FLTWS
Headphoneus Supremus
Thanks, interesting. Maybe not that far off the mark, but it depends how heavily one weights those 5 traits in importance. The direction I come from, as a primarily classical (and some Jazz) music listener has my Jot is the least desirable sonically of all the gear on that stand with my music and I much prefer my Ragnarok to it (which I've found to be one of the best sounding SS headphone amps I've come across). Jot's a bit too intense, too upfront, too aggressive, but I can sense how it could really rock-out with more popular and electronic genres. I bought a Loki for use with Jot so I could make the Jot's sound more palatable to my eardrums. Not pictured above is My Rogue RH5 which now sits on a lower Salamander stand along side my pile-o-Schiit Salamander stand so I can feed it, along with Ragnarok, Jot and MJ2, from my 4 way balanced XLR switchbox.
What I can say at this point is the LYR 3 is a very different sound from the rest of my HP amps, almost disarming. Likely the combination of some of the new circuit design features and the different tube type make it so. 12AX7's, 6DJ8's, 12AU7's, 12AT7's and their types; while they have their sonic differences are more of a family in sound to my ears. The 6SN7 (this is my first experience ever with this tube type), is giving me a different or maybe more refined experience, ("Clarity"?) and that's with either the stock Tung-Sol or the Raytheon, LYR 3 basic sound signature is the same with either brand and different from my other 2 tube amps.This 6SN7 (or is it the LYR 3 circuitry?) can really unravel densely scored passages with ease and maintain stability. Voices are almost spooky real at times, real bodies behind them. Why? I have no idea. Electrons flowing thru various metals in a vacuum, why should there be difference? In any event I've been a tube guy since my first stereo and never found SS as completely satisfying in all areas and no one has ever accused me of being a bass-head so maybe thereby hangs a part of my take on SS vs Valves. Positives and trade-offs is the name of the game when tube and transistor face off. Hybrids do give me pause for thought however, LOL!
A recent poster put up a link in the last day or so from another site about a devise used to inject a little low level 2nd harmonic distortion into the signal chain to improve / change sound characteristics. I chuckled all the way thru it. Growing up with the sound of tubes and output transformers (no hybrid types back then) in the 50's and 60's it took me forever to find a SS devise I liked the sound of. Nelson Pass's early stuff finally caught my attention and some level of acceptance. Took me a lot longer to go from LP to CD with the early Wadia transport and DAC, but Yggy was almost a prayer answered for me to get close enough to analogue sound with my CD's to forgo all the procedurals involved with LP's. But I'm still a tube-o-phile when it comes to my amplification and never was an exclusive SS user, I always had some glass around. I can forgive a little loss of extension at the frequency extremes that I can have with SS, but I always come back around to tubes for the long haul.
The Jot is a great amp for $399. But, the LYR 3 at $524 with a Tung-Sol is a phenomenal sounding amp. But that's just me and I can full well accept that others will hear it differently. And it could be genre specific as well. While most around here cross themselves and hold up garlic and wolves-bane at the mention of the word "Opera", I'm hopeful that bosiemoncrieff can get some LYR time on his next Schiit'r pilgrimage for a listening session, and give us his thoughts.
What I can say at this point is the LYR 3 is a very different sound from the rest of my HP amps, almost disarming. Likely the combination of some of the new circuit design features and the different tube type make it so. 12AX7's, 6DJ8's, 12AU7's, 12AT7's and their types; while they have their sonic differences are more of a family in sound to my ears. The 6SN7 (this is my first experience ever with this tube type), is giving me a different or maybe more refined experience, ("Clarity"?) and that's with either the stock Tung-Sol or the Raytheon, LYR 3 basic sound signature is the same with either brand and different from my other 2 tube amps.This 6SN7 (or is it the LYR 3 circuitry?) can really unravel densely scored passages with ease and maintain stability. Voices are almost spooky real at times, real bodies behind them. Why? I have no idea. Electrons flowing thru various metals in a vacuum, why should there be difference? In any event I've been a tube guy since my first stereo and never found SS as completely satisfying in all areas and no one has ever accused me of being a bass-head so maybe thereby hangs a part of my take on SS vs Valves. Positives and trade-offs is the name of the game when tube and transistor face off. Hybrids do give me pause for thought however, LOL!
A recent poster put up a link in the last day or so from another site about a devise used to inject a little low level 2nd harmonic distortion into the signal chain to improve / change sound characteristics. I chuckled all the way thru it. Growing up with the sound of tubes and output transformers (no hybrid types back then) in the 50's and 60's it took me forever to find a SS devise I liked the sound of. Nelson Pass's early stuff finally caught my attention and some level of acceptance. Took me a lot longer to go from LP to CD with the early Wadia transport and DAC, but Yggy was almost a prayer answered for me to get close enough to analogue sound with my CD's to forgo all the procedurals involved with LP's. But I'm still a tube-o-phile when it comes to my amplification and never was an exclusive SS user, I always had some glass around. I can forgive a little loss of extension at the frequency extremes that I can have with SS, but I always come back around to tubes for the long haul.
The Jot is a great amp for $399. But, the LYR 3 at $524 with a Tung-Sol is a phenomenal sounding amp. But that's just me and I can full well accept that others will hear it differently. And it could be genre specific as well. While most around here cross themselves and hold up garlic and wolves-bane at the mention of the word "Opera", I'm hopeful that bosiemoncrieff can get some LYR time on his next Schiit'r pilgrimage for a listening session, and give us his thoughts.
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