The new Schiit Aegir Amplifier now shipping

Looking forward to impressions on this... apparently if you don't listen at head banger levels it's better than the vidar

I have spoken to a Gordon at Schiit, and told me it will work fine with my passive unit and have plenty of available power and grunt for my 104 db Lascalas. Supposedly, within it's power range, better in all areas over the Vidar, except maybe the nether bass region.

The Schitt Happened Book is a great read also....

count me as a fan of what they are doing for affordable high end made in USA !!!

Bet this is the Vidar with lower rail volts and higher Class-A bias, maybe that why there's no internal shots of it, like the Vidar has???

Not that it's bad, as there are plenty of speakers that would rather have the Aegir's  20 of Class-A and no B over that.
Than the Vidar's 1-5watts of Class-A and 90w of B. Quad ESL57's come to mind.

Cheers George 

It is very interesting reading, on the Schiit site, about this amplifier. The FAQ section is full of information, and you also have links to writings of Jason Stoddard and Mike Moffat, the 2 head honchos over there, who btw, have been around for quite a while. The owners manuals are available to read as well. The Schiit is the real deal. P.S. The fellow I spoke with is Grover, not Gordon.

You get what you pay for my friends

You get what you pay for my friends

And with Schiit it’s all on the inside, as your not paying 8 x more for a glitzy CNC'd chassis with Cadillac like shine, that does absolutely nothing for the sound.
https://c.wallhere.com/photos/f3/93/classic_car_vintage_la_losangeles_purple_headlights_fav20-935531...

Cheers George

I look forward to reading some reviews also :-)

you get what you pay for!

with any luck at all! lol

these folks have impressed me with what I've heard of their gear, especially given the costs. I very much liked the preamp a friend has which uses tubes. he has one of their lesser days yet it too hit above its cost a bunch.

Here is my room hit list for Friday morning at AXPONA 2019:

16-Aster: Shelter
384: Schiit
354: Fern & Roby
362: ATC/Lone Mountain Audio
442-444: Glenn Poor/Technics
452: Aesthetix
478: CPT A/V; Emerald Physics
552: Xact Audio
546: Linear Tube Audio
606: Linear Tube Audio
652: CAT
670: Benchmark Media Systems
696: Linear Tube Audio
1429: Sanders Sound Systems
1440: Durand Tonearms & Evolution Acoustics
1480: AGD Productions
8415: Linear Tube Audio
8470: Etymotic Research
9424: Mag-Lev Audio

Hope to see some of you in the rooms!
Dan

By using the Vidar case and selling a bunch of these, they can make $300-$400 a unit and be fine. 

First Watt sells such few units of each model, they need to make $1500 to $2000 per unit. 

Bet this is the Vidar with lower rail volts and higher Class-A bias, maybe that why there's no internal shots of it, like the Vidar has???

No, this is a whole different design. It’s more like the Lyr 3 than Vidar. 

Schiit calls this design Continuity. Biased at less power for a higher power class A output in the class A region.  And eliminates nonlinearity at the crossover region between class A and class AB, so the output is more like class A than class AB. 

Someone who has received this unit has posted internal pictures over on AC.

mtbrider
Someone who has received this unit has posted internal pictures over on AC.

Can you post the link? What is AC?

audio circle aegir link 

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=163445.msg1737989#new

I've been reading "on the schitter" thinks that's what it's called,  look for it on Schits web sight under "about". the links close to the bottom.  they really don't seem to hide much about themselves.  I'm impressed and some good laughs. 

 I've been eyeing these as well and when I get home from deployment I'll be looking closer. Much closer 

Glen

porscheracer
No, this is a whole different design. It’s more like the Lyr 3 than Vidar.

Sorry, I don’t think so, it is very close to the Vidar, I'd put money on it now seeing both viewing them, as I said probably lower rails and higher bias..

Vidar : https://www.schiit.com/public/upload/general/vidar-internal-1920.jpg

Aegir: https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=193139

Cheers George

George, your second image link appears dead. 

George,

Just because Aegir looks like Vidar does not mean it is like Vidar. Any Class A-like design that fits in the same box as a Class AB design is going to have lower power and higher bias. There are no surprises there. Just like there are no surprises in that there are transformers, capacitors, resistors, and heatsinks used in both designs. 

The "whole different design" I am talking about is the high-bias Continuity design aspect. Vidar is nothing like that. Vidar is a classic Class AB amp. Aegir has an unique output stage and has a lower bias that a 20 watt Class A would have.

This is Schiit co-founder Jason’s take on the Aegir’s design history:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/schiit-happened-the-story-of-the-worlds-most-improbable-start-up.701...

