[belgiangenius]

I think all of that falls under the category of "engineered wood."

Now, having engineered the bejeezus out of such a beautiful substance, are we surprised that it is as uniform as spam cans?

Ikea has taken the quality of engineered wood to new lows...don't even try moving it. Just throw it out if you are moving. Or leave it behind.

 

[Charente]

I may well have a Mjolnir 2 available in the near future as I trade out gear and add new pieces.

I can't see me selling my MJ2 ... unless a better version comes out at a similar price point ... a superb headphone amp

 

[ghfiii]

https://www.eastwood.com/shop-fox-1-hp-oscillating-spindle-sander-w1686.html

Without one of these, getting a perfect opening for the drivers is not easy. It amounts to sanding a circle inside a square shape.




The speaker on the right may show it.

I would have thought that you would have used a round over router bit to make/shape that opening.

FYI: I am not a woodworker, but I watch them on TV

 

[Paladin79]

I would have thought that you would have used a round over router bit to make/shape that opening.

FYI: I am not a woodworker, but I watch them on TV

Nope, it seems no matter how exact you try to make the cut, and this is thin stock, it is best to adjust them a little at a time to get a perfect fit. Also that top ring was done with a hole saw and spindle sander, technically I could have routed the lip but I needed to sand the inside anyway.

I want to say Decware may have used a router and then he still got his fit tuned in with a spindle sander according to the videos I watched. I tried using the router to add the 45 degree cuts like they do but figured out a way to do it in one cut on a table saw, taper and 45 at once.

I can't see me selling my MJ2 ... unless a better version comes out at a similar price point ... a superb headphone amp

Totally understandable. I cannot recall what they sold for but I am sure someone can answer that. I have multiple tube type headphone amps as well as some Class A solid state I rarely listen to. The Mjolnir is indeed a fine headphone amp. I owned as many as a dozen headphones at a time till I finally came across some that were perfect for me, many now just gather dust.

I can only speak for myself, to me audio gear is like going through your clothes closet and finding items you have not worn for years and deciding they should go to make room for new things. Everything is relative. I have a couple tube type power amps I love, one I designed myself, but I will be buying another because objectively I like it better. Maybe subjectively I like it better.

 

[Beefy]

There's a site with some pics of some new stuff Not sure I can link it here but it starts with "SB" and ends with "AF".

That thread now shows a 'Magni Piety'. Can't read the label for details, but if Piety is opposed to Heresy, you might expect it to be a Magni 3+ partner or replacement.

 

[Charente]

Totally understandable. I cannot recall what they sold for but I am sure someone can answer that. ,,,

I paid €849 back in 2017 (in Europe) ... yes, I've had it that long and I use it A LOT ! I settled on GE5670 5-Star tubes .. they have good longevity and at a reasonable price (not sure what price they are now). So, I bought a few pairs, which should last me a while ... I'm on my 2nd pair of those tubes in that timeframe. IF I run out, I also bought the original LISST that were available at the time, as a stand-by.

 

[OldRoadToad]

I am listening (once again!) to the most wonderful duet by Johnny Mathis and the gorgeous Jane Olivor, "The Last Time I Felt Like This". He remains an incredibly talented and handsome man and Olivor is a gorgeous woman with the voice of an Angel. I will be playing their music through out this day because they make me feel like living.

I hope there is some thing toadish in the Schiit Reveal...Given what I like and what Messrs. Stoddard and Moffat like, I think that a very, very, very long shot indeed.

ORT

 

[Paladin79]

I paid €849 back in 2017 (in Europe) ... yes, I've had it that long and I use it A LOT ! I settled on GE5670 5-Star tubes .. they have good longevity and at a reasonable price (not sure what price they are now). So, I bought a few pairs, which should last me a while ... I'm on my 2nd pair of those tubes in that timeframe. IF I run out, I also bought the original LISST that were available at the time, as a stand-by.

