[nigeljames]

Sold my Ragnarok. Preferred the Audio-gd 6 even with the Yggy that I still have

 

[UntilThen]

Difference of opinions will always be there. Some like apples others like pears. I do note that there are a lot of lovers of Ragnarok and Yggdrasil with good reasons and I'm one of them.

 

[bagwell359]

Difference of opinions will always be there. Some like apples others like pears. I do note that there are a lot of lovers of Ragnarok and Yggdrasil with good reasons and I'm one of them.

And there is the perpendicular - love the Rag, but give me the Gumby Multibit over the Yggy ('16 version).

 

[koven]

And there is the perpendicular - love the Rag, but give me the Gumby Multibit over the Yggy ('16 version).

Hate the Rag, love the Yggy. Amazing how subjective this hobby is..

 

[Mike-WI]

Hate the Rag, love the Yggy. Amazing how subjective this hobby is..

Hate seems like a strong word to apply to a integrated amplifier.
What don't you like about it?

Mike

 

[koven]

Hate seems like a strong word to apply to a integrated amplifier.
What don't you like about it?

Mike

Fair enough, I guess hate isn't the right word. I had the Rag for a few weeks fed by Yggy. It is a powerful amp but I recall it sounding thin and sterile compared to similar tier amps, Taurus mk2 for example. Many amps later I still consider Rag the coldest and most clinical amp I've ever tried. It did not have pleasurable tonality to me. I do lean on the warm side of neutral in terms of preference so YMMV of course, I prefer SS amps that sound more lush and almost tubey, I find that characteristic in the V281 for example. I wanted to like it since the idea of a Schiit flagship stack w/ Yggy and Rag was appealing to me, but ultimately I felt Yggy noticeably outclasses the Rag.

 

[Mike-WI]

Fair enough, I guess hate isn't the right word. I had the Rag for a few weeks fed by Yggy. It is a powerful amp but I recall it sounding thin and sterile compared to similar tier amps, Taurus mk2 for example. Many amps later I still consider Rag the coldest and most clinical amp I've ever tried. It did not have pleasurable tonality to me. I do lean on the warm side of neutral in terms of preference so YMMV of course, I prefer SS amps that sound more lush and almost tubey, I find that characteristic in the V281 for example. I wanted to like it since the idea of a Schiit flagship stack w/ Yggy and Rag was appealing to me, but ultimately I felt Yggy noticeably outclasses the Rag.

Thanks for clarifying.
I think the Jot is very analytical/revealing. But I like it.
Looking forward to hearing the Rag in my setup.
I listened at AXPONA, but there was a background noise level and I was listening to music I wasn't familiar with.
I suspect we all move through different stages of what we have preferences for (assuming a given level of quality and not just product defects) including being analytical vs warm/lush.

Mike

 

[Svatopluk]

Fair enough, I guess hate isn't the right word. I had the Rag for a few weeks fed by Yggy. It is a powerful amp but I recall it sounding thin and sterile compared to similar tier amps, Taurus mk2 for example. Many amps later I still consider Rag the coldest and most clinical amp I've ever tried. It did not have pleasurable tonality to me. I do lean on the warm side of neutral in terms of preference so YMMV of course, I prefer SS amps that sound more lush and almost tubey, I find that characteristic in the V281 for example. I wanted to like it since the idea of a Schiit flagship stack w/ Yggy and Rag was appealing to me, but ultimately I felt Yggy noticeably outclasses the Rag.

I have the Rag and V280, which is from what I understand, basically the V281 amp without the pre-amp. I actully like both amps. I consider the Rag to be natural not cold and clinical. The OPPO HA-1 would be closer to cold and clinical as it never paired that well the HD800, even when not using it's ESS SABRE DAC.

I do however prefer the warmer V280 with the HD800, as opposed to the Rag with Utopia. All things taken into consideration when both amps are being used with the Yggdrasil A2.

 

[Deckard916]

Switching gain levels on rag with isine 20s plugged in(or any other 'phones for that matter) with the volume at zero does not damage them correct? Even though there is an audible pop thru the 'phones? Sorry noob question....

 

[bagwell359]

cold amps? Crown, Phase Linear, Dyna 400, most Krells.... mostly before 1990. Nelson Pass led the way to a more coherent and warmer but still ultra defined on the SS side.

noisy and fat: Conrad Johnson's, pre hybrid ARC's, Dyna's (except the VI)... mostly before 1990. In small signal sizes - pre-amps and headphone amps you lose the fat lumpy bass in 100 WPC tube amps.

