bokononista
100+ Head-Fier
I have a pair in Classifields, if interestedI wish I could say the same…
Schiit Happened: The Story of the World's Most Improbable Start-Up
- Thread starter Jason Stoddard
- Start date
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- schiit audio schiit-audio
Roy G. Biv
Headphoneus Supremus
Yes, it’s a BS explanation. Are you referring to the incident in AUS?
R3DFIV3
100+ Head-Fier
I totally feel more Helmet than Vader... except for the labored breathing.
Attachments
33na3rd
500+ Head-Fier
I believe that @macdonjh is referring to the near miss at Austin-Bergstrom International (AUS) in Texas.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/...IN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc
There was in article In this morning's NYT regarding problems/concerns at the FAA.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/02/business/air-traffic-controllers-safety.html
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JamminVMI
Headphoneus Supremus
I spell that without the “i”, bur yep!
I'm not sure of the details of the event you are referencing, but I'll take a crack at it.
Instruments will bring you down to the runway in bad weather, but once you're near/on the runway you are looking out the window and tracking the centerline while using a combo of brakes, thrust reversers and spoilers to stop.
Tower clears you to land, which can mean slightly different things in different countries but gives you the runway to stop on. You own it. They also give you the runway for takeoff when they clear you. So if you are taking off, and engine fails, and you elect to keep it on the ground and stop, you own the runway at that point go ahead and stop, and let tower know you are stopping when it's convenient for you (your engine blowing up/keeping the plane out of the grass being higher priorities).
If tower sees you rolling for takeoff, and clears the next guy to land assuming you'll be airborne before he gets there (which happens frequently) you can have a problem. If you abort, and now aren't going to be airborne the guy landing needs to "go around" and climb away from the runway and try again. But he has to know to go around. If it's a clear day, he'll observe you aren't airborne and go around on his own, and advise tower. If tower sees the problem and realizes the interval is too small, he will order landing traffic to go around. If it is really low vis however, and landing traffic can't see you, and tower can't see you, and you abort and don't tell anyone fast enough, then you can have some bent metal. It's a dangerous situation that is mitigated by tower and atc providing "ifr spacing" which is a larger interval between takeoffs and landings in low vis conditions. So if visibility is very low, AND ATC gets sloppy with their spacing, AND something happens with one of the aircraft at just the wrong time, AND communication is slow, it's very feasable that people could die.
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Ripper2860
Headphoneus Supremus
Yes. - anything FUN!We have a topic?
JC
NoBodyNoWhere
100+ Head-Fier
So lately I’ve been noticing some distinct differences between my two main systems.
Living room - Mac Mini>Yggy OG>Freya+ (LISST)>Tyr Monoblocks>Polk RTi A9 Tower Speakers (Listening position is about 4 feet from speakers)
Workstation - Mac Mini>Bifrost 2/64>Mjolnir 3>(2) Vidar OG as Monoblocks>Polk LSiM703 Stand mount speakers (near field listening)
The key difference is that I am enjoying a more visceral sense of impact from the workstation system. I guess it’s what people refer to as “slam”. Notes hit with a sharpness and timing that I am really enjoying. When I put the Tyrs into my living room system, what I felt I really gained there was the same kind of “slam”. Now that has become the baseline that I compare my other systems to.
I added the Mjolnir 3 to my workstation system a bit over a month ago. It sounded good, but I didn’t notice a lot of improvement. Initially I had a Denefrips Ares II as my DAC. After I switched it to the Bifrost 2/64, I noticed that there was a smoother sound, but over a couple weeks of listening, I found that there was greater impact. Now my workstation has been sounding better than the living room.
So this morning I put the Mjolnir 3 into my living room system to see what it would do. I kept the settings where I normally keep them - Gain: low, Mode: single ended class A, Feedback: off - Balanced interconnects.
For the following, this was the system I was listening to:
All pieces were from Apple Lossless files played from a Mac Mini>Yggy OG via USB>Mjolnir 3 Preamp>Tyr Monoblocks via balanced connectors>Polk RTi A9 Tower Speakers.
