[jogfi2002]

Hey guys, do you think that the M&M (both Uber at about 298 in total) stack can do as well as a $300~$500 DAC+Amp ?

 

[StanD]

  Hey guys, do you think that the M&M (both Uber at about 298 in total) stack can do as well as a $300~$500 DAC+Amp ?

Yes.

 

[jogfi2002]

  Yes.

Nice, I might consider to buy one.
 
Maybe Modi2 Uber + Magni2 is already good for me.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Well...I'm getting rid of my Schiit (as well as all my other audio gear) to help fund an electrostatic system!
 
If anyone wants my Magni 2 Uber and Modi 2, you can PM me.

 

[Rotijon]

 
I would like to see this email verbatim. Nick would not have recommended Ragnarok if you did not clearly indicate you were looking for an end-game amp, or budget was not a problem. He should have clearly sorted Valhalla, Lyr, and Vali by our personal results with the HD800.
 
In fact, I logged on to the Schiit Tech account right now and found two relevant emails and responses. Are either of these yours? Nick's responses are in bold.
 
 
Email 1:
 
Hey,
 
Im here from the land where scams exceed real purchases. Ahaha, love the stories man.
Jokes aside, im looking for an amp that works well with the HD800. Does not need to work well with others headphones (Planar etc) as i am unlikely to get other reference headphones. Earning power is a bitch here.
Im thinking of the Ragnarok, the Valhalla, the Lyr or the Vali. Im asking as there is no way to test them here. 
 
All of these are excellent choices with the HD800, with the two top ones being Ragnarok and Valhalla 2. 
 
Tbh, i am unlikely to get the rag unless the difference is significant when compared to the others. On the Valhalla and Lyr, does it make that big of a difference to tube roll, if yes, what would you suggest.
 
Yes, it does, but we have limited experience with tubes other than stock. The best resource are the tube rolling threads on Head-fi.
 
Basically, im looking for an amp, that can somewhat tame the top end of the HD800.
One thing im looking for this amp to do, is to safeguard me from any other amp purchase. I need my methadone to protect me from all that cocaine flying about out there in headphone land.
It needs to be good enough, so that i can enter a headphone meet, where for some reason, a guy has an EC 445 and Apex Pinnacle, and leave the meet thinking, you know what, its pretty good, but not so damn good, i must sell my *Insert schiit amp here* and mortgage my apartment to get those.
 
Then you probably really are looking at Ragnarok. Valhalla 2 is exceptional for the price, but those amps are in a different class.
 
Thanks!
 
 
Email 2:
 
Hello,
I recently listened to several pairs of high-end headphones for a few hours, including the LCD 3, HD800 and Grado PS1000e, and I enjoyed the HD800 so much that I was thinking of getting a pair.
 
However, being no audiophile, I can´t seem to be able to get my head around how much inconsistency of opinions and endless debates there are about which amps to get for which headphones, as well as what combinations of graphene/dark magic-powered diamond coated cables and tubes one should go for.
 
Maybe it´s just my ears not being world-class, but not being able to notice any difference beyond placebo between an after-market $950 cable and the stock HD800 one that I was being recommended to purchase, I am starting to get the impression that a lot of the hi-fi industry is little more than snake oil.
 
The salesman at the store also insisted that in order to fully appreciate a pair of HD800, I would need to buy at the very least a >$3k amp, which seemed way overkill for my needs.
 
I then came by your website, which was really refreshing after reading 40 pages+ threads on head-fi, with no consensus whatsoever over what would best suit a situation like mine.
 
Your products, according to what I read, seem to be more to the point, straightforward and a no-bs approach overall, which seems to be just what I was looking for.
 
So to the point, which amp would you recommend me to purchase for running a pair of HD800?
I will be using 44 kHz Flac and 320 kbps MP3s as source material, and I am looking to run them from a Retina Macbook Pro and perhaps an iPhone 6.
 
I think a solid-state solution would suit me best, as I don´t like the idea of tubes burning out and having to replace them constantly. Unless there is any clear advantage in sound quality at that?
I just want something that will sounds great with the HD800, but I honestly don´t care about the engineering/black magic/technical details behind it.
 
I´d like it to be as "plug&play&forget" as possible, compact as I don´t have too much space, and finally as low as possible in price without degrading the kind of experience that the HD800 stands for.
 
I am well aware that a lot of it comes down to personal preference, however as a beginner to this hobby, I am just completely lost in the sea of endless blabbering on head-fi and about to give up on the whole deal.
Please advise what you personally think would work best for my situation - sorry for the long email
 
Thank you!
 
LOL, $3k for the HD800s? No. All of our amps are good with the HD800, from Ragnarok on down. I’d be looking at Valhalla 2 on the tube side (probably the best from a cost/performance perspective) and Asgard 2 on the solid state side (without getting into crazy money.)
 
Nick T.
Schiit Tech
tech@schiit.com

Yep, mine is the first. If my post was inaccurate, i apologize, i did not refer back to the email. But i did specifically ask on the vallhalla, lyr, vali or rag. And to be honest, i was leaning on the rag very heavily.

