2nd Time’s the Crazy

Introducing Aegir 2: the first Halo™ + Continuity™ speaker power amp.

February 28, 2024, Valencia, CA. Today, Schiit Audio introduced the second generation of its Aegir speaker power amp, Aegir 2, bringing the Halo™ topology to a speaker amp for the first time, and providing significant enhancements to the original Aegir’s performance, including higher power output, less heat, and lower noise floor. Aegir 2 is available now at schiit.com for $899.

“It’s an entirely different amp,” said Jason Stoddard, Schiit Audio’s co-founder and head of analog development. “Literally nothing is the same, except the outer chassis.”

Stoddard cites the following improvements:

Higher power. Aegir 2 delivers 30W into 8 ohms and 50W into 4 ohms, significantly more than its predecessor. This makes it more flexible for a wider range of speakers.
Better integration. Aegir 2 debuts our Halo™ mixed-mode motion feedback system that has the potential to improve acoustic performance at the driver.
Quieter. Aegir 2 has a -122dB noise floor from rated output, about 10-15dB better than Aegir. This means it’s gonna be dead-silent even on very efficient speakers
Less heat. Aegir 2 actually runs cooler than the original, despite higher power. You can thank the new, refined Continuity™ output stage that borrows some tricks that we learned on Tyr.
Better standby. Aegir 2’s standby mode consumes even less power than the previous, thanks to some tricks we learned from Vidar 2—only 1-2W.
Less mechanical noise. Aegir 2 uses a toroid transformer, like the one we use in Ragnarok 2, which results in lower mechanical noise from the chassis.

Stoddard also readily acknowledges that the Halo™ topology, which claims the possibility of improved acoustic measurements, is controversial. Halo, which debuted on Midgard, is best described as a“mixed mode motion feedback system that includes the driver in the feedback network, offering the potential for correcting back EMF and reducing distortion at the driver, especially around the driver’s resonance point.”

Some designers have claimed to reduce distortion by a moderate amount in ported speaker systems. Some claim they can’t replicate these results. We ourselves got mixed results for headphones, perhaps because they are smaller and don’t have the problems of a big floppy woofer in a box, or perhaps because Halo doesn’t do much.
Halo isn’t a high-impedance, current-output scheme that some people consider to be the “right” way to drive speakers, nor is it a vanishingly-low-impedance output that is typical of most speaker amps and most people consider the “right” way to drive loudspeakers.

Schiit acknowledges this is an unusual way to do things, but cites its own problems with getting reproducable results, together with the issues of repeatability and provenance even if results were claimed.

“But even without Halo, Aegir 2 is a heckuva amp,” said Jason. “Take what it is without Halo, and it’s still an exceptional value.

Aegir 2 is available at schiit.com today at $899 for black, and $949 for brushed aluminum finish.

About Schiit Audio

Founded in 2010 by Jason Stoddard and Mike Moffat, Schiit has grown into a leader in affordable high-end audio, with a wide range of products spanning DACs, headphone amplifiers, and preamplifiers, from $49 to $2799.

Press Contact

Denise Martin, [email protected]