Schiit Midgard

[HiWire]

I was thinking of upgrading or supplementing my old Headsave Classic amp (3 x Burr-Brown OPA627, hooked up to an Arcam FMJ CD36 or Sony UHP-H1) with something new, not too expensive.

I may still get a Chord Mojo 2, but this looks interesting at $219... just announced, with impressions coming out in a few days.

The Schiit Midgard has a different discrete design, with a mixed-mode feedback and more power than the Magni+ I was looking at:

 

[skullguise]

I got an email from them....this does look interesting.  But I do very little headphone listening now....

Their new phono pre (Skoll?) looked interesting as well!

[HiWire]

Yes, I'll wait a while until the hype settles down and the reviews come in, but I think it's an interesting product from Schiit (who openly admitted their Modius chip amplifier wasn't interesting from an engineering standpoint). I think the Modius had a lukewarm reception and I don't have balanced equipment, so it was a bit academic for me.

The only online material left on the Headsave Classic is my Head-Fi thread from 2005. Google probably thinks it's old news like everyone else. I found that Texas Instruments released a successor to the OPA627 opamp in 2018, the OPA828. I might get some of those to try in my Classic.

I like Schiit's no-BS approach to making products affordable and interesting. I bought their Fulla v2 a few years ago and it has impressed me with its great sound and build quality. You can't find much else like it that's built in the USA.

Edited October 13, 2023 by HiWire

[Pars]

The thread on diyaudio might be of interest to you re: OPA828 vs. OPA627. Schitt equipment seems to be well engineered and built, to very attractive price points. Unlike some others in heavy shilling/pimping these days 9<<cough>> Topping <<cough>>

https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/opa828-opa2828-vs-opa627.400109/

Edited October 13, 2023 by Pars

[HiWire]

Yes, I found that one. It's all turning up OPA828!

Cimarron Technology sells it on the BrownDog DIP adapter: https://www.cimarrontechnology.com/product/browndog-970601-so8-to-dip8-adapter

The Nitsch DSHA-3FN and Piety got my attention, but they might not be ideal for my Grado HP-2.

Edited October 13, 2023 by HiWire

[robm321]

You can get it free if you have the appropriate measuring equipment. 

[HiWire]

A few measurements:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads%2Fschiit-midgard-balanced-headphone-amp-review.48653%2F

 

Edited October 14, 2023 by HiWire

[EdipisReks1]

I wanna see pictures of the HeadSave! Talk about a blast from the past! I love that it’s still up and running. 

[skullguise]

Karen has been bugging me a bit about my speaker volume, so getting a tiny bit back into some headphone listening.  I ended up ordering one of these....coming this weekend I think.

My Orchard streamer (newer one using AKM chips) has RCA and XLR outs, so driving a small Stax setup RCA, and will use the Midgard via XLR and drive Sennheiser HD660 v2's via the Halo XLR output.

This amp is getting some pretty good reviews, especially at the price.  Thinking the Halo feedback process will work well with the Senn's.

[swt61]

Keep it down you hooligan!

[swt61]

Orchard has really hit my radar lately. They have some products that really fit into my "Future-Fi" next system parameters.

[revolink24]

I think I'm going to pick one of these up as an experiment for a desktop amp. I typically prefer a "shittier" amp (looking at you, ASR) with my desktop HD800 setup but this one is a unique enough engineering exercise for me to be curious. Will post detailed internal pics if I get it so that the KGs of the world can tear it a new asshole while I am listening, if they haven't already.

 

P.S. Speaking of Orchard, perhaps not the right thread but they have some interesting-looking DIY components. Fully assembled boards, many of which can be hats to a raspberry pi for streaming/dac. Pretty neat to see such forward-thinking DIY, even if I prefer the monotonous zen of hand-soldering through-hole PCBs. Detailed and realistic-looking but good specs. Hmm. I might like these guys. Someone could make a pretty sweet integrated streaming amplifier by combining the pecan pi+ DAC (which has a built in headphone amp) and their starkrimson amp. Might have to swing by their demo room next time I'm passing through NJ.

https://orchardaudio.com/pecanpi_plus_implementation_spec_test_results/

https://orchardaudio.com/starkrimson-150w-specs-and-test-results/

https://orchardaudio.com/starkrimson_ultra_500w_specs_and_test_results/

 

P.P.S. / Edit: They do have some useless products too, which always concerns me a bit. Who is the target audience for a $300 DC-Coupled active RCA-Balanced converter? weirdos who have a turntable but demand that their whole signal chain be balanced? And no internal pics? idk man!

 

https://orchardaudio.com/shop/stereo-rca-to-xlr-converter/

Edited December 7, 2023 by revolink24
added pecanpi specs link

[skullguise]

I'm a big fan of Orchard, have now several of the pecan Pi-based products and have had their GaN amps in the past, too.  I have chatted with Leo a fair bit, even around his RCA to balanced converter.  I thought there were pics of the board itself....at least partial that I had seen in his Facebook group if not on his web page.  Yes, it wouldn't be a best-selling product, but there were several folks in the FB group that had use cases beyond turntables....

I have toyed with DAC HAT's quite a bit, including some great bang-for-the-buck ChiFi ones.  Orchard's Pecan Pi (BB chips) and Plus (AKM chips) versions still kick butt on anything else I've heard.  I have a Plus board with Pi board inside an all-in-one unit that has Purifi amp modules, as well as 3 other fully boxed streamers....

As for the Midgard: I got it in last weekend, have been playing around on a Sennheiser 660S2 as well as an Altiat Cal 1H (Altiat is Aumkar from Kaldas Research).  One of the Pecan Pi boxed streamers is front-ending it.  I'm hearing some great things with both phones, and the amp drives them easily even in low-gain mode.  That said, the RCA outs on the Orchard feed a small Stax setup (252S and L500 Mk 2), and the mids sound more transparent on that.  Not sure if it's the amp or phones.  Need to listena nd maybe experiment more.

But I think for < $250, this is a great amp to try and maybe use ongoing!  It's making me think about getting some Focal Clear's/Mg's again.