 

[Liu Junyuan]

Yep, mine is the first. If my post was inaccurate, i apologize, i did not refer back to the email. But i did specifically ask on the vallhalla, lyr, vali or rag. And to be honest, i was leaning on the rag very heavily.

Yeah, but looking at your real post and comparing it with what you thought Nick said is pretty revealing. You completely misrepresented and misinterpreted Nick's response, which was actually helpful. You also failed to indicate there were three different exchanges, with the first one actually answering initial inquiry. In fact, in your response to Mike here you made it seem like Nick made only one fast reply back to you "Buy the rag" when in fact that did not occur, when in reality you kept pursuing the emails by expressing doubts in Nicks initial response, thus faking the pose of the hard sell.

 

[Exidrion]

 

Yep, mine is the first. If my post was inaccurate, i apologize, i did not refer back to the email. But i did specifically ask on the vallhalla, lyr, vali or rag. And to be honest, i was leaning on the rag very heavily.

Lol, dude, you COMPLETELY misrepresented how the exchange went down in your initial post, and I find it difficult to believe that was unintentional.
 
This just goes to show that you can't always trust other peoples opinions when it comes to a companies customer service. People are more likely to complain when they're mistreated than praise when they aren't.
 
That's why reading negative yelp reviews are an exceptionally fun Sunday afternoon. Just this past week I've had 2 iterations with Schiit regarding my order, and both times they were fast and polite. In 2013, when I sent in my Bifrost for the Uber upgrade, I'd thought it got lost in the mail, but apparently I'd forgotten to label something and they promptly and politely explained that. AND it came back with brand new rubber feets. Nice little touch. All in all, if I, heaven forbid, run into problems when I receive the Ragnarok, I'm sure I'll be treated right.

 

[David Aldrich]

Guys let's cool the jets. No need to start a war over e-mail support.
 
Schiit tries to keep cool concise e-mail support to help avoid confusion. Helpful criticism is appreciated if it is that. Attacking each other both in support of Nick and Schiit and against doesn't help anyone.
 
Don't forget we're here to have fun and listen to music on good hardware.

 

[Liu Junyuan]

True proof the customer is far from always being right.

 

[StanD]

Jason does his research, I still expect that product archive page. 

 

[hodgjy]

 

Yep, mine is the first. If my post was inaccurate, i apologize, i did not refer back to the email. But i did specifically ask on the vallhalla, lyr, vali or rag. And to be honest, i was leaning on the rag very heavily.

When I first read your account of the exchange, I was inclined to believe you, but I had my doubts based on my history of email exchanges with Schiit.  Granted, they were short, but always accurate and cordial.  As a college professor, I get bombarded with emails daily myself, and probably nowhere near the volume that Schiit receives.  Keeping that in mind, if I spent time responding to every email in high detail, that's all I would be doing with my day.  I can imagine it's even worse for the people at Schiit.  I have to write very short responses to answer the question and move on to the next email in my inbox.
 
Dealing with a list of emails is a completely different dynamic than replying to an email from your mother and then another from your best friend. Two emails is vastly different than 20. Or 200.
 
But, you completely misrepresented the email exchange.  I realize memories fade, but one needs to be more careful when posting such accusations in a public forum.  You made it sound like Nick was unreasonable, when it the end, he was quite helpful.

 

[MattTCG]

  When I first read your account of the exchange, I was inclined to believe you, but I had my doubts based on my history of email exchanges with Schiit.  Granted, they were short, but always accurate and cordial.  As a college professor, I get bombarded with emails daily myself, and probably nowhere near the volume that Schiit receives.  Keeping that in mind, if I spent time responding to every email in high detail, that's all I would be doing with my day.  I can imagine it's even worse for the people at Schiit.  I have to write very short responses to answer the question and move on to the next email in my inbox.
 
Dealing with a list of emails is a completely different dynamic than replying to an email from your mother and then another from your best friend. Two emails is vastly different than 20. Or 200.
 
But, you completely misrepresented the email exchange.  I realize memories fade, but one needs to be more careful when posting such accusations in a public forum.  You made it sound like Nick was unreasonable, when it the end, he was quite helpful.

THIS...

 

[Tuco1965]

Thanks Jason for the consideration of adding an archived section to the web page.  I look at it from the heritage stand point.  It's Schiit history from a product perspective.  

 

[Delirious Lab]

OK, enough of this.  Looks like Jason is going to stick to his customer service model, and most of us (I included) are happy that he's passing the savings to us Schiitheads.
 
Case closed, pretty please, everybody?  Because I'd like to change the topic, been meaning to bring this up for a while, I don't think anyone ever has, but Jason, have you ever considered putting the power switch in the front of your amps?

 

[Tuco1965]

  OK, enough of this.  Looks like Jason is going to stick to his customer service model, and most of us (I included) are happy that he's passing the savings to us Schiitheads.
 
Case closed, pretty please, everybody?  Because I'd like to change the topic, been meaning to bring this up for a while, I don't think anyone ever has, but Jason, have you ever considered putting the power switch in the front of your amps?

 
The switch isn't going to happen.  Discussed everywhere.