After reading all most all articles about Schiit and their designer Mike Moffat I decided to pull my trigger towards Gungnir. Now here is my story which I like to share with fellow fm in hifivision.
You know Gungnir have 2 models, one for 115V and another for 230V. Naturally mine was 230V, but in India our standard domestic voltage is 220 and generally varies from 200 to 250 at least in my locality. After arriving Gungnir I found there is humming noise coming out through my speaker at most of the time of a day, but not always. During middle of night to early morning Gungnir was playing normal, without any noise. Now you can imagine my mental condition :sad: as so much money and effort were involved to bring it in India. So I emailed Jason (Schiit Co-founder) about the problem, he pointed towards the ground loop or due to any other faulty appliances. But my logic was, I never faced such noise with my Marantz NA7004 or Audio-Gd FUN. I bought Gungnir just to replace the Audio-Gd FUN. If everything else is same as before then the problem must be with Gungnir. But I was clueless. So after couple of sleepless days and nights with many types of tips and tricks (from a friend of mine) I completed my inquiry. I had a voltage regulator (Variac) from which I can get any voltage from 200 to 250V any time of a day at my wish.
Now if you go by book, there is no problem with Gungnir as it was 230V model, there is no humming at 230V or even at 225V. But problem starts below 225V or to be precise at 221V. This humming noise was coming out only from it's single ended output, the Balanced output was dead silent as it should be at any aforesaid Voltage. So I report it back to Jason, he seems to be convinced with my inquiry and later Alex (their Operational Manager) mailed me that they will thoroughly investigate this aspect (about 230V model) of Gungnir and do the appropriate changes in Voltage regulation design as demanded by practical field (countries with 220V). I mailed them, there should not be such problem as other international renowned brand who rated their equipments with 230V but have no such issues at as low as 200V like my previously owned NAD, DENON, Marantz, Emotiva, Audio-Gd.
After many discussion they agreed to replace my unit after necessary correction to their voltage regulation design. The entire shipping cost from India to USA (return and reshipping) will be covered by their company. That was very generous service offer a customer can imagine from any company. So I have just sent it back to Schiit.
Now I am coming to the sound quality of Gungnir. Before sending it back I managed to tune an old Voltage stabilizer of a neighbor to get 225 to 245V to operate the Gungnir normally. I get only about 10/12 days for trial before shipping it back to USA.
Here is my impression-
My Marantz NA7004 is now almost sounding like crap after spending 10 days with Gungnir, now I stopped listening music through Marantz, it is now only used as source as a Network Player to browse through music titles and to get the coax out. Audio-Gd FUN some how better than Marantz but not as highly resolving as Gungnir. My entire Rock collection became live with Gungnir which were not listenable before specially with Marantz. My listening area was almost confined with Jazz or such type of slow pace music with Marantz and Audio-Gd FUN. But I am telling you again Audio-Gd Fun is more listenable and has more merit than Marantz NA7004 if you compare their DAC section only. But Gungnir is far advanced than both. With Gungnir, music presentation is much pleasant and sensational that I can not describe with words (it is much more than texture and hidden details). I think it reveals the hidden spirit or emotions behind a music file with true details and analog impression.
Now practically I am feeling so bad without my Gungnir, thought to spend my leisure only with movies, no music until get the Gungnir Back. Jason offered me for a refund along with shipping cost, but I preferred replacement as I have strong doubt if there is any other DAC available which will push the sound quality that much within that budget of Gungnir. Now I have to spend a painful month crossing my finger till it's return. Hope everything will be ok.
You know Gungnir have 2 models, one for 115V and another for 230V. Naturally mine was 230V, but in India our standard domestic voltage is 220 and generally varies from 200 to 250 at least in my locality. After arriving Gungnir I found there is humming noise coming out through my speaker at most of the time of a day, but not always. During middle of night to early morning Gungnir was playing normal, without any noise. Now you can imagine my mental condition :sad: as so much money and effort were involved to bring it in India. So I emailed Jason (Schiit Co-founder) about the problem, he pointed towards the ground loop or due to any other faulty appliances. But my logic was, I never faced such noise with my Marantz NA7004 or Audio-Gd FUN. I bought Gungnir just to replace the Audio-Gd FUN. If everything else is same as before then the problem must be with Gungnir. But I was clueless. So after couple of sleepless days and nights with many types of tips and tricks (from a friend of mine) I completed my inquiry. I had a voltage regulator (Variac) from which I can get any voltage from 200 to 250V any time of a day at my wish.
Now if you go by book, there is no problem with Gungnir as it was 230V model, there is no humming at 230V or even at 225V. But problem starts below 225V or to be precise at 221V. This humming noise was coming out only from it's single ended output, the Balanced output was dead silent as it should be at any aforesaid Voltage. So I report it back to Jason, he seems to be convinced with my inquiry and later Alex (their Operational Manager) mailed me that they will thoroughly investigate this aspect (about 230V model) of Gungnir and do the appropriate changes in Voltage regulation design as demanded by practical field (countries with 220V). I mailed them, there should not be such problem as other international renowned brand who rated their equipments with 230V but have no such issues at as low as 200V like my previously owned NAD, DENON, Marantz, Emotiva, Audio-Gd.
After many discussion they agreed to replace my unit after necessary correction to their voltage regulation design. The entire shipping cost from India to USA (return and reshipping) will be covered by their company. That was very generous service offer a customer can imagine from any company. So I have just sent it back to Schiit.
Now I am coming to the sound quality of Gungnir. Before sending it back I managed to tune an old Voltage stabilizer of a neighbor to get 225 to 245V to operate the Gungnir normally. I get only about 10/12 days for trial before shipping it back to USA.
Here is my impression-
My Marantz NA7004 is now almost sounding like crap after spending 10 days with Gungnir, now I stopped listening music through Marantz, it is now only used as source as a Network Player to browse through music titles and to get the coax out. Audio-Gd FUN some how better than Marantz but not as highly resolving as Gungnir. My entire Rock collection became live with Gungnir which were not listenable before specially with Marantz. My listening area was almost confined with Jazz or such type of slow pace music with Marantz and Audio-Gd FUN. But I am telling you again Audio-Gd Fun is more listenable and has more merit than Marantz NA7004 if you compare their DAC section only. But Gungnir is far advanced than both. With Gungnir, music presentation is much pleasant and sensational that I can not describe with words (it is much more than texture and hidden details). I think it reveals the hidden spirit or emotions behind a music file with true details and analog impression.
Now practically I am feeling so bad without my Gungnir, thought to spend my leisure only with movies, no music until get the Gungnir Back. Jason offered me for a refund along with shipping cost, but I preferred replacement as I have strong doubt if there is any other DAC available which will push the sound quality that much within that budget of Gungnir. Now I have to spend a painful month crossing my finger till it's return. Hope everything will be ok.
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