Class A biased designs in both SS and tubes can make you catch your breath. I still like the repeatability, no slow decline, and lack of retubing costs with SS. I also find that really great DAC's somewhat cut the need for tubes on digital signals. With cheapo DAC's IMO you need at least a hybrid tube to save your ears.

The best family of amps I know are Nelson Pass's. The Rag amp section is similar except it's about 50% less sweet than say the X-150, and the bass in the amp is better than the Pass !. The pre-amp section of the Rag is the only serious issue - left -> right sound stage is narrower than Pass's GFP 750 or Pass P. Still you're not buying a $9k pair of electronics to run your headphones. That would be for speakers.

Rag works for me, down sized listening room, ciao Maggie 3.7i's (which the Rag cannot drive) hello spare Triangle Celius 202's, and a headphone collection.

Rag still has to be a top 10 SS headphone amp and its a valid integrated as long as your speakers are over 4 ohms and not current slobs.

 

[US Blues]

[QUOTE="bagwell359, post: 14337301, member: 462884"Rag still has to be a top 10 SS headphone amp and its a valid integrated as long as your speakers are over 4 ohms and not current slobs.[/QUOTE]

My speakers aren't current slobs, but you should have seen them when they were young!

I'll show myself out now.

 

[Liu Junyuan]

I have the Rag and V280, which is from what I understand, basically the V281 amp without the pre-amp. I actully like both amps. I consider the Rag to be natural not cold and clinical. The OPPO HA-1 would be closer to cold and clinical as it never paired that well the HD800, even when not using it's ESS SABRE DAC.

I do however prefer the warmer V280 with the HD800, as opposed to the Rag with Utopia. All things taken into consideration when both amps are being used with the Yggdrasil A2.

Can you elaborate on the Rag/Utopia pairing versus that of V280/Utopia?

 

[Svatopluk]

Can you elaborate on the Rag/Utopia pairing versus that of V280/Utopia?

For the most part, its' kind of like splitting hairs. Both amps seem to be on about the same level as far as resolution and tonality go with the V280 having a slight advantage when it comes to warmth. To my ears the Rag/Utopia pairing sounds slightly more realistic, but it's only my opinion and some may actually prefer the V280 with the Utopia.

Being around the same price, it may come down to features. If one needs only a really good headphone amp to pair with the Utopia, the low profile V280 may be the way to go.

 

[Mike-WI]

I just saw this posted here:
http://www.schiit.com/products/ragnarok

"BACKORDERED TO 7-25"

 

[Rhamnetin]

cold amps? Crown, Phase Linear, Dyna 400, most Krells.... mostly before 1990. Nelson Pass led the way to a more coherent and warmer but still ultra defined on the SS side.

noisy and fat: Conrad Johnson's, pre hybrid ARC's, Dyna's (except the VI)... mostly before 1990. In small signal sizes - pre-amps and headphone amps you lose the fat lumpy bass in 100 WPC tube amps.

Class A biased designs in both SS and tubes can make you catch your breath. I still like the repeatability, no slow decline, and lack of retubing costs with SS. I also find that really great DAC's somewhat cut the need for tubes on digital signals. With cheapo DAC's IMO you need at least a hybrid tube to save your ears.

The best family of amps I know are Nelson Pass's. The Rag amp section is similar except it's about 50% less sweet than say the X-150, and the bass in the amp is better than the Pass !. The pre-amp section of the Rag is the only serious issue - left -> right sound stage is narrower than Pass's GFP 750 or Pass P. Still you're not buying a $9k pair of electronics to run your headphones. That would be for speakers.

Rag works for me, down sized listening room, ciao Maggie 3.7i's (which the Rag cannot drive) hello spare Triangle Celius 202's, and a headphone collection.

Rag still has to be a top 10 SS headphone amp and its a valid integrated as long as your speakers are over 4 ohms and not current slobs.

Great and insightful post. Too bad Pass Labs integrated amps are not pure class A.

Interesting thought about tubes being more valuable when using cheaper DACs. I never really thought of this, but it makes sense to me, as I've only found really clean sounding pure solid state setups when moving up the ladder. These days I try to avoid tubes.