[ToddRaymond]

As someone who has over 200 days' worth of lossless music, that extra $1050 needed for that last 10 or 20% (or whatever arbitrary figure one may assign) is likely worthwile for me. I didn't mean to indicate that others have suggested that the 'Yggy' Schiits all over the GMB, but that after first hearing the Yggy, it's simply not as remarkable (or that it does all those wonderful things, but to a lesser, noticeably less epic extent). I could look for various posts to cite, but this isn't either the Yggy nor the Gumby thread.

 

[reddog]

I'm curious about  all this as well. More specifically, how big of a jump in sound quality is there between the M2 and Rag? For now I don't really care about running speakers, I'm really just headphones only. I'll also be running balanced out to my electrostatic amp, so pre amp sound quality is important. I wouldn't even consider the Rag except I'm back to considering the Yggy as my next DAC. So theres that whole "making everything match" issue. But if the M2 is almost as good as the Rag, I could live with the cosmetic oddities.

Maybe reddog, can chime in on this?

The MJ2 is a very nice, somewhat detailed, natural sounding amp. But the Ragnarock just out performances it, especially using a XLR headphone cable. The Rag has so much power and control, the overall sound it tube like, the bass has such impact, yet it is textured and controlled, never ever mudding up the mids. The mids are lush yet ever textured and revealing, yet being ever musical. Likewise the highs are spot on perfect and revealing to the artist. The overall sound is extremely detailed and natural sounding yet always so musical.
The MJ2 is nice but its not as revealing and transparent as the Rag, nor is it as musical sounding. I had been using the GMB and MJ2 almost exclusively for over three week and enjoyed the sound. The one day I went back to the Yggy/ Rag and was just awe struck at how much better it sounded. The synergy of the Yggy/ Rag. Is like audio herein and I just want to listen to the music and ignore all else. Who cares if the phone is ringing, who cares the cat once out of the room, or if the smoke alarm is chirping, just listen to the music, till you become a dancing fool.

 

[crazychile]

I'm curious about  all this as well. More specifically, how big of a jump in sound quality is there between the M2 and Rag? For now I don't really care about running speakers, I'm really just headphones only. I'll also be running balanced out to my electrostatic amp, so pre amp sound quality is important. I wouldn't even consider the Rag except I'm back to considering the Yggy as my next DAC. So theres that whole "making everything match" issue. But if the M2 is almost as good as the Rag, I could live with the cosmetic oddities.

Maybe reddog, can chime in on this?

The MJ2 is a very nice, somewhat detailed, natural sounding amp. But the Ragnarock just out performances it, especially using a XLR headphone cable. The Rag has so much power and control, the overall sound it tube like, the bass has such impact, yet it is textured and controlled, never ever mudding up the mids. The mids are lush yet ever textured and revealing, yet being ever musical. Likewise the highs are spot on perfect and revealing to the artist. The overall sound is extremely detailed and natural sounding yet always so musical.
The MJ2 is nice but its not as revealing and transparent as the Rag, nor is it as musical sounding. I had been using the GMB and MJ2 almost exclusively for over three week and enjoyed the sound. The one day I went back to the Yggy/ Rag and was just awe struck at how much better it sounded. The synergy of the Yggy/ Rag. Is like audio herein and I just want to listen to the music and ignore all else. Who cares if the phone is ringing, who cares the cat once out of the room, or if the smoke alarm is chirping, just listen to the music, till you become a dancing fool.

Thanks reddog. Thats what I was looking for. I was almost ready to order the M2, but Ill save a bit longer for the Ragnarok.

 

[money4me247]

Thanks reddog. Thats what I was looking for. I was almost ready to order the M2, but Ill save a bit longer for the Ragnarok.

depending on how long you need to save, I would highly recommend going to a meet or show to try them out side-by-side. I actually personally ended up preferring the M2 against the Ragnarok from my own direct comparisons. I do feel like while the Ragnarok is the technically more capable amplifier, the M2 is already at a high enough performance level that the differences in presentation style and some other subtle tonality differences will likely sway your preference more-so than simply the higher price tag equating to the obvious better pick.

 

[crazychile]

Thanks reddog. Thats what I was looking for. I was almost ready to order the M2, but Ill save a bit longer for the Ragnarok.

depending on how long you need to save, I would highly recommend going to a meet or show to try them out side-by-side. I actually personally ended up preferring the M2 against the Ragnarok from my own direct comparisons. I do feel like while the Ragnarok is the technically more capable amplifier, the M2 is already at a high enough performance level that the differences in presentation style and some other subtle tonality differences will likely sway your preference more-so than simply the higher price tag equating to the obvious better pick.

