[Pandahead]

I don't know yet.
My listening room is only 4x7m and the Ragnarok has power in abundance with the 4 Ohm speakers it has to drive.
So maybe if you folks test them for a year or two.....

If you were my brother HP gear would be the last thing you would get. More likely a gift card for some sort of outdoor experience , hiking shoes or a membership for the local climbing club.

That's a nice size room. Well you should probably enjoy Rag with Yggy for a while before anyway. You would notice the difference though.

Hiking shoes? I was thinking more like cat food of the month club! Or a new colander!

 

[MOFOfunk]

Don't think Italians eat Cat food.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

"bouldering" is the latest fad in sf

 

[LarryMagoo]

Got Marcus Miller bassing his arse out.
What a joy.

Hey Pietro,

Thanks for mentioning Marcus Miller! After listening to some samples, I ordered his Afrodeezia album to check him out a bit!

 

[Brubacca]

Schiit has several (many) dacs at various levels of performance. A mimby doesn't give you the level of performance of a Yggy. Will there be any phono pre-amps beyond Mani? Maybe a Gumby or Yggy level phono pre?

 

[RCBinTN]

I`m doing the same but with the gungnir. And stuff I didn`t really listen to for a while turns out to be awesome again.
Jimi Hendrix, Bowie, Tom Waits, Pixies all sound like new. Especially with headphones.
It`s fun. So I`m gonna hold off on the multibit upgrade, because when I eventually upgrade, I get to do this all again.

btw: glad you`ll get it back this fast.

I also had the Gungnir then upgraded it to the GMB. Best investment I ever made in my HP rigs. So...enjoy the Gungnir now, but there's a whole new experience waiting for you (and you'll love it).

Cheers,
RCB

 

[RCBinTN]

If you were my brother HP gear would be the last thing you would get. More likely a gift card for some sort of outdoor experience , hiking shoes or a membership for the local climbing club.

Good quality olive oil is always a fine gift, as well.

 

[RCBinTN]

Hey Pietro,

Thanks for mentioning Marcus Miller! After listening to some samples, I ordered his Afrodeezia album to check him out a bit!

Yes! That's a great album, as are Marcus and A Night in Monte Carlo. If you can find Tutu Revisited - get it! Those are my three favorites, along with Afrodeezia.

Enjoy your music!
RCB

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

re mani successor: check out Mike's thread a few months back. Maybe February? March?

 

[Blue Warper]

Schiit has several (many) dacs at various levels of performance. A mimby doesn't give you the level of performance of a Yggy. Will there be any phono pre-amps beyond Mani? Maybe a Gumby or Yggy level phono pre?

re mani successor: check out Mike's thread a few months back. Maybe February? March?

I think a new (and higher-tier than Mani) phono pre-amp might in fact be one of Schiit's announcements of this year. (But I'm only speculating here: I really don't know).

 

[rkw]

I'm getting my brother a schiit stack for his birthday. He's a musician (trumpet, piano, vocal, drums) composer and painter. He lives in a concrete box with some nasty neighbours so HP listening is the only way to enjoy and play music. And yes. I have told him to move, but he likes the address. - pfft .. city people.

I wanna get music into his home again. But I don't have enough experience with the variety of Schiit HP amps. And until I'm getting my ears in a SchiitKitt and can make my own experiences I'll have to rely on you guys.

His musical preferences are a full, slightly dry and clear sound. Doesn't want to feel the music but to hear it. Likes a clear powerful but not boomy bass. A strong clear treble and not thin. Likes a full midrange as opposed to the cardboard dry mids that some prefer. A good overview of the soundstage and focused. He prefers black music played by black people. Soul, funk, jazz, blues. But he listens to Bach when he concentrates on his drawings.

He's not the techie, upgrading, modding, tube rolling kinda guy, but if it's a tube amp that'll deliver the above mentioned sound profile then thats cool.
Source will be a mac mini playing random music formats, mp3's, youtube streaming and such.
He wants open over ear's and i've suggested the Hd650. But if any of you have any better matches for his sound profile other suggestions are welcome.

