was very cool. We had our first piece of non-Schiit gear, a hand-built tube amp by Jeb DePaiva of DePaiva Audioworks. We A-Bed his amp against Ragnarok 1, then against Aegir and Freya, all on Magnepan 1.7s. To cut to the chase: it slaughtered Ragnarok 1, but Aegir and Freya got a lot closer. In the end, we were trading detail for harmonic richness with Aegir and Freya, but I think that everyone agreed that both options produced really good sound. If the custom amp's output transformers had been tapped for 4 ohms, maybe it would have pulled even with detail and retained the richness.

In any case, it was a convincing demo of how all-tube, transformer-coupled amps are a great listen. An interesting technical detail in Jeb's amp included a Compactron tube on the input, which is something I've considered in the past as NOS tubes continue to get more scarce, since Compactrons were some of the latest tubes produced, some had amazing performance, and most are available in large quantities and quite affordable even today.



I'm looking forward to hearing other gear—definitely bring both speaker and headphone gear and we'll do some A-Bing. In the meantime, definitely hit Jeb up if you're looking for something custom!

Now, back to the real work. There's a ton of stuff still to do....

All the best,
Jason

 

[earnmyturns]

If I digested what I read on Schiits website correctly, with Aegir, Class A-like performance has been achieved, outside actual Class A operation. So Continuity™ would seem another biasing method.

Does it also introduce another mode of operation (as in single-ended or push-pull)? Aegir seems to have at least two complementary gain stages. Which to my understanding typically would indicate push-pull operation. Unless Continuity™ is a hybrid class topology operating as a single-ended Class A until it reaches a certain set current, beyond which it continues as a push-pull circuit?

Of what type are the gain devices? Bipolar, MOSFET, JFET, LOWFAT? MOSFET are not specifically mentioned anywhere in the Aegir literature, unless I missed it. Transconductance droop in MOSFET however, is very specifically discussed by Bob R. Cordell. Makes me wonder …

Finally, how many of those gain devices are used?

Continuity is discussed in more detail here, and there's also an earlier discussion from when Lyr 3 was introduced. Forum search can be your friend.

 

[golfbravobravo]

Nobel goal having the equipment disappear and having it sound like a live performance in your listening room!

SNIP

You can probably get a prize for that!!!

 

[castleofargh]

I should mention that I (hopefully correctly) paraphrased N. Pass when I was talking about air. I should also mention that the goal for electrical reproduction if music can only be to make recorded music sound like recorded music. The emphasis being on music, not the futile attempt to recreate a live performance (as bad or as good as it may be.) Ain't gonna happen.

i's not going to happen because people are missing the key parts of the experience, the inconvenience!
I want a playback system that starts playing on a fixed schedule decided by a robot months before the event and refuses to play for me if I come at the last moment. a sound system that gets me checking for my 100$ tickets 3 times before leaving and driving an hours(including 45mn to find a parking space). and when the music does finally start, I want it to be consistently too loud for my taste with no way to turn it down. that's what we need for a realistic musical experience, context!
I have a project for augmented reality called "going home after the concert", it would be one of those 3D treadmills with VR googles where you have to walk in the crowd on your way out, and depending on the popularity of the band, it would take more or less time and could include dummies pushing you from all sides while you can't go forward. just to recreate those people who expect to get out faster if they push, thanks to Newton's third law of human compression. the second part would involve finding your way back to your car at night while your virtual friends keep shouting about the event in an immersive Atmos format, and that despite how you'd love to have silence and just be in the zone for a little while longer after the concert.
I haven't yet done the market research, but who wouldn't buy such a realistic system? I'm going to be super rich.

 

[ScubaMan2017]

My first piece of Schiit was a Modi Multibit so I guess I am spoiled not knowing the inferior products I could have started with.

Same. No regrets. I just assume all DACs sound like my Modi Multibit.

 

[ScubaMan2017]

Compactrons? Wow, shades of my dad's TV repair shop circa 1965... I guess everything old really is new again.

I had to look it up. What a squat, INTERESTING piece of glass. Source: Image by John Rehwinke (author's link), posted February, 2006.

 

[AudioGal]

I had to look it up. What a squat, INTERESTING piece of glass. Source: Image by John Rehwinke (author's link), posted February, 2006.

Compactrons - the vacuum tube era's idea of what an integrated circuit would look like.