[GumbyDammit223]

@GumbyDammit223
@Nick76

I must be in Schiits doghouse

I ordered mine at 6:13 AM pacific time on release day and it hasn't even shipped yet... Even if it ships tomorrow, I wont see it until next week...(Fedex Ground)

Don't worry. I've used up ALL of my karma on this shipment so any and all shipments I get in the future will go so sideways they'll go full circle before I get my hands on them. Just think, YOUR karma will be swinging far into the green zone with this and future shipments will be quick and worry free!

 

[A Jedi]

So you can drive headphones when you don't want to disturb the neighbors and drive a power amp when you... do.

A headamp is basically a pre. And you have a Rag2 if I remember correctly. That has a pre built in. I still don't understand why you need yet another pre.

 

[XERO1]

Jason is currently working on it.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sch...bable-start-up.701900/page-8258#post-17692801

It looks like a 230V version won't be happening after all, at least not for this first run.

But Jason at least left the door open for a 230V version possibly happening if a second run is ever done.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sch...bable-start-up.701900/page-8295#post-17699901

 

[paradoxper]

A headamp is basically a pre. And you have a Rag2 if I remember correctly. That has a pre built in. I still don't understand why you need yet another pre.

There are levels to this and the 300B brings so much dimension.

I use the Perryman mesh 45 DAC with a 300B pre to my CFA3 and it's as incredible as any tube amplification. Which is a beast-mode with planar pairings.

 

[Alcophone]

A headamp is basically a pre. And you have a Rag2 if I remember correctly. That has a pre built in. I still don't understand why you need yet another pre.

Oh, I thought you asked a very general question, or maybe were wondering why Schiit released Kara, a preamp with a headphone out.

Generally you don't need a preamp in front of a headphone amp. But you might want one for various reasons.

• To add tube flavor, like @paradoxper suggests
• To use a stepped relay attenuator instead of the potentiometer in the headphone amp, say to avoid channel imbalance issues or improve the sound. You could use the headphone amp like a power amp and set it to max volume, and control the volume with the preamp in front of it.
• Maybe the headphone amp only has fixed volume levels and you want more fine grained control for your sensitive headphones
• To connect more than one single ended or more than one balanced source to a headphone amp with only one such input
• To convert your source to/from single ended if the headphone amp doesn't have the right input for you source
• Some people might use multiple headphone amps for different headphones and level match them with the built-in volume control, and then use a preamp to control the volume evenly for all headphone amps simultaneously
• Maybe in some weird cases a preamp in between a source and a headphone amp might improve impedance mismatches between the involved inputs and outputs
• To be able to change the volume with a remote control, say if the headphone amp is far away and you're using a long extension cord to your headphones
• The source might be far away and already connected to a nearby preamp for speaker use, and using that preamp's output is the only convenient way to connect the headphone amp to the same source
• ...

 

[artur9]

Since it is Class A, it makes no difference if it is idle or full output.

I thought Class A had to convert all "energy" to waste when idle?

 

[artur9]

order late Fri, 18th no shipping notice

 

[jonathan c]

I'll be posting my first impressions and comparisons once I receive mine in the mail. Was supposed to be here yesterday, and now we try again today. FedEx seems to be having trouble getting it to me anywhere

FTFY…[Reg. TM; © bcowen: 2021.]

 

[A Jedi]

Oh, I thought you asked a very general question, or maybe were wondering why Schiit released Kara, a preamp with a headphone out.

Generally you don't need a preamp in front of a headphone amp. But you might want one for various reasons.

• To add tube flavor, like @paradoxper suggests
• To use a stepped relay attenuator instead of the potentiometer in the headphone amp, say to avoid channel imbalance issues or improve the sound. You could use the headphone amp like a power amp and set it to max volume, and control the volume with the preamp in front of it.
• Maybe the headphone amp only has fixed volume levels and you want more fine grained control for your sensitive headphones
• To connect more than one single ended or more than one balanced source to a headphone amp with only one such input
• To convert your source to/from single ended if the headphone amp doesn't have the right input for you source
• Some people might use multiple headphone amps for different headphones and level match them with the built-in volume control, and then use a preamp to control the volume evenly for all headphone amps simultaneously
• Maybe in some weird cases a preamp in between a source and a headphone amp might improve impedance mismatches between the involved inputs and outputs
• To be able to change the volume with a remote control, say if the headphone amp is far away and you're using a long extension cord to your headphones
• The source might be far away and already connected to a nearby preamp for speaker use, and using that preamp's output is the only convenient way to connect the headphone amp to the same source
• ...

