Yes, the Gungnir has no preamp/ volume control. So directly hooking it up with a power amp is out of question.
Santy, you are absolutely right, the Gungnir has no volume control. What I meant to say was that I would be able to use it like a pre-amplifier for the ability to switch sources, from the one connected to the Tos-link input, to the RCA input, to the USB, and if I had a SPDIF source, that too.
I did get the Gungnir on time and installed all my digital sources as stated on my previous post, and established the USB connection and downloaded their USB 2 software as well. I ended painting it with a brush with black satin latex, so I can easily peel the paint off if I want to in the future.
Looks aside, I have had it running 24/7 playing mostly the Rega Planet 2000 CD player on "repeat" mode, with different music CDs to be sure. I can say that by now it is fully burned-in with over 250+ hours of playing. It is still playing as I write this, as I am also trying to burn-in a set of Bybee internal bullets that I installed on my speakers.
I was able to critically audition the Gungnir before installing the Bybees, and all I can say to sum it up is the huge difference that it made to my CD collection, which I had almost given up in favor of Vinyl, because of the difference in dynamics, resolution, etc., etc. The biggest surprise was that all the sources hooked to the Gungnir sound great, and it is impossible for me to tell them apart, because of the up-sampling the DAC does to the incoming digital stream. Likewise with the music stored in my computer which I played using the USB link.
Additionally, I wanted to taste for myself all the hoopla around 24/192, and was able to download samplers of such recorded music from a German site (highresaudiodotcom). I was completely blown away by the transparency, sharpness and depth of the sounds I was hearing, on par with the best analog out there.
In addition, the good thing about the Gungnir is that when 24/384 music becomes widely available, Schiit will probably come out with and upgrade to swap with the current board on the DAC. I'm happy. No Schiit, kudos! :clapping: