[Rope]

Quote:

I used the earpads designed to be used on the Denon D5000 phones . I took the stock earpads off of HE-4s & removed the velour & foam from the disc & fitted the JMoney pads over the discs. Be sure you want to do this as the original earpads are gone at this point. I have no regrets, the phones sound a bit better to me now. I honestly feel the original pads don't really do the phones justice.& I swear they appear a bit more "efficient" as I noticed an increase in low level detail retrieval & they are pretty comfortable.

Thanks for the response.  I own on 5000's, and have stuffed the ear pads.  The stock HE-series ear pads stink, including the new pleather offerings.

 

[rrahman]

This might be a stupid question, but...
 
Does the Lyr have active balanced ground or is that strictly a solid state thing?

 

[knowhatimean]

Quote:

Thanks for the response.  I own on 5000's, and have stuffed the ear pads.  The stock HE-series ear pads stink, including the new pleather offerings.

Yeah, I had a pair of D5000 . I could'nt listen to them anymore after listening to the HEs. In comparison (while they are nice sounding) they have a "sound" to them , whereas the HEs are transparent. For me there is no going back to "dynamic" headphones. (I think we are getting off topic here, so I suggest we limit our posts to things related to use with/of the Lyr or start new threads. I'll admit to being guilt of this pretty often , but this amp is deserving of plenty more attention.)
 
 

 

[knowhatimean]

I guess everyone is too busy enjoying their Lyrs to be bothered posting...I am really getting into some of my recordings... It's funny, I have an LSO live Sibelius Symphonies 5 & 6/Sir Colin Davis conducting that I'm listening to right now I never noticed Sir Colin was humming along to the score in the first movement. At first I did'nt realize what the slight vocal sounds were until I started picking up the slight rythmic mimicing of the music . Luckily , it ceased (or I stopped noticing it) after the first movement as I started get wrapped up in the orchestration. There are two engineers on this cd as there were 2 different recordings. Of the 2 different recording dates it is a bit easier to hear that the sound captured in the 6th Symphony(Tony Faulkner, eng) is better layered, than the recording of 5th Sym.(Jonathan Stokes, eng). This was my opinion previously , but with the Lyr the differences are a bit more obvious . I'm thinking I really need to get a better SACD player as the more complex harmonic structures of orchestral recordings benefit from higher resolution recordings (as I have a few hundred of that I end up playing the hybrid/cd layer of due to the fact my cd player has a better output section than my Sony SCD-333es SACD player) As I've mentioned before the Lyr is turning out to be one of the best "overachiever" piece of audio gear I've ever purchased!

 

[adydula]

I find that I dont have to strain to hear the subltle things with the Lyr and the LCD2's I have. I am always hearing 'what things sound like' for the 'first time' type of experience.
 
Listening to a song I said to myself...'hey that really sounds like a wooden stick hitting metal, or gee thats so 'piano' like or gee that vocal sounds so well...real...''
 
I am continuing to use 2 sets of tubes but the EH 6922's matched pair have stayed in the amp for 80% of the 100+ hours I have on the Lyr...they really are very, very good to date.
 
I am using a HRT music streamer ii+ USB dac and also have compared to ESS Sabre A/D' setup both are marvelous.
 
All the best
Alex

 

[pockits]

New tubes... new sound....
 
Since I though about changing the tubes...After this new Mullards Gold Pin... I use amperex Orange boy..., and I must say......... HOLLY S.... the change is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo big that... for now on.... Mullard in this baby is the proper tube... Expensive yes.... but better than 80% of the amps on the planet and for sure better than my other amps... by far.
 
 

 

[justie]

I just recently bought a second hand lyr from the forums. The seller is in the US while Im in aus. It didnt occur to me then but now i suddenly remembered that the voltage is different. the us being 110 and au being 230v. is it possible to change between the 2?
 
edit: problem solved. had to get a step down transformer. Jason from Schiit was really helpful. He literally answered my emails in 20 seconds after sending.

 

[Ezekiel33]

Hey guys !!
 
I plan on changing my current audio gear and I want to know If changing to the Lyr/Bifrost combo would be a real step-up for me!
I've been using the Audio-gd Fun with my denon d2000 for almost 2 years now (great satisfaction for the price) but I want more.
I want a gear that can drive the lcd-2 or even the hd800. Is this combo (lyr/bifrost) a huge step foward that could suit me? Or should I just stay with my audio-gd and buy new cans?
 
thanks!

 

[WNBC]

Lyr will drive the LCD-2 excellently.  Wait another week or two and you'll have reviews on the BiFrost and likely BiFrost + Lyr.  My understanding is that there will not be long backorders on BiFrost but it's been a while since I checked in on the dedicated thread.  Never heard the Audio-gd fun so I can't comment on its sound relative to my own DAC + Lyr experience.  
 
Quote:

Hey guys !!
 
I plan on changing my current audio gear and I want to know If changing to the Lyr/Bifrost combo would be a real step-up for me!
I've been using the Audio-gd Fun with my denon d2000 for almost 2 years now (great satisfaction for the price) but I want more.
I want a gear that can drive the lcd-2 or even the hd800. Is this combo (lyr/bifrost) a huge step foward that could suit me? Or should I just stay with my audio-gd and buy new cans?
 
thanks!

