Cute new schiit speaker amps

[Deleted member 48726]

Thanks, I've looked at those French measurements before. Distortion is quite low but noise performance isn't great. If you look at the 100mW THD+N the Yamaha is at about -66dB while the Jellyhorn is at -92dB. The measurement conditions were very different though I'm sure. The noise from the Yamaha is typical high pitched airy sound. I turned the gain down to -8 or so to reduce the noise but can still hear it a foot or so from the speakers. Really not an issue but it bothers me.

This one?
My speakers are rated 90 dB sens. I'm pretty sure it's much lower though. Anyway, I can hear faint hiss from the tweeters if i push my ear against the grill with att. at 0. And this is coming from my minidsp. If I unplug the RCAs the P7000S is dead quiet. Or its so high frequency I can't hear it.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

I got the Rekkr through the door today and just put it up on my desk. Call me a Schiit fanboy or whatever, but the form factor is amazing and the stack looks super clean on a desk and integrates with the headphone amp into a super sleek system. The 80s mini stacks, come on, not even in the same universe as this.

In terms of the value for money arguments, maybe I'm just a pretentious ass, or out of touch, but especially on this forum, people have systems worth more than most cars. 150 $ is chump change for something that you genuinely like... I wanted a power amp for my desk, just a power amp no extra crap on it, and this hits the bill spot on.

In terms of the loudness argument and wattage, it's 11:30 pm now, I'm listening at a level that feels nice and the volume knob is barely cracked, it will go plenty loud enough on a desk with some bookshelfs. No one would ever seriously think of plugging this into their main system and expect anything remotely listenalebe, obviously that would be idiotic... But of course I will plug this into the B&W 803s during the day tomorrow and run the thing into protection just for shits and giggles.

Anyway, I don't get where all the hate is coming from. Yeah, the topping sure, but that doesn't look half as sleek as this and other than that, there's nothing else like this on the market.

Cheers,
Seb


View attachment 269940

I don't see much hate. Only puns after puns on the Schiit(ty) name.
I have got no horse in the race (is that the saying?) as I don't fit the demographic for the product, but I recognize the need that others have and also your system looks very nice! -In that regard I think it's important to manage ones expectations which some in this thread are having some trouble understanding.
In your use case their products fit like a glove and look nice doing it.

Oh, and I agree that I would rather have had your stack than a big stinking block of cheap Aiwa plastic from the 90's which probably didn't produced more power than 5 or 10 watt either. -And Topping? -I would make a U turn from that company when something domestic like Schiit exists.

 

[TimW]

This one?
My speakers are rated 90 dB sens. I'm pretty sure it's much lower though. Anyway, I can hear faint hiss from the tweeters if i push my ear against the grill with att. at 0. And this is coming from my minidsp. If I unplug the RCAs the P7000S is dead quiet. Or its so high frequency I can't hear it.
View attachment 269970

Yeah that is the graph I was looking at. Maybe the P7000S is different than the lower models, but both my P2500S and P3500S hiss quite a bit. Even with inefficient RSS210HF subwoofer drivers with the P3500S I turned the gain down some. At the full volume setting the hiss was causing the aluminum drivers to make a metallic ring I could hear across the room on a quiet day. Not a problem with my current subwoofer drivers so I'm happy with the Yamaha for that use.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

Yeah that is the graph I was looking at. Maybe the P7000S is different than the lower models, but both my P2500S and P3500S hiss quite a bit. Even with inefficient RSS210HF subwoofer drivers with the P3500S I turned the gain down some. At the full volume setting the hiss was causing the aluminum drivers to make a metallic ring I could hear across the room on a quiet day. Not a problem with my current subwoofer drivers so I'm happy with the Yamaha for that use.

Really? Have you tried disconnecting the inputs? I mean, the measurements don't look like it should be audible but that's also just one sample.
The P5000s and P7000s have switch mode power supplies and the P3500s and P2500s have toroidal trafos so there is some differences there.

