[Headcase88]

He stole that phrase from British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, describing the sound of a harpsichord.

Apologies..... I hadn't seen your post, when posted mine about Beecham....

 

[Erratic Gravy]

Sure.. that does look complicated. But... a closer look reveals many marketing brochure fluff features.

Best chuckle today !!!!

 

[Erratic Gravy]

I was just listening to his “Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar” (disk 1 of 3) this evening. Utterly brilliant.

I have the Lp version - utterly absorbing virtuoso guitar compositions - Fan dabby dozey !!!

 

[Currawong]

Anybody hooked their Mjolnir 3 up to an Aegir or Tyrs yet and tried it as a preamp? Would love to hear some thoughts on how it sounds that way.

A different power amp, but as has been my experience with all headphone amps that have a pre-amp function, the sound is much the same as the headphone amp. In this case, very clear and detailed.

Bill Evans Trio - Sunday at the Village Vanguard

...on Qobuz. What an incredible recording from 1961, pretty lovingly remastered. Nice way to spend a Sunday in 2023.

I didn't realise that there was a new re-master. I'll have to have a listen. It is, by far, one of my favourite albums. IIRC, it was made just before their bassist died. The synergy between them is absolutely incredible. It always gets me that you can hear people chatting casually in the background, not realising that they are in the midst of one of the greatest ever jazz performances.

 

[LrrTx]

Tonight's Skoll selection. Amazing vocalist. With Herbie on keys!

Been really fun running a Nagaoka moving magnet cart to change things up a bit. I gotta say, with my budget I'm strongly considering just going the MM route for a while. Seems like more bang for the buck. No re-tipping needed w replaceable stylii! And it's coming back to me now how much more punch they seem to have. Almost like MM:multibit, MC:delta-sigma in some ways (*ducks*). Your mileage (and budget) may vary of course

Love my Skoll too, what a great product right? I am using it MC with a Hana EL on a balanced output VPI Super Prime and it sounds so good!

 

[Ableza]

Now THIS is a record collection...
https://arcmusic.org/catalogs/recordings/

 

[Whoopknacker]

One of my favorite HiFi writers / reviewers / photographers, Michael Lavorgna, who plies his trade on his website Twittering Machines, offers up perhaps my favorite commentary regarding measurements in his recent review of the Rockport Atria II loudspeakers when he said,

"And if you think you can gauge a speaker’s performance from a set of measurements, I want you to imagine the difference between reading that the largest male elephants can weigh up to 15,000 pounds and having one sit on your head."

https://twitteringmachines.com/my-100-favorite-albums-as-of-today/

 

[adydula]

Now THIS is a record collection...
https://arcmusic.org/catalogs/recordings/

link didnt work here ??

 

[Balthazar B]

I remember him from one of the mags. Now, who can improve upon prose such as

I hope he provided proper attribution to the phrase he borrowed...

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/90501-the-sound-of-a-harpsichord-two-skeletons-copulating-on

 

[Balthazar B]

Apologies..... I hadn't seen your post, when posted mine about Beecham....

Tritto!

Had no idea there were so many other Beecham bums in the world!

 

[ScubaMan2017]

VU Meters are a powerful presence...Just sayin'...Ya know it's not as if McIntosh has a copyright on their use. I know, I know. It will never happen.

ORT

I find those VU meters mesmerizing. Silly for my applications. But. Mes...mer...iz...ing.

 

[emorrison33]

For those who are still interested in some Skoll findings, here’s some quick thoughts after using it for a couple weeks.

My turntable is a Fluance RT-85 with the stock 2M Blue and I was previously using a Mani 2 and listening primarily with my old HD598s and swapping in the Skoll “felt” better but I couldn’t exactly explain why. Whenever I thought I heard something better than before, I’d throw the Mani back in the chain and couldn’t really pick up the difference. Both sound relatively good and similar to each other in my chain at the time.

I got tricked into thinking my 2M Blue stylus was one foot in the grave so I did an upgrade to the 2M Bronze rather than just replace the Blue stylus and wow, that was a big upgrade. Much more dramatic of a change than the Mani -> Skoll switch. I lack the vocab to elegantly explain the difference, but I’d say it was smoother overall with tighter low end and cleaner highs. Less incisive treble than the Blue was for sure. Some harder to track inner groves showed some improvement as well due to the micro line stylus. That said, it was still tricky to put my finger on what was different between the pre-amps but I kept finding myself wanting the Skoll back in whenever I tried living on the Mani for a while.

