วีดีโอ

I agree. It sounds really good and it’s priced right!

That’s fair. I was really impressed with how detailed it was, so I guess I got a bit stuck on that. I’ve spent a lot more time with it and some point I may do follow up video. The bass is tight and bit prominent. The mids are open and have good separation. The highs are very realistic with a bit of a sparkle to them. The highlight of this amp for me is definitely in the minute details and the open, realistic soundstage.

It sure does. You can just leave the headphones plugged in permanently if you want to. Then use the button on the device or the remote.

If running the Aegir in stereo yes. If buying two Aegirs and running them in Mono no. Maybe just my opinion, but that was my experience.

I agree. I always plug amps up for a few hours prior to my tests. It is a loaner unit too so it’s been used quite a bit and probably well past the break in period. I just disconnect everything so I can show everything getting connected.

It takes my Schiit Modi Multibit DAC 3-5 hrs. to sound its best. It takes my Schiit Vali 2++ headphone amp at least an hour to get “into the groove.”

Thanks! That’s good info. I try to give it at least two hours to warm up before a review. I haven’t timed it exactly but 2 hours seems enough for most everything.

It’s very possible. I looked it up and found about 8 different ways to pronounce it. I live in Tennessee, US so you’re lucky I got that close. 😂

Rimes with Kegger 😂

That I might be able to remember!

I do think it’s fair to compare. Comparisons are always fair. Yes a nearly $10k amp should sound better. I would hope so for the price difference. For some it’s about getting as close to the sound of the $10k mode as they can afford. You won’t know unless you compare. As far as the verbiage, that’s provided on their website and more than likely written by the marketing department. That’s their job, sell products. Do I think it’s the greatest amp ever created? No. I do feel like it’s about as good as you will find in that price point for my ears? Yes, I do. In fact, I think it sounds pretty good for an amp at twice the cost. All retailers embellish their products with lavish descriptions and high praise. I don’t care about that, or what the specs say. I only really care about what it sounds like for the price. Is it a good value? Is it pleasing to listen to, or would I pass on it for something else? A lot of that is subjective.

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi Well said. I just don't like all the posts calling it a Giant Killer. That it is not in any way. Is it better then some of the competitors at its price point and lets say twice that? Yes IMO. I know Thomas has a lot of friends in this industry. But I find it very miss leading to call it a giant killer. By all measures it is not. Thanks for the reply.

Honestly, that is the exact reason that I started doing this. I got tired of seeing ads that show the greatest thing ever invented, only to buy it and be disappointed. I don’t know that I would consider their marketing to be a complete lie though, I actually was very impressed with it and would love to keep it. It’s just a loaner for evaluation. If I thought it sounded like junk or was over priced, I would have said so. Even if that meant not getting any more products from them. I think it’s maybe a bit of an enthusiastic representation, but I’ve definitely seen much worse. There truly is no substitute for listening for yourself. If you have the opportunity to listen to something before buying, do it. Just because I liked it doesn’t mean anyone else will. Certainly the rest of the system is equally important.

I’ve spoken with him but we’ve never met in person. Seems like a good guy.

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi Nice guy ,knows his stuff and his live demonstrations are pretty entertaining..not a dry sales pitch .

I’d love to see that in person. I’ve seen his TH-cam videos and they look pretty good.

Thomas who? Not Thomas Tan, he has already addressed your previous comment. Does everything that a company sells have to work together? That’s like saying Best Buy sells vinyl records, yet they won’t work with the cd players they sell. You’re pretty hung up on this. Please explain.

So all amps sound the same?

Well, at least you’re not a drama queen…

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi …,only 🙃N Thursdays! lol!

😂

I did a review on it as well. Very nice amp. I love them both!

I'm curious about how you think the Galion compares to the Vidar 2. For instance, would you say it's 80% better?

It’s really hard to quantify. I wouldn’t say it’s that much better and it would also depend on every other components in your system. For me the Galion seemed to have tighter and more prominent bass, more detailed mids, and the highs were about the same. That being said, you may not want those things. They are both excellent amps and priced fairly for what you get.

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi that makes zero sense “ you’re a “ kit” critic no??.. and the creepy little way you avoided the guy’s question about Cost !!

Creepy little way I avoided the guys question about cost? How. What question? I see a statement about it. I answered how I think it compares to the Vidar 2, but how am I going to say what percentage better that it is? It is better in some respects, but not in others.

It shuts off instantly when you kill the power

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi . Ya, it's got anti-pop shut-off and soft start circuitry as most do these days 👍. Still that 75 watts has a "deep bench" if you will, from what's been reported. Peace.

Yeah, that thing is a beast!

