[ricksome]

Even I have certain standards. Having actually auditioned the thing myself is one of them…

I herewith solemnly pledge to not write an extensive review (or even just short first impressions) about Folkvangr before August 1st.



I may post a photo or three, though.

Not believing the August 1st date. Just sayin'

 

[GumbyDammit223]

And a couple hours to descale and polish the tube pins. Kinda doubt Schiit has time to do that.

I already have a set of Fotons done and ready for mine when it arrives because I’m 1) impatient and 2) a wee bit anal.

You really should have waited until at least FedEx (or whomever) has documented your device has landed within the state. All 90(!) freshly burnished pins are now going to develop another oxide layer that will require removal yet again! You really should know better!!

 

[Tensen]

Someone posed this site in the Grado thread as well. They had a GS3000e for $99. Definitely a scam site.

That was me.

 

[carbonF1]

Anyone here with after market SE cable for the 6XX they like? Stock comes with a 6’ cable and that is just too limiting.

I use the Apos Flow with mine. Longest length is 10 feet however...very lightweight and would be good for couch listening. I bought the Apos one specifically because it's really-in-your-face red.

 

[JamminVMI]

Regularly being teased for maybe potentially being a wee tiny bit excitable about new Schiit (allegedly!) doesn't leave me unaffected, ya know?!
So now I simply am the pouty and contrarian "adult" (-adjacent/-wannabe) that I am and choose to overcorrect by forcing myself to wait a full month.

I bet you can’t/won’t wait that long. This, my friends on this forum, is gonna be like taking candy from a baby…

 

[OldRoadToad]

For those intredasted, this Amp is made from a pure block of that rarest of all elements...Schiitonium®™ and ancient Runes (what Roon wishes it were!) proves inconceivably (and yes, I do know what that word means!) bear witness that this is the same schtuff that the Mighty Mjölnir was rumored to be wrought of.

Only the Purest of The Ancient forebears (referred to in hushed, dulcet tones of genuflective reverence as The Schiitites®™ and not to be confused with the less ancient idiot Tribe of Foreskins) of today's Schiitizens (and again, not to be confused with either the Three Bears or the 3Stooges) were capable of forging Schiitonium®™.

Forge-tuitous (yes,'tis a true and ancient Schiitite®™ word) as it may seem, Sir Jason of Stoddard is a Direct Descendant of the Mighty Schiitites®™, possessing DNA so...so...sooooo pure, as to scarcely qualify as being humanoid and moreso a god (small "g").

I think that they are already sold out. Seems like every one wants a piece of pure Schiitonium®™.

So let it be written...So let it be dumb.

ORT

 

[AudioGal]

Checked my e-mail this evening, there's a note from Schiit that my FV has shipped! Tracking says I'll have in on Wednesday, 7/6, upgraded from the original anticipated date of 7/8! The Gungnir I ordered is supposed to be here on Saturday so I'll have time to let it warm up a bit before the big FV debut.

So psyched!

 

[33na3rd]

Anyone here with after market SE cable for the 6XX they like? Stock comes with a 6’ cable and that is just too limiting.

If @Paladin79 can't fix you up, Blue Jeans Cable makes very nice headphone extension cables with quality connectors in any length that you want. Modest prices too. They made a 6 foot extension cable with a Canare 1/4 TRS male on one end & a Rean 1/8 TRS female on the other for my HD 6XX.

https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/audio/MSA1.htm

 

[artur9]

@Paladin79 did you hear about the new Sonus Faber system? Only problem is, I don't know what you'd do with the included car...

https://www.ecoustics.com/articles/sonus-faber-2023-maserati-grecale/

 

[earnmyturns]

Hello.

Apologies if what I’m asking below is a dumb question about Schiit headphone amplifiers, but it strikes me that posting it the week that Schiit announce their most expensive headphone amplifier ever is, well, double dumb, as I may well regret the advice I receive.

The Folkvangr has brought out a few new posters and with it some useful data on high-impedance headphones that the Folkvangr can apparently drive.