I run these but I want to say I got them for around $120 each some years ago. At over $600 with the shipping for a pair, they do get pricey now. I have plenty of replacements.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/155013640006?hash=item2417886f46:g:j8MAAOSwCJRiXsME

 

[DougD]

Curious, anyone who ”just” received their Folkvangr willing to post the serial number range theirs is in? I.e. 1-50, 51-100, 101-150, etc. I wonder how close they are to the 250 mark - assuming there is a direct correlation of course. With the Roundup starting today and perhaps more formal reviews of it coming out in the near future, I imagine sales will up in pace.

I’m in the 1-50 range, having purchased within minutes of availability.

Good idea, but my conclusion is that the FV production line is shut down at the moment.

Per the FV Impressions thread, which of course is just a suggestive sample:
* 7/11 - 2 FV delivered
* 7/12 - 2 FV delivered
* 7/15 - 2 FV delivered (one in Sweden)
* nothing more recent, for either deliveries or shipment notices

I ordered on 7/2, when the posted lead time was 7-10 days, and have not gotten any notification yet. (Yes, I am gritting my teeth and trying to stay calm during this difficult period.)

 

[Jason Stoddard]

2022, Chapter 9
Less Less is More More

“Oh no, another crazy-named Yggy variant!” someone exclaims.

Well, thankfully, no. In this case the “less less” could refer to the even-lower price of a totally different product, and and the “more more” could refer to the sound, or it could refer to the number of DACs, or it could refer to the fact that, maybe, finally, we’ve started to do upgrades on a more (ahem) rational basis. Or it could just refer to the fact that we can’t really get the AD5781s with any great certainty anymore, so we decided to give you something much more interesting.

“So what the hell is it, and what are you talking about, anyway?” You say. “Stop being cryptic and spill the beans!”

Okay. Here it is:

All of the above is referring to the new Bifrost 2/64.

And now you know why I was a bit cagey in the title. Because here you come with the deluge of questions: “What the hell is a Bifrost 2/64 anyway? Does it have 64 bits? It is kinda like a desktop Less is More? Can I upgrade my old Bifrost 2? Does it reduce to a Bifrost 1/32? Why does it cost more? Is it delta-sigma? Why’d you upgrade so fast, Bifrost 2 just came out? How is it different than Bifrost 2? Oh no, now I have choices with Bifrost 2? How do I choose?”

Yeah. I hear you. I’ll get to all that.

But let me dispense with the last two questions first.

• No, you don’t have choices with Bifrost 2.
• As of now, there is only Bifrost 2/64.
• And perhaps the biggest relief: this is an unambiguous upgrade.

“An unambiguous upgrade?” you ask, eyes narrowing. “You said with Yggdrasil that this is about ‘flavors’ now! What happened to that?”

Yes, we did. And nothing has changed. There’s no trickery here. The reason Bifrost 2/64 is an unambiguous upgrade is that it’s clearly superior, in at least three and a half ways:

1. Bifrost 2/64 is now a hardware-balanced DAC. The original Bifrost 2 used two Analog Devices AD5781 D/A converters in a single-ended configuration, with the balanced outputs derived from the single-ended ones. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but Mike sayeth “hardware balanced is the True and Proper way to do a Multibit DAC,” so Bifrost 2/64 now uses four Texas Instruments DAC8812s for true balanced output, as well as single-ended.
2. It measures better. In fact, Bifrost 2/64 is the first of our True Multibit DACs to achieve THD+N levels lower than -100dB (-102dB typical). I know this doesn’t sound like much in the world of delta-sigma steady-state measurement champions (heck, like Modi 3E), but it’s like 15dB better than the original Bifrost 2. And yeah, I know, lots of you aren’t interested in measurements but in sound, so yeah, read on…
3. You get more flexibility. Bifrost 2/64 now includes NOS, or non-oversampling, mode. Now, in addition to our “megacomboburrito” filter, you can run your high-rate audio with no digital filter, if that’s the way you wanna roll. And yeah, we know, this is controversial—some people love it, others don’t. But choices are cool, right?
4. (Actually 3.5, but Word.) Everyone who’s heard it says it sounds better. I know that the subjective side is gonna be discounted by a whole buncha folk, no matter how big and double-blind our comparisons are. But this is wayyyyyyy different than the Yggdrasil flavors, where we couldn’t even get a consensus between me, Dave, and Mike. This one is far clearer. If you believe in subjective stuff. If you believe we aren’t fooling ourselves.

