Schiit Aegir Power Amp Impressions

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

  1. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    You ran into similar problems as @toddrhodes . Here’s the problem with Aegir and your particular speakers:

    2C4FE418-0A5C-4CE3-BA36-6BEF91D4B2DE.jpeg

    The lesson again for many people: Your speakers may not be a good match for Aegir. Pay attention to the specs and preferably the actual test measurements by an independent reviewer (most speaker manufacturer specs for impedance and sensitivity are total BS in favour of being easy to drive). High volume listeners and/or home theatre use with moderate or low sensitivity speakers that go below 4 ohms is a bad fit with Aegir. Go with Vidar (or something else).
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2019
  2. tranq

    tranq Friend

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    The only negative I noticed on the Aegir review in stereophile came from running monoblocks. During the review/testing Aegir went into protection around 49WPC into an 8 ohm load.

    Edited - maybe discrepancy is a more accurate word then negative.
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2019
  3. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Very interested to see the measurements from that Stereophile review actually.
     
  4. schiit

    schiit SchiitHead

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    That doesn't jive with our tests, which are on the site, under Specs. Aegir in mono, 8 ohms, clips at about 28V, or 98 watts, and does not go into protection throughout the test.

    https://www.schiit.com/public/upload/PDF/Schiit Amp APx555 Standard Test Suite_ Aegir.pdf

    I noticed some oddities in Stereophile's measurements, but I didn't want to get into a nitpick-fest about them.
     
  5. Aklegal

    Aklegal Friend

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    Do you know what speakers they were driving at the time? 49 watts seems pretty low but I used to own a pair of Tyler Linbrook Signature floorstanders that were rated 8 ohm but would often dip to 2 or 3 (so I'm told, I didn't measure). I had to get a beefy amp to drive them.
     
  6. tranq

    tranq Friend

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    At least Atkinson called it a well-engineered amplifier. Better then "obsolete" right?

    It was a rather glowing review. A rating, for that price? Next cheapest item was 3.75 times as expensive. Awesome.

    @schiit what would you upgrade to first? Aegir or Bifrost 2.

    Currently running modi multibit, saga, Vidar, with Zu omen DW and KLH Kendalls.
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2019
  7. tranq

    tranq Friend

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    I don't know, assuming it was on the test bench.
     
  8. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Agreed - no point to get in a conflict over it like the crossover glitch or the “obsolete” comment (especially considering the “Class A” recommended component rating), however it would be interesting to ask them why they think there’s a discrepancy. Is it something to do with the test parameters or equipment/setup variances compared to your AP555 tests? A faulty review sample?
     
  9. Partytime

    Partytime Facebook Friend

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    I didn’t realize the impedance was 5 ohms. I thought they were 8.

    I knew the sensitivity probably wasn’t high enough, but ya, with the impedance that low also... bad combo.

    Thought the amps were great tho. Hooked to my devores briefly and thought they sounded wonderful. The Vidars are a great match with the polks. Highly recommend to anyone running them.
     
  10. tranq

    tranq Friend

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    For what it's worth Aegir performed better then Schiits posted spec when looking at SE/stereo performance.

    I'm only looking at stereo configuration, so for me the balanced output result doesn't matter at all.
     
  11. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    It's just Stereophile's measurement processes. They had a similar issue measuring Ragnarok, and not the issue caused by the debiasing.

    "With respect to the measurements, I do find it odd that in Mr. Atkinson's testing the Ragnarok does not exceed its specified power output—I will have to take a look at that one when it comes back to us."

    See: https://www.stereophile.com/content/schiit-audio-ragnarok-integrated-amplifier-manufacturers-comment.
     
  12. yonson

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    Depending on the levels you watch movies you should be fine. I have 3 Vidar on my LCR and the towers have never gone into protection (4 ohm 88 dB efficiency) however I have had my center go into over-current protection a few times (4 ohm 90 dB efficiency) during intense battle scenes etc.. while watching at above THX reference levels with the center cranked up a little more on top of that, backing the center down 2 or 3 dB is enough to just skirt going into protection.
     