All files (except for “So What”) were Apple Lossless 16/44.1 ripped from CD.
“I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” by Sinead O’Connor - Her breathiness and the clarity of her voice comes through much more satisfying. The voice feels more focused and isolated to a very specific point even with tower speakers that do not image well.
“What it Is” by Mark Knopfler - The guitar is really really clear. The attack on the notes is quite good. I think it is better with the LSiM703 speakers as opposed to the RTi A9s that I am listening with right now, but still better than with the Freya+ (with LISST)
“If I Didn’t Have Your Love” by Leonard Cohen - His voice seems more distinctly centered and a bit higher in the soundstage than I’m used to. His gravely voice is nicely and distinctly gravely.
Overall, the music sounds more “in the room” than I am accustomed to with the Freya+
“Nearer My God To Thee” by Mississippi John Hurt - Again, clear and distinct. Here, his voice sounded pushed off a little to the right. I’m guessing that the Mjolnir might reveal flaws in imaging. There is a delicacy to the way Hurt plays the guitar that I’ve always loved and it comes through nicely here.
“Beethoven Cello Sonata #3 in A, Op 69, Scherzo Allegro Molto” by Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax - One of my all time favorite pieces by Beethoven (and I like a lot of Beethoven) Some of the harder, more percussive piano notes are so clear and well imaged here that I can almost SEE them in space and this is not an affect I’ve experienced often in music.
“Temptation” (Tom Waits) by Diana Krall - I like Diana Krall’s recordings for listening to what a system can do as they are very well recorded. I had the volume up a bit as the previous Beethoven piece needed a bit and when I switched to this, it’s a bit hotter than I usually might listen to music, but that really brought the “slam” into the music. It opens with a hard percussive hit that surprised me. Notes are very clear and well imaged. Her voice is lovely and clear.
“Temptation” by Tom Waits - Instruments are forward, clear and distinct. Wait’s “false falsetto” falls back a bit in the sound stage and feels a bit lost.
“Down There By The Train” by Tom Waits - I love this song, but it’s probably the worst recorded song that I listen to regularly. I had to turn the volume down a bit and it’s still pretty hard to listen to. That said, it sounds good here compared to how it sounds in other systems.
“Three Blind Mice” by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - I was expecting a harder, more impactful and driving rendering of the drums here. When I listened to this piece at the Shiitr with a Freya+, Tyrs and Magnapans, the sense of visceral slam that I got was one of those things that you remember and then compare every subsequent listening to. I’m not getting that here. Maybe memory is the problem but I was just expecting MORE! That said, this sounds good. Just more smooth than I was expecting. (Mostly I think the lack of impact here is due to the speakers. The Magnapans are just going to sound more impactful on certain kinds of percussion.)
“So What” by Miles Davis (24/192 hi rez download). It’s an old recording with a lot of surface noise and I’m not sure that the high rez version provides much benefit. Anyway, sound stage is good. The trumpet is nice and clear. The sax is loud and a bit piercing but actually in a good way. There is a clarity here that I really like. Sometimes jazz like this can become background music, but not here. It sounds great through the Freya+ but I’d say it sounds distinctly more better and engaging through the Mjolnir 3. Overall imaging is better - the separation between instruments just seems more precise. Even the bass which can get a bit mushy seems fairly clearly placed in the sound stage.
“Waltz For Debby - Take 1” by Bill Evans (The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961) I like this piece but the background noises really bug me. And there are aspects to the way the bass is played where the fingering results in some harsh clacky noises. The improvements I have made to my system (Tyrs, Yggy OG) have helped tame these, but they remain. With the Mjolnir 3, I feel a bit more “in the space” where the music was recorded. The things I don’t like about the recording are still here, but I’m more ok with them.
“All That You Have Is Your Soul” by Tracy Chapman - What stands out here is again, clarity. There is more detail than with the Freya+ and that helps bring out the subtlety in the performance. It’s a small and not terribly important thing to the song, but I noticed how the last note of the guitar faded out at the end and just “was there” a little bit more than I remember. The piano in the right channel is very crisp and distinct. Chapman’s voice is vulnerable yet strong and this presentation just helps it come through even more.
