Sitting Down With The Schiit Ragnarok 2, Sol and Aegir

Schiit Audio recently hosted a get-together at their retail space in downtown Newhall. The Southern California location was entertaining several new products that have yet to hit the company’s retail website, all set up in a private listening room as part of a monthly event schedule to satiate a deep list of upcoming products set to release this year.

The three newest offerings on display are actually a slight departure from the personal audio core of Schiit’s slate of hifi components. Starting with the highly anticipated sequel to their original integrated amplifier, the next generation Ragnarok was delivering tunes to a pair of passive KEF LS50s. On the power side things remain much the same, pumping 60 watts (into 8 ohms) of class A/B. Also included is the headphone-centric 4 pin balanced and SE connections located on the front panel. Founder Jason Stoddard let us know that the pricing should remain much the same as the current version, but will also include some modular options for additional connectivity.

The sound through the updated Yggdrasil multi-bit DAC and Ragnarok 2 was smooth throughout the mids and highs. Aided by a separate KEF subwoofer, the LS50s did a excellent recreation of several tracks of electronic music that really highlighted a sense of intimacy and responsiveness. Expect shipping to start for the Ragnarok 2 around the end of March.

Next up was the near final prototype of the company’s first throw into the turntable market. The Sol player will retail for $599 when it becomes available in April of this year. The table will ship without a cartridge, but includes a carbon fiber tonearm and independent motor pod.

Nestled underneath the rack of Schiit gear was the final prototype of Schiit’s newest mono block offering called Aegir we first spied at RMAF last year. The topology of the amplifier differs from that of the current Vidar (stereo or mono block, $699/each) by delivering class A power up to 10 watts, then enters Schiit’s “continuity” technology to rev things up beyond that. The intention here is for a class A feel at higher levels of output, with of course less physical heat generated from the amplifier into the room than typical class A expectations. Approximate shipping for the new monos are projected to start as early as the third week of March this year.