The budget limit for DAC and/or HP Amp is MAXIMUM 574€. I know All Schiit has high bang/buck ratio, but how much of the goodness would a set of HD650 level cans bring out. Think I've gathered that the priority should be on the HP then the Amp, then the DAC.

Here's an overview of the contesters:
Mimby 295€ + Magni2U 169€ = 464€
Mimby 295€ + Vali2 185€ = 480€
Mimby 295€ + Asgard2 279€ = 574€
Jotunheim w. Dac = 549€
Mimby 295€ + Fulla2 122€ = 417€
Modi2U 169€ +Valhalla2 390€ = 559€
Fulla2 = 122€
lyr2 = 499€
And the list goes on! Didn't realise how many DAC+Amp combinations Schiit offers at this pricepoint untill I started writing them down.

Hi, this is your brother. How nice of you to do this for me! Can you possibly stretch to a Yggdrasil and Ragnarok? I didn't have a chance to tell you that I had to move to San Francisco on short notice. I'll PM a postal box where you can ship them to.

 

[NoahFence]

Hi Y'all.
Two chapters. That'll be three weeks of chill tiime. While we're waiting I really hope you'll spend some of that time helping me out with this little quest.
I'm getting my brother a schiit stack for his birthday. He's a musician (trumpet, piano, vocal, drums) composer and painter. He lives in a concrete box with some nasty neighbours so HP listening is the only way to enjoy and play music. And yes. I have told him to move, but he likes the address. - pfft .. city people.

I wanna get music into his home again. But I don't have enough experience with the variety of Schiit HP amps. And until I'm getting my ears in a SchiitKitt and can make my own experiences I'll have to rely on you guys.

His musical preferences are a full, slightly dry and clear sound. Doesn't want to feel the music but to hear it. Likes a clear powerful but not boomy bass. A strong clear treble and not thin. Likes a full midrange as opposed to the cardboard dry mids that some prefer. A good overview of the soundstage and focused. He prefers black music played by black people. Soul, funk, jazz, blues. But he listens to Bach when he concentrates on his drawings.

He's not the techie, upgrading, modding, tube rolling kinda guy, but if it's a tube amp that'll deliver the above mentioned sound profile then thats cool.
Source will be a mac mini playing random music formats, mp3's, youtube streaming and such.
He wants open over ear's and i've suggested the Hd650. But if any of you have any better matches for his sound profile other suggestions are welcome.

The budget limit for DAC and/or HP Amp is MAXIMUM 574€. I know All Schiit has high bang/buck ratio, but how much of the goodness would a set of HD650 level cans bring out. Think I've gathered that the priority should be on the HP then the Amp, then the DAC.

Here's an overview of the contesters:
Mimby 295€ + Magni2U 169€ = 464€
Mimby 295€ + Vali2 185€ = 480€
Mimby 295€ + Asgard2 279€ = 574€
Jotunheim w. Dac = 549€
Mimby 295€ + Fulla2 122€ = 417€
Modi2U 169€ +Valhalla2 390€ = 559€
Fulla2 = 122€
lyr2 = 499€
And the list goes on! Didn't realise how many DAC+Amp combinations Schiit offers at this pricepoint untill I started writing them down.

One more time on this one. The question and some responses inspired (?) me to listen to
a. mimby>Vali 2 (SE out of course)
b. bimby>Joty SE out
c. bimby > Joty Balanced out
all with My Senn 650s. (I did not move my miby to drive the Joty. That involves work, as in crawling under a desk.)
All this is with multibit DAC. I have a recent vintage and very respectable S-D DAC (Concerco) that cost about $900. The mimby smokes it. For that reason, good or bad, I have not tried the Schiit S-D DACs.
To my ears
b. The Joty SE is crisp and lean. However to my ears it does not have the bloom or richness of timbre that I hear live. Hence I seldom use it with SE output.
c. The Joty Bal is very nice. It is not as crisp, the attacks are not quite as sharp as option b, but there is decidedly more bloom. Until I received my balanced cables for the Senn650, I was disappointed in the Joty. With the balanced output in has a good balance of attack and richness of timbre
a. The Vali 2, tube hybrid, adds more of the bloom.. It is as though a digital recording (16/44) inherently misses some of the fullness of the sound of music, and the tube input stage puts some of it back. This is without sounding t-u-b-e-y. Yes, relative to Joty Bal it is a ‘fat’ sound and the attacks are not as sharp.
But...
Once in my life I had the opportunity of hearing Zuell Bailey play the Bach Cello Sonatas in a chamber setting. It was a riveting experience for me. Later I bought his recording of the same music (in a different room to be sure). The mimby-Vali 2 takes me closest to that live experience--for the aspects of music that most enthrall me.