  13. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    John Atkinson uses a 'simulated speaker load', which I believe is just a resistor. Others will have to speak about the implications of this. Also, it turns out (see link below) that there is not a "Stereophile" measurement process, just a "John Atkinson" process using equipment he purchased himself and using his own methodology:

    https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...porware/page/715/?tab=comments#comment-985867

    Speaking for myself, his answers to technical questions around MQA on this thread has led me to go from a "trust but verify" stance towards his measurements, to a "I don't give a f$%k what this old fart says" stance.
     
  14. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    To add and to repeat for the third or fourth time. Aegir is not even for medium efficiency speakers. In fact, it's not even good for medium-high efficiency speakers. 20W is nothing for today's modern speakers (that tend to cheap on efficiency specs anyway). Unless you run high or super high-efficiency 94db+ speakers, e.g. Fostex BiB, BLH, Zu, boutique wide-banders, big old-school JBL or Urei, or Klipsch horns, Aegir IS NOT SUITABLE.

    Stereophile Class A doesn't mean you can run them on anything. Aegir is a niche amp for niche speakers. This absolutely should not be forgotten.
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2019
  15. direstraitsfan98

    direstraitsfan98 D2Girls v2.0

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    [​IMG]
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  16. direstraitsfan98

    direstraitsfan98 D2Girls v2.0

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    Actually they’re class K. But maybe they’ll make it into class A.

    Edit. Never mind yourre totally right. They are in Stereophile Class A rating. My bad.

    For reference, this is the same class that Stereophile has rated all the Pass Labs amps, the BHK PS Audio stuff, and all the amps Michael Fremer reviews, Dartzeel, CH Precision.

    Ps. Stereophile class ratings mean nothing. All it does is drive up the price of new gear from the respective manufactures. It’s like a Michelin star except this case none of the products really deserve the star. Still, it is neat to see the Aegir listed beside Michael Fremers $110k dartzeel monoblocks. I am pretty sure that is exactly the kind of thing Schiit is trying to accomplish here and it looks like they’re succeeding.
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2019
  17. androxylo

    androxylo Acquaintance

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    Fine for desktop system. I'm running single Aegir with 86 DB low efficiency Dyns 10. Keeping volume at 75%, plenty of room well above my volume tolerance.
     
  18. wout31

    wout31 New

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    I have to totally disagree on that. I run ONE Aegir in stereo mode on very low efficiency Quad ESL-63 speakers (they are rated at 86 dB , but most agree they don't do more than 80-81 dB) I can easily play in the low to mid 80's dB at listening position, 6 meters away from the speakers in a room of 8x12 meters. My speakers are 1 meter from the front wall of the room.. Only tracks with very high dynamics can have too little volume on the low volume passages.
    I'm going to add another Aegir and use them in mono to have that little bit of extra I need on the low volume masters.. But otherwise it plays very good and very loud. I only tripped the protection twice so far and as soon as you know how far you can go there is no problem. Less (maximum) loud than the Vidar's they replace, but still more than enough for me.
    As to sound and quality. I'm totally flabbergasted for all the details, the punch, the attack, the bass, the voices, the highs, the warmth, the feel. These amps are never gonna leave. It is a 1000% steal at the price, and I'm in Europe so I even have to pay a little more than US residents. Other gear in the chain is totally Schiit: Freya-S, Yggdrasil A2.Use Roon as a player on my Windows PC with an PCIe RME AIO card with AES/EBU out to the Yggdrasil.
     
  19. SnowPuppy

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    Should probably work ok. Looking at the ESL-63 impedance specs "Nominal impedance: 8 ohms (6.2 ohms minimum)" When the Aegir is run in mono it sees half the speaker's actual impedance. So they will be handling down to 3.1 ohms. Likely not an issue fortunately due to the higher impedance of these Quad speakers. The Aegir has an 8ohm rating but not a 4ohm as a mono due to potential of tripping the amp protection. Look forward to Schiit releasing a continuity amp that is a pure monoblock.
     
  20. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    OK, you win. Exception: will work for low SPL use.

    Be aware that monoblocks will sound slightly different.

    This is nonsense. The impedance of the speaker does not half just because the Aegir is being run in mono mode. The load is the load. It stays the same.

    In this case, it's the output impedance that doubles from approximately 0.15 ohms to 0.30 ohms. So damping factor, which is defined as Zin / Zout is halved.

    As a monoblock, Aegir will probably not put out much more power into 4-ohms compared to 8-ohms given current or thermal limitations of power supply or heatsinking.
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2019

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