Schiit Aegir Power Amp Impressions

Discussion in 'Power Amps' started by rlow, Oct 16, 2018.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I'm kind of a purist and believe that no preamp is the best preamp. The vast majority of sources will work with Aegir with a simple cheap pot.

    As far as Rag, I wouldn't do it. In fact Rag by itself might sound better than Rag + Aegir for decently efficient speakers. Don't need an extra voltage gain and output stage in the way.

    If you need a preamp, get a preamp.
     
  2. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    Yep. Even using a passive, this is how much useless range I have on the passive Goldpoint SA1X w. my OBs:

    Blue, useful; Orange, useless
    upload_2019-6-11_1-33-46.png
     
  3. SnowPuppy

    SnowPuppy Facebook Friend

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    Appreciate the insight. Truth is the Ragnarok 1 sounds terrific with my speakers. I even put an NAD amp in with about triple the wattage and the benefits of power did not come through like another pair of box speakers I have. And the Ragnarok 1 sounds significantly more refined than the more powerful amp. More dimensional and less flat with better tone and still has great powerful bass. Because I do not have anything better to spend money on for fun I may try the Ragnarok 2. It may or may not be a better match for my system. May be worth risking the cost to send back just to see.
     
  4. PTS

    PTS Friend

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    I currently have Aegir monoblocks on loan from @purr1n.

    The Aegirs are something that I considered purchasing, to run from the tube preamp section of my BAT VK3000SE integrated. My criteria was they had to sound better than the power amplifier section of the BAT, which is 150W of AB Class solid state. I'm using PranaFidelity Bhava speakers, which are 89.5db efficient.

    Coming from the BAT to the Aegirs, I'm immediately hit by a bump in the upper mids. Everything within that frequency range (vocals, strings, horns, etc) sound more present and up front in the mix. At first I thought the Aegirs were more resolving, but the upper mid increase is quite possibly causing those song elements shine, helping to create an illusion of uber-detail. That said bump may actually cause ear fatigue (in a system like mine) for long listening periods. I would describe the overall sound of the Aegirs as fairly lean, yet exciting. Marv's description of them being similar to the M-22 isn't far off. The BAT by comparison is a little more relaxed, yet harder hitting in the bass due to the additional wattage. Other than that, they share a lot of similarities.

    All said, I'm impressed with the Aegir monoblocks. They're good value and easily rank with some of the top-tier amplifier offerings on the market today. Your mileage will vary depending on what you're hooking this Schiit up with. I thought they sounded excellent with Marv's JBL speakers, a little better than the standalone BAT. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to others.

    I personally will bypass purchasing the Aegirs, as it would feel like a side-grade (which is a compliment to Schitt, as the BAT is an expensive amp). Tomorrow I'll be giving them back, and possibly use them to power @E_Schaaf's modified HE6 headphones at Canjam μ.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2019
  5. econaut

    econaut Almost "Made"

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    I wonder if Aegir is supposed to be left on all the time or at least should be left in standby mode for best sound?

    And is this different from Vidar, because Vidar is class AB?
     
  6. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    There’s a standby button on the front of Aegir for a reason. It will still probably take 15-30 mins or something to warm up out of standby, but you don’t want to leave it on all the time unless you want to waste power and heat your room. Yes it runs hotter than Vidar.
     
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I shut down my Aegirs. Just takes 5 minutes from totally cold.
     
  8. JoshMorr

    JoshMorr Friend

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    SBAF Loaner tours are the best. Sit at home -> read about something cool -> wonder how it would sound in your system -> Hype hype hype hype -> someone suggests a loaner tour -> it happens -> hype dies down a tiny bit -> every week a new review comes in -> oh shit, its my turn -> listen listen listen -> chat with associates -> oh shit, i gotta send this off and write the official JoshMo Report

    We've made it to the last step of the SBAF loaner cycle on my part here fellas. I am always appreciative of our communities kindness and generosity to get loaners into regular members hands so they can hear and help form a bigger web of reviews. Being able to connect the dots between reviews #1- #69 - takes bits and pieces from each one, until you understand how it would work for you, is pretty cool.