Thanks, it’s been a lot of fun!

Thanks so much! You might check out the Freya too.

Not that I can think of. I always use dlr if it’s available, but the rca would be the weak link in that scenario.

Thanks so much!

That knob is fine. It uses a 128-step relay-switched stepped attenuator instead of a potentiometer. It’s supposed to make that noise.

I’ll have to check those out!

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi thomas told me about the fuse amp rating, etc when I asked about those ceramic fuses early on after getting my amp.

I love when a manufacturer is engaged with their customers!

Thomas seems like a really good guy. It strictly cosmetic so I wouldn’t sweat it either.

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi yeah he saw my pic I sent when I gave my quick impressions for his website.. saw the bends and said he can give me a $150 credit and can show me how to reshape it back... told him never mind about the $150 credit and I will just leave the bent tips like it is.. as it looks like it was designed like that...

That was pretty nice of him. Most manufacturers would make you beg for it.

I suppose it’s possible that they included the extra cables so the review might be more relevant in other countries, but they didn’t mention anything about that to me.

I think you confused me with Adrian from Audio excellence. I am not a Magnepan dealer.I have people telling me it can drive their Magenpan LRS+, 0.7i, 3.6R with zero problem.

Thanks for the response. I don’t have any Magnepan experience.

So no need to pair with a preamp?

It has a 128-step relay-switched attenuator, rather than a traditional potentiometer, which does make a clicking sound. It’s far more reliable and accurate, but it does take a bit of getting used to.

I feel like it is a bit worse on TH-cam than in person. To be honest, I hated it at first and completely forgot about it after I used it a few times.

Is the kara a fully balanced design, What kind of sound signature does it have

I own both of these and I think the video is accurate, the volume noise is significant. However, you get used to it and all the positives of these Schiit products FAR outweigh this negative.

It is balanced. I would say it’s incredibly transparent. It really seems to do exactly what it should. It amplifies the source without really adding much to it. I will say that I is crystal clear, very detailed. If anything I would say it accentuates in all the right places. Good highs and lows and excellent mids. A very neutral preamp.

Yeah, it bothered me for about 30 seconds. I will say I sit pretty far from the amp when actually listening so it’s not a big deal at all for me.

Just going from the turntable to the phono preamp, then phono preamp to the A07. Nothing else needed.

It can be a common thing. Sometimes the preamps in the turntable can be more powerful than the smaller preamps. That being said, I would compare the two to see if the preamp has better clarity or maybe helps provide a better sound in some way. If not, it may not be the preamp for you. Unfortunately it can be a lot of trial and error to get the sound you are looking for. Just because one is more powerful doesn’t mean it sounds better.

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi thanks for the reply!

Anytime!

@@Groucho3321 I have the same "issue" with the gain being lower than my amps built-in phono preamp. How is the clarity for you? I feel like i have to max out the treble for it to be clear. And while i have it directly connected to the amp i have no need to use an eq..

@@AndreS-gn6gd I'm not blown away, to be honest. I need to test it a bit more before deciding to keep it.

Thanks so much! I forgot to mention that! I’m a tube fan so I probably would never do that myself, but it certainly should have been included in the review!

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi It's an unusual feature for a tube headphone amp to work in a solid state mode without the tube. The only other one I've seen is the Schiit Lyr. Do you know any other dual-mode tube/solid state hybrid headphone amps?

I don’t to be honest. Schiit also sells solid state tubes!

You would use the Aux port. Using a 3.5mm to RCA adapter, unless your sub has 3.5mm input.

That’s a great question. Unfortunately I’ve not had a chance to try out the original Vidar.

I made a video where I did use the vacuum and deleted it because so many people complained about the noise. I guess you can’t please everyone.

Thanks so much! I need to get a smaller wet vac. I think my current shop vac is a bit too much. I love the product though. Really can’t say enough good stuff about it!

It’s possible. If your turntable has a built in phono preamp, that would work. If not, you would need a separate phono preamp. Given that your turntable has a 3.5mm to RCA cable it most likely does have a built in phono preamp. If you let me know what turntable you have, I will let you know for sure.

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi awesome, thanks. I believe it does. I have audio technica lp60x

Yes, that will work. Just make sure the preamp switch is set to “line” when using the aux port.

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi thank you for the replies!

Anytime!

To each their own

?

That would be a great combination for sure!

Yup. Digital has its place, but it’s a small one.

I agree!

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi . And I think a new USB-'C' pin-out standard has been agreed to just recently, so that looks like it will be here for a while.

Yeah. I think it’s about to take over!

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi . How about that. A 2nd component has just shown up with SFP/LC. The Lumin U2 Mini & U2.

