[wout31]

It can be frustrating but I under stand. Decades ago I stopped watching all sports because I think they are over paid, over aged "children". Am I jealous? Not really. I only liked a couple of team sports and I just decided that in '72 (?) when baseball went on strike I would stop watching/listening. Now I thoroughly despise all "sports" and their "athletes". I can not divorce the reality of primadonnas from the event being played and so I do not watch. Not even the Olympics.

It is my choice and I do not interrupt others in their homes or public venues from "enjoying" that stuff. In my home, I would sooner snap the TV in half than watch any sports, especially foot ball (U.S. version).

ORT

I have that same feeling with extremely high priced so called high end audio advertised with marketing phrases that make my hair raise and supported by "reviews" that is just a repeat of that same marketing babble.

 

[OldRoadToad]

Yup. Now double up the cost of labor (to employ only non-illegals) on top of all that and let's see who can afford a house.

California legislature loves illegals and our housing is ridiculously expensive.

ORT

 

[Paladin79]

That said, I'm done. I think I'll take a queue from @Paladin79 and listen to some Art Pepper, likely Smack Up, with my Aegir, Sys and Stax. Probably some Poll Winners, too. That album has electric guitar, just what 20-somethings will identify with.

I will have to look for Smack up, I run from Gungnir to Incubus to Focal Utopias or Gungnir to Freya + to an amp formerly known as Cowen for my speaker setup. Or Bifrost to Mjolnir to OPPO pm-1's.

I listen to some songs that can be less musical but they exhibit a wide frequency range if I am trying to pick out differences in tubes as well as using music recorded just for that purpose.

A cue you do not want to take from me is Rango II by Vulfpeck, parts of it are not pleasing but it can be equipment informative. IMHO

Another I like to use is by a local guy, the Wild Night cover by John Mellencamp and Meshell Ndegeocello. Much more musical.

 

[RCBinTN]

That said, I'm done. I think I'll take a queue from @Paladin79 and listen to some Art Pepper, likely Smack Up, with my Aegir, Sys and Stax. Probably some Poll Winners, too. That album has electric guitar, just what 20-somethings will identify with.

A nice, eclectic mixture. Well done, mate

 

[Ripper2860]

That said, I'm done. I think I'll take a queue from @Paladin79 and listen to some Art Pepper Salt-n-Peppa, likely Smack Up Push It, with my Aegir, Sys and Stax...

What @macdonjh meant to post.

 

[OldRoadToad]

I have that same feeling with extremely high priced so called high end audio advertised with marketing phrases that make my hair raise and supported by "reviews" that is just a repeat of that same marketing babble.

frAudiophiles®™ are highlariously notorious for their fAd Copy®™, LOL! As if I am not myself...

ORT

 

[macdonjh]

What @macdonjh meant to post.

Not so much...

I listened to Smack Up last night. It was late for me, so I listened at pretty low volume. I was surprised when I thought it didn't sound veey good. When I was half way through Poll Winners I turned the volume up a bit and the sound improved. The music was good the whole time.

 

[macdonjh]

A nice, eclectic mixture. Well done, mate

Why, thank you. A good way to end the evening.

 

[RCBinTN]

I am quite familiar with Art Pepper, and have no idea what @Ripper2860 posted

 

[Paladin79]

I am quite familiar with Art Pepper, and have no idea what @Ripper2860 posted

I am sure he comes from a good home, but sometimes.....

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

Work is killing me lately, so I don't really have as much time to spend around these hallowed halls as I'd like to.

A few short updates, though:

• The tripping Aegir:
  Yes, the KEF Q950s dropping down to 3ohm at lower frequencies are difficult to drive for the Aegir in mono. Schiit told me that, you guys told me that, and I was ready to concede to that and move on. But much to Schiit's credit, the tech I was in contact with agreed with me that it was weird that one of the Aegirs would trip while the other doesn't and wanted to run a few more tests before closing the case. So after a few days of some additional tests I was able to do for them without having to send the amp back in, it was determined that the tripping Aegir is, in fact, faulty after all, regardless of the speakers I was using it with – and Schiit offered to replace the amp, at absolutely no cost to myself.
  I have shipped the amp back to them, free of charge, and the replacement is currently idling at the FedEx hub in Tracy, CA, where every package FedEx handles for the area goes to die.
  
