[cycler2]

Unfortunately, I've developed a hand tremor that prevents me from soldering effectively, so DIY is not something I could manage effectively. I attribute it to raising 3 girls and the associated drama. Likely the price I have to pay after years of:

1. Listening while grinning and nodding in an understanding fashion while they are going on about stuff that (a) I don't understand, (b) is not remotely important, or (c) falls into the category of 'whining' -- all while internalizing my urge to scream!
2. Dealing with boys and dating -- - all while internalizing my urge to kill!

I love them, but OMG they are going to be the death of me!!

Be patient, Paladin79. In not too many years they will give you grandchildren and all will be good. Then you'll have the opportunity to introduce your grandkids to audio and, perhaps, vinyl. Oops, wrong forum for that. I meant digital audio.

 

[artur9]

^Vinyl is spoken here

Those small amps look like car amps. Are they?

 

[Letmebefrank]

If Schiit has the coaster amps one day, I would be happy to do all of the soldering for you. I have done enough of this type of thing that I can watch movies or listen to music and still do a decent job of it. I have enough equipment to set up for doing a few builds at once so it is not a lot of trouble. The hardest parts for me are making cuts in metal and having them come out exactly like I want. My last build had a couple small scratches in the aluminum case that did not belong there.

Hey Tom, when the coaster comes out can you order an extra set of parts for me? I know you're a wizard with BOMs. I'll bring some scotch for the VUs and some cash for the parts, then we can have some beers and solder up a couple amps!

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Uh... before I knock of for the night, can I make a suggestion?
Maybe first solder up that amps and drink those beers after that?
Ask Jason what can go wrong with a soldering iron when your head is somewhere else.
He still has the scars to prove it.

 

[riffrafff]

Thanks, im trying to make a Schiit box..

I want something that works similar to this. Where i can plug into a magni. I'm envisioning a low powered speaker setup that is powered by magni, mimby, loki, has a wood case that contains said speakers, in the middle would be a schiit stack, powered by cthulu. I would make the case out of wood. I could use it at my desk, fire pit, etc. Stupid? Probably, but it gives me an excuse to tinker in my garage and build something fun. I will look into repurposing headphone drivers. They will probably play better with Magni then car speaker components.

Using headphone drivers as speakers? Why not? Joseph Grado did it:



This tower is made with Grado headphone drivers.

 

[Rensek]

Using headphone drivers as speakers? Why not? Joseph Grado did it:



This tower is made with Grado headhone drivers.

Honestly, I knew that, but I know just enough about electronics to hurt myself....maybe if I get a wild hair I will start with a two way speaker, not the 15+ way he built..

 

[ashirin]

@Rensek

One more suggestion for you: Audioengine N22 Desktop audio amplifier.

https://audioengineusa.com/shop/amplifiers/n22-desktop-audio-amplifier/

Seems to fit the bill. Class AB, no fan, and much smaller than the Emotiva.

It has less power output than the Emotiva for about the same money, but that's the trade-off. You can't have everything I suppose. Oh also it has a power brick, which the Emotiva does not, but I think it's noticeably smaller even with that accounted for. Lastly, Emotiva says on their site they plan to bring all manufacturing into the US at some point, but several products, including I believe the A-100, are still manufactured in China for now.

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Using headphone drivers as speakers? Why not? Joseph Grado did it:

No he didn't.
He built speakers with head phone drivers.

 

[FLTWS]

What I've found in this hobby in my somewhat limited experience is that things are rarely night and day, and most people would describe a 5-10% increase in sound quality with words like "huge" and "massive". From everything I've read the Magni 3 punches way above it's weight, so it might not be as huge of an upgrade as you think.

Or it might be. I haven't heard either one, but when comparing my Jotunheim to Vali 2 to Magni 2 to fulla 2, it's hard to tell the difference if I'm not doing direct back to back comparisons. I use fulla 2 and hd6xx at work, and Jotunheim hd650 at home. There are many days I consider selling my Jotunheim but I love the build quality and the features (XLR > TRS all day) much more than my other amps.

When it comes to Dacs, that's where I can tell the biggest difference. Modi multibit is just so much better than the Delta sigma variants.

