Luzi, a cat I once had.
I still can't believe she let us put that sign around her neck.
And yes, that's the face she always made, not just after we gave her that sign.
Years ago I commissioned a guy in my old club who was as poor as a church-mouse, in not great health but a top-flight craftsman, to build this. I handed him Kriege and Berry's book, gave him more $ than he asked for, and provided a 13.1" Discovery mirror as the core of the scope. He also built me a very nice adjustable observing chair.
I'm still crying because ~6-7 years ago my brother got rid of what I think was a Starsplitter with a 16" Zambuto mirror. I'm getting his 18" JMI NGT-18 as soon as he can schedule some time to bring it over the border to me, plus a 12" Meade SCT, 9.25" Celestron CPC Deluxe with HyperStar and fully kitted for imaging, 6" refractor, and another Coronado solar scope, a truckload of premium lenses, binoviewers, mounts, etc. I need to retire so I can build my observatory to house much of this.
Edit: The refractor in my pic is an AP 102mm Starfire, one of Roland's early 90's scopes when he worked on the lenses himself. Those are some nice scopes that you have!
The Ragnarok sounds like a great deal although it doesn’t really fit into my systems - I’ve never listened to one so I can’t comment on it. But I’m currently listening to “Pictures at an Exhibition” through the Mjolnir 3 with a set of Hifiman HE400ESE 32 ohm headphones and it sounds really nice. The headphones are on the lower end of HIfiman’s range but the Mjolnir treats them well. I will say that these 32 ohm phones are not ideal for the Valhalla. (I ordered a pair of Sennheiser HD6XX for that). I was listening to Beethoven’s 9th with the Valhalla and HIfiman phones and while it sounded good, it lacked the heft I want from that piece. For less dynamic stuff the Valhalla and HE400SE works well. I listened to some Frank Sinatra on them and it sounded very nice.
I guess what I’m trying to say is the Mjolnir 3 is amazingly good and if I could have only one headphone amp, that’s the one I would go with. The Valhalla 2 sounds amazing as well, but I get the impression that it really needs higher impedance phones if you want to get the best out of it, particularly with regard to dynamics. The Valhalla 3 might be worth waiting for, but I’m guessing it will be best with higher impedance phones as well.
What I like about components vs. integrated systems is that I can choose the device that works best for the particular application. There is some music that sounds (to me) better through tubes and other music that sounds best through solid state. And sometimes it just depends on my mood or how cold it is in my house (I may want to consider the cooler running Ragnarok when summer hits rather than the pancake cooking Mjolnir or Valhalla 2).
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree with you on some music sounding better through some chain or another depending on the music, the mood - a number of things. I love the options that the Freya N provides. Whichever amp I add to the stack, I'll likely keep the Piety and Asgard in there too, or mayb move the Asgard 3 to the office and figure out where to put the Vali 2++ that's there now....
Raggy 2 sure is tempting at that price. Would start a whole new setup with it. Wouldn't really be using headphones with it often, but I wonder how it sounds compared to the MJ3.
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