[Rensek]

@Jason Stoddard I think I know the answer, but has Schiit ever considered an HDMI ARC input on something like the Ragnarok 2? Seems a little esoteric, but a Rag 2 with a multibit DAC and HDMI ARC input would be a game-changer for me.

I realize there are many cheap external devices that could accomplish what I'm suggesting. However, I suspect many of us would choose HDMI over a phono input to easily integrate an integrated amp into a mixed use audio/visual system with minimal cords/power supplies/dongles etc...

I know there is a subset of the gaming crowd that has been asking for an optical card that fits in Lyr 3, Jotunheim, Asgard 3, and Ragnarok 2.

Im hoping that such a card is in development... would be really nice to see an 4490 or 4493 optical card, even if it wasnt discrete. Would be a nice tree branch off Modius. Plus it would likely shut up the objective crowds that complain about noise they cant hear on the current discrete usb cards.

 

[earnmyturns]

A problem we have in the US is that in most locations, there is usually only one provider for broadband internet, which is typically a conglomerate such as Comcast or AT&T whose goal is to maximize profit. As the only local provider, they operate as a monopoly with no competition and able to extort customers for maximum revenue, and they have little incentive to improve service or lower prices. These large corporations lobby politicians to minimize consumer protection and pushed some states to enact laws that ban local communities from creating their own municipal internet service.

Even worse... The 1996 Telecom Act (thanks Al Gore!) required owners of the "last mile" (twisted pair/coax/fiber going to your home) to make it available in don-discriminatory terms to competing ISPs ("unbundled network elements" & all that). But the last mile owners (incumbent cable and telephone companies) went to Federal court and eventually prevailed in the Supreme Court to basically gut the act. In addition, many (most?) municipalities had given exclusive rights-of-way to incumbents to run wires to residences on utility poles (I'm simplifying a bit), which prevented competitors from running their own wires. In addition to the addition, even if a competitor could get rights to run their own wires, it turns out that the cost of running a new wire is much higher than the cost of "lashing" a new wire to an old one you already own. And there's more, like when some competitor wires in the Tristate area kept being nibbled by squirrels, and it turned out that the incumbent's technicians were smearing the new cables with peanut butter. Or when the phone incumbent in NJ asked their middle managers to run for seats on their town planning commissions so that they could get intelligence of, and try to block, competitor applications to run their own wires. I could go on...The EU, in contrast, forced the state telecom monopolies in different member countries to open their networks to competitors, resulting in very healthy competition, innovation, and low prices. So much for "competitive USA"...

 

[earnmyturns]

Now for a supremely on-topic question: I'm looking for recommendations for a new 2-channel system for a different place where we'll be spending considerable time. I don't have the exact dimensions handy yet, but it has vaulted ceiling, around 20 x 15 ft, complex geometry, mainly wood, plaster, and glass. Until we get a serious backup power system (which may be quite a while), there are potential unexpected power interruptions, and for safety we will be turning everything off when we are not there. Budget is flexible, but for various logistical reasons it should be a system that I can easily put together with reasonable quality, rather than a dealer-supplied fancy system like my big Linn system at home. For esthetic reasons, big tower speakers are not a good fit. So what I'm thinking about are some nice, relatively flat response high-efficiency stand-mounted smaller enclosures with compatible amplification (maybe Aegir(s)?). I may end up caving in to expensive convenience (some fancy Euro integrated...), but it would be fun to try an all-Schiit setup -- except that the Schiit multibit DACs I love sound a bit thin when cold, and I'd like to come back into the place, turn things on, and be listening to delightful music soon after. Puzzles, puzzles... Any ideas appreciated.

 

[Rensek]

Now for a supremely on-topic question: I'm looking for recommendations for a new 2-channel system for a different place where we'll be spending considerable time. I don't have the exact dimensions handy yet, but it has vaulted ceiling, around 20 x 15 ft, complex geometry, mainly wood, plaster, and glass. Until we get a serious backup power system (which may be quite a while), there are potential unexpected power interruptions, and for safety we will be turning everything off when we are not there. Budget is flexible, but for various logistical reasons it should be a system that I can easily put together with reasonable quality, rather than a dealer-supplied fancy system like my big Linn system at home. For esthetic reasons, big tower speakers are not a good fit. So what I'm thinking about are some nice, relatively flat response high-efficiency stand-mounted smaller enclosures with compatible amplification (maybe Aegir(s)?). I may end up caving in to expensive convenience (some fancy Euro integrated...), but it would be fun to try an all-Schiit setup -- except that the Schiit multibit DACs I love sound a bit thin when cold, and I'd like to come back into the place, turn things on, and be listening to delightful music soon after. Puzzles, puzzles... Any ideas appreciated.

Get a solar power or wind power generator with storage , and have it linked to the web via cellular signal (or satellite).

Then one day to two weeks before arrive you can turn your schiitty DAC on..