So. Yeah. No choices.

And I’m very happy it came out that way, because it’s not like we’re going to see any AD5781s until, like, maybe about the time Elon gets his Mars city up and running.


The Importance of Having Something “In the Bank”

The development of Bifrost 2/64 illustrates how important it is to have options, or, as Mike says, “Having something in the bank.”

I mean, there was no way in 2019 that we could predict that the availability of Analog Devices D/A converters would go, well, in the schiitr. And we didn’t really know how bad availability was until the ship dates on current orders started slipping…and the distributor stock dried up…and Analog Devices got real uncertain about when we’d ever their DACs again.

Fortunately, Mike and Dave had been working on alternatives since before Bifrost 2 was launched, literally. The earliest “8812” board was done as a proof of concept for Autonomy Architecture, so we could ensure that we could do seamless firmware and hardware upgrades without the pain of shipping stuff back and forth to our shop.

So could we have offered the Bifrost 2/64 board as an option in 2019? Not really. The early boards were proof of concept.

But as Mike and Dave worked on them, they got better and better. When they started handing them out in early 2020, it was clear—at least to me—that they were a step up.

Fun fact: I’ve had an 8812 board since before COVID.​

And, the thing was, when we made a few of these and gave them to early listeners, their reaction was pretty much universal…as in, “When can I get this?”

Heck, Mike bought the boards we’re selling today over a year ago. They’ve literally been sitting here since June 2021.

Which is the reason the Analog Devices DAC Desert hasn’t scorched us: we already had a better plan in place. And it’s been that way a long time.

Aside: this is how we do a lot of things…there’s a ton of stuff “in the bank” right now. Some you’ll see soon. Some…it isn’t time for yet. ​

Now, some of you may have noticed that I didn’t mention the typical development antics, screw-ups, pains and snafus. This is for good reason: there really weren’t any. Which is to be expected for an analog board development for an upgradable platform. It would have been more notable if there had been problems.

So, hurray for having things in the bank…and hurray for thankfully easy development cycles. Sometimes things do work out.


Let the Snark Flow

I know it’s easy for us to say, “Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this really great DAC!” And, I mean, it is a really great DAC. There’s nowhere else you can get this kind of technology and upgradability (and, let’s not forget, USA manufacturing) anywhere near its price.

But if you’ve been eyeing Bifrost 2 for a while, you’ve noticed that Bifrost 2/64 is $100 more. That might hurt. And we’re not thrilled to raise the price. But it’s time to do it, because it’s a better, more flexible DAC. Also, to be frank, our costs have increased significantly. Chassis, PC boards, assembly labor, transformers, internal costs…it’s all up. Which means it’s time for a price adjustment.

Aside: I know someone is gonna mention that I said, “This silver price adjustment is probably the only one we need, if things don’t change.” Well, things changed. Sorry about that. We’re still gonna do everything we can to keep prices down. But we’re heading into uncertain times. If you like the prices now, best to pick something up. Short of divine intervention, they’re only going one direction. ​

​

Aside to the aside: as an example, I spent a bunch of time this year and last working with one of our suppliers on a whole new chassis idea, one that would use advanced stamping to reduce production and assembly cost. The great news is that it significantly reduced costs…which were immediately eaten in higher raw material and labor prices. So the net was zero. But at least it’s not an increase. You’ll see that new chassis sometime this year.​

Also, if you already have a Bifrost 2, you may be thinking, “upgrades so early?” and groaning about the $300 cost. But here’s the thing: Bifrost 2 was introduced nearly 3 years ago. Yes. Three years. Time flies when you’re having COVID. This is the first and only upgrade we’ve done to Bifrost 2.

Now, sit back and think about that: one upgrade in three years.

In the dog-years timeline of DACs, that isn’t bad. That isn’t unreasonable. Hell, entire DACs have come and gone in the time Bifrost 2 has existed. Which means your “upgrade” would have been buying an entirely new DAC. Remember, Bifrost 2 is the only hardware- and firmware-upgradable DAC anywhere near its price.