Just because Aegir looks like Vidar does not mean it is like Vidar.

Look very closely at the components and the pcb layout, if your any kind of tech you will see what I mean, and if you know different, please put a link up that proves me wrong. As I’d love for it to have totally different topology??

Cheers George

celander
George, your second image link appears dead.

Works for me, here they are again.

Vidar https://www.schiit.com/public/upload/general/vidar-internal-1920.jpg

Aegir https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=193139
If you still can’t see it here it is using image hosting.
https://ibb.co/2gfDdK0


Cheers George

Must be my iPhone X. Same link still dead; other alternative link works.

@George: check out the head-fi link. It’s not a picture but an explanation that’s likely better than a picture.

@celander  

It appears @georgehifi would rather be right than try to understand how Aegir is not like Vidar and is more like the Lyr 3. No, not in size or components uses...but in design. The Head-Fi post you link to describes it well.

By the way, I really like the sound I get from the Lyr 3 and people I know that have access to Aegir really like it for the price point.

celander
check out the head-fi link. It’s not a picture but an explanation that’s likely better than a picture.

As I thought the same "basic circuit topology"

Here’s what I envisioned when Marv suggested doing a low-power, “Class A” amp in the Vidar chassis:

• A 20-25W into 8 ohms stereo amp that would also be able to do 80-100W when run mono
• It would use the same basic topology as Vidar
• However, the addition of a Continuity output stage would result in a more linear output
• It would also use as much the same parts as Vidar as possible

"Continuity" output stage, is a "word" used which to me indicates the pnp/npn outputs don’t totally switch off (Class-A), so there’s no cross over distortion, like what happens in a Class-A/B amp when it enters Class-B.
You could say that about the Vidar also up to 5watts, that it’s also a "continuity" output stage up to 5 watts with no crossover distortion, then goes Class-B.
The reference to the Lyr is that it stays in "Class-A" like it does, which is the norm for any phono or headphone amp. But the circuit topology Marv suggested is Vidar.

Cheers George

It’s helpful to read beyond the first paragraph in most, if not all, of Jason’s writings. As much as he is a talented EE geek, he’s a very talented writer having a very substantial background in that arena. Besides, it would be a far shorter chapter had he given the punchline in the first few paragraphs.

And I think that reading the entirety of his writing there will correct your misapprehensions about what Schiit’s Continuity actually entails.

@georgehifi 

Except you left off the header text before the text you provided:

"Aegir the First: The Original Idea"

Guess what, the original idea didn't work out. Also, the output stage is not the same basic circuit topology as Vidar. The transformer used is significantly different too.

Vidar does 1 watt at Class A....

But hey, it all looks the same so it mostly is, right? 

I’m not bagging this amp celander, there is a great place for it in the market, using efficient speakers. But let’s not make it the holly grail, it’s not!
Nothing new there celander, it’s what’s been the norm on most good class-A complementary output stage push pull amps.
This "continuity" is just a new word used to make it sound like it’s something new and innovative.
Cheers George

The transformer used is significantly different too.

Of course the transformer will be different, the Aegir has to have far lower rails than the Vidar, my 10 year old knows that!!!

@porscheracer, +1, for understatement:

“Guess what, the original idea didn’t work out...”

And from my count reading the Jason’s head-fi chapter, the next 15-ish iterations of the “original idea” didn’t work out either.


04-12-2019 7:09pm
@George wrote:
“...as I said probably lower rails and higher bias..”

Well, you got that wrong..

Besides, you forgot about transconductance droop, for which no class A/AB design accommodates or eliminates. Yep, nothing new here at all.

Whatever you want to think, in time it will come out, then you'll understand. 

Cheers George

I’m good with my understanding.  

I keep forgetting that George does not like Schiit Audio...and that he thinks he knows EVERYTHING!

I keep forgetting that George does not like Schiit Audio.

You need to get a life and see the forest through the trees, and go see who’s Schiit’s strongest advocate is on Audiogon, you will get a big shock sunshine.
But then you’ve done 107 post and 99% do do with a single Tekton speaker thread so you have no idea of what else goes on.

I keep forgetting that George does not like Schiit Audio...and that he thinks he knows EVERYTHING!

Huh?? George, from what I've read in the past, always has praised Schiit's components for the price level. In fact, George recommended trying the SYS passive pre between my Preamp and amp to control tube hiss (My amp is higher than norm output gain, my speakers 101 db efficient). 

