Excellent review!! Have you ever heard the Asgard 3 and if so can you give a brief description of how it compares to the Pietus?

I have owned it yes. The Piety is far more resolving while the Asgard is significantly softer/warmer. I felt the Pietus was more transparent and revealing. Asgard 3 was fine from any DAC - Pietus is more picky which is a good thing if you'd like to get the most out of your system.

Couldn't agree more, great review. The Pietus deserves more love. Others will catch on soon enough to what a sleeper this guy is.

The MJ3 is the ultimate comparison for $$$ and FOMO X'D. I went the other route, heard the MJ3 and have not heard the Max yet (I have a Piety/SA-1/Valhalla 2). Great collection of Schiity DAC's! Will you be tempted to try a MIB/LIM? If I get back to the Schiitr I'll try and see if I can't buy one of the BF2 OG's collecting dust as decorations on the shelves (by my count they have at least 3 of em, don't know if they're operational or not)

I really like the BF2 OG with this as well, great pairing. Not a huge fan of LIM, have not heard MIB. LIM is nice don't get me wrong but, for headphone use BF2 OG is my all around favorite. Also, I've had the SA-1 and Pietus has just taken over for everything. A+ amp!

One could be very happy with just this amp...and a decent set of cans for sure.
Enjoyed using it.
Alex

DAC pairing is very important on this one. Yggdrasil A2 was quite an incredible match as was BF2 OG. The ESS options I was less enthusiastic about.

I am waiting on the Amp to arrive. For Amps like these that have the power switch on the back i use a Phillips Hue plug along with a Hue dial. Program each of the 4 buttons to turn on/off amps. Using it on the MIdgard and EF499 at the moment.

Received the PM today. SE from Hifiman ef499 (r2r) going to 660s2 sounds great. Not as great going to Ayra Organic.

For some reason both the PM and the Midgard sound better with a r2r dac in NOS. To me…

The ayra organic from the PM via r2r or A6ME is sharp (bright).

Sounds good from the a6me SE and balanced to PM and Midgard too but for some reason to me the r2r being the dac being fed from the a6me as the source is the best. Plus the Hifiman ef499 can send SE and balanced at the same time along with the built in amp.

No regrets here. I wanted to stop using my iPhone usb to a DAC and I can swap amps and dacs in/out for future.

Thanks for sharing! I heavily recommend trying the ESS DAC card, it sounds great!