It may make you feel a bit better too, when you realize that your Bifrost 2 doesn’t need to come back to the Schiit mothership for upgrade. Order the upgrade and we send you a slide-in analog card module and new firmware on an SD card. Install the analog card, plug in the SD card, turn on the DAC, let the firmware update, remove the SD card, and you’re done.

Aside: also, let’s also be clear: this is an optional upgrade. It’s not like Bifrost 2 is a bad DAC. You can upgrade to Bifrost 2/64 if you want to…or stay with Bifrost 2. No pressure.​

Whew. Enough snark.


Snark-Free Zone

Let’s check in on those questions I mentioned at the start of the chapter.

Hmm. It actually looks like I answered most of them—what it is, how it’s different, etc. It looks like a lot of them are related to the new name and our associated terminology. Let me clean up the rest, starting with the name.

Does the Bifrost 2/64 have 64 bits? LOL. This is a fun one. With four dual 16-bit D/A converters, it actually has 128 bits. Or 2 channels, 64 bits each. Hence the name. Adding the number of bits together is something I wish I’d thought of back during the bit depth wars when some people were saying, “Wait, Yggdrasil only has 20 bit converters? What about other DACs with 32 bits?” It would have been tons of fun to say, “Our new Yggy OG/80 has 80 total bits! Holy moly!”

Aside: of course, four dual 16-bit D/A converters don’t equate to 128 bits of resolution, or 64 bits of resolution per channel, because physics, and because D/As don’t stack that way. Especially when we’re counting the total number of bits in each channel to be kinda marketing-y. The way it really works, with hardware balanced DACs, is you end up with about 1 more bit. So four 16-bit DACs get you about 18 bits of resolution, which is pretty close to where we are with Bifrost 2/64.​

​

Aside to the aside: Nor does all of this counting-bits silliness matter very much, because 64 bits is unpossible (calculate it yourself), and hell, no “32-bit” delta-sigma DAC can resolve anything like 32 bits anyway (and they are usually 2-5 bits, plus lots of math), most music won’t get better than 16 bits of resolution (despite being billed as “24 bit” files), and hell, as soon as you turn the pot on your amplifier, you’re probably killing any chance of -120dB THD+N anyway, simply thanks to thermal noise. So I don’t feel bad being a bit of a marketing puke and calling this product Bifrost 2/64.​

Is Bifrost 2/64 kinda like a desktop Less is More? Good question. Yes it is. It uses the same D/A converters in a similar hardware-balanced configuration. Of course, it doesn’t have Yggdrasil Less is More’s associated analog components and over-the-top power supply. However, it does fit on most desks used by sane humans, something Yggdrasil can’t easily claim.

Is it delta-sigma? Nope. Bifrost 2/64 is a True Multibit DAC, using our own digital filters and high-bit-depth D/A converters.

Does it reduce to Bifrost 1/32? Nope. It’s 2 channels, 64 bits per channel. Again, this is marketing silliness. Relax and enjoy the music—on Bifrost 2 or Bifrost 2/64.

Special bonus question, because I know you have to know:

What with NOS? Yep. Heard. But some people may not even know what we’re talking about. So let’s dive in a bit deeper…

• Bifrost 2/64 is our first True Multibit product that allows you to turn off our unique time- and frequency-domain optimized digital filter—what Mike calls the “megacomboburrito” filter—and choose to have no digital filter at all, or “NOS.”
• Some people love our megacomboburrito filter, others like NOS, and even others run their own digital filters on their sources, to feed an NOS DAC. Because it’s relatively simple to turn off our own digital filter, we decided to give you the option to turn it off.
• You won’t stumble into this mode. You have to press and hold the front button to get there, and the input light will be in a “breathing” slow-pulse state when Bifrost 2/64 is in NOS mode. Bifrost 2/64 will also revert to the standard megacomboburrito filter when it’s turned off and on again.
• All of this is a bit controversial, due to the non-ideal nature of NOS DAC output, especially with low bit-rate content, but, after a bunch of discussion, we decided to give you the option, rather than be your crazy wine aunt/uncle who always knows what’s best for you.
• Mike and Dave still like the megacomboburrito filter over all else. So there.