I should have stated that I'm a purist and adding more sand and copper is a no-no. I mistakenly ASSumed that we're all purists. My apologies. Carry on

 

[Alcophone]

I should have stated that I'm a purist and adding more sand and copper is a no-no.

Except when making cables thicker, then more copper is good.

I mistakenly ASSumed that we're all purists.

Of course, I would never do any of these things! Once the signal is analog, anyway. Don't ask me about my digital chain.

Edit: Actually, I briefly had a Gustard H20 between the Yggdrasil and Ragnarok 2 (which I only use for speakers) because there's only one balanced pair of outputs on the Yggdrasil. Actually sounded good! I am too lazy to swap cables, most XLR splitter cables seem to be cheap and the ones I have don't sound good enough, and XLR output switches are very expensive and require yet another pair of cables.
But I prefer the Pass Labs HPA-1 over the Gustard H20 and since that one is single ended I could connect both it and the Ragnarok 2 directly to the Yggdrasil. Nervosa cured treated.

My apologies. Carry on

Nah, my bad, I just didn't realize you were asking in response to this:

Considering pairing one out with some 300B pre but am worried about ultimate drive and a little more worried about resolution smearing.
Probably better off pairing the pre with a Ragnarok but I do have enough gear sitting unused which irks.

 

[Rensek]

Except when making cables thicker, then more copper is good.


Of course, I would never do any of these things! Once the signal is analog, anyway. Don't ask me about my digital chain.

Edit: Actually, I briefly had a Gustard H20 between the Yggdrasil and Ragnarok 2 (which I only use for speakers) because there's only one balanced pair of outputs on the Yggdrasil. Actually sounded good! I am too lazy to swap cables, most XLR splitter cables seem to be cheap and the ones I have don't sound good enough, and XLR output switches are very expensive and require yet another pair of cables.
But I prefer the Pass Labs HPA-1 over the Gustard H20 and since that one is single ended I could connect both it and the Ragnarok 2 directly to the Yggdrasil. Nervosa cured treated.


Nah, my bad, I just didn't realize you were asking in response to this:

Off topic, but Yggy SE outputs are quite nice, and Nexus is pretty awesome, do you actually notice a difference between balanced/se from Yggy into Ragnarok?

 

[Alcophone]

Off topic, but Yggy SE outputs are quite nice, and Nexus is pretty awesome, do you actually notice a difference between balanced/se from Yggy into Ragnarok?

I don't recall trying that, actually. And currently I can't test that easily, I got 25 ft long XLR cables because of how far apart they currently are. With a SparkoS Aries balanced sounded much better than single ended (okay vs. unpleasant), even though that is a single ended amplifier. And yet single ended into the HPA-1 sounded better still than balanced into the Aries. I always wonder whether I'm missing something because a certain forum likes to call the SE out on the Yggdrasil "gimped". It's delightful with the HPA-1 and DCA Stealth.

In general I don't know how people can determine that a DAC's balanced output is better than its single ended output since it might also be that the downstream device's balanced input is better than its single ended input or vice versa. The circuitry on the other end is necessarily different depending on which path is chosen.

Though apparently on said forum using transformers to convert balanced into single ended is preferred over using the summed outputs, perhaps that's where the "gimped" verdict comes from. I have no experience with that.

 

[Rensek]

I thought on said forum, folks were using Jensen transformers on Gungnir, to convert balanced to SE and that it was Gungnir that had "gimped" SE. I don't recall reading much about yggy SE being gimped, but that other site (SBAF) is quite large and I haven't read everything.

 

[newToAudio100]

I get the Mjolnir 3 this Friday. I'll post initial impressions when I get it. Yggy og a2 -> mj3 -> Susvara/Abyss AB 1266 phi tc (all balanced cables).

 

[Alcophone]

I thought on said forum, folks were using Jensen transformers on Gungnir, to convert balanced to SE and that it was Gungnir that had "gimped" SE. I don't recall reading much about yggy SE being gimped, but that other site (SBAF) is quite large and I haven't read everything.

Purr1n: "Gungnir / Yggdrasil A2 SE outputs are gimped compared to BAL for those who didn't know."
Elsewhere he says it's overblown.