Усилители для наушников — Schiit Audio LYR

The Lyr is the hybrid tube headphone amplifier from Schiit Audio, and the current model is the Lyr 5, priced by the company at USD 799. It is a new design rather than a Lyr+ with app control added, with a larger power transformer, a revised front panel with white and orange mode LEDs, new casework and a 4.4 mm TRRRS jack. Schiit builds the boards in Corpus Christi, assembles in San Antonio and gives a five-year limited warranty.

Key specs that matter

Maximum power per channel is 9.0 W into 16 ohm, 6.0 W into 32 ohm, 4.0 W into 50 ohm, 900 mW into 300 ohm and 450 mW into 600 ohm, available from both headphone jacks. Frequency response is 20 Hz to 20 kHz within 0.1 dB in every mode. In solid-state low gain, THD stays under 0.002 percent at 2 V RMS into 32 ohm, SNR exceeds 114 dB and crosstalk is below -80 dB. In tube low gain the figures are under 0.003 percent and above 110 dB. Output impedance is 0.4 ohm in low gain and 0.6 ohm in high gain, or 2 ohm on the Halo jack. Gain is 6.5 (16 dB) or 1.2 (1.35 dB). A preamp output at 75 ohm is also fitted. The case measures about 229 x 152 x 51 mm, weighs about 2.7 kg and draws 30 W.

Engineering and use context

The Coherence circuit is a current-mode, noninverting hybrid of a 6SN7 tube and bipolar transistors, fully discrete and DC coupled with no coupling capacitors at the input, output or between stages. Under the Fusion scheme, a long press of the front button, the remote or the app swaps the tube for depletion-mode MOSFETs while the rest of the circuit stays unchanged, and in that mode the heater and high-voltage rails switch off, which preserves a tube typically rated for around 5,000 hours. The Continuity A output stage uses six NPN and six PNP devices per side, four of which conduct at all times to offset mismatch between the two transistor types. Volume runs through a 64-step relay ladder. A microprocessor watches for DC, overcurrent, heat and whether a tube is fitted and mutes on any fault. The linear supply uses two transformers totalling 72 VA and more than 55,000 uF of filtering. Forkbeard, supplied with every unit, adds phone control and reports whether the output stage is in Class A, Class AB or clipping.

Pairing

Schiit states that the power suits any headphone, and that many in-ear monitors are quiet enough in low gain. The preamp output can feed powered monitors or a power amplifier from the same box. The amplifier has no balanced inputs, and its TRRRS socket carries Halo mixed-mode feedback, which folds the headphone driver into the loop.

Alternatives

The Schiit Midgard is a fully discrete solid-state headphone amplifier in the same catalogue at USD 219.