Aaaanndd…that’s about it. I really hope you like our all-new same-old less-bit-depth less-crazy more-converters more-options more-pricey (a bit, sigh) Bifrost 2/64 DAC!

 

[golfbravobravo]

With the sheer number of left lane pigs that clog up the interstate highways around here, I've decided my next car will be a bulldozer.

... and you live in a state where that's not prohibited.......

 

[Ableza]

Sounds like I may have an OG Gungnir MB for sale soon...

 

[Jason Stoddard]

2022, Chapter 10
Troublesome Thoughts
Or, Curing Tube Nervosa, Part 2

Lyr+ started with a simple, passing thought: can I put a relay ladder volume control into a desktop sized headphone amp?

To an engineer, passing thoughts can be troublesome thoughts. Because they might take you down some long, dark, and crazy roads. Especially when those thoughts are about a product that’s already, ah, volumetrically challenged.

I mean, hell, I already ran out of space on the top of the board of Lyr 3—the output stage is all on the bottom. Where the heck would you put a relay ladder on it, even if it was only 6 or 7 relays?

And the microprocessor? Where would it go? Because you would need a microprocessor to run the ladder.

Aaaaand, another thing: adding a relay volume control to Lyr 3 is a neat thought, but there’s no pressing need for it. Lyr 3 already uses a very good Alps RK27 volume pot. It’s a very good, very versatile amp. Hell, I have one on my desk in Corpus Christi.

Aaaaaaaand that’s why that thought about tweaking Lyr 3 stayed idle for a good long time.

Until I had a very, very evil thought…

Where Is Your God?

If Lyr 3 has any issue, it’s only that it needs a good tube to run, and good tubes are getting harder to get.

I mean, Lyr 3 would be pretty much perfect if it could switch seamlessly from tube to solid state and back again. Not with anything external like LISST, but built-in. So it could be a great solid state amp you could try tubes in—or a great tube amp that always had a solid-state fallback mode…

…and with that thought, the earlier musing about doing a relay ladder hit hard, and suddenly everything was right there:

…well hell we could actually build in a tube sensing circuit and switch over to depletion mode MOSFETs automatically, and we could do a relay ladder if we didn’t have a card, and we didn’t really need a card because we had Modius, and since we had a relay ladder and microprocessor it could also have remote control, and holy moly this could be the most advanced desktop-sized headphone amp and preamp we ever did…

BOOM.

I mean, I literally saw everything in my head. It was easy!

Well, except the part where nothing fit. And except the other part about this being a super-crazy, super-complex idea. And except the other other part about there being a ton of details about putting tubes and MOSFETs together (but separately) that weren’t so obvious in the beginning, but became super painful as I got into the detailed development.

So. Yeah. Pretty much another crazy idea from us…that took, ah, a bit more development to realize.

But think about it.

I mean, really think about it: a tube amp that would just keep running if you pulled the tube out.

How fun would that be at shows? Pull the tube out, click, it keeps running, you grin maniacally and cackle. “Where is your god?” you ask. People gasp. It’s a whole new world.

Aside: in reality, people would probably just be confused. And think you were insane.​

But still, the idea stuck: a tube amp that never needed a tube—but still had pure tube gain when you wanted it.

That would be a real game-changer. While other companies had messed around with tube amps that allowed rolling different tube types, and we had made solid-state tube replacements in LISST, and while we’ve given people options for tube or solid state in Freya and Freya+ by literally swapping out the entire active stage, from tube to solid state buffer, and while some companies had played around with the same idea in other products, nobody had ever really conceived of a truly protean, tube/solid-state stage using the same topology…literally swapping out tubes for MOSFETs in real time.

At the time, I didn’t bother to wonder why.

After I got into the development of Lyr+, though, I quickly found out.

Tubes and MOSFETs are Not The Same, Durr

“Well, yeah, duh, why do you even have to say it,” the smarter engineers are asking.