“Twilight” by Antony and the Johnsons - Speaking of vulnerable yet strong voices… Beautifully recorded. Imaging was not terribly distinct here, but there was a very nice sense of presence and richness.
“Knocking’ On Heaven’s Door” (Bob Dylan) by Antony and the Johnsons - Pretty much the same notes as on “Twilight” but also I really really love the deep, resonant bass throughout this piece.
“The Koln Concert - Part 1” by Keith Jarrett - The audience laughter after the first few notes is something that can get easily lost in playback, but it does come through. The piano he was playing was an old rehearsal piano that was not intended for concert performance and the mechanical noises of the pedals and hammers come through here. Maybe it’s being able to hear those subtle ambient noises that helps give music a sense of “being there”. The Mjolnir is able to deliver those subtleties from a recording. There is a softness to the piano notes at the beginning of the piece which I particularly like. Later, the notes become more crisp and clear. I think the sharpness of attack on the notes is improved with the Mjolnir over the Freya+. It’s subtle, but there.
I could go on, but my conclusion is this - The Mjolnir 3 is a worthy adversary. It elevates what is already a very nice system to even more nice. I’m hearing improved imaging, clarity and a sense of “being there in the room with the performers”. I think the RTi A9 speakers are holding this system back, but it’s still very pleasurable listening.
The problem is that the Mjolnir 3 is a desktop headphone amp. There is no remote. Only two inputs. It sounds great as a preamp but it’s better used in a position where you can reach the controls.
What I want is a dedicated preamp version of the Mjolnir 3. With the inputs of the Freya+ and a remote for controlling input, volume, and settings like feedback and mode (I guess gain is less of an issue for a straight preamp unless it is equipped with headphone outputs). Could something like this be done at a $1.5 to $2k price point? If so, I’d definitely be interested.
I guess the next experiment is to put in the Polk LSiM703 to see if I get more of the “slam” that I had been hearing on my workstation system.
Living room - Mac Mini>Yggy OG>Freya+ (LISST)>Tyr Monoblocks>Polk RTi A9 Tower Speakers (Listening position is about 4 feet from speakers)
Workstation - Mac Mini>Bifrost 2/64>Mjolnir 3>(2) Vidar OG as Monoblocks>Polk LSiM703 Stand mount speakers (near field listening)
The key difference is that I am enjoying a more visceral sense of impact from the workstation system. I guess it’s what people refer to as “slam”. Notes hit with a sharpness and timing that I am really enjoying. When I put the Tyrs into my living room system, what I felt I really gained there was the same kind of “slam”. Now that has become the baseline that I compare my other systems to.
I added the Mjolnir 3 to my workstation system a bit over a month ago. It sounded good, but I didn’t notice a lot of improvement. Initially I had a Denefrips Ares II as my DAC. After I switched it to the Bifrost 2/64, I noticed that there was a smoother sound, but over a couple weeks of listening, I found that there was greater impact. Now my workstation has been sounding better than the living room.
So this morning I put the Mjolnir 3 into my living room system to see what it would do. I kept the settings where I normally keep them - Gain: low, Mode: single ended class A, Feedback: off - Balanced interconnects.
For the following, this was the system I was listening to:
All pieces were from Apple Lossless files played from a Mac Mini>Yggy OG via USB>Mjolnir 3 Preamp>Tyr Monoblocks via balanced connectors>Polk RTi A9 Tower Speakers.
All files (except for “So What”) were Apple Lossless 16/44.1 ripped from CD.
“I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” by Sinead O’Connor - Her breathiness and the clarity of her voice comes through much more satisfying. The voice feels more focused and isolated to a very specific point even with tower speakers that do not image well.
“What it Is” by Mark Knopfler - The guitar is really really clear. The attack on the notes is quite good. I think it is better with the LSiM703 speakers as opposed to the RTi A9s that I am listening with right now, but still better than with the Freya+ (with LISST)
“If I Didn’t Have Your Love” by Leonard Cohen - His voice seems more distinctly centered and a bit higher in the soundstage than I’m used to. His gravely voice is nicely and distinctly gravely.