Another informative thread drawn through the mud, again. And this is even before anyone has actually heard the component in question. 
Most non-differentially balanced stereo SS power amps look the same under the hood, to the naked eyes. 

here are a few early impressions and temp reading posted on SBAF

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/schiit-aegir-power-amp-impressions.6953/page...

@snapsc, nice share of the above link.

@kalali, I attended AXPONA Friday morning and heard their (Schiit) Aegir in an audio system. I discerned nothing offensive about the SQ, which is the best I can discern when I have no prior experience with ANY of the other components in the setup. (That’s the primary handicap of industry or consumer audio shows in general: reference context is a black hole.)

But encouraging one to become educated about a designer’s product by reading the entirety of a relatively short write-up (15 min for most) before pontificating about their confirmation bias in a post is not an evil thing to do. George is usually open minded about most technical discussions. And maybe he read the entire write-up on the head-fi site by now.

And I agree with the last point made by the OP: George always supports manufacturers who devote their resources in product development and consumer marketing with the consumer’s pocketbook in mind (as in savings to the consumer).  

My two cents.  I have not looked at the Aegir in any detail, but i recall when it was announced they spoke of a Vidar with lower power and class-A - and the usual snarky (clever!) lines "more money, less power, schiit engineering". Gotta love that.
Now, whether it worked initially for them or not, i did this very thing 20+ years ago, when i took our 200 wpc high bias AB amp - same chassis, same circuit topology, same power supply designs - the whole 9 yards.
And changed it as follows:
-- "mostly" class A
(thermal reality limited being 100%, but this is simply a bias setting)
-- higher current-- lower rails (note the transformer cores were identical, just the winding count changed)
-- threw some expensive parts in where i always wanted them anyway
-- raised the price to cover the expensive parts
Superb results with no surprises.  Became a bit of a cult amp, and I use the prototypes to this day.
So, whether Schiit did this or not, the playbook works just fine.
And i didn't even come up with a new confusing name for a complementary push-pull design running class A with no crossover distortion :-)  What a load of marketing confusion. Why can't we just say what things are and do?
Mike's a very smart guy.  I still have a Theta DSPro laying about and it's still quite good against modern units. I love my Modi3 (in bedroom system) and when its working my EITR is excellent.  QC on both left much to be desired - both were initially defective. Not clear why...overall parts quality, soldering, etc. seems first rate, most of the corners cut are aesthetic and in the area of support/service.

G

George always supports manufacturers who devote their resources in product development and consumer marketing with the consumer’s pocketbook in mind (as in savings to the consumer).

This in no way means I don’t support the other end also, eg: as I recommend to "glitz queens" that can afford them, Gryphon Antileon amps if they have the speakers that need them eg: Wilson Alexia ect ect. nothing Schiit makes can drive these successfully.

itsjustme
And i didn’t even come up with a new confusing name for a complementary push-pull design running class A with no crossover distortion :-) What a load of marketing confusion. Why can’t we just say what things are and do? What a load of marketing confusion. Why can’t we just say what things are and do?

+1 yeah, with you there, a "new word" to wow the wow’able.

Cheers George

" Mike's a very smart guy ". Reading about both the Vidar and the Aegir, I would say Jason Stoddard is a smart guy as well. In fact, not taking anything away from either of them, Mike seems to be the digital guy, Jason seems to be the amplifier guy, with both overlapping to the other. BTW, Georgehifi has been a huge advocate towards Schiit gear here. Enjoy ! MrD.

I know Jason did SUMO and yes, Mike did Theta.

And yes, both seem sharp.
I know a lot more about what Mike has done. So i only speak about stuff i have some experience with.  That's all.
'later

Wasn’t Sumo James Bongiorno??, I loved the sound of the Sumo 9 Class-A, a very innovative circuit multiple rails and floated too, too bad he use an opamp for the input, could have been a cracker amp.
file:///C:/Users/georg/Downloads/hfe_sumo_the_nine_plus_schematic.pdf

Cheers George

It's all good. I just wanted to bring up Jason as the other half of Schiit, and his contributions. That's all folks ! Enjoy ! MrD.

I asked Jason whether he overlapped with Jim when they were at Sumo. He said they didn’t. Apparently, Sumo had two lead guys after Jim departed and before Jason arrived at Sumo.

Just realized that link of the Sumo Nine is no good, try this.
https://elektrotanya.com/PREVIEWS/63463243/23432455/egyeb/sumo_nine-plus_sch.pdf_1.png
Cheers George 

The inside pics remind me of Monarchy

I’d be curious to hear comparisons of the Aegir to the highly rated PS Audio class D Stellar 300 ( or m700 monos). 

At Sumo..... Jim first,  Rich May Second,  Jason third....