Here’s why: so many lazy companies have fed the audio public the same oversimplifications for so long—you know, “MOSFETs are like tubes, JFETs are like tubes, ooooohhhhh, let’s imply you want to avoid the EEEEEEVVVVIIIL current-driven BJTs like the plague (even though they have significant advantages and MOSFETs and JFETs both have giant warty boil-like problems on their respective butts, just like everything else),” that now it’s common to hear the assertion that “MOSFETs and JFETs are like tubes” all over the jabbertubes, even though it’s 100% bull.

Am I salty? A bit.

Here’s the pure, unadulterated truth: MOSFETs, JFETs, BJTs, and tubes are all very different. All have their strengths and weaknesses. But they. Are. Not. The. Same. None of them. Period.

So swapping out a MOSFET for a tube, by intartube logic, is EZPZ, no big deal, go for it, brah, ya gonna be fine.

In reality, it’s a holy-schiit I really thought those were in any way similar? moment.

Let’s break it down, for those of you who have been drinking at the “JFETs and MOSFETs = tubes” firehose for wayyy to long:

Tubes. These really exist in their own world. They are the only device that literally has no physical connection between their grid, anode, and cathode. I mean, like duh, these terminals are in a literal vacuum. JFETs, MOSFETs, and BJTs are all made on the same substrate and have a physical connection. Tubes are also the only device that require separate “activation terminals,” AKA, the heater, to create an electron cloud around the cathode to enable current flow. But, even though tubes have no physical connections internally, that doesn’t mean they can’t crap out a ****ton of grid current when they are coming up to temp or shutting down. So even with no physical connection, it can behave as if it’s connected. Yes. Mind blown up.

JFETs. These have a high input impedance thanks to their inherent reverse-biased PN junction, similar to a tube’s theoretically infinite input impedance (other than Miller capacitance, yeah, and the previously mentioned transitory grid current, and other real-world, weirdo/not-ideal stuff, eesh), and they start running current as soon as you apply a voltage across their drain and source, but they are really quite different. JFETs can only handle a piddly few volts when compared to tubes (50V for the best of the current crop, vs hundreds of volts for many tubes). They also don’t have heaters. They also have very pentode-like, rather than triode-like, curves. Soooooo very different—not a solid state tube at all. Sorry you’ve been lied to—er, I mean, oversimplified to—your entire life.

MOSFETs. Like tubes and JFETs, MOSFETs also have a high input impedance, thanks to the gate being insulated from the rest of the semiconductor structure. But they also have significant input capacitance, also due to the same topology. Also like tubes, its common to find MOSFETs that can take hundreds of volts. However, MOSFETs are divided into two types—enhancement mode and depletion mode. Enhancement means you need several volts at the gate to get any current to flow, which is completely unlike a tube. Depletion means it’ll flow current immediately with no volts on the gate, similar to a tube. Sounds most similar to a tube? Yeah, except for that input capacitance, pentode-like curves, need for gate protection (too many volts = boom), completely different transconductance, and other MOSFET vagaries. For the TL;DR crowd: NO STILL NOT LIKE TOOBS.

BJTs. The first solid-state gain devices were bipolar junction transistors, which live in a world of their own. A tube Upside Down, so to speak. Unlike tubes, they need current to run, they need more than 0.6V at the base to turn them on, and can have very low effective input impedance, especially for power devices run hard into the beta droop region. Sounds terrible? Well, they are the only predictable device out there…you know when it will turn on, PNP complements are readily available (and kinda-sorta-similar-ish to the NPNs), it has very high inherent gain, and for many applications you can treat it like a voltage-run device…which is why they are still popular today.

Why the dissertation? Because Lyr+ is trying to sub out a tube for a MOSFET in real time, and it also uses BJTs in the Coherence and output stages. And to head off any questions about why we don’t use JFETs: because at 200V, they go boom.

Aside: I love JFETs. We use tons of them. You just aren’t gonna replace a tube with a currently available JFET. Period. Sorry. It’s MOSFETs for high voltage stuff, at least in this universe.​

And the difference between tubes and depletion MOSFETs led to the first issue in Lyr+ development: different gain structure, different operating point.


