Schiit Tyr Monoblock Amplifier Reviews and Impressions

Discussion in 'Power Amps' started by AllanMarcus, Apr 3, 2022.

  1. Metro

    Metro Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1,590
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    San Francisco
    @SuperRoo, I noticed Harbeth P3ESR in your signature. Have you tried them with the Tyrs? I have P3ESR-XD's on a single Vidar and considering the Tyr.
     
  2. Justin S

    Justin S Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2018
    Likes Received:
    1,506
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Toronto
    This solved a transformer humming issue for me here. It was a mechanical hum and the CMX-2 was the only thing (including a service trip) that solved it. Despite that the Hydro company says, I think my mains are filthy at certain times of the day.
     
  3. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2016
    Likes Received:
    3,218
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Palo Alto
    Home Page:
    A CMX-2 got rid of the transformer hum in the Hegel H360 I had in my previous house. We moved a few blocks in the same town a few years ago, and changed gear as well, so I thought DC offset was not a problem here. Oh well, the new(ish) Holo May has intermittent transformer hum. But I can't find that old CMX-2 anywhere, so I ordered another one.
     
  4. Priidik

    Priidik MOT: Estelon

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,153
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Estonia
    This is one freak of an inductor. And I am not referring to the size. Dumb way to do it would be 4 separate cores. Here we see 4 inductors in one. There has to be, since it appears there are 4 high power secondaries, 4 high power rails, since it appears to be a bridged thing, so dual psu. Hence this inductor works sort of in coupled mode - there are many possible combinations, pehaps the neg rails are wound one way, positives the other way.

    There will be some 'transformer action' going on due to it all being on same core. Ie, a direct crosstalk, but in this case it would be beneficial to leverage some cancellation action, delete some ripple and other misbehavior from the rect bridge. - a clever cost efficient way to use iron. Quick simulation demonstrates wiring the neg and positive the opposite ways can result in 25% extra reduction in ripple vs the same thing wired the same way (which would be the same as using separate cores) using 2 mH and 1.2 A as values.

    I love the transistor real estate and thick film degeneration resistors for each - this all looks worthy of high-end.
     
  5. SuperRoo

    SuperRoo Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2019
    Likes Received:
    54
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Atlanta GA
    I had mono Vidars driving the P3's. The Tyr's are worth every penny.
     
  6. saint.panda

    saint.panda Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2017
    Likes Received:
    538
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    NYC / Berlin
    I also just went from single Vidar to Tyr(s) driving P3ESR. Still need to do a more detailed comparison but it's basically the nice tone of Aegir + power of Vidar (oversimplified). We all know P3s is a sluggish speaker with a beautiful tone. The Aegir amplified the P3's strengths but also added to its weaknesses by being overly underpowered. The Vidar compensates for the P3's weaknesses but doesn't amplify its strengths. The Tyr does both.
     
  7. Degru

    Degru Facebook Friend

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2017
    Likes Received:
    140
    Trophy Points:
    33
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Do you by chance have this measured for Aegir? The Schiit AP reports for these amps seem to have most of the harmonics hidden by the power supply noise.
     
  8. Fullalover

    Fullalover New

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2021
    Likes Received:
    12
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    Next to YMO
    Some thoughts with this amp for about 1-2 weeks before I returned it.

    Positives:
    Compared to Aegir the sound is very smooth, Aegir mid/highs are grainy in comparison. All the technicalities and more are there. The huge power makes bass seem like the Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer teleporting in front of you, meaning big bass just happens without any effort. Nice staging and it does perform like a $3.5k amp. It sounds very good with classical.

    Negatives:
    The sound still has DNA of Aegir (maybe Continuity design?), meaning it is polite, you are reading music instead of boogie-woogieing to the music. If you massively liked Aegir I guess this is not a negative. This ultimately makes music disconnected emotionally from me. For example 30.8 had more fun, snap and epic feeling compared to Tyr.

    Bottom line:
    Performs like a $3.5k amp and nothing more. I've heard other solid state amps such as xa 30.8 and coda 8, various FirstWatts. Tyr sits with among these amps but I would hesitate to put it above them.
     