Your right, there is no day / night stuff. If it were an order of magnitude improvement I'd suspect one or the other unit under evaluation to be defective somehow or just not a good match for other parts of the signal chain. The percentage of increase stuff also cracks me up, we gotta' be at what now? Over 10,000% improved at this point? Even if one amp measures 0.001 and the next 0.0001 so the improvement is quantifiable as a percentage in improvement, is anyone going to actually hear that difference? I certainly can't. Also, given that it would be a rarity that any 2 of us would have identical equipment in our rigs from stem to stern, it's not surprising the widely varying opinions everyone has on the end sound perceived, even allowing for differences in hearing acuity and listening preferences. Descriptive terminology is not an exact science either, try as we may. A great amp may not be great with all transducers, I think the mating of the two to give each listener what they think sounds best to them is a part of the equation. If one is going to have several headphones (with turnover at intervals) having at least 2 amp types makes a lot of sense to me. If one of those amps is tubed and your gonna' roll, that will make for a roulette wheel of possible sound variations to experience, or not.

But that's all a part of the hobby, and a part of the fun for me.

When it comes to DACs, the Yggdrasil is the only multibit one I have experience with. (I'm still on V1? or is it A? and will upgrade when the Que gets whittled down. I've actually entertained just going ahead and purchasing a V2, or is it B(?), just to compare them them for kicks and giggles, then get the old one up graded for use in a second system upstairs). I do know Yggdrasil bested at least 6 different Delta Sigma types I auditioned and owned at length, at that point I just stopped and never listened any further to the type. But, If anyone wants to send me their "Dave", I'd be happy to have it go head to head with my Yggy and do review. And thanks in advance.

 

[Letmebefrank]

Uh... before I knock of for the night, can I make a suggestion?
Maybe first solder up that amps and drink those beers after that?
Ask Jason what can go wrong with a soldering iron when your head is somewhere else.
He still has the scars to prove it.

Thanks Pietro, I appreciate your concern. I promise I wont solder over the legal limit.

 

[FLTWS]

Yeah -- I exaggerated a bit. Not really expecting HUGE, but what I do want is more detail, separation/air and a bit wider sound-stage with improved imaging. The Magni 3 is quite a nice bit of kit, but I'm hoping that the Lyr 3 can deliver just a bit more to really take me deeper into the music. Never truly experienced a tube amp (except for a $50 Nobsound unit) and I'm curious to see what a real HQ tube amp adds to the wonderful detail delivered via my Modi Multibit. Have not pulled the trigger yet, but it is rather tempting. And a little tube rolling does sound like fun.

My inner detail "reveal" of the day with LYR 3 during today's listening session; On the Chesky Ultimate HP CD (that I've listened to at least a few hundred times since I purchased it), track 11, "Wa, Wa, Wa", I've never heard some of the singers rolled "R's" as clearly as this before. This is a very subtle detail from a top shelf quality recording, but the fact that I heard it this well tells me that even with my second and third tier quality recordings the LYR 3 will extract everything there is to get from them.

But this does not mean that the rest of my HP amps are "Obsolete". When I actually get around to 1 on 1's I most likely will observe something special about the others and / or very, very close in presentation to the LYR 3 with a different set of plus / minus..

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Even if one amp measures 0.001 and the next 0.0001 so the improvement is quantifiable as a percentage in improvement, is anyone going to actually hear that difference?

We use 2 significant numbers after the comma. So there's no difference there.

 

[Paladin79]

Hey Tom, when the coaster comes out can you order an extra set of parts for me? I know you're a wizard with BOMs. I'll bring some scotch for the VUs and some cash for the parts, then we can have some beers and solder up a couple amps!

Frank, I will certainly grab extra parts. I may consider building at least two so a third is not an issue and I can set up an extra bench in my shop. I have most common values of electrolytics and resistors in my shop already. Many semiconductors as well.

Beer during soldering is not an issue for me but thanks for your concern Pietro. In soldering, as in poker, a beer or two can cause you to focus and be less distracted by things around you.

Scotch might be a bit much so that would wait till later.

I have not wanted to bug Jason about the Bom or boards but hopefully I will hear something sometime. I believe he said he had some parts in stock and I assumed that was PC boards. His mind has been on other things what with the Fed Ex issue and plumbing issue.

As with my last build, if I have a Bom, pc board and schematic I really do not need much else. Without the pc board I would be making my own and it has been a while since I have done that.

Something mentioned earlier, using drivers as speakers. I was always taught drivers were in a sense speakers, small ones but same principal, less power. I do believe the gentleman who started MrSpeakers had a background in speaker building. Use enough drivers, spread the power out over the lot of them, and you can call it nothing but a speaker I would think.

 

[riffrafff]

No he didn't.
He built speakers with head phone drivers.

I fail to grasp your point. Are you arguing semantics? Or could you not view the photo?

 

[johnzz4]

Audeze made some speakers with headphone drivers as well..