I have a pair of monoblocked Gjallarhorn amps in a near-field desktop computer system and am VERY happy with them (Jotunheim 2 as pre/HPA and a Chord Mojo2 as DAC).. They power a pair of Martin Logan 35XT's very nicely. I ran a pair of monoblocked Schiit Aegirs for a bit, and the Gjals sound very similar. Great deal. I fully agree that these are mainly for near-field.
I have not. I knew going in they would be primarily near-field use (even Schiit goes over this on their website). My den is of average size (15x20ft?) and the monoblocked Gjals will drive the ML's to a level that I find too loud. I still would keep them near-field but, particularly monoblocked, I think they could fill an average room at moderate to loud levels nicely.@@991carreras3
I have many of Schiit's products and I like the way they sound for the money (at least here in the US) but the no 12V power on trigger and single power switch in the back might be inconvenient.
Excellent point: I use a Gjallarhorn now as a surround amp for the underrated Schitt Syn surround preamp and I can hear the clarity even for surround duty. I've owned not 1, not 2, but 3 pair of Hersey IIIs in the at different times in the past (sadly, I don't have room for them now in my studio condo). I can imagine a single Gjallarhorn providing more than enough audiophile grade power for the very efficient Heresy IVs. Enjoy!
Thank you! I really wish the focus of most discussions (eg in forums) would go away from "sheer volume" on these and start getting deeper into talking about dynamics. I tried a VMV A1 (same power ratings) and it got plenty loud, but it sucked the life out of anything remotely fun or upbeat. Perfect for good old "girl and guitar" tracks, ok for chamber music with 4 or 5 instruments, mediocre for jazz, and kiss of death for R&B, electro or anything remotely lively or complex. This was in a small-ish room with reasonably sensitive bookshelf speakers (8 ohm, 90db) at moderate volume. I wasn't asking the world :D I still think it might be possible to do a good implementation at this power level and *on paper* a Gjallarhorn should have enough power for my needs. But do they? I'm still curious to try them but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Considering the IotaVX PA3 sells for the same price here in the EU...eh...hmmmm.
It's nice to see someone actually reviewing this amp with near-field / a small room in mind. I find it baffling how so many reviewers seemed to have stuck their Gjallarhorn in their large listening room and made their conclusions that way.
Would love to see a follow-up video, if possible, running a pair of these in mono block configuration. Would be interested to know how that works out for a large room.
Great review but something is wrong with the sound of the way this person's voice is recorded. It sounds confused and mid-range heavy and congested hard to understand, that has nothing to do with the person's Voice or his accent.
How much power would it deliver if mono blocked, is it still the same 10 watts, or does it almost double this like most power amps? Great Vid and love the channel, thankyou 👍
I’ll do my best and I do want to investigate more from the company. The issue is grabbing available stock. Their products tend to sell out pretty fast :)
@@TheAudiophileMan Cool. Thanks, Paul. Great talk you had with Nadine about the Degritter. I’ll be doing a livestream tomorrow with her and 45 rpm Audiophile (Michael) at 1:30 EST, so 6:30pm in the UK. Thanks again, Paul.
If you don't need something blasting loud wouldn't they fill a nice size living room with great sound at volumes that could be listened to all day. What wrong with it that I wouldn't use it like that. Does it only sound good within 3 or 4 ft.
Sure, if you are running it in a reference listening room system, powered by valves, for example. But this is a real-world, near field design (and thus review) where most people purchasing this amp will be grabbing speakers because they fit on their desk and don't crowd their computer or small TV, not because the specs offer suitable sensitivity figures. If I grab a pair for use as monoblocks then maybe I can report back with a listening room system test.
Thanks for the review. The Q acoustics sensitivity is 87.9 dB and nominal impedance is 6 ohms. Perhaps this amp paired with a speaker with a 90+ db and 8 ohm load would do better in a fairly large room.
I'm sure you're right. Although I wouldn't want to live with it, as such. I'd rather bi-amp them instead, see this one: th-cam.com/video/ewBRDcuZ_cY/w-d-xo.html
..or power cables or interconnects or DACs or turntables or my beer...that should have been in there. My cat. She normally makes an appearance. Then there's the spiders. My room's full of them. Dust and fluff? My HiFi wouldn't sound the same without that precious material. And what about my parents? And God? What about him, eh? And the Academy who made all of this possible. The Director too. The scriptwriters. And my fellow actors...