I appreciate the advice but going to a meet probably won't happen unless I can find something within a few hours drive, and a Chicago meet wasn't that long ago. So here's my dillema.....I could do the M2 and Gumby and have them both by early next Spring. Or I could go with the Yggy and make a decision on the amp sometime next year. But this is only half the system since I'm into electrostatics, and there are new Stax models coming out that will likely become another distraction.

In the mean time I can live with my Lyr 2 and the Bifrost I just sent in for upgrade. This will give me some time to think it over.

 

[reddog]

I do not mind folk sending me PM's asking questions, but please do not ask me to listen at very loud levels. I will not ruin my hearing to verify what you might have heard in some review. To my hearing, the Ragnarock does not sound bad when you crank up the volume. I hope everyone has a great night jamming out.

 

[SearchOfSub]

how does ragnorak sound with hd800?

 

[johnjen]

As an owner of both, I like the results, a lot.

JJ

 

[jlbrach]

I do not mind folk sending me PM's asking questions, but please do not ask me to listen at very loud levels. I will not ruin my hearing to verify what you might have heard in some review. To my hearing, the Ragnarock does not sound bad when you crank up the volume. I hope everyone has a great night jamming out.
 
I also had people asking me the same kind of questions since i also have the equipment....it is amazing what people will ask of you!

 

[majormajor]

Does anyone have any advice on the best way to remotely control the volume with the Ragnarok?  When I use the optical out on my TV, the TV's volume control is disabled.  I'm using the Rag to power speakers (as well as headphones):
 
TV -> Bifrost Multibit -> Rag -> Speakers
 
I'm definitely willing to put another component in the chain, just would prefer that it's not super expensive and won't degrade the SQ of the fantastic Bimby/Rag combo.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Does anyone have any advice on the best way to remotely control the volume with the Ragnarok?  When I use the optical out on my TV, the TV's volume control is disabled.  I'm using the Rag to power speakers (as well as headphones):

TV -> Bifrost Multibit -> Rag -> Speakers

I'm definitely willing to put another component in the chain, just would prefer that it's not super expensive and won't degrade the SQ of the fantastic Bimby/Rag combo.

I have found children between the ages of 9 to 13 of great value for remote volume control. Unfortunately the shelf life is limited, at around age 13 their wiring becomes suspect and highly volatile. Additionally they are a rather expensive and time consuming accessories.

 

[majormajor]

I have found children between the ages of 9 to 13 of great value for remote volume control. Unfortunately the shelf life is limited, at around age 13 their wiring becomes suspect and highly volatile. Additionally they are a rather expensive and time consuming accessories.

 
Haha, that's one component I'm hoping to avoid adding to the chain for a few more years yet.  Plus, by the time that 9 year burn-in is through it'll be the future so we may very well have flying Ragnaroks... with jetpacks.

 

[majormajor]

  Does anyone have any advice on the best way to remotely control the volume with the Ragnarok?  When I use the optical out on my TV, the TV's volume control is disabled.  I'm using the Rag to power speakers (as well as headphones):
 
TV -> Bifrost Multibit -> Rag -> Speakers
 
I'm definitely willing to put another component in the chain, just would prefer that it's not super expensive and won't degrade the SQ of the fantastic Bimby/Rag combo.

 
Okay, so just to follow up, after some research the only thing I could find that does what I'm after (I think) and doesn't cost like $600 is this thing from MCM Electronics:
 
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/50-8394
 
Anybody have any experience with this thing?  Does this seem like a reasonable solution or do you think it could potentially degrade SQ?
 
Is it just me, or does it seem strange that there aren't more products for this purpose?  I would love to see Schiit make a Sys with a remote.  I suspect they'd get quite a few sales.  No?

 

[Torq]

  Anybody have any experience with this thing?  Does this seem like a reasonable solution or do you think it could potentially degrade SQ?
 

 
It's hard to imagine adding anything to the signal chain and not degrading SQ.
 
Whether that degradation is audible or not is another matter.
 
However, if a TV (any TV) was my source then I'd not be worrying very much about anything that was downstream of that.  Your source material is already suspect (and likely subject to lossy-compression), and whatever audio electronics are in the TV aren't going to fix that.

 

[Maxvla]

Thought I'd drop a warning for anyone thinking about this combination. I've been auditioning a Mini Maggie setup from a friend with my Ragnarok and had a problem with another part of the amp which led me to ask Jason for advice. He says the Mini Maggie setup could be dangerous due to how it is wired, and how circlotron works, and said it may be pushing the amp into protection. I've stopped using them together and the problem fixed itself.

So, don't use Ragnarok and the Mini Maggie setup together.