As you can see from my avatar and signature, my listening gear consists of a vintage Armstrong 621 amp (bought new in 1977) and an equally vintage pair of Wharfedale Isodynamics, (bought from Hi-Fi aficionado and friend who’d bought them new in ~1974).

The Iso’s are fine, and are happy being driven out of the loudspeaker ports of the 621, as they were designed to be. The 621 is beginning to complain under the strain so I need to look at a replacement; ideally from the Schiit range.

I don’t know how to read the Schiit amplifier specifications to identify which of them would drive the Iso’s, so I’m asking the group for guidance.

The data points I have are;
The Isodynamics state on their data label;


The 621 specifies that out of the loudspeaker sockets it will deliver up to 40 watts into 8 ohms. Loads less than 4 ohms are not recommended.The volume control on the 621 turns from 0 at 7 o’clock to full at 5 o’clock, and the Iso’s come alive at 10 o’clock and are too loud at 11:30-12:00 o’clock.

The other data point we have is from valiant66 who has posted here on Schiit Happened and on the Head-Fi dedicated Isodynamic thread that driving his Iso’s out of a Magni’s speaker ports was nearly but just not loud enough at full volume on the Magni 3. I echo valiant66's comments that the Iso's are edge case HPs, so it's not a surprise that identifying a Schiit amp is not straightforward.

I’ve been advised that driving them from a Schiit loudspeaker amp wouldn’t work as the 120 ohm resistance would trip the protection circuitry. It’s also been suggested that the headphone socket on a Ragnarok might provide the required power.

I’ve emailed info@schiit.com and had replies, but as they have no direct experience of the Iso’s connected to Schiit gear, then the answers are, understandably, noncommittal.

I simply don’t know electrical engineering, so I’m not able to work out from the various Schiit amp specifications which of their amps can provide the required power and deal with the high resistance of the Iso’s.

As I’m in the UK, then the restocking charge of an un-satisfactory amp will have to include return transatlantic freight charges, and possibly non-refundable import taxes, so I’d like to avoid those if I can as they will reduce the budget available for the other Schiit components that will inevitably follow once the 621 is retired to cosmetic duties.

I’m hoping that the collective wisdom here on the group will provide an answer, and that without draining too much of my pension I’ll be able settle on what hopefully will be my end-game amp for my wonderful headphones.

Thanks to the members who’ve helped me get this far on PMs.

With rough back of the envelope calculations, it looks like your amp can deliver 2.5W into your headphones, which stays well under the 25 V RMS limit, but would not be advisable for your hearing given the headphone sensitivity. I don't have experience with vintage orthos, but from what I hear from those who do, and from my experience with planars, you want lots of power. Lyr has the most single-ended power of all current Schiit headphone amps. It's a great tube hybrid, and in my experience it drives hard-to-drive planars with authority.

 

[GreyOldMan]

The Magni 3 should be a great choice. The power specs are Maximum Power, 300 ohms: 410mW RMS per channel. Your headphones are about half the impedance (ohms) and the Magni 3 should put out twice as much power. There will be plenty of power.
Hope this helps,
barondla

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion; unfortunately the Magni 3 is the only Schiit amp that we know of so far that has been used with a pair of these headphones. Valiant66 has tried them and reports that even with the volume maxed out, the sound was only just loud enough for most listening, and with nothing there for when you wanted to listen to music a little louder.

 

[GreyOldMan]

With rough back of the envelope calculations, it looks like your amp can deliver 2.5W into your headphones, which stays well under the 25 V RMS limit, but would not be advisable for your hearing given the headphone sensitivity. I don't have experience with vintage orthos, but from what I hear from those who do, and from my experience with planars, you want lots of power. Lyr has the most single-ended power of all current Schiit headphone amps. It's a great tube hybrid, and in my experience it drives hard-to-drive planars with authority.

Hi,
Thanks for the suggestion, and the concern for my (elderly) hearing!

