The second floor of the Rocky Mountain Tower of Audio Power housed several budget rooms of varying costs. Just beyond and kiddy-corner to the wallet-friendly room collective was something completely new from headphone amp and DAC maker Schiit audio – two channel products.
The initial push into the dedicated loudspeaker realm consists of the preamp Saga ($349), balanced pre Freya ($699) and stereo/mono-capable power amp Vidar ($699).
All the new products hold on to Schiit’s vision of high-end for less, which has definitely took the headphone market by storm. The Saga pre uses a relay switched stepped attenuator and selectable passive or tube hybrid buffer stage with 5 inputs and 2 outs.
The Freya also does balanced operation with a selectable passive, JFET buffer or tube hybrid (6SN7 + 300v rail). Both pre amps naturally come with a remote control operation and are looking to ship in late October.
The Vidar power amplifier is a class A/B with no capacitors, switching supplies or DC servos in the signal path. It is capable of 100W RMS/channel into 8 ohms in stereo mode and 400W in mono. Expect ship dates to start around Q1 2017.
Schiit was switching between their own Yggdrasil DAC ($2299) and Salk’s Streamplayer Gen III ($1695) in the show room. Salk also provided the loudspeaker supplement to the rig in the form of the Song3 ($2895/pair) and occasionally their higher cost SoundScape 8 ($8995/pair). The setup that was playing when I entered the room totaled $5,638 with the Song3s, which still easily falls into the budget realm compared to the plethora of $20k+ rooms that inhabit the rest of the tower of power. It is also worth mentioning that Schiit already sells a do-all integrated amp called Ragnarok that covers off on everything from headphones to speaker taps (60W/8 ohms) for $1,699.
Room 2003 wasn’t the only place you could find Schiit audio, they also had a significant presence in the personal audio tent out in the parking lot of the Marriott Tech Center. Check out the video below for a look at their wide berth of headphone offerings they displayed including the new Jotunheim we covered in full at the [Schiit Show] this year.
More info: http://schiit.com/