Lyr 3 Discussion Thread

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by neogeosnk, Mar 20, 2018.

  1. dmckean44

    dmckean44 In a Sherwood S6040CP relationship

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    I couldn't bring myself to disconnect my Gungnir Multibit from Lyr3 so I bought @JK47 's Gungnir Multibit to put into my 2 channel system. I let Hands borrow my Soekris dac and the Modi Multibit just wasn't cutting it anymore.
     
  2. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    calling @Elnrik who brought over his Lyr 3 and Eikon today, we plugged it into Yggdrasil A2.
    I was mightily impressed with the pairing. never heard Lyr 3 before, so can’t provide a comparison on a smaller DAC.
    can say that Eikon + Lyr 3 together is some serious magic fo shure.
     
  3. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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    And your Yggdrasil + Saga + AF + Vidar + HE6 + unicorns and lollipops + magic cables setup was amazing and enlightening. One of the best systems I've ever heard. I'm thinking about picking up a Saga + Vidar now myself.
     
  4. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

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    That's encouraging and shows some perspective on the amps ability to scale I've been using Modi Multibit but felt like the lyr 3 would give more with a better dac. I'll know soon enough.
     
  5. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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    Oh, right... Lyr 3 on different DACs. Yes it scales. How much? I don't know as I can say for sure. Enough that it is immediately noticeable.

    I listen to it mostly on the Eitr + Modi Multibit at work. 90% of my listening had been on this, so that's my baseline.

    I had it setup on my Gungnir Multibit for one weekend, and recall thinking it was a good improvement overall, especially in staging. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable saying more than that, as I wasn't specifically doing an A/B comparison, and I'm going of memory.

    @jexby heard it off his Yggdrasil, but I didn't. I know what the amp sounds like, and I only brought it over so he could get a taste of the magical Lyr goodness. It may have been too good, as his head exploded the moment Ted Nugent's Stranglehold started playing. (He got better.) I mention this only because it might indicate great scaling on the Lyr with different DACs.

    Jexby is probably going to trade me his AF for my Lyr 3 + Eikon so that he will finally have a good set up at his office. ;) He will have to put a little cash into the deal, just to be fair and all, but don't tell him I said that.

    :p
     
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2018
  6. Aeron

    Aeron Facebook Friend

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    Can’t speak to Modi Multibit, but on the either my Monarchy PCM63K or Vinshine Ladder DACs the Lyr3 is superior to both the Heron 5 and MicroZOTL 2 with both the Abyss and Focal Clear. It’s not even a close call, the Lyr 3 expands the tight Clear’s soundstage in width and depth, maintains the imaging, and enhances its excellent tonality (with Bad Boy, Sylvania VT231, Raytheon VT231 was a tad bright). I’ll follow up tomorrow with more detied look with the Abyss 1266.
     
  7. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    From my experience, most amps and headphones can scale from Sub-Gungnir Multibit to Gungnir Multibit pretty easily unless amps are really shit. This is a matter of bad vs not-bad amps.

    The harder problem is whether to scale from Gungnir Multibit to better ones such as Yggdrasil. A matter of great vs good amps.

    I heard lyr 3 with dave. And that convinced me to safely argue that lyr 3 exceeds the lower bound of "great amps". For most lyr 3 owners (including myself) the weakest link will be sources..
     
  8. zeissiez

    zeissiez Turn that Schiit down - acquaintance

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    I think we are able to hear improvement easily from Yggdrasil to say MSB top DACs over LYR3 or even over the Jotunheim. The improvement from 90% to 98% is easily detectable. But that will take a lot more money. For LYR3 level of performance, I think Bifrost Multibit and Gungnir Multibit are sensible choices. Forget about the built-in modules.
     
  9. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    1. No we cannot hear improvement there, when there exist no such improvements. Of course, may hear kinda "becoming worse". I personally rate Yggdrasil even on ahead of dave. I'm just more confident with dave.

    2. Not everybody is able to buy all the dream gears at the same time (or at least in the same year) unless he/she is very rich or sacrifices more important life things. Audio journey takes time. We need some gears even in the middle of such journeys to maximize our music listening pleasure.

    What I argue is that Lyr 3 may not be dream amp for purists.. but even if so, lyr 3 will make upgrade paths pretty SIMPLE.

    1. Buy Lyr 3
    2. Use it until your source reaches to the top tiers (or dream dacs)
    3. Then upgrade from lyr 3 to another levels (I personally consider EC AF/Studios here)

    #2 may take years from #1, #3 may also need another good years. In this hypothetical scenario (actually it's a simplified version of my plan), lyr 3 does its duty for very long time. Unfortunately only few amps can do similar jobs WITHOUT LOSING MUCH pleasure..

    Many amps requires some additional steps betwen #1 and #2, then some even must swap #2 and #3. That's an opportunity cost (at least to me).
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2018
  10. rott

    rott Secretly hates other millenials - Friend

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    Lyr3.jpg

    My hearing is either shot and/or I don't have enough experience with different flavors of amps, but I can't discern noticeable enough differences between my Liquid Carbon and the Lyr3 to justify keeping it with the intention of replacing it.

    I let it burn in with music overnight the day I received it (I'm assuming some of that is required for the tube), and have spent several hours the past few nights listening and trying to compare to the Liquid Carbon. So far all listening has been with the NP Tung-Sol, haven't yet tried the stock NOS Russian.

    Transport is CDP via coaxial fed to Gungnir Multibit. Simultaneously connected to Lyr3 (RCA) and LC (XLR) so switching headphones between the 2 is relatively easy. Most time with HD600 followed by LCD2C, single-ended stock cables. Tried some HD650 also, but for the music I used it's not my preference. Regardless, result was the same.