Yes, the amp and headphones can deliver ear-melting volume, and in my youth the amp and my speakers used to do exactly that. However, even though I've got the expected hearing loss that goes with age, I'm pleased to say that when my even-more-elderly mother (who I'm caring for) finishes her nightly stint in front of the TV, I grab the remote and turn the volume down from our compromise setting of 28 (too loud for me, too quiet for her & her hearing aids) to my comfort setting of 14.

From memory, the current volume settings on amp - slightly less than 50% of available volume as I mentioned in the post - are about what I've always used for the Iso's for when I actually wanted to listen to the music and not have a full-on brain-scramble session.

Is it a dumb question, but are volume controls and hence power output linear or some logarithmic or other curve?
What I mean is, with the volume on my amp at zero, then power is zero, and with volume at full then the amp will be delivering its rated 40w into an 8 ohm load. If the load is 8 ohm, then with the volume at the 40/45% setting then is that 16-18 W output into 8 ohm, i.e. power delivery is linear, or are things more complicated than that?

And if power delivery is linear, and my preferred volume setting would be 16-18 W into 8 ohm, then what is the amp actually delivering into 120 ohm at that setting?

Thanks for the suggestion of the Lyr. I'd been looking at that as we know from valiant66's post that the Magni 3 is nearly-but-not-quite there, so something with a tad more power is needed. I don't understand the math/maths/engineering so I can't read the specs and decide how much more power any given amp has compared to the Magni 3, and whether that's enough, hence the request for advice from the group.


Thanks again

 

[sam6550a]

Hi,
Thanks for the suggestion, and the concern for my (elderly) hearing!

Yes, the amp and headphones can deliver ear-melting volume, and in my youth the amp and my speakers used to do exactly that. However, even though I've got the expected hearing loss that goes with age, I'm pleased to say that when my even-more-elderly mother (who I'm caring for) finishes her nightly stint in front of the TV, I grab the remote and turn the volume down from our compromise setting of 28 (too loud for me, too quiet for her & her hearing aids) to my comfort setting of 14.

From memory, the current volume settings on amp - slightly less than 50% of available volume as I mentioned in the post - are about what I've always used for the Iso's for when I actually wanted to listen to the music and not have a full-on brain-scramble session.

Is it a dumb question, but are volume controls and hence power output linear or some logarithmic or other curve?
What I mean is, with the volume on my amp at zero, then power is zero, and with volume at full then the amp will be delivering its rated 40w into an 8 ohm load. If the load is 8 ohm, then with the volume at the 40/45% setting then is that 16-18 W output into 8 ohm, i.e. power delivery is linear, or are things more complicated than that?

And if power delivery is linear, and my preferred volume setting would be 16-18 W into 8 ohm, then what is the amp actually delivering into 120 ohm at that setting?

Thanks for the suggestion of the Lyr. I'd been looking at that as we know from valiant66's post that the Magni 3 is nearly-but-not-quite there, so something with a tad more power is needed. I don't understand the math/maths/engineering so I can't read the specs and decide how much more power any given amp has compared to the Magni 3, and whether that's enough, hence the request for advice from the group.


Thanks again

Audio volume controls are usually logarithmic taper.

 

[Paladin79]

If @Paladin79 can't fix you up, Blue Jeans Cable makes very nice headphone extension cables with quality connectors in any length that you want. Modest prices too. They made a 6 foot extension cable with a Canare 1/4 TRS male on one end & a Rean 1/8 TRS female on the other for my HD 6XX.

https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/audio/MSA1.htm

I checked and I do not have anything the length you are seeking @tralsa, I had some with pigtails but that only adds another foot or two to a six foot cable. Blue Jeans is a company you can trust.

 

[Paladin79]

@Paladin79 did you hear about the new Sonus Faber system? Only problem is, I don't know what you'd do with the included car...

https://www.ecoustics.com/articles/sonus-faber-2023-maserati-grecale/

LOL well I would most likely drive that included car. I do not like to guess what a system sounds like but that review is certainly positive. I have never paid much attention to car audio but I might in this case.