[Ableza]

My advice is not to fear electricity but to respect it.

 

[adias]

My advice is not to fear electricity but to respect it.

... and learn its fundamentals, at least from a personal safety POV.

 

[DavidSerig]

Interesting thought as an AIO. Especially if there was a phono preamp in there too (MM is not too big of a deal.) Just blue-skying, but interesting.

One small point: Syn is, as of now, modular. The DAC card was separated out in the last run. It just exists on the same plane as the board itself, rather than stacking. I'll get a new photo up soon.

In Syn's case, modularization was never done for obsolescence--this was done because I was contemplating a lower priced version that's all analog input. So it would have an analog input card rather than a digital one. We haven't really moved much on this because it would only reduce the cost marginally. Maybe for the future.

If people really want multiple balanced inputs/outputs in limited space, TRS seems like a decent solution.

 

[adydula]

Crank this one up on your Schiit!

"The Beast" amongst others....and "Trenches"...
Wild..

 

[corndog71]

Even only using one hand around high voltage tube gear requires caution. The first attempt at building a tube amp with my own layout taught me a few lessons. One of which was being wary of 400 volt connections and proximity to the grounded chassis. My left pinky inadvertently bridged these two points and was pissed at me the rest of the day.

 

[JamminVMI]

A5+ have been my primary HiFi speakers for a number of years. They are sitting properly on speaker stands about 30" out from the wall and they are sounding quite good fed various sources by a Freya N. I've augmented them with an AudioEngine S8 sub on SVS isolation feet. Definitely not the final word on bass definition but I cannot listen to the A5's without it.

These are soon to be replaced by a Zu DW6 & Aegir combo.

[ Aegir 1 or Aegir 2? Who can even say?! Just waiting on Jason's chapter. ]

Anyway, I bet the smaller A2 would sound pretty sweet on a desktop and look stunning in red.

I’ve got the non-BT A2’s in red on my desk - and love them!

 

[LobalWarming]

I learned to keep one hand in my pocket at all times when troubleshooting.

That was the same advise my mechanic gave me when working on my old Alfa - keep my hand, both hands if needed, in the money pockets.

 

[schneller]

Thanks for the rare Schiit vs. NAIM comparison, @Puddnhead

I run my Y+ A2/OG to a NAIM Supernait 3 + HCDR. I'd love for someone to do a Schiit Kara + 2x Tyr ($3,900) versus NAIM NAC 332 + 2x NAP 350 comparison ($28,000). Any takers?

 

[JamminVMI]

Me, just now:
Yikes, those Teslas sound like complete flabby ass into the Noirs.

Me, two seconds later:
Oh, the impedance multiplier isn't on…



(Forgive me for breaking my own rule and posting an animated GIF. But I feel so dumb right now, I think this is warranted.)

I really love the Teslas in MJ3 (& in The old Lyrs!

Edit: am in Hawaii enjoying myself. It was FV, don’t expect me to make sense, only Mai Tais…

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

I really love the Teslas in MJ3

How did you get them in there?

 

[wout31]

And every time with new Schiit gear @Jason Stoddard and the team doesn't stop to surprise me, overwhelm me, move me.
Sometime a little, most of the times a lot.
From Vidar to Aegir, from Aegir to Tyr. Wow
From Gungnir to Yggdrasil. Wow.
And now with the latest Freya-S to Kara. Wow.
Thank you all for a huge amount of musical excitement and satisfaction.

 

[bcowen]

How did you get them in there?

 

[bcowen]

... and learn its fundamentals, at least from a personal safety POV.

Pain is one of the oldest and most enduring teachers.

 

[adias]

Don't be afraid - try it and see how it stacks up!

Your post prompted me to do something I'd meant to for a while - put the Gjallarhorn head to head with something else. I mainly use the Gjallarhorn for TV/movies, but some for music too if I'm in the location they point to. I looked for a Gjallarhorn-dedicated thread on Head Fi and didn't see one, I hope it's OK to put this here.

I was able to wire up the GJ using Audioquest RCA splitters so that Roon -> iFi Zen Stream -> Bifrost 2 split to a Saga S + Gjallarhorn and an integrated Naim Supernait 2. It may not be fair to compare these, the price differential is approaching 10x, but it's what I have, and I'll try to be fair about what I heard and write. This setup went to LS50 Metas and later Spendor D9.2 floor standers, always using Chord Epic XL speaker cables and Snake Oil RCA interconnects, with wall power and stock power cords. The KEFs I put on top of the Spendors (which are on spikes). I initially tried an A then B comparison by repeatedly unplugging the speaker cables from amp to amp, but after a bit decided to simply run one L or R channel from each amp to each speaker. So the setup was a person (my wife or me) could rapidly turn down one amp and turn the other up, and the exact same music and same channel would continue from the other speaker from the other amp. Sort of like dual mono. The listener sat in a chair a little over 10' from the speakers, which are about 10' apart and a little toed in. The room isn't treated, we live in it. We swapped L/R channels between amps a few times to check for room effects, which were there but were less than the amp effects.

We listened for about 90 min to some albums we know well: Bill Evans Live at the Village Vanguard; the Solti Walkure; Etta James At Last; Wilco Cruel Country; Beach Boys Little Deuce Coupe (Mono); Muddy Waters Folk Singer, and others. My reference point for these albums is my HD800s in the same system, also my Spendors. How would the little GJ do?

We thought:

1: GJ x1 can drive bookshelf KEF LS50 Metas and floor-stander Spendor D9.2s to high SPL. In both cases enough to be too much for an apartment. In both cases the pot for Saga gives almost nothing until noon, and it's too loud by 3:00 for me to go farther. I didn't run it loud long to see if I could trip it, it wasn't very warm even after hours of medium-volume use tonight.

2: The amps are different, and the main differences in the amps are the same across the KEFs and Spendors.

3: Some differences. 1) The GJ has prominent highs, for example snares and hi-hats. Mids like an acoustic guitar are recessed in comparison to the SN2. This was easy to notice in Wilco's Cruel Country or with Muddy Waters. 2) The performers seem in general to be farther away with the GJ; I don't think this is an SPL effect, we tried loud and soft playing, but it could be. 3) The resonance of acoustic instruments, or of a voice, is different and more natural with the SN2. For example, in the Bill Evans album, the piano and bass are on different sides of the stage, and when listening to the channel with the bass, you clearly hear the difference between amps. On the channel with the piano, it's not as obvious. I could try to use a bunch of CRaP words to describe sounds, but the point is that one amp made music that sounded more like what I hear in my nicer headphones.

These things were harder to notice when you had to wait 30 sec between switching amps, but were pretty easy to pick out when someone could nearly instantly switch by turning pots.

So... I like the GJ and it's going to stay in my Bifrost-size Schiit stack by my TV. I like that I have decent amplification with a small footprint. I think my use case with the LS50s within 10-15 feet and medium volumes is about what is envisioned for it. It's about what I expect for $500. @ImagesbyMurray I wouldn't fret that one or two Gjallarhorns are going to upend some amp that you already like, but, if you want to check, try the dual mono approach!

Comment: the use of a split interconnect affects amp loading.

 

[Daniel Johnston]

Comment: the use of a split interconnect affects amp loading.

Having two preamps connected to the input of 1 amp is a problem?