MellowVelo

Pietus Maximus has unity and negative gain

Thanks, @edd. I should say that I'm intrigued by more than just the unity gain on Kara (preamp, multiple I/O, volume attenuator). I've been thinking about a stereo preamp that can also work as a headphone amp. Just curious if anybody has actually listened to the headphone output.

@joch I haven’t heard those.

@MellowVelo your source/DAC may be good enough. I’m currently running Pi2AES>Gungnir>Piety and that works well for me. What’s mentioned by many others is that it’s important for the entire chain to gel. A midfi DAC + HP + $160 amp can sound better than summitfi stuff that don’t synergize.

@joch when I tried the Piety and the Elear with Utopia pads, I used Yggdrasil A1 as the source. It sounded great, but to be clear, you don’t need a source like this to get favorable results.

Wow, he's still going strong in his 70's. Amazing! Glad you enjoyed yourself.

Saw him 20 years ago and he knocked it out of the park then too!

@MellowVelo That's the plan. I'll probably just end up trying the T4, 3FN and Mjolnir 3 from the RCA outputs. I want to try them all and they're all limited editions so... my wallet hates me and I still haven't ordered the Mjolnir 3!

@zonto that'll be quite a shootout! I haven't heard the T4 and Mjolnir 3 yet, but I can say that my system has a synergy right now that I've never experienced before. I know that my desire for better is endless, so I'm trying not to overthink the matter and instead enjoy this delightful pairing of gear. It's quite wonderful.

How dare you be content with your system and just enjoy music like some plebian?! That's not what we do here! :)

http://tinyurl.com/5dmxxsue

The heat sink schiit is neat.

Indeed

And here I am being dragged back in by an 8 year old unit

@DigMe you give new meaning to “Full Moon” Club.

Looking forward to this! He takes forever to release albums but they are worth the wait!

@jaker782 I had honestly given up hope that i/o would ever be released. 21 years is excessive, even by PG’s standards. To say I’m excited is an understatement.

While not a definitive house sound comparison, some Starlett vs Zen Taboo comparisons I did here: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/decware-zen-taboo-mkiv.4854/page-4#post-389335

Below Inoculator I posted that with the Zen Taboo MKIV "there’s a good amount of warmth, richness, and lushness, and the amp has a slightly wet sound to it, not unlike the Stratus." It's not as wet as the Stratus, though, for me.

If you know how, you can already listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIDu6a9COmg

What’s the trick?

@Josh83 VPN, although it looks like the link is now live in the US.

Wouldn’t say it’s a bad pairing. Schiit is known as high value gear and seeing how it does with $$$$$ sources is a good test of the value proposition

@Cspirou I'm not saying that it's a bad pairing. I'm sure that Tyr absolutely holds its own with $$$$$ sources. In that regard, you're correct that the pairing is a good test of the Tyr's value proposition, but that's basically an academic exercise.

As a real-world application, it's pretty absurd. In most circumstances, people will pair high-value gear with other high-value gear. Or, if somebody is really buying ORFAS gear like the MBL DAC, then they wouldn't dream of pairing it with non-ORFAS gear like Tyr.

Can some of us who don't celebrate it have some love too please? ;) lol...

Seriously. Happy Eating and drinking, folks :D

@Thad E Ginathom yes, of course! That’s why I said “all who yearn for renewal”. Everybody is included. :)

@Qildail yeah, I assume that’s the reason. They basically have their tour financed up front.

I was a little disappointed when I saw them at Pinkpop this year.
Lars just seemed like he didnt want to play - he kept getting up and walking off.. Also they decided to play songs from St Anger, so theres that

@JayC that's disappointing to hear. I last saw them in 2017. I was actually quite pleased with Lars' performance. For all the legitimate criticism he receives for his sloppy playing, I think that he has actually improved in the last few years. He's never going to play like the late 80s/early 90s again, but to my ears, he sounds better today than some of the atrocious performances I heard in the 2000s.

I preferred the Rogers one over the TS one in the loaner, personally, but yeah try both and see what works for you.

Try to hear the differences. See if *you* have a preference. Years ago, I had a dozen old American 6SN7s; I sold them all, except one (not telling).

@Claritas I certainly take your point. Ultimately, only I can decide what I like. That said, I appreciate reading about people's preferences and triangulating with my own experience. It helps me to understand what I'm hearing.