[Paladin79]

Seriously? I missed that. Sorry about the redundancy...!

Seriously, and no problem, it is an interesting read. I mentioned the Benchmark did extremely well in my last DAC comparison and it and the LIM Yggy should be in my next. I do not know the Chinese DAC.

 

[Paladin79]

You should apologize to ORT... one Darko post is annoying enough to him, two might make him lose it... j/k

I want to say someone else did the comparison on Darko’s site.

 

[filthy mechanical]

The biggest sound improvement I've experienced this year cost me nothing, but a small amount of time.

I moved my loudspeakers 3 inches each after reading the following thread, and watching the included & thankfully short video. I had already spent four months trying to find the best spot for my new loudspeakers in my problematic small room. I was already aware that very small speaker location changes can bring large sonic changes, but was amazed at the improvement this change made. I went from from liking my speakers, to damn near loving them.

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/jim-smiths-magic-formula-for-speaker-placement.1160118/

BTW, I do own Jim Smith's book and can recommend it.

Not too far off at my desk, 0.68, was easy enough to shift them but it was a whole 4.5 inch adjustment. Now the main setup its a 0.62 those need to move a whole foot out but being Ohms not sure if the concept applies - still going to try it back to back, easy enough to shift.

 

[bcowen]

Very quotable last sentence there….how quickly generations lose common threads of association.
Makes me think of my father, born in 1927. Whose childhood was mostly without cars, no tv, etc…. Just a generation from me and things are soooo different. “Times they are a changing…”

At least he had tubes.

 

[Paladin79]

Was there talk earlier about silver knobs on a Lokius?



Mr. Cowen will recognize the phono preamp on top of it.

 

[33na3rd]

Mom recently passed to an incredibly terrible unknown wasting away combined with complications from covid. Dad needed a trip to get away from their house a few months after she died. He took a week to drive from Indiana, and I flew in for 24 hours from Detroit.

We toured the boat, I found us the best steak / seafood place I could for the afternoon, and we had some bourbon at the hotel - I even snuck in a few fancy schmancy ones


We reminisced about Mom and all of the good memories. Cried lots and got a lot off both of our chests. We both departed in the morning, wished we had more time.

I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[33na3rd]

.

 

[33na3rd]

Well….I received my new “knobs” for my Lokius. However, I guess I got too excited at the idea of my Lokius looking like a “mini” Loki Max. My brain didn’t think about how Schiit would know I need 6 knobs. So it turns out I only ordered 1 silver knob.

I guess, in my defense, maybe the site description should be “knob” instead of “knobs”? I assume all responsibility though on my failed ordering.

I was able to install my 1 knob. Looks pretty good. Although, it is a little scratchy when compared to the original Lokius knob. Now I’m considering if I want to replace the rest of the 5 remaining ($30 for a set of knobs is a little steep - basically 10% of the cost of a Lokius).

I think that you should go ahead and buy the remaining silver knobs, cost be damned! That will make me feel better about the $90 headshell that I bought for a $100 phono cartridge.

 

[AnalogEuphoria]

This https://darko.audio/2022/12/dac-off-schiit-vs-benchmark-vs-denafrips/ popped up this morning. It's on Darko's site but Darko isn't the author.

Good old John grandberg

 

[ImagesbyMurray]

Actually, I've never looked at one of those reports on any of their equipment, my ears (back then) told me all I was curious to know. And with 15 day return policy I was never concerned. But, that being said, of all the Schiit I've owned, the Yggdrasil was the ultimate jaw dropper for me.

My schaaga started with the lowly Modi (not even MB), it simply blew away the Sumo Theorem in my, then, all Sumo stack. Ears blown.

Next was the Freya S replacing the (balanced) Sumo Diana. The upgrade to mono Vidars was sweet in that the Andromeda II it replaced tended to sweeten as it got hotter. Listening session always started dealing with a bit of a glassy flattened soundstage. The Vidars sounded great right away - with a bit more voltage swing.

Yggy GS, using AES input - ears blown again. This is also into Apogee Duetta Signatures. My headphone journey is far more recent.

 

[FLTWS]

While we acknowledge that SQ is number 1 priority with any piece of equipment, the aesthetic appeal is an important part of the overall decision process.

 

[FLTWS]

"Schaaga" Good One!

 

[AnalogEuphoria]

Perhaps ironically, I brought a prototype amp home tonight that decided to misbehave.

Everything looked fine on the "preliminary checks" I outlined a few posts back (Flir fine, gains as expected, low gain not turning into full scale noise (that is, not oscillating wildly). No "fat sines" either (lower level oscillation). I didn't put it on the APx, mainly because I'm lazy. Also because it worked, and I decided to take the win and go home.

Except...as I'm listening, I decide to drop it into low gain. And the sound goes off. As in, nothing. Totally muted.

Hmm, that's weird, I thought, and switched it back to high gain. Still nothing. Then, a few seconds later, it clicked back on.

I tried it again, and it did the same thing.

Then I tried a different set of headphones. Both high and low gain work fine. Huh?

I still need to confirm exactly what's happening tomorrow, but I suspect it's going into oscillation, but only on some combinations of load impedance (headphone driver, plus parasitic C and L from the cable might just be hitting the wrong spot with one headphone, but not on another.)

So why was it muting? Because this one had the protection systems in place, so instead of lighting up the driver, it went into protection and lifted the relay. Good deal.

We'll see what it's really doing tomorrow. Probably needs a bit more compensation work.

Ah that must be the transformer coupled Valhalla 3 I’ve been waiting for

 

[bcowen]

Was there talk earlier about silver knobs on a Lokius?



Mr. Cowen will recognize the phono preamp on top of it.

Yes, indeed! Are those Melz 6N9S's in there? They look Russian, and I don't think Foton ever made a 6SL7 equivalent.

 

[Paladin79]

Yes, indeed! Are those Melz 6N9S's in there? They look Russian, and I don't think Foton ever made a 6SL7 equivalent.

Refektor 1579’s with a French 12AU7, La Radiotechnique. One of the tubes I got from @FLTWS.

You were right though, same metal support at the top that some of the best Melz use. I do own Melz 1579’s, somewhere. I am lucky to find Finnegan in my shop right now and he meows.