Simple Concepts, Messy Execution (AKA “Argh”)

Let’s dive right into the development here. The concepts behind Lyr+—elevate the top end of the mid-size, desktop-friendly product line with relay volume, and make it a seamless tube hybrid or solid-state-only amp—are not super complicated.

But, like many things, it’s getting the ideas to work that’s painful.

The relay ladder, sure, yeah, sounds easy. And if you throw out the card, you have the space, right? Well, yeah, except then you need a microprocessor to run the relays. Oh yeah, and you need a microprocessor with ADC so you can monitor whether or not a tube is connected and switch to SS if not. And then you need more relays to switch the MOSFETs and tube gain. And protection for the MOSFETs. And DC sensing and protection in case there’s a glitch in the matrix when everything switches over. And power supplies for all of this, including new power supplies for the microprocessor and the relays.

Aside: yes, a separate dedicated, regulated supply for the relays. Because unregulated DC, when used to power a relay, can couple to the signal, degrading the signal to noise ratio. Yes. Seriously.​

All that above is a buttload of stuff. Even without the card in place, the early layouts of Lyr+ were painful. Lots of readjustment had to be made. Especially if we wanted to keep the over-the-top double-transformer arrangement with a 24VA transformer just for the high voltage rails, and a 48VA transformer for the output stage. (And yes, we did want to keep that in place, and we did. That’s why Lyr+ weighs a ton, just like Lyr 3.)

But space was only the start of the problem. The big problem is that MOSFETs aren’t tubes.

As in, when everything switched, things got weird. Much weirder than I expected. Now, the switching itself is bad enough, a carefully-orchestrated sequence of events to make sure the tube, the MOSFETs, the outputs, and the relays are all happy. But the problems persisted after the switch.

As in, the entire operating point of the amp changed. Oh, and the gain was significantly different as well.

What the above two statements mean, in English, is that we would have had to choose one ideal operating point, and let the other be, ahem, less than ideal. As in, in tube mode it would run nicely, with the correct output current, etc, but in MOSFET mode it would run cold. Or vice-versa. In addition, it would be louder when it switched to MOSFET mode.

Argh.

With a major unspoken goal of the design being “let’s keep the tube and MOSFET modes as similar as we can,” this just wasn’t gonna work.

So why were things not matching up? Several reasons:

• The way Lyr+ switches between low and high gain changed the operating point significantly. This is an oddity of our Coherence™ gain stage. It wasn’t a problem in Lyr 3, because we compromised by using a coupling capacitor in the feedback network. I wanted to eliminate that cap in Lyr+, which caused the operating point change.
• Further compounding the operating point change was the inherent difference between MOSFETs and tubes. Tube curves and MOSFET curves don’t match. So the voltage at the cathode didn’t necessarily match the voltage at the source. And the higher gain of the MOSFET meant it needed a bit more resistance in the source to match up better.
• Because of the above two differences, the amount of current running through the tube and the MOSFET was significantly different, so the amount of current running through the BJT part of the Coherence stage was different…so the amount of current running through the output stage was different. We needed to match the operational points much better.

So how did we solve it? Different MOSFETs, additional switchable source resistance, and a couple more relays. In the end, Lyr+ runs very similarly in all modes and at all gains.

But that wasn’t the end. One of the things I wanted to do was to be able to pull out the tube and have the amp switch seamlessly over to solid state. That would be quite a trick, right?

Yes. It would be. Except, no matter how we did the firmware, we never got it quite tuned up enough to catch the transition seamlessly. In retrospect, this is a “duh,” moment, because it’s really hard to detect the absence of a tube that quickly.

So, yeah, I’m sorry to report that we can’t recommend pulling the tube out of Lyr+ while it’s operating…you know, like every other tube amp out there.

But, unlike every other tube amp, you can turn it off, yank the tube, turn it back on…and continue happily to listen to your music!


Naming, Cosmetics and Other Frivolities

Some of you are skipping right over all the engineer-ese above and are reacting to the name of the product, the name of the tech, the cosmetics, or the fact we’ve included a remote control. So let’s dive into those.

