[barondla]

Thanks everyone for the answer to my question about why Schiit and other amps can't drive electrostatic headphones. It makes sense now.

@Jason Stoddard and @Baldr, heres an idea to bring Xappie back and maybe totally disrupt the electrostatic headphone amp market. I am not an amp designer so this idea may be dumb.

Looking at the Acoustat model 3 and Martin Logan CLS full range electrostatic home speakers, there's basically a giant panel and a box full of "electrostat specific" electronics. The electronics box bolts to the speaker back and an umbilical cord hooks to the panel. Both play with the box unbolted from the speaker, but still plugged in to the panel. Used normal highend power amps to do it ( VTL, Classe, Pass Son Of Zen).

Schiit already makes great headphone amps. Why can't there be a Schiit Xappie stand alone interface box that holds the audio transformers and the high voltage supplies needed for the headphones? Hook the Ragnarok speaker terminals to the interface box. Plug interface into wall outlet and electrostatic headphones into interface. Enjoy.

By the time Schiit owners gravitate to electrostatic headphones, they probably already own a great Schiit amp. Why buy that part again? Xappie interface box could probably be less than $1000. You would have to decide if people could buy Xappie to use with other amp brands.

If it is a dumb idea, sorry. Enjoy all your stories and tips.

 

[kstuart]

[Mod Hat On]

Gents - getting a couple of complaints about the O/T conversations taking over the thread. Just a thought - but if a group of you do want to chat (and that is perfectly OK with us), maybe consider starting a topic in the Members Lounge? Just might make it a little better for those who don't want to hear about vintage PCs and calculators ......

Thanks

Understood.... but if I had a $ for every OT post in this thread, Yggdrasil would be mine !!

 

[Snowpuppy77]

I wasn't a fan of Schiit until I stumble on this setup. Previously I only wrote about Feliks Audio Elise and Euforia tube amps. Now I have nothing but praise for Yggdrasil and Ragnarok. If you had told me that HD800 sounded very good with Yggy and Rggy before I heard it, I wouldn't have believe you. Now having heard it for 2 weeks (had Yggy for 2.5 months and Rggy for 2 weeks) I have to say, this is the best I've heard from HD800. It's amazing that a solid state amp will drive HD800 so well. It is very clear, fast transient, taut and tight bass, texture laden, lush and above all, it's natural and musical. Yggy and Rggy is very revealing but at the same time, it's very comforting on the ears. Too good to be true right? Well it is, to my ears.

Ps.. on a modified HD650 in balance mode, it is very good too. Amazing !

Congrats Schiit. You did a very good job with this combo.

I got my Ragnarok last Thursday as an upgrade for my HD800S. I was using a Schiit Asgard 2 and a Mapletree Ear+ SET tube amp. Amazing upgrade. Does not sound like many claim with the HD800S. It sounds very smooth and musical. I hear more details and a nicely improved dimensional soundstage. What I like most about it is how excellent the tone is especially on acoustic instruments. It is like it has the best attributes of the Asgard 2 and the Mapletree with none of the drawbacks. Really a great match for the HD800/S if the source is right. Both my vinyl rig and multibit DAC sounds terrific as a source. You will see from my system pic that something big is missing!:

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

~snip~ You will see from my system pic that something big is missing!:

Yggy?

 

[Snowpuppy77]

Yggy?

Exactly. Just too much to bite off at one time. Hopefully in about a year I can get the Yggy. Wanted more power for the HD800S and the Rggy was a nice upgrade for my Paradigm Studio 100 v.2 speakers. Such a great speaker amp.

 

[UntilThen]

I got Yggy first and it was a mistake. I couldn't stop talking about it.

Yggy with Euforia sounded superb. Then Ragnarok came and I stop talking because I had use up all the adjectives. It is the end of times literally.

 

[gwitzel]

I just transformed my Gumby into a 5umby .

After a first listen I just can say: Wow!! I am so happy. It seems more natural and a bit more forward than my Wyrd + Sinxer F1 combo + BNC input combo. Very thrilled, and I am happy that I bought the Gen5 USB for my dad, too. Going home to Germany in 2 weeks and will install it for him as well.

The self-install was no problem for me, but I am in the meantime a pretty experienced DIY tinkerer. However, for people who have no experience in disassembling things they don't know it is probably pretty difficult. Please be super careful, go slowly, especially be careful with the outputs and their screws. You don't want to break anything off. The warning 'no user serviceable parts inside' is pretty accurate

 

[Snowpuppy77]

I got Yggy first and it was a mistake. I couldn't stop talking about it.

