A $1600 poweramp discussed in 'What's Best...? Why not?

[jeffreybehr]

Anyone have experience with the Schitt TYR monoamp? 200 into 8 and 350 into 4 Oms, and it sounds VERY good per TAS and S'phile.. I was considering a pair of Odyssey Kismets but have been researching the Schitt tonite.. I think I want to stay away from class-D amps and want at least 150-into-8, great sound, and not much heat output.. Will be driving all-mag-planar Eminent Technology LFT-6s (probably).

 

[Nick B]

I am not familiar with Schiit products. But I can tell you that the Orchard Audio Class D amps are very good and are a good value for the money. I have the Starkrimson Ultra V1 and just demoed the new 25 Monos. I believe they are rated at 150 into 8 ohms. Very quiet, detailed, smooth, dynamic, wide and deep soundstage. These monos retail for $2,500 and are stylish and beautifully built. It would be fun to compare the Orchard with the Atma-Sphere Class D, but I don't know anyone who has one. I am using HQ Player to upsample to DSD 256. There's an ongoing tour of the 25 Monos at the Steve Hoffman forum right now.

Good luck and pls post what you decide.

Orchard Starkrimson Ultra amp
Hattor Big preamp
JMR Voce Grande speakers
Holo Cyan2 dac
Holo Red streamer
Spiritual Sound loom
TWL Digital American II p cords
Custom power cords
JPLAY, HQ Player, Tidal, Qobuz
PI Audio UberBUSS

 

[Republicoftexas69]

I would buy the TYR amps. My son had a few Schiit components in his system and it sound fantastic. If you are going to go ClassD I would look at AGD, Atma-Sphere and Gold Note.

 

[jeffreybehr]

TY both for your input.. I failed to state initially that this week I received a used pair of Atma-Sphere Class Ds; they've been running 24/7 since Thursday afternoon..* My initial, quick thoughts on them is that they sound very good, but I can sell them as quickly as I decided to buy them.. I sort of flit about when shopping for amps, and because I'm a slow-hearing musiclover and not a quick-hearing GEA, it takes me a while to recognise some sonic characteristics about particular amps..

I really appreciate some of the Tyr's characteristics, including (1) that huge choke filter in the main PS, (2) that's it's quite inexpensive physically--that is, little money was invested (for me, read 'wasted') in making it LOOK wonderful and that it looks functional, (3) that it's about 90% built in the USA, and (4) that it's fully balanced.. Something I don't love is its widely spaced output jacks--who makes high-Q speakercable that can be split 8"?, and its somewhat high Voltage gain of 26.5dB.

I'm still looking for more reviews.

FWIW, the price of the AGD Duets is higher than I want to spend right now, and the not-doubling-into-4-Ohms power rating of the Starkrimson Mono 25s does not make me think 'high-current capability', but at the moderate levels I listen at, that's probably a foolish feeling.
.

* I also have owned for several years and used off-n-on, a pair of slightly improved** PS Audio M1200 poweramps, that always sound good to me but never seem to cause me to smile bigly at the sounds coming from my speakers; I wonder why?

** Excellent coupling caps (MultiCap RTX 'styrenes bypassed with SoniCap Platinum [Teflon]), Cardas binding posts, and some Soundcoat the Thicker on panels that ring or resonate.