Audiophilepure

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“To test out using the Ragnarok 2 as a preamp, I hooked up the Schiit Aegir power amp, and at first I couldn’t get any sound out of the Aegir. I checked and rechecked the connections. They were correct. The owner’s manual was no help, so I just fiddled about trying things, and when I switched off the Ragnarok 2’s speaker output and turned on the headphone output, the Aegir started playing! So in other words you need to turn on the headphone output to use the Ragnarok 2 as a preamp! That’s very strange, but easy to do once you know how to do it.

Teamed with the Aegir the sound was even more see-through, and the soundstage took on a more three-dimensional quality. The ‘2 was no slouch on its own, but the Aegir conjured more space and depth between instruments, and individual voices in choral recordings were easier to hear with the Ragnarok 2/Aegir combination.”

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“Wanting to hear how the Element 118s would handle more lively music, I played some pop. Here more than anywhere else, the 118s made obvious the fact that if the quality of the recording itself was sub-par, so was the sound it reproduced. But find a decent recording, such as Beck’s Sea Change (16/44.1 FLAC, Universal) or Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. (16/44.1 FLAC, Columbia), and you’ll be rewarded with a musically engaging sound as replete with inner detail as with ambience. I have both albums on standard “Red Book” CDs and in high-resolution formats: Sea Change as a 24/88.2 FLAC file from HD tracks, and Born in the U.S.A. as a 24/96 DVD-A ripped to FLAC.”

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“My other concerns are pretty well documented above, but if you’re the type to skip straight to the criticism, here’s a brief recap: Although the K-300i is positioned as an AV device, not merely an audio one, its utility on the video side is somewhat limited by the fact that it doesn’t decode Dolby or DTS audio, nor does it have any internal bass management. You’ll need to use your subwoofer for that, although thankfully there are still plenty of subwoofers with internal crossover capabilities and speaker-level outputs.

The Krell K-300i also lacks any form of room correction. Even a basic parametric EQ would have been welcomed, as there are room modes to be overcome in my bedroom AV system that cannot be ameliorated by subwoofer positioning alone. My recommendation: if you’re planning on using the K-300i in a 2.1 AV setup, make sure your subwoofer not only has speaker-level outputs and crossover capabilities, but also some form of auto room EQ or parametric EQ.”

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