In addition the mimby>Vali 2 is small enough that I can carry it with me when I travel, and it works fine as a single input preamp without remote (as I think all but one of the Schiit hp-preamps do). For me this combination is where the magic begins. It is wonderful that Schiit has been able to bring this level of musicality to us at such a low price. (But it you like it crisp and lean, you will want something else.)

For what it’s worth. NF

 

[earnmyturns]

The Jot shows so much control with extension with both phones, which put very different loads on the amp (though similar impedance), yet without glare.

Yep, that tight control without glare in very dynamic passages is where sometimes the Jot beats the A2.

 

[MOFOfunk]

One more time on this one. The question and some responses inspired (?) me to listen to
a. mimby>Vali 2 (SE out of course)
b. bimby>Joty SE out
c. bimby > Joty Balanced out
all with My Senn 650s. (I did not move my miby to drive the Joty. That involves work, as in crawling under a desk.)
All this is with multibit DAC. I have a recent vintage and very respectable S-D DAC (Concerco) that cost about $900. The mimby smokes it. For that reason, good or bad, I have not tried the Schiit S-D DACs.
To my ears
b. The Joty SE is crisp and lean. However to my ears it does not have the bloom or richness of timbre that I hear live. Hence I seldom use it with SE output.
c. The Joty Bal is very nice. It is not as crisp, the attacks are not quite as sharp as option b, but there is decidedly more bloom. Until I received my balanced cables for the Senn650, I was disappointed in the Joty. With the balanced output in has a good balance of attack and richness of timbre
a. The Vali 2, tube hybrid, adds more of the bloom.. It is as though a digital recording (16/44) inherently misses some of the fullness of the sound of music, and the tube input stage puts some of it back. This is without sounding t-u-b-e-y. Yes, relative to Joty Bal it is a ‘fat’ sound and the attacks are not as sharp.
But...
Once in my life I had the opportunity of hearing Zuell Bailey play the Bach Cello Sonatas in a chamber setting. It was a riveting experience for me. Later I bought his recording of the same music (in a different room to be sure). The mimby-Vali 2 takes me closest to that live experience--for the aspects of music that most enthrall me.

In addition the mimby>Vali 2 is small enough that I can carry it with me when I travel, and it works fine as a single input preamp without remote (as I think all but one of the Schiit hp-preamps do). For me this combination is where the magic begins. It is wonderful that Schiit has been able to bring this level of musicality to us at such a low price. (But it you like it crisp and lean, you will want something else.)

For what it’s worth. NF

Thats really great stuff there Noah. Thank you for the thorough test. I hope it was as fun as it sounds. What tube do you burn in the vali?
I believe I'll go for the neat little Mimby +Vali 2 stack. That also leaves a little room in the budget. Perhaps for a little modding of the HD650. Is that a good idea or should I leave them as they are with this setup. Is there an overview of the mods and how they change the sound profile to be found somewhere?
His favourite year in music history is 1972, so I bet a little non-tubey tube sound will get him there right away. And I also get to try this setup myself which I have been eyeing for some time.

 

[MOFOfunk]

Hi, this is your brother. How nice of you to do this for me! Can you possibly stretch to a Yggdrasil and Ragnorak? I didn't have a chance to tell you that I had to move to San Francisco on short notice. I'll PM a postal box that you can ship them to.

Hey Bro.
Thats sweet. Is it ok that I'll be stopping by with the family. Don't worry its only during the winter. Hope you're not bothered by a newborn and a two year old "looking" at your HP gear. =oD B-D

See you in October.