    Schiit speaker amps - my first time hearing one at home since I owned an OG Raggy. I briefly heard Aegir at RMAF before a very early prototype decided to take an early break from the rest of the show. I was impressed enough that I was closely following and very excited for its release. I happened to be in the market for better speaker amp at the time - listening to as much as I could at RMAF to find something that sounded somewhat close to my EC AF but delivered a bit more power and had a firmer grip on high and low ends. Being the simple minded impatient audioholic that I am, I couldn't wait for Aegir to come out and bought my favorite amp from my favorite setup at RMAF, a Pass XA25.

    @Boops and I have been on a very similar audio path, have owned much of the same gear - we both have the same Klipsch Forte's - so I got a sneak peak for what I was in for with this amp. A bit more about me: My setup - Source (#1 VPI turntable, #2 Soekris 1541) -> passive TVC pre amp -> amp (Aegir vs XA25) -> Forte. Not a huge believer in cables, but still managed to spend enough to be slightly embarrassed so I ended up with good quality connections all around. Switching back and forth involved swapping banana plugs and rcas from one amp to the other - less than 30 seconds worth of work.

    Listened to the Aegir for a day or so first - love the fairly compact size, connections on the back are well laid out. Still has rear power switch, but that's not a big deal we have a standby button up front in case you buried this amp in a hard to reach rack. Didn't hear any significant improvements with warm up over 15-20 minutes or so - quick warm up - some of that might have been tube phono too, Marv mentioned 5 minutes or so - leave warm up nervosa behind. Class A-ish amp - must be a space heater, right? Well, its warm, but not fry an egg warm like rag or first watt class a. Would I leave it on all the time - nope. Wouldn't have to have a 2nd summer class D amp to reduce cooling loads though either. Non audio based audio gear review portion - very nice - lets play some music.

    Aegir sounds really good. My first impression was that it didn't sound cold, boring, sterile, uninvolving, etc. This has the characteristics of a Class A or SET tube amp. Lots of fun, a bit of sweetness and warmth, but not mud or bloom, just not hyper clean class D or class AB 300W flat flat response. Has character, which is what I actually look for. Some might call this musical or relaxed, where others might call it rounded. I tend to lean toward the more laid back and relaxed crowd than the in-your-face-forward-ice-pick-in-your-ears-tape-your-eyeballs-open-hold-on-for-dear-life-i-want-to-feel-the-hurt crowd. Soundstage is stereotypical Schiit, wide and tall, lacks any depth. Sounds better at lower volumes where, starts to lose some of its sweetness when blasting slayer at 120db.

    So how does $799 schiit compare to an amp that costs 4-5 times as much? Did schiit beat class a? In my opinion, they came close. Switching back and forth, playing the same tracks here is what I noticed. Pass adds depth to the soundstage. You can more clearly differentiate between instruments on a live stage. Fine detail is cleaner and clearer. Both ends are extended just a bit, more grip on the low end, more sparkle on the top. Cymbals sounded just a bit more realistic, bass drum kicks had more impact. Mids are more pleasant on Pass in direct comparison. Decay felt more real as certain noises trailed off - Aegir didn't seem to transition quite as smoothly in and out of soft passages. Neither as fatiguing, Aegir might be more relaxed and sleepy, Pass has more energy. Crank up Dio's Holy Diver and you hear effortlessness in Pass where Aegir feels like its trying to keep up.

    Should you dismiss this comparison because I'm butthurt about Schiit making an amp nearly as good for 20% of the price? I wouldn't discount that, there is likely some truth there. If I had a budget of a grand and was looking at other amps for efficient speakers, it would be right up there. This would be very high on my list to try and compare to the 25 different flavors of First Watt out there. Looking back - monoblocks might alleviate some of gap between the two - which brings price difference to 2.5x or so for the Pass.

    Schiit expanded their 2 channel power amp lineup with a winner. They are knocking on the door of hifi, offering good value high quality amps. Giant killers that fixed class a? I guess it depends on the giant - probably slays quite a few. I would reiterate what just about everyone has already said - snag some high efficiency speakers and rock the f**k out. I would stay on the higher end of efficiency - 92db+ or so, but I'm sure there are dudes out there with 88db/w bookshelves who think thats a dumb statement. My impressions would be very different if I was coming from a normal SS power amp or coming into speakers with different past experiences. Im a picky jaded asshole who has tried a ton of amps and this comes close to my ideal sound, I just managed to already own something much more expensive that does everything a little bit better. This is a really decent amp and has many of the qualities of more expensive contemporaries. I would highly recommend.
     