 

[Sebastijanovski]

All right, so I put the little giant Rekker into my main system today. The dissonance in scales between it and the rest of the gear is just ridiculous! The speakers completely dwarf it, you could easily mount it inside them. I run a Topping D90, a Freya S preamp and B&W 803 D2s. Currently I'm playing around with Purifi 1ET400A modules for final amplifiaction (thus the bare boards in the background).

I never heard a 2 W amp in person before, so please excuse me here for a minute, but I genuinely wasn't ready for what came out of the speakers. It can run the B&Ws no problem, about half tilt on the preamp (in passive attenuation mode) was the limit of what I feel comfortable exposing my neighbors to. It did start to break apart just past this point, with distortion becoming audible, and at full tilt it was completely un-listenable, but also significantly louder than what I wold consider a comfortable listening volume. As long as it was kept left of the hockey-stick point on the SNR graph it sounded identical to the Purifi, all of the sound was there, bass, sub-bass, mids, highs, *insert whatever audiophile babble*, it's all there.

The "headroom" crowd can seriously take a hike, this proves to me definitively that SNR at voltage swing is all that defines the output at the speakers, especially since the 803s are often taunted as "power hungry" and needing large wattage.

In case anyone is curious, the speakers are about 3 m away from the couch and 2.3 m apart, along the long wall in a 5.0 x 3.8 m room. To be fair, I probably fall on the lower end of the how-loud-is-loud bell curve, but still, I don't think my assessment above too far off.

With the preamp fully open and CD player on pause, there is absolutely no hiss or any other sound coming from the speakers with my ear touching the tweeter grill, so that claim from Shiit is justified.

After an hour of driving the B&Ws, the cooling fins got hot to the touch, but I could keep my hand on top of the heatsink. The rest of the case was warm, but significantly less so. The unit also gets fairly warm just sitting at idle.

Hope someone finds this interesting and sorry for the poor picture quality.

Cheers,
Seb

 

[restorer-john]

From design POV I find my ex Technics SA-007 system even cuter, shouldn't have sold it...

Yes, that's a cute little system alright.

For uniqueness, it's hard to beat this Akai group of components (the cassette deck is in storage).

Headphones for scale:

No visible screws (top/sides/front) as each is a diecast aluminium one piece (front panel/top/sides) and the componentry goes in from the bottom. Amplifier uses an internal SMPS, twin DC amplifiers and the coolest VFD power meter in bright blue with peak hold.
Preamplifier is superb with the 3rd highest MM overload I have ever measured (290mV). MC input, relay operated inputs, gold plated terminals etc.
Tuner is one of the best digital tuners I have used in terms of noise and sensitivity.

 

[Trudius]

Before buying the Schiit Vidar2, I considered the Aegir as its generally considered a slightly warmer sounding amp to some, but I went with the Vidar2 for the follow reasons and this thinking can also be applied to the Gjallahorn.

For a general purpose HIFI amp, I needed something that I could use in a number of different rooms and with a number of different speakers. I was was not sure how much power I would need in the future but figured I needed more than 20 to 40 watts per channel to be safe and have the headroom depending on the speakers I might pair with it. Because of this I knew I would need 2 Aegirs running in mono to achieve that. From a price point that was a con as 2 Aegirs would just barely get me to what 1 Vidar2 would have in power.

But even if I was ok with that price and performance, 2 Aegirs in mono = 80 watt per channel compared to 1 Vidar2 at 100 watts per channel, I would still have to consider the ohm rating of the speakers. As my tastes might change over the years this amp will need to be flexible.

I had to think about how the amp bridges the load to run in mono mode, different amps can be wired differently, but in the case of the Aegir, Vidar2 and even the Gjallahorn for that matter. The amps are stereo amps that can be bridged to function in mono. But when this is done, the amp will see a load that is half of the speaker rating, so a pair of 8 ohm speakers will load the amp as would a pair of 4 ohm speakers, and here is where I would get into trouble, a pair of 4 ohm speakers will load the amp the same as 2 ohm speakers. This is why Schiit generally does not provide a 4 ohm mono rating on some of these amps (aegir).
In reality many speakers are a 6ohm average load at best and most are / or dip down to a 4ohm load regardless of what they are rated at. So if I went with the 2 Aegir or 2 Gjallahorn set up in mono, it would limit me to a small selection of speakers I could run at the higher SPL levels or I would have to restrict the volume to prevent the amps from tripping into thermal protection mode.

