Schiit Audio Introduces Aegir 2 Speaker Power Amp

Schiit Audio introduced the second generation of its Aegir speaker power amp, Aegir 2, bringing its mixed voltage and current feedback Halo topology to a speaker amp for the first time. Schiit found that this topology provides significant enhancements to the original Aegir’s performance, now combined with the company's Continuity output stage which enables higher power output, less heat, and lower noise floor.

This article details a lifetime project from audioXpress' technical editor Jan Didden. After a successful restoration project of a pair of precious ESL-63 Quad electrostatic speakers, he opted to design and build the eDD, a well-performing high voltage amplifier to directly drive electrostatic speakers. This challenging but successful DIY project with a design goal of 1500V RMS at 20mA RMS over the full audio band, took a while to complete but was a success. This article shares every step of the construction.

audioXpress December 2023 includes a market overview of multiroom audio, Brent Butterworth writes about new ways to measure ANC earbuds, and Stuart Yaniger measured the new Axign and GaN Systems Class-D audio amplifier board. Richard Honeycutt writes about tubes, BJTs, JFETs, MOSFETs, and ICs, and Dimitri Danyuk, discusses JFETs in audio circuits. Douglas Self explains how to optimize variable-frequency tone controls, and Jan Didden shares his eDD direct-drive amplifier project.

In this Glass Audio special issue, Menno van der Veen brings us his latest Vanderveen TRANS-PP80 Valve Amplifier, Tom Perazella remakes a famous (Z)OTL amplifier with 300Bs, and Peter Dieleman debunks recurring myths in tube circuit designs. Stuart Yaniger reviews the Hypex NCORE NCx500 amplifier module, while Burkhard Vogel expands his article on Vintage Op-Amp Noise Simulations, and Bruce E. Gillingham concludes its unique MB1 Monoblock Power Amplifier with Precision Bias Control.

Andover Audio announced the launch of its new SoundBites Series of audio components with the SpinStage phono preamp (MSRP $249). Making an elegant style statement in a bead-blasted, anodized aluminum chassis, the SpinStage has been painstakingly engineered to deliver ultra-low noise to support virtually any moving-magnet (MM) or moving-coil (MC) cartridge. For the MA-based audio manufacturer this is a great addition any home audio system that needs to improve on an existing preamp’s internal circuitry.

Hypex Electronics, the specialist supplier in power amplifiers, power supplies and DSP solutions announced a new powerful UcD700 mono kit featuring its UcD technologies marketed under its DIYclassD brand - specifically for the DIY audio market. As the company explains, the Hypex UcD700HG with HxR amplifier module has been around for many years but was never offered as a DIY building kit before. Now, DIYclassD offers an easy to build 700 watts monoblock kit including all the necessary parts that users don't even need to solder.

This article describes the design and performance of a high-quality DC-coupled all-JFET amplifier. The circuit was inspired by John Curl and Erno Borbely designs and was built with readily available junction-gate field-effect transistor (JFETs) from Linear Systems. The input stage is the the complementary JFET differential pair, the second stage is symmetrical differential amplifier with two pairs of opposite polarity JFETs, and the output stage is a complementary source follower. The amplifier can drive loads up to 150Ω. This article was originally published in audioXpress, October 2017.

In this article, Menno van der Veen explains everything about the Vanderveen Trans-SE10 amplifier, which is available as a DIY kit manufactured by Tentlabs. This letter-sized stereo amplifier is a single-ended design with an output power of 10W per channel, but there's a lot "under the hood" (and the glass) to understand. The article explains the “why and how” of the unusual Vanderveen Trans-SE10 design. This article was originally published in audioXpress, January 2021.

audioXpress July 2020 is now available, and there's a quiet revolution happening in audio amplification. Essentially it is the direct result of strong innovation in Class-D technology, with incremental improvements introduced on multiple fronts. In this month's Market Update, J. Martins details a few of the "Class-D Products Getting Smarter" and then Stuart Yaniger discusses Class-D amplifiers from two of those companies: Purifi Audio and Orchard Audio. Also, Ward Maas details his visit to Purifi Audio. Dimitri Danyuk shares his "Fully Balanced Transconductance Preamplifier" project, Roger Russell is "Hunting the Elusive Transient," and Ed Simon concludes his "Powering Your Circuits" series. And there's much more valuable content in this edition. Download or view your issue online now.

Schiit Audio announced the introduction of its third-generation Lyr headphone amp/preamp. Using Schiit’s new Coherence hybrid single-tube/solid state architecture, new Continuity constant-transconductance output stage, the same modular design as Jotunheim, Lyr 3 is available now at schiit.com, starting at $499. The company also announced the availability of a Multibit DAC card for the Jotunheim and Lyr 3, creating the first all-in-one Multibit DAC/ balanced headamp+preamp.