  
• The "raspy" Lokius:
  After a bit of trial and error, I was finally able to come up with a test for Schiit to very easily replicate that slight raspy sound that I'm getting from it. They've offered to take a second look. Schiit even volunteered to pay for the postage for this second go-around. So I've sent the Lokius back down to Valencia, where it's been for a few days now. Which I take as a good sign that they might actually have been able to replicate the issue this time.
  
  
• An aside regarding what I've read from others around here about Schiit's customer support, as well as my own experience with them:
  Out of all the techs and customer reps I've been in contact with since I've started buying Schiit, I've almost always had a really good experience. Replies come within 24 hours, often even within just an hour or two. They almost always actually read what I write, and I've seldom had the feeling that I was being fed some boilerplate response.
  With the Aegir mentioned above, they didn't have to humor me with more tests. Schiit could just as well have insisted that it's the speakers' fault, especially because I had already conceded as much myself, and save themselves the time spent typing emails and the hundreds of dollars for a replacement unit. They had no obligation to bother with my case beyond the absolutely reasonable explanation of "it's the speakers". I was more than ready to leave it at that, with no bad blood whatsoever. Yet they went above and beyond what anyone could reasonably expect from a manufacturer.
  The same goes for the "raspy" Lokius. Their own listening test revealed no issue, and they had no reason to humor me when I said that I disagree with their conclusion. Instead, they offered to take a second look at it, postage paid and all.
  Any less-than-ideal experience I've had with anything Schiit has always been with a single individual from their support team, while everybody else does a fantastic job, always going above and beyond anything I've ever experienced with any of their competition.
  Which individual this is doesn't belong here, but I want to give a huge shout-out to "Mayra D", "Laurazamoa", and especially "Tom E". They've been amazing, and they deserve some recognition.
  So, to everyone here who has had a bad experience with Schiit's support: Almost everyone I've ever dealt with at Schiit has listened, was knowledgeable, and forthcoming. If you feel like you're not getting the response that you expected, you either happened to talk to a customer rep who's not the best representation for Schiit at large, or your frustration with the issue you've been having with your unit might have caused you to come off a bit harsher and entitled-sounding as you may have intended. It happens, we're all just humans. My point is: Take a deep breath and try again. They will do what they can to help you, especially if we all try to remember from time to time that we're talking to some fellow human beings, and that the folks at Schiit want you to be happy with your stuff just as much as you do.
  
  
• I've gotten a pair of Vidars to replace the two Aegirs with.
  Yes, regardless of the fact that one of the Aegirs turned out to be faulty after all.
  I'll find a different use for the Aegirs, and since I am eying a pair of Magnepans for my living room for 2023 or so, I would have to replace the Aegirs with something more capable of driving low impedances by then anyway.
  So, what do the Vidars sound like in comparison to the Aegirs? I don't know, to be completely honest. With the recent addition of the Yggy OG, and all the constant back and forth between driving my speakers with Aegirs in mono and in stereo, there have been too many changes to my system lately for me to be able to clearly determine where any variation in sound might actually originate from.
  But do I like what the Vidars do in my system? Absolutely. I think that they present themselves a bit more resolving than the Aegirs do. The Aegirs always sounded a little warm to me. Not in a bad way, mind you, but much in the same way some tube amps can sound warmer than a solid state amp of equal build quality from the same manufacturer. And while the Vidars don't sound as warm to me as the Aegirs do, by no means do they sound harsh or overly analytical.
  Overall, they're really quite pleasant to my ears. They seem to have absolutely no problem driving the KEF Q950s, and they show no signs of struggle even at somewhat higher volume levels.
  I think the Aegirs are perfect if you run them in mono driving a pair of (true) 8ohm speakers and fed by a solid-state preamp. The Vidars are a great choice if you need to drive lower impedance speakers and/or when you use them together with a tube preamp. Using the Vidars with an über-analytical solid-state preamp might get you a sound that's a bit on the harsher end, and using Aegirs with an über-warm tube preamp might end up smothering you with too much of a good thing. But tubes into Vidars, and solid-state into Aegirs, that might just be what the doctor ordered.
  
  
• I tried two new types of tubes for my Freya+ that I haven't had a chance to listen to before; a pair of PSVane 6SN7-SEs and a pair or PSVane 6SN7-UKs.
  I've got to say that the UK might be my new favorite for the Freya+. I like the way they look, but I particularly enjoy the way they sound. A definite step up from my previous favorite, the Tung-Sol 6SN7-GTB. (The UK in Freya+'s cathode follower output stage, and a pair of Tung-Sol 6SN7-GTB in the differential voltage gain stage.)
  The SE, however, are a bit of a disappointment. Not only is their base too large to fit Freya+ without the help of socket raisers, one of the SE also arrived defective. If you've ever wanted to know what it sounds like to stick your head into a small nuclear reactor, I've got just the tube for you.
  