 

 

[HawaiiR]

Question: wondering if the Lyr would be a good choice for my ATH-AD2000 that I just purchased. I also have an ATH-W1000 that's available for me to use when I need. I also plan on purchasing a pair of HD800's sometime in the next 6 months or so. I know the Lyr is probably overkill for the Audio Technica's that I mentioned, but I want to have the option to also use the amp for the Sennheiser. Also, I listen mostly to electronica - downtempo, house, techno, ambient...
 
I have a few other amps in mind, but wondering if this one in particular will do the job for me, or not.
 
Thanks!
 

 

[justie]

Just got my Lyr for my LCD2s. Been listening for around 20 minutes and the most apparent thing is that the treble is bumped up abit. Also feels like my LCD2s are more dynamic now. Definitely an upgrade from my fiio e7/e9 (i know..bad comparison but its my first and only amp XD) loving it!

 

[Sophonax]

 
Quote:

Question: wondering if the Lyr would be a good choice for my ATH-AD2000 that I just purchased. I also have an ATH-W1000 that's available for me to use when I need. I also plan on purchasing a pair of HD800's sometime in the next 6 months or so. I know the Lyr is probably overkill for the Audio Technica's that I mentioned, but I want to have the option to also use the amp for the Sennheiser. Also, I listen mostly to electronica - downtempo, house, techno, ambient...
 
I have a few other amps in mind, but wondering if this one in particular will do the job for me, or not.
 
Thanks!
 

For the three headphones you listed, I'd recommend the Asgard over the Lyr.  The Asgard has a lower noise floor and is great with low-impedance headphones like the Audio Technicas, and I think it pairs with the HD800 just about as well as the Lyr.
 
With the Lyr, you might experience some not insignificant amount of noise with your Audio Technica headphones, due to their high efficiency and low impedance, and the amp's very high gain.  As for the HD800, I found it to be somewhat more dynamic and bassier on the Lyr, whereas it was cleaner and more detailed on the Asgard -- neither presentation was better than the other, just different.
 
Bottom line, if you're not planning to go with headphones like the following in the future:
 
AKG K701
Orthodynamics (LCD-2, HE-6, HE-500, etc.)
600-ohm Beyerdynamics (T1, DT880/600, etc.)
 
I'd go with the Asgard.

 

[Misterrogers]

Good advice Sophanax. Lyr can be used with high/low impedance/efficiency headphones, but it's targeted toward the HE-6's and the DT990/600's of the world. Asgard is a wonderful amp (for the price point) with low impedance, high efficiency cans. 
 
Quote:

 
For the three headphones you listed, I'd recommend the Asgard over the Lyr.  The Asgard has a lower noise floor and is great with low-impedance headphones like the Audio Technicas, and I think it pairs with the HD800 just about as well as the Lyr.
 
With the Lyr, you might experience some not insignificant amount of noise with your Audio Technica headphones, due to their high efficiency and low impedance, and the amp's very high gain.  As for the HD800, I found it to be somewhat more dynamic and bassier on the Lyr, whereas it was cleaner and more detailed on the Asgard -- neither presentation was better than the other, just different.
 
Bottom line, if you're not planning to go with headphones like the following in the future:
 
AKG K701
Orthodynamics (LCD-2, HE-6, HE-500, etc.)
600-ohm Beyerdynamics (T1, DT880/600, etc.)
 
I'd go with the Asgard.

 

 

[HawaiiR]

Thanks Sophonax and Misterrogers!
 
I'm actually quite eager to try out a moderately priced tube amp mainly because I never have. I'm hoping to get one that, for the most part, covers my needs on all three headphones that I mentioned. The reality is probably that they won't but no harm asking about it anyway...  I did consider the LCD-2 as an alternative option to the HD800's, but I'm currently waiting for a review from a fellow head-fier who has pretty much the same listening preferences that I do. 
 
OK, so since the Lyr may not be the right choice for me, what do you guys think about the Valhalla? Again, I'm really bent on trying a tube amp. Keep in mind, this amp that I purchase will be my first dedicated headphone amps, and in all likelihood I'll upgrade at some point in the future. Would the Valhalla be a better option for me to start with than the Lyr? More so than the Asgard?
 
Thanks for all your help, btw!
 
 
Quote:

 
For the three headphones you listed, I'd recommend the Asgard over the Lyr.  The Asgard has a lower noise floor and is great with low-impedance headphones like the Audio Technicas, and I think it pairs with the HD800 just about as well as the Lyr.
 
With the Lyr, you might experience some not insignificant amount of noise with your Audio Technica headphones, due to their high efficiency and low impedance, and the amp's very high gain.  As for the HD800, I found it to be somewhat more dynamic and bassier on the Lyr, whereas it was cleaner and more detailed on the Asgard -- neither presentation was better than the other, just different.
 
Bottom line, if you're not planning to go with headphones like the following in the future:
 
AKG K701
Orthodynamics (LCD-2, HE-6, HE-500, etc.)
600-ohm Beyerdynamics (T1, DT880/600, etc.)
 
I'd go with the Asgard.

 

 

[pseudohippy]

Once you get to rollin' tubes you will realize you can really change the sound to suit your preference. I would just get the Lyr, but I dont have a great reason for that other than having the ability to drive headphones you dont even plan on buying. The vahalla I dont believe is rollable actually, so yeah, get the Lyr or something else entirely.