@@TheAudiophileMan The interconnects were there! I think it may have been a Schiit promo picture. Manufacturers don't seem to like to show their products with three platefuls of spaghetti hanging out the back.
Awesome review. I bought one early this summer for my desktop. I wanted a Class AB amp and space is a premium. While a bit more money than your Class D amps, this is far and away a better sounding amp to me. I agree with your review. I use Spotify from my laptop into a Modi DAC and then the amp to a pair of bookshelf speakers from the early 90’s. Sounds great.
I have a pair of monoblocked Gjallarhorn amps in a near-field desktop computer system and am VERY happy with them (Jotunheim 2 as pre/HPA and a Chord Mojo2 as DAC).. They power a pair of Martin Logan 35XT's very nicely. I ran a pair of monoblocked Schiit Aegirs for a bit, and the Gjals sound very similar. Great deal. I fully agree that these are mainly for near-field.
Have you ever moved them to a large living room to see how they sound.
I have not. I knew going in they would be primarily near-field use (even Schiit goes over this on their website). My den is of average size (15x20ft?) and the monoblocked Gjals will drive the ML's to a level that I find too loud. I still would keep them near-field but, particularly monoblocked, I think they could fill an average room at moderate to loud levels nicely.@@991carreras3
I do belive as a Scandinavian it's pronounced "Jallarhorn" with the n at the end. Thanks for a good review regardless! :)
I have many of Schiit's products and I like the way they sound for the money (at least here in the US) but the no 12V power on trigger and single power switch in the back might be inconvenient.
I get around this by using a protected metal power strip and just power it on all at once.
I have mine connected to my Heresy IV's and I get plenty of volume even in a large room. It just depends on how efficient your speakers are.
Excellent point: I use a Gjallarhorn now as a surround amp for the underrated Schitt Syn surround preamp and I can hear the clarity even for surround duty. I've owned not 1, not 2, but 3 pair of Hersey IIIs in the at different times in the past (sadly, I don't have room for them now in my studio condo). I can imagine a single Gjallarhorn providing more than enough audiophile grade power for the very efficient Heresy IVs. Enjoy!
Thank you! I really wish the focus of most discussions (eg in forums) would go away from "sheer volume" on these and start getting deeper into talking about dynamics. I tried a VMV A1 (same power ratings) and it got plenty loud, but it sucked the life out of anything remotely fun or upbeat. Perfect for good old "girl and guitar" tracks, ok for chamber music with 4 or 5 instruments, mediocre for jazz, and kiss of death for R&B, electro or anything remotely lively or complex. This was in a small-ish room with reasonably sensitive bookshelf speakers (8 ohm, 90db) at moderate volume. I wasn't asking the world :D
I still think it might be possible to do a good implementation at this power level and *on paper* a Gjallarhorn should have enough power for my needs. But do they? I'm still curious to try them but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Considering the IotaVX PA3 sells for the same price here in the EU...eh...hmmmm.
Comparing the two? I'd go for the Schiit design.
This is a great video, thanks! Could you recommend a pair of passive speakers for use with GJALLARHORN and Saga+?
OK, using The Clone Wars as a train track earned a subscriber.
You can run these as monoblocks and in any decent sized room w high sensitivity speakers you can rock out.
I like the sound from the g’horn better then the vidar 2. It’s more musical.
I would love it if Schiit started using 12V trigger to power these on.
It's nice to see someone actually reviewing this amp with near-field / a small room in mind. I find it baffling how so many reviewers seemed to have stuck their Gjallarhorn in their large listening room and made their conclusions that way.
I agree.
These are meant to be Mono Blocks, with high sensitivity speakers, these can fill a decent sized room.
Agreed and testing with 83db sensitive speakers. It's like setting it up to fail.
My listening room is 10'x15'. I'm guessing that is safely within the small room realm?
Love that VU record..
Thanks Rick!
Would love to see a follow-up video, if possible, running a pair of these in mono block configuration. Would be interested to know how that works out for a large room.
I’ll make a note.