    Listened primarily to Queensryche - Empire (1990 original not remastered) and various Pink Floyd from Discovery box set since that's what I've been in the mood for recently.

    Honestly I was expecting some meaningful difference between the 2 amps, but any differences were (to my ears) extremely subtle. Played with high vs. low gain, and could at least hear the slight difference between those 2 settings on the Lyr3.

    Nothing to complain about with the Lyr3, and I do love the Schiit build quality. Will spend some time with the Russian NOS tube and more time with LCD2C but not expecting much, if anything, to change my opinion.

    My experience may or may not help anyone else, and the only thing that still stands out upon reflection is that the Lyr3 was just oh-so-slightly more "clear" sounding. If others have spent meaningful time with both of these amps and heard noticeable differences, I'd like to read about it (here or in PM).

    I'm not disappointed, has been a useful evaluation experience, and may try an OTL amp for the Senns and/or the upcoming Liquid Platinum next.
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2018
  11. Ice-man

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    @rott A few things I would mention. That LC was a $600 amp? So it should sound pretty damn good. I owned it for a while. Also connected to Gungnir Multibit over a set of balanced xlr with hd650. And, in fact, it did sound pretty damned good. But then after about four months the volume pot crapped out on me. That left a bad taste with me. I got a replacement, but sold it pretty soon after that.

    It's tough for me to make any sort of comparison after having owned the LC so long ago. I remember the LC being a little tipped on the ends...mild U shape which worked fairly well with the hd 6x0. It had pretty decent mids with a good dash of the Cavalli house sound. I know this for sure though...the LC has never wowed me like lyr 3. I have been more engaged to music since owning the lyr 3 than I have in a long while.

    A few notes on the lyr 3. The TS is a good tube, but the amp will sound better if you care to roll a few tubes. I'm finding that the lyr 3 needs about 30 minutes to warm up before it sounds "right." That's about all I've got for an explanation. Based from my own personal memory, the lyr 3 is a better sounding amp,easily. A wonderful hybrid amp where the tube implementation is done very well. Excellent build quality with a good warranty from a company still in business and going strong.
     
  12. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    @rott your results seem fair, especially given your 3 cans in question are more similar that not-
    no one has accused the HD600, HD650 and LCD2C as the most uber detailed or resolving.
    so other headphone pairings could yield differing deltas.

    thanks for your findings.
     
  13. Skyline

    Skyline Double-blindly done with this hobby

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    @rott I'll be curious what you think after switching to the Russian NOS.

    I've been mild in my posting on it so far, but at this point I feel comfortable saying that I hate the TS tube. Really, absolutely despise it. It sounds dull, hazy, and congested compared to the stock NOS. I've gone back to the TS many times since other people seem to like it, but it just doesn't work for me.

    It could be nothing...it's possible I got a bum tube. It's also possible that I'm crazy. Still, I'm curious to see if your impressions change all the same.
     
  14. dmckean44

    dmckean44 In a Sherwood S6040CP relationship

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    I liked the new prod TS when I first got the amp, but once I started tube rolling and the Hitachi went in, it never came back out.
     
  15. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

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    Dialing in the last 10% with tubes will be a little different for each of us, likely. For me, the Ken Rad was the piece that made me miming "wow" over and over and eventually I quit critiquing and just enjoyed the music. Bottom line, I love this amp.

    Great for planars and dynamics alike.
     
  16. Darren G

    Darren G Friend

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    Yep, and my preferred tubes in the MJ2 very much depends on the headphones I'm using. Of course the real win is that with a tube/hybrid amp you have the option to experiment and swap.
     
  17. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    @rott FWIW (all with Ether C Flow headphones): I owned the LC for a while, but in the end I preferred the Jot because while the LC showed a nice romantic lushness in some material (solo violin, some voices), the Jot's faster transients were a better fit for my main fare, modern jazz and modern classical. But then I replaced the Jot with a Neurochrome HP-1, which cleaned up the Jot's sometimes too edgy highs, and beat it also on the mid-high range of piano overtones. I'm finding that the Lyr 3 with the stock TS is broadly as competent as the more expensive HP-1, while providing a more intimate, small-room rendering. Of course all of this is based on pairwise comparisons over time, which are subject to all sorts of subjective perceptual drift, including subtle changes in my own taste that I may not be consciously aware of.
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2018
  18. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    Listening the new Nels Cline 4 "Currents, Constellations" album through Holo Spring KTE 3>Lyr 3+stock TS>Ether C Flow, high gain. The gear was off for two weeks until last night, and resistor array DACs are notorious for needing quite a while to reach thermal stability. However, I'm finding this pretty good: Cline's and Julian Lage's guitars have the required complex harmonics, controlled distortion, and bite (I've heard them play together live, which set expectations). Sound stage is not deep, but it does a good job foregrounding the lead guitars from Tom Rainey's drums. Scott Colley's bass is not as well localized in general, but it pops out nicely in his solo passages in "Amenette." I'll have to listen to this great album through my HP-1 amp to finally help make up my mind about Lyr 3 vs HP-1.
     
  19. zeissiez

    zeissiez Turn that Schiit down - acquaintance

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    What I was trying to say is that, there's no point match a Toyota Corolla with an F1 car's tyres, although those tyres will make it run faster. Relax, I'm not saying Yggdrasil is bad.
     
  20. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    No, again. I do disagree.

    Using your car analogy, lyr 3 is at least one of very high performing cars that do somethings even better than some poor f1 cars. Say, mclarlen gt (not sure if tires are compatible).

    In general, I believe, if amps+headphones are resolving enough, taking as best sources as budget allows is always the optimal audiophile choice.

    And let me repeat, not every gear is able to do this sufficiently.
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2018

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