Schiit Folkvangr OTL amp

They’re listed as “closeout” (1 black, 4 silver as of this writing), but I’m wondering what’s going to be announced tomorrow?

Regards,
Vic

Well, if you want to place your bet, I’m all ears. My heart says Mjolnir 3 (I know it won’t be that, because Jason previously said “never, unless we change our mind”), and my other heart says Urd, and my third heart says Sol, but my head says it will be none of those things. Perhaps “return of the Kraken”, though that would be pretty anti-climactic.

1 Like

Probably the Frigg. Maybe the Ymir. Possibly the Bragi. The Fenrir is possible. Jormungand has too many letters. Maybe Baldur. No Baldur’s with Rogaine.

2 Likes

My guess would be Urd. They did have it at Canjam

2 Likes

I know FV is limited production, and I already decided that I can’t spend anymore $ on audio for the time being.

But I feel the FOMO rising anyway! :laughing: I would’ve wanted black anyway, and it’s gone. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway…

2 Likes

It will be called the Urd model T, or

Tesla T Urd

4 Likes

The interview that made the last few Folkvangr’en fly off the shelf. Now down to 3 on close-out :slight_smile: I’m sure a few will be returned and so we’ll see a little more b-stock, but it’s getting close. Mine supposedly arrives this afternoon!

4 Likes

Cool! Glad you got one.

All gone as of 1PM PST :slightly_frowning_face:

3 Likes

I’m open to letting you borrow mine if you can’t make the November 19 meetup.

Regards,
Vic

1 Like

Was it the Yggy+ and the ability to upgrade all old Yggy’s to the new + chassis and extend warranty for 2 years?

I think I’ll do that upgrade on mine.

I ordered September 9th and mine is 350203.

So. I think @xiaoyaoyou is right that they just grabbed a box at random. Also, not sure if color plays into it at all, but I got it in Silver.

1 Like

Well, I just got my b-stock silver, and it’s 350238.

First impressions:

  • Ah, so this is what the HD-800s was always supposed to sound like. I never thought that there could be a microscopically thin layer of syrup applied to the most clear-cut razor-sharp analytical headphone that I own and that I’d like it as much as I do. Sure, a tad less spaciousness, but much more organic representations of high registers of voices and texture to bass.
  • HD-6xx - hard to believe that this is the phone that I fell in love with initially (ok, there was a HD-598 period too, but I was listening out of my iPhone 5 at the time, and mostly to highly compressed grunge, so lets forget about that for now). It’s like coming home again. Gosh these pair well. Listening to several old jazz recordings that I kind of like, but not famous ones, and hearing the players harmonize. This is probably just more layers of audible harmonic distortion, but me like. Sonic Youth Goo is great. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s schubert lieder are something else. Hoo-eee.
  • Focal Clear OG’s - funny, the delta with this (which has been my daily driver for a long time) is not so much. Sounds kinda the same, and maybe “too much of a good thing” - the things that make FV amazing, and the things that make the Clear amazing mutually reinforce and it sounds a little less clear, no pun intended. Am going to have to spend some time here.

Anyways, out of the box and an hour in, and loving it. It sure is a lot of money, a lot of electricity, a lot of heat (which I appreciate right now) but it is very very different and lovely. Enjoying this very very much.

7 Likes

It’s early days for me too, but that matches my impressions of those 3 headphones almost exactly. The only difference is that for me the 6XX sounds like a less spacious 800S. So no point in using the 6XX. But then again I am using EQ so it makes sense that tonally they are similar, especially with the added bass grunt the Folkvangr gives the 800S.

3 Likes

With ZMF November coming up I’d love to see one of you FV people add a Verite to the the mix. Lachlan of Passion for Sound touched briefly on this pairing, I bet it would be fantastic! Caldera maybe not so much with the FV…

1 Like

I’d love to try a ZMF Atrium. Passion For Sound also liked that pairing. But buying the Folkvangr right now pushed me over budget for a few months. So I won’t be able to take advantage of any sales for the holidays it seems.

2 Likes

I would think so as well.

I like the Atrium with solid state as well. I use mine with the Burson Soloist GT, which is the XL Soloist :laughing: The combo is fantastic! I have a Valhalla 2 also, and I like Verite better with it, Atrium with the Burson.

1 Like

I’ll need to do some more research / listening to see which ZMF would add the most to my Gungnir MB + Folkvangr combination. I really like how those two sound with the LCD-2 I bought earlier this year so I’m not feeling a need to add a ZMF for reasons other than adding an additional experience.

That said, I’m keeping an eye on the used market as some folks might be upgrading their stock ZMFs to the resin models.

Regards,
Vic

4 Likes

I have been spending more time with the Folkvangr recently. It certainly throws off a ton of heat, but the payoff is worth it (IMO)!! :joy:

This amp is something seriously unique and special. It does not work with all headphones… but, when it does you are in for a treat!

My findings to date (haven’t been able to audition all my cans yet):
Works Amazingly - Something magical happens here

  • Focal Stellia’s - Added some warmth here without taking away from mids and treble. I wouldn’t say the sound stage changed with this pairing, but it became more 3D. I believe others have used the word “holographic”, and I think that’s appropriate. This pairing is what I keep returning to!
  • Meze 109 Pros - The 109s quickly became one of my go to pair of cans. SO comfortable and exciting without fatigue. Similar to the Stellia’s, the FV adds a level to these… just not as drastic a difference as the Stellia’s on the 3D aspect.

Works Well

  • Meze Empyrean’s - These actually almost sound too warm on this amp, but I didn’t roll the pads or mess with EQ. I need to spend more time with this combo TBH.
  • Audeze LCD-X (2021) - Not my favorite headphone, but gave it a shot with fingers-crossed. It seems to add some needed warmth (IMO), but didn’t blow my mind. In fairness, it never has impressed me… unfortunately.

HORRIBLE

  • Hifiman HE1000 V2 - These are one of my favorite headphones on other amps, but no matter what I did with the FV on these, it sounded HORRIBLE! Really shocking how bad it was!

I still need to audition some of my other cans and try a few things with others, but I just keep listening to the Stellia’s on here. :joy:

4 Likes

I posted the following in the after action report for Saturday’s meetup, but I thought it was worth repeating here:

On thing I’ve noticed is that most of my headphones sound good enough on the Folkvangr for the type of listening I do. However, it’s time to make some ZMF decisions now that I’ve sobered up and had some coffee.

Regards,
Vic

edit

Total time spent powered on: ~90 hours.

7 Likes