I’ll have to check that out!

Schiit yeah it is!

I know right? It has one for using in mono, but none for stereo!

That’s awesome! I loved the Freya+\Vidar combo! I would probably get a headphone amp with it too. I do wish it had balanced XLR headphone ports in the front, but it’s a really solid amp!

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi I'll bet you the next generation of the Freya+ has a headphone jack, considering that their replacement for the Freya S, the Kara, has one now. Seems unlikely that it would be balanced, though, unless Jason wanted to move the + upmarket, to get a bit more distance from the Kara. Actually, that might be a pretty good idea, considering how good the Kara is.

I agree!

That’s the sound of the mechanical relays in the relay-switched stepped attenuator. Unlike a typical potentiometer, a relay-stepped attenuator gives you perfect channel matching down to the lowest level of the volume knob. There’s only a couple of thin-film resistors in the signal path at all times, rather than a potentiometer wiper. And it doesn’t use a “volume control chip,” like cheap receivers.

Hahaha. It’s a loaner unit. Your guess is as good as mine. It may have been used for one minute or 1,000 hours before I got it. Unfortunately there is no hour meter on it. I guess my impressions mean nothing.

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi Think of it as a lower bound on sound quality. It could be almost no better or yards better with play . Over years the xformer sound will improve while some caps will increase leakage (more noise): Some caps will keep sounding better until near failure. Just let people know. Ask whomever you got it from.

No need to explain, I am very familiar with the process and the reason behind it. I got it directly from Schiit. They also would have no idea how long it has been used. They didn’t ask me how long I used it. That’s not how any company that I’ve worked with handles their test products. I will say that Schiit runs every amp for 24hrs after it’s built, so that would be the minimum amount of time that it has been run.

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi Very good, thank you for explaining. Glad you liked it, I’ve had only good experiences with Schiit and their gear.

Glad to hear it!

Thanks so much! I’ll have to try to check one out!

That’s interesting, I’ll have to try that! Thanks so much!

The Freya+ is a preamp, not a phono preamp. The signal coming from the turntable is too low for the Freya+ so you need a phono preamp in between. The phono preamp bumps up the signal enough so that the Freya+ can pick it up and amplify it enough for the amp.

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi I didn't realize the small unit was a phono preamp. My bad.

It’s all good. I had a Schiit Skoll phono preamp that I wanted to use, but I had to send it back. I ended up using the Fosi Box X4 phono preamp instead.

Well, clearly I did. I like their turntables and cartridges, although I’m using a Sumiko cart at the moment. Mine is a vintage table, which I certainly prefer to the newer tables. Newer Denon components are geared towards the “all in one type” systems as apposed to using separates so their amps are frowned upon by so called “audiophiles.” What turntable do you use? By your comment I would expect perhaps Macintosh or Acoustic Signature at a minimum.

That’s really a shame. I’m not having that issue with mine, I suppose it’s possible that they made a running change, or maybe you got a bad unit. Of course it is also possible that my speakers and headphones aren’t sensitive enough to pick it up. Out of curiosity, how long ago was that?

Thanks so much! Both are excellent products. I’ve always found that iFi, in general, is very well suited for use with headphones and small to medium speakers. Schiit is better for medium to large speakers. The Zen and Skoll are no exception to that. Both suit a wide range of cartridges. For me, the Skoll seemed to be a bit more detailed and warm sounding. More open and airy. The Zen didn’t seem to have quite the warmth or openness, but it has slightly sharper highs. Miss are about the same on both, with the exception of the Skoll having more clarity in the mids. Bass is more pronounced at lower levels on the Skoll. I love both to be honest. If I was primarily listening with my vintage Sansui speakers, I would pick the Skoll. For headphones or bookshelves, I might go with the Zen. For medium speakers it’s a bit of a toss up. I personally prefer the warmth of the Skoll with a tube amp and vintage speakers. I’m sure a lot of this would also depend on the amp and/or preamp you will be using with it. If just using headphones, you can plug straight into the Zen. Also consider that the Zen is maybe half to two thirds the physical size of the Skoll, if that is a consideration. I hope that helps and wasn’t too long winded.

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi - not too long at all. I appreciate the detailed breakdown. It sounds like the Skoll is more what I’m looking for. Thanks for taking the time.

No problem at all! Let me know how you like it if you decide to get it! What preamp/amp are you using with it?

@@NoFrillsHi-Fi- I’m using a Technics SL=1210GR turntable with a stereo pair of Sonos Fives, or it my go on my stereo setup. Swapping things around 🙂

Awesome! I’d love to hear how it works out!