  
• A little while back I promised a more detailed writeup of my first impressions with Yggy OG. Since then, I decided against this for two reasons:
  First, out of respect for @EricDH. The man really doesn't need yet another reason to make his accountant cry.
  And second, there's really not a whole lot to write about!
  Yggy OG is… well… it's probably the most "boring" DAC I've ever heard.
  No frills, no drama, no nothing.
  Every Schiit DAC I've listened to before has had something unique about them. Modius is arguably the best delta-sigma DAC I've heard, of any brand, but it can sound a bit lackluster at times; detailed, yes, but just a little lifeless. Bifrost 2 is the polar opposite to Modius; it has a very warm and almost analogue sound to it, but lacks in detail. Gumby combines the best of the two; it is incredibly revealing and detailed, yet lively and pleasant when fed with good recordings – but it can also be a bit harsh (as in, TOO revealing) when it comes to audio compression artifacts.
  Yggy OG, however, is none of these things. It's not harsh, nor is it warm. It's not overly revealing, nor is it overly euphonic. It's not adding anything, nor is it removing anything.
  It doesn't seem to be trying to be anything at all.
  Ever since I received my Yggy OG, I've pretty much just forgotten about it. I am listening to it for a few hours every single day, but not once have I caught myself thinking "Well, it's really nice and all, but…"
  It just works.
  Paul Reed Smith of PRS Guitars is often quoted saying that making guitars is the art of figuring out ways to remove as little from the guitar's natural sound as possible. It's not about adding bits and bobs to make your guitar sound better, it's about making sure that you remove as little of the guitar's natural sound as you possibly can.
  I think that with Yggy OG, @Baldr managed to come incredibly close to Paul's ideal. This DAC isn't adding to the sound, and it's not trying to remove something or to fix anything, either.
  It simply delivers you your recordings, with as little drama as is physically possible.
  It just gets out of your way.
  And that, ladies and gents, is probably the highest compliment I can give to a piece of audio equipment.

 

[A Jedi]

I've gotten a pair of Vidars to replace the two Aegirs with.
Yes, regardless of the fact that one of the Aegirs turned out to be faulty after all.
I'll find a different use for the Aegirs, and since I am eying a pair of Magnepans for my living room for 2023 or so, I would have to replace the Aegirs with something more capable of driving low impedances by then anyway.

Just an FYI, the Vidars are not designed to drive lower impedances than the Aegirs. They may do better at it but both amps are designed with the same loads in mind.

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

Just an FYI, the Vidars are not designed to drive lower impedances than the Aegirs. They may do better at it but both amps are designed with the same loads in mind.

Duly noted.

For what it's worth, though, and not to start an argument but simply as mere added information:
I've had them for a bit over a week, and they haven't shown any sign of struggle. Their frequency response seems stable at all (relevant) volume levels, and the amps themselves remain very cool to the touch. They barely get warm at all, especially nowhere near as hot as the Aegirs. (Yes, I know, apples and oranges.)

Schiit also specifically mentions in Vidar's FAQ section that magneplanars (which tend to be at around 4 ohm, dipping down to ~3) are no problem. Granted, that might be assuming a single Vidar in stereo, but it's not specifically stated that they wouldn't be able to do so as mono blocks, either.

So, worst (albeit somewhat likely) case: I'll have to use a single Vidar in stereo once I pull the trigger on the Magnepans.

Until then, I think they'll do fine with the Q950s in mono.
And if not, I'm sure I'll be able to find a more suitable alternative, although I'd hate to have to go outside Schiit.

 

[StimpyWan]

...And if not, I'm sure I'll be able to find a more suitable alternative, although I'd hate to have to go outside Schiit.

Well, Schiit does have their dedicated monoblock amps coming soon. Just something to think about.

Plus, I'm very happy to hear that you seem to have your equipment issues fixed. It's great to hear Schiit isn't passing the buck, and is truly interested in resolving your plight.

 

[JanMc]

Well, I was also going to say that the Tyr should be out soon so you can always look forward to upgrading in that direction. I've had to send almost every piece of my Schiit back at one point or another and every time I have had great customer service and gotten back a fixed and working product in a relatively short time period.