Overall, the music sounds more “in the room” than I am accustomed to with the Freya+
“Nearer My God To Thee” by Mississippi John Hurt - Again, clear and distinct. Here, his voice sounded pushed off a little to the right. I’m guessing that the Mjolnir might reveal flaws in imaging. There is a delicacy to the way Hurt plays the guitar that I’ve always loved and it comes through nicely here.
“Beethoven Cello Sonata #3 in A, Op 69, Scherzo Allegro Molto” by Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax - One of my all time favorite pieces by Beethoven (and I like a lot of Beethoven) Some of the harder, more percussive piano notes are so clear and well imaged here that I can almost SEE them in space and this is not an affect I’ve experienced often in music.
“Temptation” (Tom Waits) by Diana Krall - I like Diana Krall’s recordings for listening to what a system can do as they are very well recorded. I had the volume up a bit as the previous Beethoven piece needed a bit and when I switched to this, it’s a bit hotter than I usually might listen to music, but that really brought the “slam” into the music. It opens with a hard percussive hit that surprised me. Notes are very clear and well imaged. Her voice is lovely and clear.
“Temptation” by Tom Waits - Instruments are forward, clear and distinct. Wait’s “false falsetto” falls back a bit in the sound stage and feels a bit lost.
“Down There By The Train” by Tom Waits - I love this song, but it’s probably the worst recorded song that I listen to regularly. I had to turn the volume down a bit and it’s still pretty hard to listen to. That said, it sounds good here compared to how it sounds in other systems.
“Three Blind Mice” by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - I was expecting a harder, more impactful and driving rendering of the drums here. When I listened to this piece at the Shiitr with a Freya+, Tyrs and Magnapans, the sense of visceral slam that I got was one of those things that you remember and then compare every subsequent listening to. I’m not getting that here. Maybe memory is the problem but I was just expecting MORE! That said, this sounds good. Just more smooth than I was expecting. (Mostly I think the lack of impact here is due to the speakers. The Magnapans are just going to sound more impactful on certain kinds of percussion.)
“So What” by Miles Davis (24/192 hi rez download). It’s an old recording with a lot of surface noise and I’m not sure that the high rez version provides much benefit. Anyway, sound stage is good. The trumpet is nice and clear. The sax is loud and a bit piercing but actually in a good way. There is a clarity here that I really like. Sometimes jazz like this can become background music, but not here. It sounds great through the Freya+ but I’d say it sounds distinctly more better and engaging through the Mjolnir 3. Overall imaging is better - the separation between instruments just seems more precise. Even the bass which can get a bit mushy seems fairly clearly placed in the sound stage.
“Waltz For Debby - Take 1” by Bill Evans (The Complete Live At The Village Vanguard 1961) I like this piece but the background noises really bug me. And there are aspects to the way the bass is played where the fingering results in some harsh clacky noises. The improvements I have made to my system (Tyrs, Yggy OG) have helped tame these, but they remain. With the Mjolnir 3, I feel a bit more “in the space” where the music was recorded. The things I don’t like about the recording are still here, but I’m more ok with them.
“All That You Have Is Your Soul” by Tracy Chapman - What stands out here is again, clarity. There is more detail than with the Freya+ and that helps bring out the subtlety in the performance. It’s a small and not terribly important thing to the song, but I noticed how the last note of the guitar faded out at the end and just “was there” a little bit more than I remember. The piano in the right channel is very crisp and distinct. Chapman’s voice is vulnerable yet strong and this presentation just helps it come through even more.
“Twilight” by Antony and the Johnsons - Speaking of vulnerable yet strong voices… Beautifully recorded. Imaging was not terribly distinct here, but there was a very nice sense of presence and richness.
“Knocking’ On Heaven’s Door” (Bob Dylan) by Antony and the Johnsons - Pretty much the same notes as on “Twilight” but also I really really love the deep, resonant bass throughout this piece.
