I never use vulgar words—at least not in public. I rarely use the word shit as an adjective, a verb, or a noun. Therefore, when I first heard of an audio company founded by legendary audio engineer Mike Moffat (formally of Theta) and award-winning science-fiction author and audio polymath Jason Stoddard—a company named Schiit—I could permit myself to pronounce its name…
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This is a story about vulgar words and what is likely one of the most innovative and exciting, yet self-consciously idiosyncratic, audio components of the 21st century: Schiit Audio's Ragnarok integrated amplifier ($1699).
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the PS Audio NuWave DSD with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"), feeding its S/PDIF input data from the SYS2722 and its USB input data sourced from a battery-powered MacBook Pro running Pure Music 2.0. The S/PDIF input accepted data sampled at all rates from 44.1 to 192kHz. Apple's USB Prober utility identified the NuWave as "PS Audio USB Audio 2.0" and confirmed that it operates in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode. Mac's AudioMIDI utility stated that the NuWave's USB input would accept 24-bit…
With the KEF LS50 speakers: Listening to Red Norvo's beautifully recorded Just Friends, with the Bucky Pizzarelli Trio (LP, Stash DST230), not only put me in a carefree mood, it showed me how much I'd underestimated the virtues of the KEF LS50s ($1499.99/pair). Folks, I know I sound like a skipping LP, but you can't hear a speaker without an amp, and a good speaker will sound unsubtly different with every amp you connect it to. The pairing of Ragnarok and LS50s played Norvo & Co.'s light jazz with cheerful, articulate, supersweet abandon. Norvo's vibraphone emitted pulsing spheres of…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Line-level, solid-state integrated amplifier. Inputs: 2 balanced (XLR), 3 unbalanced (RCA). Output power: 100Wpc into 4 ohms (17dBW), 60Wpc into 8 ohms (17.8dBW), 15Wpc into 32 ohms, 10Wpc into 50 ohms, 1.7Wpc into 300 ohms, 850mW into 600 ohms. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, –0.25dB; 2Hz–110kHz, –3dB. Voltage gain: 20 (26dB), 5 (14dB), 1 (0dB) via front-panel switch. Output impedances: loudspeakers, 0.03 ohm; balanced headphones, 0.1 ohm; single-ended headphones, 3.3 ohms. THD: <0.006%, 20Hz–20kHz, at 1V RMS. IMD: <0.008%, CCIF at 1V RMS,…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Technics SL1200Mk.2 turntable; Abis SA-1.2 tonearm; Dynavector 20X2L, Jasmine Turtle cartridges.
Digital Sources: Integra DPPS-7.2 DVD-A player; Halide DAC HD, Schiit Audio Bifrost DACs.
Phono Stages: Dynavector P75, Parasound Halo JC 3+, Schiit Audio Mani.
Headphone Amplifiers: Audeze Deckard, Schiit Audio Asgard, Simaudio Moon Neo 230HAD.
Integrated Amplifiers: Line Magnetic LM-518 IA, Rogue Audio Sphinx, Simaudio Moon Neo 340i.
Loudspeakers: Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a, KEF LS50, Magnepan .7, Technics SB-C700.
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Sidebar 3: Measurements
I performed a full set of measurements on Schiit Audio's Ragnarok using my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). Looking first at the small-signal measurements taken from the loudspeaker outputs (see later), the amplifier's maximum voltage gain into 8 ohms was 26.17dB with the gain set to "26," 15.1dB with it set to "14," and 3.7dB with it set to "0." These gains were identical for both balanced and single-ended input signals, and the amplifier preserved absolute polarity (ie, was non-inverting) for all inputs and outputs. The…
Manufacturers' Comment
Editor: Thank you, Mr. Reichert and Mr. Atkinson, for taking the time to review the Ragnarok. This is a true milestone for me, as I never anticipated the reception to our initial products, or the growth of the company, that would allow us to do "moonshot" products like the Ragnarok that would attract the attention of Stereophile. I won't bore you with a recap of all the crazy design decisions that went into the Ragnarok (and delayed its introduction by a good 18 months), but an entire chapter of the Schiit Happened book is dedicated to the odyssey. With respect to…
Kenny Barron's Book of Intuition (on the revived Impulse! label) is an infectiously joyous album, bursting with riffs and vamps and sparkling chords over head-swaying melodies, some infused with a Latin tinge, others crooning with lyrical balladry, all of them propelled by a forceful forward motion, whatever the tempo.
At 72, Barron is a master pianist of unflagging energy who has always guided his own path: virtuosic without making a show of it, romantic but never sentimental, steel-fingered precise while at the same time swinging and supple.
This is his first trio album in 20…
It's me, Jana. I know you're probably not reading this because you most likely don't spend your down time on Stereophile.com, but I feel compelled to write to you nevertheless on the off chance that you might. If I've managed to catch your attention so far, please don't go away.
I know it can be difficult to understand why this hobby exists and why we do what we do, but let me try to explain it to you, for it was not so long ago that I was you. Even though I began studying music at the age of four, and later even proceeded to attend a conservatory in New York, my love for music had no…
Some jazz musicians whose albums I've recently praised in this space are playing in New York jazz clubs these next couple of weeks . . .
At the Jazz Standard: Kenny Barron Trio, May 3–8 . . . Fred Hersch's duo series (playing with a different partner each night), May 10–15 . . . The Gil Evans Project, led by Ryan Truesdell, May 19–22 . . . Donny McCaslin Group, May 24–25.
At the Village Vanguard: Steve Coleman's Five Elements, May 10–15.
At Roulette in Brooklyn, Dave Douglas' High Risk, May 7.
And more, at more places, from groups I haven't written about yet but…