  9. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,771
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    For sure, the transients are more rounded instead of square. It's part of the Schiit DNA really extending to their DACs. The presentation of Tyr in this respect was opposite to that of say the Hegel H2, Crown CDi1000, Benchmark AHB-2, and Pass XA30.8 (haven't heard this last one, but understand it to have a squarer presentation to the XA25). Ultimately with any amp, it comes down to synergy. The speakers I whipped up were initially with Aegir in mind (COVID pushed back their completion by two years), so play may have been a factor in my success. The other factor may be SPLs. With speakers, I crank them up to 95db easy. Levels typically encountered in mix and mastering stages in the pro world. Squarer transients I find more difficult at high SPL. But yes, the Tyr are certainly on the polite or laid-back side.

    Disconnect there because 30.8 and Coda 8 are twice the price at $7k. :D TBH, I don't think any solid-state amps above $6k, regardless of level of encrusted jewelry, sound any better from each other, just different. The only reason to spend more than this is when one gets amazing specific synergy and is passionate enough to open up their wallet. I would have liked to see x2 Tyr come in at $2.6k. I believe this was the original target, but supply-chain and inflation (money-supply) issues.
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2022
  10. AdvanTech

    AdvanTech Friend

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    May 13, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1,667
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    NYC
    This is very helpful for me. I find the speed/sparkle/dynamics of the XA30.8 works well with my Wavelight. The Allnic tubed pre I had was too sleepy so I don't think I'd like to go back in that direction.

    Is it mostly about not needing to make any/many compromises in design after a certain price-point?
     
  11. Fullalover

    Fullalover New

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2021
    Likes Received:
    12
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    Next to YMO
    Yeah above $3-5k seems more flavor, synergy than anything.
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,771
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    To me, it's minor niggles, some compromises in design, in sound quality. This is not same as finding good synergy or suiting personal preference. The price point isn't absolute, but rather on a sliding scale. Back on the synergy vs quality: stuff like tonal balance, presentation of transients, even power (or lack thereof)- these can be variable because one can build around or toward them. If one did not get synergy without curating associated components, it does not mean the gear is middling. Great gear can be middling in the wrong setup. A extreme example would be a flea-powered SET amp with exotic transformers powering Maggies. A less extreme one would be class D power amps into super high-efficiency speakers.

    It's the harder qualitative factors that cannot be variable. For example, the Schiit Vidar power amp and Dangerous Music Convert-2 DAC lack ultimate microdetail. The Benchmark AHB2 is insipid. Other gear may have treble timbre that is too splashy to correct unless one pairs with massively colored gear. (This is why I've argued that trying to make the HD800 sound like an Audeze via colored upstream gear is dumb - just buy an Audeze). Other factors could be a piece of gear sound too veiled, sounds limp-dick, get too easily congested, or hits like a wet-noodle. This stuff may be good in many other respects, but putting on my snob hat, I cannot honestly say that I can build a system that represents True HiFi™ with such. We are talking about gear that compromises ultimate ability to reproduce low level information or presents it back in a way that is insipid (the microdynamics thing). Or gear that is way too colored, Leben CS300, or Grado RS1X for example, but this is often obvious.

    In the end, it's about potential, the ability to build something around a piece gear. Synergy, potential, how curate components where the the sum is larger than the parts - this is isn't talked about enough in audio. It's also the reason why 90% of rooms at audio shows have shitty sound despite stuff that costs more than a down payment for a house.

    I've often cited this story: the 13-14 year old kid who at a meet ten years ago brought a cheap turntable, Jolida phonostage, BottleHead Crack, and Sennheiser HD600 and HD650, with two sets of tube compliments for each headphone. This set up wrecked most other stuff at the meet. A year or two later at another meet, he bought into the HF FOTM with Schiit + Audeze. It wasn't anywhere close to his magical set up cobbled part used gear and DIY kits.
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2022
  13. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Jul 18, 2017
    Likes Received:
    7,735
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Canada
    Even the DarTZeel stuff?
     
  14. dmckean44

    dmckean44 In a Sherwood S6040CP relationship

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 17, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1,425
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Peoria, IL
    I'm curious what you use for speakers.
     
  15. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,771
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Even the DarTZeel stuff. I know this brand makes people cringe or roll their eyes, but the stuff is good, damn good. I've recommended DarTZeel to fellow audiophiles who wanted a certain sound with certain gear, speakers, source. Sometimes there are situations when certain pieces fit to T.

