Just goes to show how differently we hear things The Valhalla 2 is one of the only OTLs I’ve tried that didn’t sacrifice clarity and detail for warmth.
Never heard a Crack that connected with me. Actually until I found the little Schiit I was all about solid state. My HD580 at the time was hooked up to the first 10 tube amps, including the Crack and a WA6, and I always ended up prefering my Myryad Z40.
Yep, we all hear differently, its the only real constant IMO. For me I didn't like sacrificing warmth for clarity and detail, I used to have a WA7d (DAC section was weak link and tubes a bit hard to find), Elise (way too many tube choices), MicroZOTL2 (similar in sound to Valhalla2 with stock tubes), Vali and Vali2 (decent for a small desktop unit and to me it was actually better sounding to me than the Valhalla2 since it has a bit of warmth but sound stage was a bit constricted to me). I had my friends Liquid Glass for a few months and it was quite an eye opener but I decided to use the funds to buy 9 cases of high end wine and 15 bottles of high end scotch/whiskey from a store closing up, found that this will make almost any DAC/amp/headphone combo sound like the greatest in the world for a few hours
Never heard the Lyr 2 but I have owned / heard various other Schiit amps including Mjolnir 2 and Valhalla 2.
The Lyr 3 is the only amp till now that it doesn't exhibit this Schiit house sound with forward upper mids and harsh treble.
This is more or less tonally correct without any harshness.
Never heard the Lyr 2 but I have owned / heard various other Schiit amps including Mjolnir 2 and Valhalla 2.
The Lyr 3 is the only amp till now that it doesn't exhibit this Schiit house sound with forward upper mids and harsh treble.
This is more or less tonally correct without any harshness.
Not what I wanted to hear LOL, guess I'll be looking in to trying the Lyr3 sometime soon. BTW, are you using the stock tube? or if you have rolled a few other tubes what's your take on what works well?
Never heard the Lyr 2 but I have owned / heard various other Schiit amps including Mjolnir 2 and Valhalla 2.
The Lyr 3 is the only amp till now that it doesn't exhibit this Schiit house sound with forward upper mids and harsh treble.
This is more or less tonally correct without any harshness.
That’s my experience with the Lyr 3 as well. The Lyr 3 and Asgard 3 are the only Schiit amps I’ve heard that don’t really sound like Schiit Amps. Neither have that gritty treble Schiit amps tend to have.The Lyr 3 with the stock tube doesn’t have any upper mid forwardness(it does have some forwardness with the Tung-sol though, many tout the Tung-sol tube option as better but I found it made it sound more like previous Schiit amps so I didn’t like it). The Asgard 3 has almost as pleasant treble as the Lyr 3 but does have a mild upper treble forwardness but not like previous Schiit amps I’ve tried nor is it harsh. Seems this may become the new Schiit sound which if so, I like it. I prefer the dynamic sounding Sony UDA-1 with the HD 600/650(very nice amp synergy actually as it eliminates the HD 600/650’s soft dynamics and doesn’t accentuate their upper mids) to Asgard 3 and liked the Lyr 3 about the same with the Senns. But the UDA-1 is a bit too dynamically intense for the HD 660 S midrange imho, even if I haven’t heard the HD 660 S on the Lyr 3, I can tell it would be a nice pairing based on the sound signature of the HD 660 S and Lyr 3.
Not what I wanted to hear LOL, guess I'll be looking in to trying the Lyr3 sometime soon. BTW, are you using the stock tube? or if you have rolled a few other tubes what's your take on what works well?
Yes this is not mine it's a review unit which came with the Russian nos tube so no tube rolling experience.
Sincerely listening to Lyr 3 for 15 days now with HD660S , Ananda and D8000 pro I can't find something to blame.
This is a great amp very technical capable on par with good ss amps with some tube fullness and magic very easy going.
That is of course with a good external dac.
The included multibit card is holding the amp back.
Yep, we all hear differently, its the only real constant IMO. For me I didn't like sacrificing warmth for clarity and detail, I used to have a WA7d (DAC section was weak link and tubes a bit hard to find), Elise (way too many tube choices), MicroZOTL2 (similar in sound to Valhalla2 with stock tubes), Vali and Vali2 (decent for a small desktop unit and to me it was actually better sounding to me than the Valhalla2 since it has a bit of warmth but sound stage was a bit constricted to me). I had my friends Liquid Glass for a few months and it was quite an eye opener but I decided to use the funds to buy 9 cases of high end wine and 15 bottles of high end scotch/whiskey from a store closing up, found that this will make almost any DAC/amp/headphone combo sound like the greatest in the world for a few hours
Hahah ain’t that the truth! I personally find space tobacco to offer up the cheapest way of increasing general sound quality...but the 21 year old rum I’ve got sitting in front of me does some mighty fine tricks as well
Then again putting on music when the sun is getting out of bed and pouring reds and oranges down the skyscreen...well that just about tops any upgrade one can throw money at.
I've noticed that very few are using tubes (OTL or hybrid amps) with the HD660s and I'm thinking it has something to do with the higher output impedance of most tube amps but what about hybrid amps that only have a tube buffer stage and have a fairly low output impedance? The only reason I still have my HD800, T1gen1 and a few other higher impedance headphones is that they sound great (best IMO) on a OTL amp while headphones like the HD660s, HD700 and HD58X actually sound quite good from almost any amp that has a fairly low output impedance.
While this may not be of benefit to everyone, I've had several Senns that will inevitably get dings or scratches on the mesh grilles that reveal the metal underneath the paint, coating, whatever it happens to be. I've typically repainted them, but on my last effort, I thought I'd try some Alumablack on a small chip to see how well it would take. Not only does it match the black perfectly after 2 coats, but I've stripped and re-coated a few to purposefully ding and scratch up, and no such concerns any more. A single coat well applied can give you a very nice gunmetal grey that looks awesome on the 600s. I'll be stripping all of my other mesh grilles, and I thought this might be something worth sharing.
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The Valhalla 2 is one of the only OTLs I’ve tried that didn’t sacrifice clarity and detail for warmth.
