The Schiit Audio Lyr 2 was my first desktop amp and its a fantastic sounding amp. This amp comes in a neo industrial brushed aluminum chassis. This design chooses function over flash. The front of this fantastic amp, has a large volume knob and a SE headphone jack. The volume knob works great, although, at night, in low light conditions, I have a hard time noticing the volume indicator, on the face plate. On the back of this amp you have two sets of RCA jacks, a gain switch and a off and on toggle switch. 
This amp sounds great, its a hybrid amp, so the sound does not get too overly lush sounding, like a straight up tube amp. The bass is powerful, with lots of impact, yet it does not bleed into the mids. The bass on Frank Zappa's San Ber'dino sounds superb, on this amp. The mids are sweet and lush, yet very natural sounding. The highs are good, with no annoying sybilance, that can fatigue ones hearing. The soundstage is fairly large, detailed and holographic. I spent, many a night listening to old Pink Floyd, The Wall, or Dark Side of the Moon, enjoying the holographic soundstage of the Lyr 2, as it drove my Alpha Primes and the other cans in my collection.
The Lyr 2 is a fantastic headhone amp , that offers lots of value, for the money. The amp is built rock solid and is a good introduction to tube rolling. I will not delve into the best tube to use. I could write, forever describing the rabbit hole, called tube rolling. My only advice, go for NOS tubes, if you can . One more thing put the amp in a good ventilated area, for this amp can run hot.
This amp sounds great, its a hybrid amp, so the sound does not get too overly lush sounding, like a straight up tube amp. The bass is powerful, with lots of impact, yet it does not bleed into the mids. The bass on Frank Zappa's San Ber'dino sounds superb, on this amp. The mids are sweet and lush, yet very natural sounding. The highs are good, with no annoying sybilance, that can fatigue ones hearing. The soundstage is fairly large, detailed and holographic. I spent, many a night listening to old Pink Floyd, The Wall, or Dark Side of the Moon, enjoying the holographic soundstage of the Lyr 2, as it drove my Alpha Primes and the other cans in my collection.
The Lyr 2 is a fantastic headhone amp , that offers lots of value, for the money. The amp is built rock solid and is a good introduction to tube rolling. I will not delve into the best tube to use. I could write, forever describing the rabbit hole, called tube rolling. My only advice, go for NOS tubes, if you can . One more thing put the amp in a good ventilated area, for this amp can run hot.
I had the Lyr for a little while and can relate to your review on the Lyr 2.