[Alu]

After having bought the Cavalli Liquid Carbon for my MrSpeakers ETHER Flow and the amp unfortunately having been defective (volume pot issues), I decided to get a refund and go with another setup.
Not because I didn't trust Cavalli to do an impeccable repair job, but because I merely didn't want to pay for a second batch of import duties if it would've come back again.

So now I'm looking at Schiit, which has a distributor located in the UK.

My choice is as follows:
Get the Mjolnir 2 plus Gungnir Multibit combo (once the Mjo2 is back in stock)
OR
Get a Ragnarok and pair it with my current Wyred 4 Sound DAC 1 LE until I can upgrade to a Gumby in 2 months or so (yggy would probably be much further off realistically - I am also saving up for a house, even though it's hard to believe)

Would the Rag synergize well with the W4S and the Flow?
Would the Mjo2 plus Gumby be a better choice for now?

Any thoughts are appreciated!

 

[econaut]

Hey Alu,
 
we are in a similar situation. My plan this year was to get a Gumby, Mjolnir 2 and the Ether Flows. I got a defective Mjolnir 2, though, and switched my mind to the Jotunheim when I demoed the HD 650 for the first time (seriously, I hadn't heard them before). The Jot and the 650s are a great pairing, especially if one tries to avoid getting into the tube rolling thing.
 
Now I listened to the Ether Flows for the first time today and I am amazed. The 650s sounded like tin cans next to them (shortened description). I took my Jot to the dealer and the Flows worked well with the Jot, not too harsh or anything like it. Still, I want to get the best synergy and will do some research and sub this thread.
 
One thing I stumbled across and which might be interesting for you as well is this quote from Jason Stoddard's book:
 

"And I live by my beliefs that our products sound different, as well. My “main stack” is Mjolnir 2/Gungnir Multibit, not Ragnarok/Yggdrasil. Mjolnir 2 is a warmer, wetter, “happier” amp than Ragnarok, and Gungnir Multibit is also a bit more euphonic than Yggy. The combo may not be the absolute ultimate word in resolution and transparency, but I like the way it sounds better than our top stack."

 
Be it marketing or not, I take this seriously and will definitely stick with my Gumby. Concerning the amp I might even get a Mjolnir 2 "again", since this is the amp MrSpeakers recommend for the Ether Flow:
 

 When paired with ETHER we prefer tubes to the LISST modules. We have tested and like the Philips Miniwatt, and Sylvania Green Hornet 6DJ8s and the more affordable National 6922. The Miniwatts deliver our favorite experience, but they are costly. On top of the excellent soundstage, the right tubes realize an extremely effortless and liquid midrange with heaps of detail and a tone is on the warm side of neutral. Highs are clean yet remarkably mellow and detailed without being analytical, and bass that has real punch, tone and texture. There’s simply nothing about this amp we don’t like. In it’s price class the Mjolnir 2 is a desktop that is worthy of consideration.

 

[Alu]

Thanks for your reply!
 
I've had the chance to listen to the Flows on the Ragnarok amp via my W4S DAC 1 LE for a couple of days now (demo unit), and I truly believe that they sound good.
Now, they sound good, not amazingly mindblowingly fantastic.
 
This is possibly due to a couple of things:
I've been following the hype train of the ETHER Flow closely and I got sucked in, which raised my expectations to near unmatchable levels.
I've convinced myself that they would be able to give me the same mindbending impact, that the LCD-2 gave me when I first got them many years ago.
Or my source is not up to par.
 
The LCD-2 was my first planar magnetic headphone, and everything sounded so real on them I couldn't quite believe my ears.
This unfortunately was not my experience with the Flow, which I initially heard on the Liquid Carbon (however, please note that this unit was defective and so I can't properly judge the sound).
 
Back to the topic at hand:
I feel like the Rag with an amazing source could be end-game for these, some of my electronic music never sounded this good, and my orchestral tunes were wonderfully satisfying to listen to (the Force Awakens Soundtrack is spectacular on this combo).
I think some people would choose the word "bright" to describe the Flow, and I didn't get any of that on the Rag.
What I got was incredible performance, but it left me wondering what tubes could do - it felt like something was missing.
 
This is perhaps the V-Shape that comes up in some reviews for them - scooped out mids.
I'm addicted to mids and I'm longing for the (for lack of a better word) polite sound that my W5k gave me, which leads me to believe that I just looked at the wrong transducer all along.
 
I also only decided to try the Rag because the Mjolnir 2 seems to be constantly out of stock for the last 2 months or so, and I'm incredibly impatient.
 
As you can see I'm going to sell my basically brand new Flows because I want to try other things, and this time I really want to TRY them before buying them.
However, I really do want to see what tubes can do.
If the Mjo2 was in fact in stock, I'd buy it in a heartbeat, but as things stand now, I might be looking at other options, even still keeping the Flows if I find the right amp and source (unless someone grabs them before that).