  9. androxylo

    androxylo Acquaintance

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  10. Greg121986

    Greg121986 Almost "Made"

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    Verbatim, this is exactly my first impression of the Aegir thus far. I have a couple other points to add as well, which I will follow up with once I've finalized my thoughts. I must also say that I feel like the bass is very weak until 15 minutes in, so that's quite a bit different from JoshMorr's experience. The difference is not subtle to me, so I'm wondering if it's real or not. I'm hoping to have my buddy come over next week just before I ship out the unit. He has robot ears and is very sensitive to bass frequencies so I'm going to try to get his thoughts without him knowing what I'm looking for.
     
  11. Boops

    Boops Friend

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    Did you ever get a chance to compare the F7 with Aegir mono/stereo?
     
  12. E_Schaaf

    E_Schaaf MOT: E.T.A Headphones

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    @Boops his F7 is mine now. Briefly compared the two (monoblocks on the Aegir) at @PTS 's place a couple weeks ago along with a fancy Class D amp I don't remember the name of and a BAT VK-3000SE with his Bhavas and my HE6.

    I don't remember very specific sonic points of comparison but I did prefer the F7 of what was there for its smoothness and midrange timbre (especially when being fed by the preamp section of the VK3000SE). Aegir had a more U-shaped tone from what I remember, with more sparkle on top and more of a sub-bass focus, but a bit less punchy than the F7 and with a bit more grain. Definitely in the same ballpark in terms of technical ability, though - didn't feel like there was anything necessarily missing switching from one to the other.

    I'll comment more when the loaner comes my way and I can test more extensively in my own system. Grain of salt on the above, etc.
     
  13. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    He told me he has to sell it first before we compare.
     
  14. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    In x1 stereo, I felt the bass was more rounded with richer mids and a little sweet sounding, tube like. x2 monoblocks had better extension at the extremes, better bass articulation, and was more toward the solid-state direction.

    There is a possibility I may "downgrade" to a single Aegir.

    @E_Schaaf: did you get a chance to try x1 in stereo mode?
     
  15. E_Schaaf

    E_Schaaf MOT: E.T.A Headphones

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    Didn't get a chance to try x1 Aegir, but this does seem like a more suitable comparison to the F7.

    Your comment about x2 monos sounding a bit more 'solid state' mirrors how I heard the monos relative to the F7, which has the richer midrange and sweetness that running a single Aegir in stereo might be more similar to.
     
  16. Boops

    Boops Friend

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    Does that mean you'd also bite the bullet and use the SE outs from Yggdrasil A2?
     
  17. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Either Freya S or this:

    DIY balanced to SE transformers
    IMG_20190711_103852.jpg
     
  18. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    I almost ordered a second Aegir once I knew my backorder had shipped. Schiit still has it marked as backordered on their site and is working to fill the backorders, although I had only ordered mine a couple of weeks ago.

    In any case I'm glad I held off on the second one for now. If a single sounds right to me I might just take the money I saved and finally upgrade my Yggdrasil to A2 instead. I'm still ready to order the transport the day it's available....
     
  19. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I have a theory on why a single Aegir sounds the way it does (this is assuming the use of high-efficiency speakers or lower volumes in smaller rooms), although I don't have time to take measurements since I am not retired yet. Actually, I do have time, but would rather be listening to music or be outdoors biking (which I will do after I finish this post).

    The Aegir isn't one of those 0.0000001% amps. The THD specs are < 0.01% which is -80db. That's just right below what the best human ears can make out.

    Now, what sometimes happens with differential drive (Aegir as monoblocks)? Even order harmonics get suppressed, leaving us with only the odd harmonics. See here for some discussion on how distortion patterns may matter more than simple THD figures: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/thoughts-about-distortion-behavior.8010/

    It does seem to make sense. As x2 monoblocks, more extension, more control, and more solid-state (suppression of even harmonics). As x1 stereo, more rounded (less power), and more pleasant and tube-like.
     
  20. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    @purr1n how would you compare Vidar monos to Aegir monos, by memory?

    Now that I have Freya S, that's something I've been thinking of.

    Also, do you know of anyone who will wire those cinemag input trafos you like in a nice box for me, for money?
     

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