Lyr 3 Discussion Thread

Thanks! I read your impressions about the various tubes and that was very helpful. Do you think other Psvanes might do the job? A lot of people here seem to enjoy the Psvane U.K. 6sn7. Would that work as well as the more expensive tube you mentioned?

 

I’ve never heard the U.K. 6NS7, but a reviewer on head-fi says there’s not that much sound difference between it and the CV181 T II, the Treasure Globe, or the Sophia Electric. If you don’t want to spend that kind of money, see if you can find a Russian 6N8S. It’s not as good, but it may move you closer to the sound you like than the TS and less than $20.

 

Thanks. I'll look into both of those . Much appreciated. I don't want to get into too much tube rolling, because I am, overall, very, very happy with the sound coming out of this beauty. So I don't feel the need to go improving it. But at the same time, if there's something that can give me better sound without too many sacrifices, it's tempting to go for it.

 

Now as an interesting exercise, don't read anything else about the Lyr3 for the next week and just spend time listening. Then, write new thoughts without comparing notes from your old stuff and see if it matches.

When I do this I find I'm reasonably consistent, but there's always a bit of drift once your ears have acclimated and you've had time to get over the new toy syndrome.

 

Good point. There's no doubt that my review is at least partially tainted by "new-toy syndrome". I have a feeling I'm still going to really like this amp for a long time, but I'll see what I think once I start searching for flaws, rather than being wowed by the amp's strengths...

 

Hold on to that new-toy feeling while you can. Some of us grumpy farts jump straight into looking for flaws and forget the entire point of this stupid hobby.

 

One other thing: I’d consider a multibit DAC if finances allow and you want to max out the Lyr 3’s potential. I was seriously surprised how much difference the Schiit Bifrost 2 made in the sound. Bass much improved, detail improved, imaging much improved. I know conventional wisdom holds that a DAC isn’t all that important and I certainly had that opinion myself until the Bifrost. I don’t hold that opinion any more.

edit: didn’t see Jexby’s comment until after I posted but I wholeheartedly endorse it.

 

Lyr3 is my current favorite of all (Vali2, Valhalla2, Mjolnir2, Lyr3) my tubey Schiit, if only because I can roll nearly my entire stash of good bottles in, with adaptors as required.

All are driven by OG Gungnir Multibit, so that's what I expect to hear, and with the right tube(s), I do. I especially like old Brimars in Lyr3, especially with HD700 & HD800/SDR.

 

Yeah, I had a Lyr 3 and an LCD2C for a number of months. I ended up selling them to benefit my two-channel rig, but my sellers remorse lingers to this day. Not the most refined setup by any means, but I've never had more fun turning up the volume knob than with those components. Dynamics and slam were addicting. The perfect setup for some rock or pop after a couple beers and the family having gone to bed.

 

Good all-rounder seems fair. It does well with every headphone I’ve tried and generally performs decently with whatever tube is in it. Everyone’s definition of fantastic is different depending on their frame of reference. Compared to other amps I’ve managed to listen to (all under $1K), it’s fantastic. I might change my mind if I ever listen to a TOTL amp in a TOTL chain, but who knows, my hearing may deteriorate to the point where it doesn’t matter.

 

I’ll have to take your word for it on the Brimmar. They cost a wee bit much for my beer budget.

 

The Lyr 3 has a low gain mode which makes it more useful with efficient headphones than the LP. And you don't need to buy balanced headphone cables for the Lyr 3.

I prefer amps with a laid-back presentation. I don't want headphone listening to push me away from the music. Even with forward recordings. Laid-back amps are the way to achieve that. More aggressive amps are impressive for short periods, but I don't want to deal with that for longer and more immersive listening.

 

Hey folks. Having a small issue on my Lyr 3. I've heard that some people have had problems with hiss and buzz on this amp, but I'm unfortunately experiencing it on low-gain, with my volume only turned up to 12 o clock or so. I've re-rolled the tube multiple times and this still occurs, and my cables don't seem to be the issue (I've swapped those out, too). Anyone know if this is a problem with my unit, a problem with the tube, or something else? I think I should still be able to return (I got mine used). I'm also not using the dac module, though the dac module is installed.

 

Make sure it's not a ground loop. Put all gear on one circuit, run power cables together and keep signal cables at least 6 inches away from power.

Also, try disconnecting USB or SPDIF from DAC and see if the problem persists. I have to use optical or a galvanically isolated DDC to not have any noise in my system.

 

Definitely not normal. I don’t know if it’s the tube or the amp though. I assume you only have the 1 tube?

also, is it a hiss (like white noise) or a hum/buzz (at around 60 hz?)

 

Done that, and it fixed the problem with the buzz at low gain. That makes me happy! Still getting a buzz - a really loud one, actually - at high gain, even on my 600 impedance Sennheiser HD 600's. I've heard other people had that issue, though.

Funny thing is, I wasn't getting this a day ago. At least, not at nearly the same level. Used to be able to turn the switch to at least 1 on high gain without getting any hiss. Now as soon as I crank the volume on on high gain there's a very loud hiss.

Now I have to decide whether to turn this amp back to the person I bought it from or try another tube first. Or just be cool with running everything at low-gain.

 

Have you tried another tube?
This sounds like a tube issue.