 

[Ableza]

Now for a supremely on-topic question: I'm looking for recommendations for a new 2-channel system for a different place where we'll be spending considerable time. I don't have the exact dimensions handy yet, but it has vaulted ceiling, around 20 x 15 ft, complex geometry, mainly wood, plaster, and glass. Until we get a serious backup power system (which may be quite a while), there are potential unexpected power interruptions, and for safety we will be turning everything off when we are not there. Budget is flexible, but for various logistical reasons it should be a system that I can easily put together with reasonable quality, rather than a dealer-supplied fancy system like my big Linn system at home. For esthetic reasons, big tower speakers are not a good fit. So what I'm thinking about are some nice, relatively flat response high-efficiency stand-mounted smaller enclosures with compatible amplification (maybe Aegir(s)?). I may end up caving in to expensive convenience (some fancy Euro integrated...), but it would be fun to try an all-Schiit setup -- except that the Schiit multibit DACs I love sound a bit thin when cold, and I'd like to come back into the place, turn things on, and be listening to delightful music soon after. Puzzles, puzzles... Any ideas appreciated.

SVS Ultra bookshelf monitors with Aegirs.

 

[Jnan]

Is this asked and answered already? Can we drive both Aegir and Vidar using Freya+ in bi-amp mode?

 

[tromba]

Jason said: Are there more than 17 disks in that format? Asking seriously. But no, I wouldn't expect it would support any disk playing other than CD.

Well I have 94 SACD disks, so that's important to me.....

 

[tincanear]

SVS Ultra bookshelf monitors with Aegirs.

how about Rag 2 with on-board D/S dac module, instead of Freya+ / Aegirs ?

 

[earnmyturns]

Get a solar power or wind power generator with storage , and have it linked to the web via cellular signal (or satellite).

Then one day to two weeks before arrive you can turn your schiitty DAC on..

We may well get solar with storage eventually to supplement the grid, but it will take time. We'll have very good internet, actually (co-op fiber). I'm a bit reluctant to have my home network accessible from the outside...

 

[rkw]

Now for a supremely on-topic question: I'm looking for recommendations for a new 2-channel system for a different place where we'll be spending considerable time. I don't have the exact dimensions handy yet, but it has vaulted ceiling, around 20 x 15 ft, complex geometry, mainly wood, plaster, and glass. Until we get a serious backup power system (which may be quite a while), there are potential unexpected power interruptions, and for safety we will be turning everything off when we are not there. Budget is flexible, but for various logistical reasons it should be a system that I can easily put together with reasonable quality, rather than a dealer-supplied fancy system like my big Linn system at home. For esthetic reasons, big tower speakers are not a good fit. So what I'm thinking about are some nice, relatively flat response high-efficiency stand-mounted smaller enclosures with compatible amplification (maybe Aegir(s)?). I may end up caving in to expensive convenience (some fancy Euro integrated...), but it would be fun to try an all-Schiit setup -- except that the Schiit multibit DACs I love sound a bit thin when cold, and I'd like to come back into the place, turn things on, and be listening to delightful music soon after. Puzzles, puzzles... Any ideas appreciated.

For speakers, check the "Bookshelf / standmount speaker impressions" thread on the other forum that you're a member. Concerning Schiit multibit DACs, my understanding is that Bifrost 2 doesn't have the long warm up of Gumby and Yggy (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[tincanear]

@earnmyturns re your "mini" system: speaker amps (like Ragnarok 2) that have microprocessor controlled operating points / biasing should have shorter warm-up times than conventional designs.

 

[Timster]

Life is too short to drink cheap beer (or whiskey or coffee.)

I like this comment ... as I sit here supping on a La Trappe Quadrupel from Netherlands.

 

[Rensek]

Is this asked and answered already? Can we drive both Aegir and Vidar using Freya+ in bi-amp mode?

you can... but the amps are different gain... volume matching would be very problematic.

 

[wout31]

Jason said: Are there more than 17 disks in that format? Asking seriously. But no, I wouldn't expect it would support any disk playing other than CD.
Well I have 94 SACD disks, so that's important to me.....

Maybe another question to get it more clear. How many of these disks are recorded, mixed and mastered without being converted to PCM in the process and are not analogue sources to begin with? Most likely zero. So in that case DSD is just another means of presenting it to the public.
Just like any other forms of storage (disc, tape, PCM etc.) it has it's pros and cons. If you like it great, but Mike doesn't and probably for a good reason. That might be the difficulty of treating it well, making it sound good, make it affordable, design a good filter or maybe one or more of many other reasons.
Only very recently full DSD recording, mixing and mastering is available and indeed very little titles of that variation exist.

 

[Derrick Swart]

Now for a supremely on-topic question: I'm looking for recommendations for a new 2-channel system for a different place where we'll be spending considerable time. I don't have the exact dimensions handy yet, but it has vaulted ceiling, around 20 x 15 ft, complex geometry, mainly wood, plaster, and glass. Until we get a serious backup power system (which may be quite a while), there are potential unexpected power interruptions, and for safety we will be turning everything off when we are not there. Budget is flexible, but for various logistical reasons it should be a system that I can easily put together with reasonable quality, rather than a dealer-supplied fancy system like my big Linn system at home. For esthetic reasons, big tower speakers are not a good fit. So what I'm thinking about are some nice, relatively flat response high-efficiency stand-mounted smaller enclosures with compatible amplification (maybe Aegir(s)?). I may end up caving in to expensive convenience (some fancy Euro integrated...), but it would be fun to try an all-Schiit setup -- except that the Schiit multibit DACs I love sound a bit thin when cold, and I'd like to come back into the place, turn things on, and be listening to delightful music soon after. Puzzles, puzzles... Any ideas appreciated.

i am waiting for these to put next to our small TV. ETA is beginning 2021.
https://reaxt.com/#technical