Read Paul’s post on The Schiit. I own the Asgard 2 & the Lyr. The are both headphone amps - the former is Class A solid state & the latter is tube also Class A. They are both phenomenal headphone amps. I first ran into them while at the Newport Beach Show (T.H.E. Show). So many headphone exhibitors were using The Schiit’s I had to try it.
By far, the Lyr is the better of the 2. However, to coach the maximum out of the Lyr I went through 4 sets of NOS tubes including Gold Lion, WE, and Bugle. The Bugles won hands down.
When you call them up, the phone answering machine states, “Yes, you have reached the company whose name we cannot say.” Or, words to that effect.
Oh yes, they definitely run in Class A - they are HOT!
I have had the Lyr, awesome… But the GCHA is in my opinion still better. More detailed, lower noise floor and driving difficult loads appears a lot easier…
I tried the Lyr. Honestly I did not like it with the stock tubes. The timbre was warm and nice but it was so foggy! I did not want to play with various tubes as it will eventually bring the amp cost to the totally new level and you can as well get a whole new amp of a different league. I ended up buying the Burson Soloist and I thought it was much better. I do not listen to head phones lately though so I might sell the Soloist.
@mikhail You make 2 excellent points. 1) The sound is on the “vague” side out of the box and, 2) the tube experiment cost close to the Lyr price. That, of course, means at double the $500.00 retail (with shipping) you can move up to a very high level. Christopher
@birddogthecat Slightly out of topic, I tried using different pre-amps with PWD: Burson Soloist, passive goldpoint. I have to agree with Paul, there is no preamp as no preamp.
@frode Is that the one you use - Mjolnir? When I bought that model had not been released.
I am actually sitting on the fence and contemplating which headphone amp to buy.
I am on the verge of buying the Audeze LCD3.
I also have a A&K100 for loan in case I go for the A&K120 as the portable solution.
I have been using the Mojo amp for about a year now. I like it. A lot.
I also like tubes but there are several ‘variables’ that preclude long term stability, let alone optimal initial setup, not the least of which is tube rolling and/or tube matching.
And I look forward to their upcoming ‘statement’ amp and DAC.
frode said: I also have a A&K100 for loan in case I go for the A&K120 as the portable solution.
What’s your opinion of the AK? I haven’t tracked one down yet for an audition but am fed up with the new itunes interface and the lack of flac. hence have logged many miles recently with no tunes.
haha, started reading this thread like it was current, so I was a little confused about the topic and the contributors, and it seemed like a time warp and then I notice that it’s seven years old.
They do make good Schiit. I have a Magni3+ with HiFiman Sundaras and I really like the sound. Was tempted to get the Vali with tube input, but many reviews I saw said there was little to no difference in sound quality. I might upgrade to the VALHALLA and roll some tubes in it, but the Magni3+ is really solid. Run this with my Sprout100.
I didn’t even notice the date of the OP thread…