The name. Why Lyr+ and not Lyr 4? It’s simple. We don’t like the number 4. Mike has never liked it. He changed the Theta Gen 3 to Gen 5 on purpose. I thought he was kinda nuts, until we had all the trouble with the Fulla 4. Boardhouse issues, end-of-the-line AKM issues, delays, price increases, firmware glitches…you name it, it had it. You notice it went to Fulla E real fast? Yeah. Nothing we make is ever gonna have a 4 on it ever again.

The technology name, aka Fusion Architecture™. Why did we inflict another buzzword bingo thing on you guys? Same reason we did Autonomy Architecture™ on Bifrost 2. Because it needs to be called out. This is the only seamless-switching, same-topology, tube-or-solid-state amp on the planet. It’s also our most advanced desktop-sized product, ever. So yeah. The seamless fusion of tube and solid state needed a name.

The cosmetics. Big change, isn’t it? Yes. Lyr+ is our first amp designed to be used as tube or solid state—and to be comfortable being solid state forever, if that’s what you want. Hence the new multi-piece chassis design that includes a deep “heat funnel” to keep tube heat out of the chassis, and a “tube cap” to finish off the design (and keep dust out) if you’re not using a tube. It’s also the first desktop headphone amp and preamp to use soft-touch aluminum pushbuttons, just like Loki Max.

The remote. Why a remote on a desktop product? For some—including me—it summons images of 1980s douchebags using their remote control on their DIN-sized Alpine car stereo, by holding it a few inches away from the faceplate. Well, Lyr+ is not just a desktop product. It’s also a great preamp. And we include a remote with our Saga preamps, which are the same size as Lyr+. Aaaaaaaand…once we have a microprocessor and relay attenuator in there, adding a remote costs very little, so why not?


What Does This Mean for the End of Tube World As We Know It?

A smart reader is stroking their chin and going, “Hmm, interesting…what does this Fusion Architecture mean for other tube products? Are we looking at a whole line of protean tube and solid-state gear from Schiit to help solve the tube crisis?

Well…we’ll see.

I’m being cagey, not because I want to be an asshole, but because this whole Fusion Architecture thing gets a lot more complicated on multi-tube products. Especially at high rail voltages, and especially if you want to switch high volt rails and heaters and stuff. (Ask me how I know.)

I mean, you may have noticed that we aren’t trying to shut off the tube heaters or high voltage rail in Lyr+. After all, it’s only a single tube, and if you want to preserve its lifespan, you can simply remove it when you’re not using it. Heck, we gave you a cover for that exact purpose.

Which means Fusion Architecture, as it is, isn’t just a cut-and-paste to take it across to, say, Freya+. Hell, getting relays that are rated to switch 300V rails is nearly impossible. And if you add in, say, switching heaters (like, hey, all of them, or only the voltage gain, or only the current gain, or either, or what), and you add in the additional bizarrity of cascaded operating points (between two tube sections), things get pretty hairy pretty fast.

And, to be clear, we have a great solution already with Freya+ and Freya Noval—a tube or solid state solution that only turns on the tubes when you use them. It may not be as conceptually elegant as Fusion Architecture, but it’s well-proven and very reliable. And you can use LISST in Freya+. So I think we have your “With or without tubes” covered for the Freya line.

So what’s coming? Sorry, I don’t know.

What I do know is that Lyr+ is the most advanced desktop-sized headphone amp we’ve ever done—with relay volume for perfect channel matching, plus all-new, completely unique Fusion Architecture so you can use tubes or solid state seamlessly. Pair it up with Modius or Bifrost 2/64 and you’re set for an insane, insane desktop.

I hope you enjoy!

 

[golfbravobravo]

Saint-Emilion ... Less than an hour's drive away to the town ! .. can get pricey !

We just had a wonderful time in Bordeaux and surroundings. I could live there!

 

[malenak]

@Jason Stoddard : Are there any changes to protection circuit, which is problematic on Lyr3, when feeding hungry ones (like HE6) turning off the amp?