So back to my original objective, I wanted a general purpose amp that I could use in a multitude of ways without all the gotchas and the single Vidar 2 checked that box for me, and it was more cost effective too. I considered all of the above when thinking, "do I get 2 Rekkrs and run them mono or 1 Gjallarhorn and run in stereo for my desktop? I went with 1 Gjallarhorn and I'm happy I did.

I have not listened to the Aegir in my home, so I don't know how the Vidar2 and Aegir differ in sound Q. But I can say that the Freya+ with some Nos Sylvania 6NS7 GT "bad boy" tubes feeding the Vidar2 is amazing to my ears.

I hope that help.

The power rating of the Aegirs has been a matter of some disputes. The ASR and Stereophile measurements suggest ~50W@8ohm, the Schiit pdf file shows ~80 WPC@8ohms. I have the Freya+ and 2 Aegirs but have been thinking on replacing them with a single Vidar with SE outputs for the very reason you cite. The company could have priced the Gjallarhorns at ~$200 to prevent competition with the Aegir. A single Aegir can produce ~40W@4 ohm while 2 "jellies" will produce 2x30W@8ohms before jumping into protection mode.

 

[Hatto]

My Rekkr arrived today and I was lucky to have some time to integrate it into my stack:

I use Wiim Mini (toslink) and Windows Laptop (usb) as sources feeding into Modi+ and it all goes up through the rest of the stack in the order you see. I'm fond of the back side as well where all interconnects consist of RCA L-plugs (some dual output) and F-F couplers:

Sound quality is phenomenal. It's much cleaner than the Aiyima A07 it replaced. Detail, soundstage, clarity it's all there all across the spectrum. In fact I can't tell if the system is powered on or not when paused even when my ear touches the driver cone. I'm using Magni+ as the preamp (at low gain, -8dB) driving Totem Kin Mini speakers (8ohm,88dB/W/m). Volume knob starting at 7 o'clock, it gets up to my regular listening volume around 10 o'clock position, gets as loud as I'd listen at 1 o'clock and uncomfortably loud at full volume (5 o'clock).No distortion even at full volume, mind you that I haven't even tried mid or hi gain yet.

I love how everything sits orderly on my desktop without taking much space:

I wish they would fit under the speaker stand, but they don't, even with the SYS removed from the stack.

 

[Trudius]

My Rekkr arrived today and I was lucky to have some time to integrate it into my stack:
View attachment 270354
I use Wiim Mini (toslink) and Windows Laptop (usb) as sources feeding into Modi+ and it all goes up through the rest of the stack in the order you see. I'm more fond of the back side where all interconnects consist of RCA L-plugs (some dual output) and F-F couplers:
View attachment 270356
Sound quality is phenomenal. It's much cleaner than the Aiyima A07 it replaced. Detail, soundstage, clarity it's all there all across the spectrum. In fact I can't tell if the system is powered on or not when paused even when my ear touches the driver cone. I'm using Magni+ as the preamp (at low gain, -8dB) driving Totem Kin Mini speakers (8ohm,88dB/W/m). Volume knob starting at 7 o'clock, it gets up to my regular listening volume around 10 o'clock position, gets as loud as I'd listen at 1 o'clock and uncomfortably loud at full volume (5 o'clock).No distortion even at full volume, mind you that I haven't even tried mid or hi gain yet.

I love how everything sits orderly on my desktop without taking much space:
View attachment 270357
I wish they would fit under the speaker stand, but they don't, even with the SYS removed from the stack.

What are the speakers that are being driven by the Rekkr? Also how would you bridge two of these Rekkrs, right output split into two right inputs and same for the left output (into two left inputs)?

 

[TimW]

What are the speakers that are being driven by the Rekkr? Also how would you bridge two of these Rekkrs, right output split into two right inputs and same for the left output (into two left inputs)?

Dude he stated the speaker model in the post you quoted and you can find the Rekkr manual on Schiits website.