    But at the end of the day, I don't feel the DarTZeel amps possess any greater potential than other True HiFi™ gear from Krell, Pass, Accuphase, (and now Schiit) at one-forth to one-tenth the cost. And c'mon, how much of the cost of the DarTZeel monoblocks were put toward the hot-rodded SF 49ers PC gamer chassis and extraneous milled shit, especially at super low quantities, with sufficient mark up so that the manufacturer can have its owners and workers have a decent livelihood.

    [​IMG]

    Finally, I don't care if nobody believes me. And BTW no big chokes in power supplies. Just a big bank of big caps. They'd probably be $370k / pair instead of $170k a pair if they had chokes.
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2022
  16. k4rstar

    k4rstar Britney fan club president

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2016
    Likes Received:
    6,940
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I am curious why you would be in the market for solid-state amps if this is what you're looking for. or more specifically, high power solid-state amps clearly marketed to people who think their speakers benefit from having 200 gigawatts of power on tap and are used to the usual boomer-fi options such as Krell where the extreme size, weight and owner inconvenience of the amps is viewed as a selling point. to this small subset of the market, the Tyr will be very appealing and no doubt sell in sufficient quantities to meet margins.

    to the people who wants the je ne sais quoi in their audio reproduction and uses normal speakers which don't waste 99.9% of their power input; I don't think a fully complementary BJT amp is gonna do it regardless of who makes it or how much it costs.

    just wondering.
     
  17. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Jul 18, 2017
    Likes Received:
    7,735
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Canada
    Alright I’ll bite. So what will “do it” for you (and what you think will be it for others as well)? Tubes I assume? What kind of topology?
     
  18. k4rstar

    k4rstar Britney fan club president

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2016
    Likes Received:
    6,940
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I don't know anything else about the posters system or tastes so I can't make recommendations. lots of interesting amps out there. to talk about my own preferences, of amplifiers that are completely based on silicon transistors, I like minimalist designs like chip-based amplifiers and something like the Sparkler Audio products. but I generally find it tough to listen to all-silicon amps for long periods of time. there are so many degrees of freedom with sound tuning, but for mainstream commercial designs it is safer from a marketing perspective and more practical from a manufacturing perspective to release the same product in a new case.

    I don't mean to impose my tastes on anyone else. I am just genuinely wondering what someone who has tried the amps he/she has listed would see in the Tyr. I hope it is not pretentious of me to say it is obvious for me to guess what they will sound like by peeking inside. I don't even mean to say that a fully complementary BJT amp is something to be avoided, but certain design paradigms seem to suit themselves to certain product archetypes which in turn are marketed to certain ideas of how sound systems should be put together. I am just wondering how many 200 watt amps someone has to listen to before they realize there is a disconnect between their approach and the type of sound they want.
     
  19. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Jul 18, 2017
    Likes Received:
    7,735
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Canada
    So would the First Watt stuff meet your criteria/tastes as far as solid state goes?

    You still haven’t said what kind of tube amps you’re into and that you believe excel at delivering emotional connection. I’m genuinely interested.
     
  20. k4rstar

    k4rstar Britney fan club president

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2016
    Likes Received:
    6,940
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Just don't want to go too far off topic :) no, I don't like pass amps at all. I think they have very dishonest transients. sharp sounds being sharp are pretty important for me. when designers start associating the harmonic profile of amplifying devices to their sound signatures and then intentionally design their amps to have bloom, I roll my eyes.

    I like tube amplifiers, primarily with vintage transformers as most modern transformers I have tried sound very disappointing. I like SE and PP amps equally. I currently have a stable of 7 or 8 amplifiers (I honestly forget). sometimes I buy one and sell another one. I'm not looking for the ultimate, just having fun. I have very efficient speakers so amplifier choice becomes a matter of taste and not necessity. I'm currently alternating listening to a small SE EL84 console amplifier that has very interesting OPTs and a Philips AG9016 from the 1960s. both amps cost me less than $200 and I can pick them up with one hand. they deliver the musical goods. I could write a novella on why, but I really don't want to derail the thread.

    [​IMG]
     

Share This Page