“The Koln Concert - Part 1” by Keith Jarrett - The audience laughter after the first few notes is something that can get easily lost in playback, but it does come through. The piano he was playing was an old rehearsal piano that was not intended for concert performance and the mechanical noises of the pedals and hammers come through here. Maybe it’s being able to hear those subtle ambient noises that helps give music a sense of “being there”. The Mjolnir is able to deliver those subtleties from a recording. There is a softness to the piano notes at the beginning of the piece which I particularly like. Later, the notes become more crisp and clear. I think the sharpness of attack on the notes is improved with the Mjolnir over the Freya+. It’s subtle, but there.
I could go on, but my conclusion is this - The Mjolnir 3 is a worthy adversary. It elevates what is already a very nice system to even more nice. I’m hearing improved imaging, clarity and a sense of “being there in the room with the performers”. I think the RTi A9 speakers are holding this system back, but it’s still very pleasurable listening.
The problem is that the Mjolnir 3 is a desktop headphone amp. There is no remote. Only two inputs. It sounds great as a preamp but it’s better used in a position where you can reach the controls.
What I want is a dedicated preamp version of the Mjolnir 3. With the inputs of the Freya+ and a remote for controlling input, volume, and settings like feedback and mode (I guess gain is less of an issue for a straight preamp unless it is equipped with headphone outputs). Could something like this be done at a $1.5 to $2k price point? If so, I’d definitely be interested.
I guess the next experiment is to put in the Polk LSiM703 to see if I get more of the “slam” that I had been hearing on my workstation system.
Pietro Cozzi Tinin
Headphoneus Supremus
Good for you. Now get mobile fast.
If one ever wonders what a wonder machine like the DaVinci costs, ask doctor @KoshNaranek.
He buys these machines for his hospital, I think.
golfbravobravo
Headphoneus Supremus
Your assertion wrt "owning" the runway is incorrect in the USA. In most jursidictions a landing clearance is just that and that aircraft is guaranteed runway exclusivity. This often means a late in the approach landing clearance, but without that explicit instruction, a go around is required (or the pilot can query ATC, but it often is too late).
Not in the US! I have been cleared "cleared to land number 7, behind nnnn" at a busy airport (Palo Alto, San Carlos, Oakland, Livermore, I'm looking at you!).
Whilst there have been far too many separation incidents recently (in US airspace), your characterization presents a more worrisome scenario than reality. In low vis, separation is increased and pilots are bound by both the FAA regs and their own company's operating manual procedures. Few (I can't recall any...) of the recent incidents have been as a result of low vis.
It's also worth noting that almost all commercial operations (plus many others) are on an IFR flightplan - even in good conditions. The change in procedures in determined by visibility (VMC or IMC). You don't mention situational awareness, which is key for controllers and for pilots. Most of the incidents I've seen lately have been, at least in part, when one (or more) of the parties involved has a loss of situational awareness. In most recent cases, this seems to be the controller. Though the Houston incident is clearly pilot error.
Cheers
In this era why not institute a system of sensors at the runway and taxiway crossings with red/green lights and a virtual depiction of that being displayed in an app seen by pilots and control towers? Add to that loud sirens at the cross points to wake up distracted pilots. The same app should be used by approaching planes giving them assurance (or not) of a free landing runway.
misterpumpy
100+ Head-Fier
Off the current topic but I’ve been listening to a bunch of Schiit content and going thru posts by Jason and Mike…and I heard or read (can’t remember specifically) that a Valhalla 3 would take a leaf from the Folkvangr book in terms of otl and ocl—is this going to result in Valhalla being considerably different than Valhalla 2 and be more Folkvangr Jr, or am I thinking too much about public comments that are not finalized (based on the timeline being 4-6 months from now iirc)?
On balance, a loss of separation is just that; not trivial, but nowhere as ominous as "near miss". If only the press would tone down their sensationalism some.
Also in fairness, sudden deterioration in visibility on final approach, even below minima is not unheard of, and go-arounds are not an unwise choice.
That said, ATC lapses and underlying issues of personnel shortages, poor working conditions, etc. are a problem worldwide - and of course, duly worrisome.
Still, air safety goes far beyond that of any other form of transportation, and only improves with time.