 

[Trudius]

Dude he stated the speaker model in the post you quoted and you can find the Rekkr manual on Schiits website.

"Dude" I do have a life and was looking at the pictures and parsing the text. I am not clear about the manual and using only one of the RCA inputs (R). Actually my question is more general since the proposition of 2 Rekkrs at $300 is not a very good one.

 

[Presb4]

I am glad to see this thread getting some listening impressions from actual owners vs the blathering from some speaking about these amps without hearing them first hand. So far the posts I have read are stating similar finding to mine with these new Schiit amps, and that is. They sound great for what they are when used at volumes normal people listen to when not trying to piss off their close neighbors or co-workers in the office.

As I get more time listening to my Gjallarhorn in my office desktop system, I have switched a few components around and landed on the best sound Q yet. I accomplished this by swapping out the Vali 2++ for a Saga S pre-amp. The changes I noticed was a slight drop in the noise floor and an increase in bass quality especially when I turned on the JFET buffer stage. The decrease in noise I think had everything to do with the Vali 2++ tube and not the pre-amp out circuit. Maybe it was a less than ideal tube, maybe it was some dirty AC coming from the transformer? Nevertheless switching over to the Saga S made a significant difference in my system. So my set up now is PC Qobuz -> Schiit Modi E -> Schiit Saga S -> Schiit Gjallarhorn -> Elac BS41's. And its the best damn Schiit I have heard in a long time

 

[Asyrin]

My Rekkr arrived today and I was lucky to have some time to integrate it into my stack:
View attachment 270354
I use Wiim Mini (toslink) and Windows Laptop (usb) as sources feeding into Modi+ and it all goes up through the rest of the stack in the order you see. I'm fond of the back side as well where all interconnects consist of RCA L-plugs (some dual output) and F-F couplers:
View attachment 270356
Sound quality is phenomenal. It's much cleaner than the Aiyima A07 it replaced. Detail, soundstage, clarity it's all there all across the spectrum. In fact I can't tell if the system is powered on or not when paused even when my ear touches the driver cone. I'm using Magni+ as the preamp (at low gain, -8dB) driving Totem Kin Mini speakers (8ohm,88dB/W/m). Volume knob starting at 7 o'clock, it gets up to my regular listening volume around 10 o'clock position, gets as loud as I'd listen at 1 o'clock and uncomfortably loud at full volume (5 o'clock).No distortion even at full volume, mind you that I haven't even tried mid or hi gain yet.

I love how everything sits orderly on my desktop without taking much space:
View attachment 270357
I wish they would fit under the speaker stand, but they don't, even with the SYS removed from the stack.

Pardon the noob question, but what RCAs are you using there? I'm trying to find something low profile and extremely short like that for my Modius/Asgard/Gjallahorn stack.

 

[restorer-john]

Sound quality is phenomenal.

So what did that entire pile of Schiit cost you? Seriously.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

So what did that entire pile of Schiit cost you? Seriously.

 

[Chrispy]

Not sure I've seen an amp described as cute before....and looking at the Schiit lineup that doesn't come to mind at all....but then I GAF about an amp box aesthetic in any case.....

 

[AaronJ]

View attachment 270599

And $100 worth of interconnects.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

And $100 worth of interconnects.

Yeah. Amounts to about 700 USD then.
To each their own, but damn! -You could've bought an excellent power cord instead for that kind of money.

OR-->

Spoiler: These

 

[mhardy6647]

I am rollin' on the floor!
Imagine equipping that whole pile o' Schiit with proper power cords!?! Talk about takin' it to the next level!!!
(or do they all use wall warts?)

 

[Joe Smith]

Biggest stack of S I have seen! They all offer good value. You've put a lot of thought into that, and it is pretty compact for a desk.

For me, in my main workroom system, I keep my headphone world separate from speaker amp world, and just re plug my dac as needed, then I can either use an integrated amp with volume & tone controls, or a standalone amp with volume control like the Aiyima A07. Pretty easy, just swapping one cord as needed. I usually have a "headphone day" versus "speaker day" so it's not a burden...