Same. would love to see a review of a pair of these!
Great review but something is wrong with the sound of the way this person's voice is recorded. It sounds confused and mid-range heavy and congested hard to understand, that has nothing to do with the person's Voice or his accent.
Ah, that will be my iron lung then.
How would this compare to the burson funk you reviewed for a pair of small speakers on a desk?
How much power would it deliver if mono blocked, is it still the same 10 watts, or does it almost double this like most power amps? Great Vid and love the channel, thankyou 👍
I think it will be 60W for the two, combined. Just checking now. And thank you.
Yes, to confirm:
Stereo, 8 Ohms: 10W RMS per channel
Stereo, 4 Ohms: 15W RMS per channel
Mono, 8 ohms: 30W RMS each
Sir, the XLR connector is a mono input, NOT an output like you mentioned and wrote on the video. Thanks.
Thank you, Paul. That / those amps look great for a desktop system. I’d love to see a review on Schiit TYR monoblocks if possible. Thanks again, Paul.
I’ll do my best and I do want to investigate more from the company. The issue is grabbing available stock. Their products tend to sell out pretty fast :)
@@TheAudiophileMan Cool. Thanks, Paul. Great talk you had with Nadine about the Degritter. I’ll be doing a livestream tomorrow with her and 45 rpm Audiophile (Michael) at 1:30 EST, so 6:30pm in the UK. Thanks again, Paul.
Excellent, measured review. I've been contemplating a pair of these for my desktop setup, and I think you've finally sold me. Cheers
If you don't need something blasting loud wouldn't they fill a nice size living room with great sound at volumes that could be listened to all day. What wrong with it that I wouldn't use it like that. Does it only sound good within 3 or 4 ft.
Thank you very much Paul. As always, very nice and classy review. Kindest regards from Belgium. 🙂
I will use it as a tweeter amplifier xover at 5K 12db/oct L-R
So how does it compares to the Cambridge? Did I miss that part?
Sounds tempting. I am looking to replace my old Cambridge 25W amp. Was the topping in pre amp mode then? Or did you use the Rega?
I used the preamp section of both DACs only. This was a purer chain, actually. Direct. Lower noise floor.
Thanks Paul. A real world review, on affordable hi fi, how refreshing.
How about this for hard to drive headphones
IMO a low-powered amp can only properly be evaluated with high-efficiency speakers
Sure, if you are running it in a reference listening room system, powered by valves, for example. But this is a real-world, near field design (and thus review) where most people purchasing this amp will be grabbing speakers because they fit on their desk and don't crowd their computer or small TV, not because the specs offer suitable sensitivity figures. If I grab a pair for use as monoblocks then maybe I can report back with a listening room system test.
Thanks for the review. The Q acoustics sensitivity is 87.9 dB and nominal impedance is 6 ohms. Perhaps this amp paired with a speaker with a 90+ db and 8 ohm load would do better in a fairly large room.
I'm sure you're right. Although I wouldn't want to live with it, as such. I'd rather bi-amp them instead, see this one: th-cam.com/video/ewBRDcuZ_cY/w-d-xo.html
@@TheAudiophileMan Thank you.
Why were there no speaker cables connected in the photos!!
..or power cables or interconnects or DACs or turntables or my beer...that should have been in there. My cat. She normally makes an appearance. Then there's the spiders. My room's full of them. Dust and fluff? My HiFi wouldn't sound the same without that precious material. And what about my parents? And God? What about him, eh? And the Academy who made all of this possible. The Director too. The scriptwriters. And my fellow actors...
@@TheAudiophileMan The interconnects were there! I think it may have been a Schiit promo picture. Manufacturers don't seem to like to show their products with three platefuls of spaghetti hanging out the back.
👍👍😎✌️🤟
Awesome review. I bought one early this summer for my desktop. I wanted a Class AB amp and space is a premium. While a bit more money than your Class D amps, this is far and away a better sounding amp to me. I agree with your review. I use Spotify from my laptop into a Modi DAC and then the amp to a pair of bookshelf speakers from the early 90’s. Sounds great.
What do you for volume control? Thank you.
@@simpsonbergman2185 Fair question. I use my computer volume. Works great, can change the volume with my fingertips on the keyboard.