Anyone heard Schiit's Aegir?


Was curious if anyone had purchased a Schiit Aegir? I was wondering how it sounds.
coachpoconnor

Showing 4 responses by mlsstl

My Aegir just arrived a few days ago, but I'm very impressed. I was worried about the relatively low power (prior amp was a Hypex nCore with 150 watts/ch) and my medium efficient speakers (Ohm 1000s at 88 dB).  The Aegir should put out around 30 watts/channel into the 6 ohm 1000s. 

The smoothness and clarity are amazing from bass through the highs. No sense of graininess or stridency at all. Perhaps the biggest improvement is the resolution of lower level background sounds. It is a real step-up with an improvement in holographic qualities.

I was worried about the lower power. I'm not a head-banger in terms of volume -- 80 to 85 dB average is about as loud as I routinely listen. The Aegir seemed to coast along without problem at this level so I pulled out my voltmeter and sound-level meter to see how much power I was actually using. On average, at 85 dB with the odd peak up to 93 or 94 dB, I was using an average of 1 to 2 watts per channel to reach this level. Cranking it up to an average of 90 dB (which I find uncomfortable) still showed no sign of stressing the amp. 

I'm going to continue experimenting and testing as I go along in the trial period, but so far I am really pleased. 

The thing to remember about amp power and volume is that the wattage is a logarithmic relationship to loudness, not linear. Each 3 dB increase in volume level requires double the power.  

In my case, if 2 watts average = 85 dB, going to 95 dB would need more ln the neighborhood of 20 watts, perhaps a bit more. And you still need some extra for dynamic peaks.  You might be asking for for close to full power from the Aegir with little room left for peaks. I just don't listen that loud.

There is also the issue that speaker impedance is not a single number across the board. The resistance varies with frequency and some speakers are more difficult to drive than others. And, there are multiple ways to measure speaker efficiency, so sometimes a manufacturer's numbers are a bit optimistic. 

However, all you can do is try. You might also consider running two Aegirs as monoblocks. You get 80 watts a channel into 8 ohms that way, but you'd need a preamp with balanced output for that to work. Schiit does offer a 15 day money-back trial period (less 5% restocking fee and return shipping costs) so you do have that option if you want to experiment.
So far, I have no complaints about bass quality with the Aegir. My prior amp was a Hypex nCore and before that, a Bel Canto Ice amp. I detected no loss of bass quality with the Aegir.

Thanks, George. That's a good idea for those who listen at loud volumes and have speakers that accommodate using two amps configured as you suggest. However, that wouldn't work for me. Ohms have just one driver that handles the whole range up to 8K or 9K and then use a single tweeter to supplement above that, with only a single set of terminals for both drivers.

Fortunately, for my preferred listening level the Aegir is proving to be a great choice for me.  I'm continuing to experiment with a wide variety of music (with the meters still connected) and haven't found a situation yet that seems to stress the amp or demand more power than what's available.  Obviously whether that works for others is something they'll have to check out themselves.  Those who want high volume will be out of luck with a single Aegir unless they have very efficient speakers.