My LCD5 pair finally showed up this week and that was the final piece of the puzzle. Now when I sit the two amps side by side I can hear the low end being a touch tighter, more controlled and maybe even fuller than on Mani. The HD598s just didn’t go that deep so it was tough to notice with them. The treble on some songs was just a bit off with the Mani, but nothing obscene. With Skoll that appears to have been cleaned up as well.

As for connections, I’ve been using balanced all the time but initially I had both SE and XLR hooked up to the Mjolnir 3 and they were pretty close in sound quality. It was hard to truly A-B test them due to the volume difference but after trying both for a while I ended up just going with the balanced output.

Outside of sonics, the Skoll definitely has a great look to it as I’m going for an all black finish Schiit setup going forward. The remote is very handy for tinkering with settings versus flicking dip switches on the Mani.

In summary, I think folks with a Fluance table should definitely consider a cartridge upgrade first and foremost if you haven’t already as it’s the biggest bang for your buck. If you already have good cans or speakers then the pre-amp upgrade is probably a good idea, but it’s very much a 5-10% improvement at most. Think refinement vs major audible sonic improvements. I figure the folks who are gonna really want to consider the Skoll are living on higher end tables with MC carts.

Sorry for the delay in giving this feedback and hopefully it's helpful to some folks!

I've been going balanced from the Skoll to the Freya N for about 2 weeks now. Not much difference single ended vs. balanced except for the volume difference, as you mentioned. I think the biggest noticeable improvement with the Skoll is the background. It's pretty dark/silent. I agree the Skoll is just more refined than the Mani 2. I have a Fluance RT85N, but swapped out the Nagaoka for a Grado Red. I am not disappointed at all in my purchase, and think the Skoll is a worthy upgrade, even if you don't have MC cartridges, but that is next on my list!
I love the cylon thing when you first turn it on! Sorry, had an ORT moment...

 

[ScubaMan2017]

Folks, I've been considering a new DAC. This probably isn't a concern for many here, but I have solar at my residence with battery backup. I'm probably headed towards a complete off grid system, which will involve a much larger battery system.
Until then, I have to be pretty careful about power usage when on the battery power. any whooo, I'm wondering about the chances of Yggy eventually having a standby mode , or if the DAC design would not allow for that option . The 45 watts power consumption listed on the the Schiit site would use about 394 KWHs per year ( like adding another appliance ) as opposed to more like 44 KWHs using 5 watts in standby mode. I've been reading everyones thoughts on Yggy and might pick a flavor soon.
I thought I saw that Jason mentioned recently that more of the equipment would be getting standby modes, but can't find it now.

If not , I suppose I could trim usage somewhere else. Eventually, I should have enough battery reserve to not worry about power consumption, but not quite there yet...

Welcome to the thread, @Iowan ... Re: off-grid applications and their "best" Hi-Fi setups. This topic DOES come up on the thread!

I'm planning my own low(er) KW-h audio setup on our new off-grid house... on the North Bruce Peninsula (south-east of the Upper Michigan Peninsula). My planned strategies:
....I'm going to rely on the power-button on my centralized power tap (Belkin power bar). When I'm not using my listening nook, the master switch gets switched off. I can leave my solid state kit toggled 'on'. My tube-based kit (Vali2, Lyr3, Valhalla2) is left toggled 'off' until I decide to use them.
....standby mode. I'm not ready yet for a large Yggy. Zero need (do I want it? Hell yes). Re: Jason mentioning more equipment with standby mode. Location conversation?... I remember there being a reference to front-buttoned standby buttons here (link).
...listening habits. My spouse values her quiet, so I've invested in headphones. As long as I don't pick up a ridiculous (ridiculously awesome) Mjolnir-3, my kW-h usage can be handled by my planned system.
...amplifier selection. My spouse does like thunderous music on occasion. I have my eye on Schiit's near-field speaker amplification options. Pick up 2 Gjallarhorn and run them as mono-blocks?! I could manage just fine with a single unit... but I love gear. 2 is moar better than 1, yes?

 

[ScubaMan2017]

There was another poster working on an off-grid audio system, @Sinister Whisperz . Might have some additional pointers for you.

The warmup phenomenon on Schiit DACs is most acute when they are new. Once they've burned in the warmup has been reported to reduce to a few hours. @theveterans says the new MIB doesn't seem as affected.

Self-pinning this post for planning & implementing! @artur9 , thanks eh!

 

[45longcolt]

Oh schitt, yeah, that is NOT what I meant. Thanks for not making fun of me... I'm taking a hiatus from alcohol, it's the only thing I can blame. <g>

I would never castigate anyone for expanding their vocabulary. On that theme...

I just learned a new word.