Amir is either a man with an agenda or he's on someone's payroll. Never have I seen anyone go after a brand like he does with Schiit Audio. For that reason, I don't believe he can be trusted. He has also demonstrated an ineptitude with testing methodology. YMMV.
?????
I decided to see what he said about Schiit Audio (the bold is
not mine):
Conclusions
The Schiit Aegir is a competently designed amplifier with solid build quality and no design mistakes. It shows the power of proper measurements and engineering verification to remove the element of surprise in third-party verification job we perform here.
The main issue here is lack of power. To someone like me, with very large spaces, rather inefficient speakers and desire for bass that you feel as much as you here, the Aegir is definitely not for me. Nor do I buy into "Class A" having any benefit. If it had, it would show up in measurements. It does not.
If have efficient speakers and/or don't listen very loud, the Aegir is a solid offering from a western company. I am going to put the Schiit Aegir on my recommended list for its solid engineering and design. Fitness for application is up to you!
That seems like a fair (and
positive) review to me! Many people buying an $800 power amp would expect it to drive their speakers, so I think, at 23WPC into 4 Ohms it is reasonable for him to caution about it. I would have rated it much lower given that they are advertising it as an 80 watt amp.
Do you believe he is cooking his data to hurt Schiit? Are there measurements from anyone else? Amirm would lose credibility very quickly if he was falsifying his measurements.
In any case it seems to me that Amirm is being very generous!
That said, this is the only Schiit review I read! Which review are you referring to?