Yggy with Euforia sounded superb. Then Ragnarok came and I stop talking because I had use up all the adjectives. It is the end of times literally.

I seriously considered getting the Yggy first and using it with my Asgard 2. I am sure it would have been a big improvement as well. But based on what I am hearing with the Ragnarok it is clear that the HD800S are benefiting a lot from the sheer power and refinement. Plus my Paradigm Studio 100v.2s have never sounded so good. They are about 18 years old now and were the Paradigm flagship at the time. So in my case the Ragnarok was the logical next step. I thought about getting the MJ2 and Gumby which I know would be great for headphones but instead chose to spread it out and get the step up. Good thing is that I have the Bimby and it does sound great through the Ragnarok. I noticed that when Steve Guttenberg reviewed the Ragnarok and gave it the Audiophiliac component of the year award he was using the Bimby as his DAC. I figured that if the Bimby worked for Steve then it would work for me until I am able to get Yggy.

 

[DigitalFrontEnd]

Has anyone here yet used a Jil with Audacity for any kind of archiving?

Any all experiences MOST welcome

 

[belgiangenius]

I got my Yggdrasil USB 5.0 upgrade kit yesterday and installed it this morning. Easy job, if you are used to disassembling audio equipment. But, the Yggdrasil is not a simple assembly so I wouldn't recommend it to beginners as a DIY job.

Anyway, I have tried all inputs of the Ygg in the past include AES supplied by an AOIP device. I can definitely say I have not heard the Yggy sound better than this before. The AOIP via AES is in the same ballpark, but the USB 5.0 interface is definitely stellar. I think this $100 upgrade just rendered a bunch of my gear unnecessary.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

I got my Yggdrasil USB 5.0 upgrade kit yesterday and installed it this morning. Easy job, if you are used to disassembling audio equipment. But, the Yggdrasil is not a simple assembly so I wouldn't recommend it to beginners as a DIY job.

Anyway, I have tried all inputs of the Ygg in the past include AES supplied by an AOIP device. I can definitely say I have not heard the Yggy sound better than this before. The AOIP via AES is in the same ballpark, but the USB 5.0 interface is definitely stellar. I think this $100 upgrade just rendered a bunch of my gear unnecessary.

i'm sure some people will still route their USB through two Wyrds "because it sounds better"

 

[rlow]

I got my Yggdrasil USB 5.0 upgrade kit yesterday and installed it this morning. Easy job, if you are used to disassembling audio equipment. But, the Yggdrasil is not a simple assembly so I wouldn't recommend it to beginners as a DIY job.

Anyway, I have tried all inputs of the Ygg in the past include AES supplied by an AOIP device. I can definitely say I have not heard the Yggy sound better than this before. The AOIP via AES is in the same ballpark, but the USB 5.0 interface is definitely stellar. I think this $100 upgrade just rendered a bunch of my gear unnecessary.

Mine is due to show up Monday (for Gumby). Looking forward to trying it to see whether it will improve on the sound from my microRendu that's plugged into it currently.

 

[Pandahead]

I got my Yggdrasil USB 5.0 upgrade kit yesterday and installed it this morning. Easy job, if you are used to disassembling audio equipment. But, the Yggdrasil is not a simple assembly so I wouldn't recommend it to beginners as a DIY job.

Anyway, I have tried all inputs of the Ygg in the past include AES supplied by an AOIP device. I can definitely say I have not heard the Yggy sound better than this before. The AOIP via AES is in the same ballpark, but the USB 5.0 interface is definitely stellar. I think this $100 upgrade just rendered a bunch of my gear unnecessary.

Not only that but the world market for the resale of reclockers/decrapifiers has tanked!

 

[belgiangenius]

i'm sure some people will still route their USB through two Wyrds "because it sounds better"

LOL. I actually use a wyrd, but only because my source is a very noisy Mac Mini and there is 20 feet of USB cable in my wall connecting the Mac with the
Yggy. So, it's Mac Mini -> 5 feet -> wyrd -> 15 feet -> Yggy.

 

[cricket]

Has anyone here yet used a Jil with Audacity for any kind of archiving?

Any all experiences MOST welcome

I've used Jil to archive two LPs. Even though I'm a registered user of GoldWave, I installed Audacity for the second conversion. Recording is pretty straightforward for both programs. The post-recording stuff was easier with Audacity, particularly adding metadata.

Did you have problems? I can at least look at setups and try to remember my process.

Jon