Schiit Asgard 3 Headphone Amp with Continuity Output Stage

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by Vtory, Aug 28, 2019.

  1. RedFuneral

    RedFuneral Facebook Friend

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    I've owned my Asgard 3 for a couple months now and wanted to add a few comments(not a review.)
    On the above, mine is dead quiet after shutoff.

    • I can reach a point of fatigue with this amplifier but it takes effort. I've been doing nightly VR runs in American Truck Simulator where I'm wearing 635g headphones & a heavy HMD over my face. 4 hours of that combined with loud thrash metal streamed off of YouTube is my limit. This is my over-complicated way of saying the amp isn't going to cause fatigue unless you're already pushing yourself to the point of a headache.
    • The amp is fun for said thrash metal & forgiving enough. Rare combo.
    • Low-gain doesn't cut it for my LCD2C Closed. It took me awhile to realize I was enjoying it a lot more on high-gain,. Hard to describe without getting too woo-woo. It sounds different but its not audible offensive, I'm more judging based on how long I'm able to enjoy music for.
    • Despite being a warmer sounding amp I didn't have to adjust to the Asgard 3's sound. It's actually got me enjoying more rougher recordings again. It has me curious about how I'd take to warmer more forgiving amps now that I'm back in the core of my music library.
    • The amp has effectively survived the episode of FOMO mentioned above. As in I'm not willing to let it go to grab something else. Being an admitted gear-drifter who sells everything given enough time this is about as much endorsement as I can give, if I'm keeping it around to compare with other gear & I'm slow about deciding what to play with next I'm impressed. I'm impressed.
     
  2. farbinator

    farbinator Facebook Friend

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    And here was I thinking I was the only one crazy enough to try wearing "heavy" headphone with an HMD (HTC Vive Pro in my case). I did some fun experimenting with roomscale VR, Plane9, and my headphone setup. Cable management is super annoying with just an HMD cable but when you add in the Senns with their cabling it gets silly. It was an immersive experience and my HD6XXs are worlds apart from the ill-fitting headet speakers in the Vive Pro.

    The Senns are utter lightweights at around 260g though, no comparison!
     
  3. RedFuneral

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    Brings on another point in the Asgard's favor; if you overextend in VR it will let you know. When I was playing with the Heresy I had a few times i'd take off the HMD and find it dangling midair. You're not going to accidentally launch the Asgard unless you really get carried away. A kind of hidden benefit to internal linear power supplies.
     
  4. Raimei Templar

    Raimei Templar Friend

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    I have also joined the woo-woo club when it comes to high gain with the Asgard 3. Since I got the Modius and my Aeon 2 open back I played with it some more and yeah I also notice a pretty clear difference between high and low gain. Low gain pretty much sounds like the Modius, in other words its a typical fairly transparent solid state amp with just a touch of smoothness. Switch on high gain and the midrange jumps forward a bit, its warmer, thicker and even smoother sounding. The depth of sound improves noticeably as well, its kind of like a tube-light effect.

    High gain has a very smooth relaxed yet engaging kind of sound while low gain is more exciting. I find subbass pops more with low gain, probably due to it being less warm, Bass guitars have more of a focused punch to them, where on high gain they sound THICC. I prefer high gain with the Aeon 2 open with most music and for general pc use/gaming. I prefer low gain for Rage Against the Machine and anything along those lines.

    Asgard matches the Modius very well, I can highly recommend this combo for anyone looking for a bit warmer/smoother sound that is still close enough to neutral with a ton of detail to not make you feel bad that its warm :).
     
  5. RedFuneral

    RedFuneral Facebook Friend

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    After another few weeks of daily listening I'm pretty certain where the fatigue comes from(remember it takes hours to set in.. this is the most minor of complaints.) It's a factor of transient tightness. The Asgard 3/Closed back planar combo tends toward dry overdamped sound which makes the amp subtly less forgiving than an amp which was warm, smooth, AND a touch loose. On the plus side the strong control the Asgard holds over the drivers will keep it from every sounding syrupy or muddy(if anyone reading about its warmth was worried about such a thing.)
     
  6. dncnexus

    dncnexus Friend

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    Asgard 3 Review

    I have had the Asgard 3 for about 2/3 weeks now and feel I can give a decent review/impressions of the Asgard 3 so here we go!

    My Chain:
    Schiit Modius (SE) -> Asgard 3 -> ZMF Auteurs/HD6XX/CA Andromeda

    Sonic Characteristics
    I initially bought the THX 789 from Amazon but on the way to my house it was lost..... I guess I should thank the guy who lost it because if it was delivered I would never have gotten this Asgard 3. I bought the Asgard 3 because of @ChaChaRealSmooth review saying its similar to the DNA Starlett, an amp I decided to put my order in for.

    The Asgard 3 is not a "analytical" or "cold" amp. It doesn't have sharp edges to the sound, nor have a lean sound. I found that the Asgard 3 has a very smooth treble. It isn't sparkly or exciting, but it is very smooth. In my minds eye, when treble is playing its almost like a flowing brush of paint that is depositing light.

    Midrange is very nice. It has a weight to the midrange, especially vocals. Vocals have a lot of impact and weight to them, where you can feel the energy from it. I think this is why it is compared to tube amps, the vocals have a slight seductive nature to them. Feels like when I listen to my tube amp, the singers are trying to sex my ears. I like it.

    Bass. It isn't really bloomy or super heavy hitting. But it is well textured and does have good impact though. It is there but don't expect this to have the same type of bloom a tube would have. It still has that SS sounding bottom end.

    The Asgard 3 pairs very well with my HD 6XX and Auteur with its timbre. It has a very natural, slightly tilted warm timbre. It pairs nicely with headphones that have a natural/warm timbre. This amp has a rather small stage to me that is right in front of my face. It doesn't extend particularly far left to right, but also has not much depth to it. Not a con, just something I noticed.

    I found the Asgard 3 to have a a rounded transients, but it did have good detail retrieval. I found it to bring my Auteurs much farther ahead of my HD6XX in terms of detail retrieval, when before on my older worse amp I found them to sound slightly similar in that regard.

    Layering and Separation isn't amazing, but I am able to distinguish and see that different sounds and instruments have their own space. I didn't find it congested, but due to the slightly smaller stage that is just in front of you, it can get a little crowded from time to time.

    I was a bit worried about using this amp with my Andromedas, but on low gain they have 0 noise. Completely silent. I love this. I think the natural sound characteristics of this amp pair well with the Andromedas, making them a bit more rounded so they aren't as hot in the treble. So if you are worried about using this amp with IEMs, don't worry. You can do it on low gain.

    Conclusions
    Overall I really enjoy this amp. I am not a big SS type of guy. I wanted a good SS amp that I could use when not wanting to use tubes but one that would allow me to have great sound quality though for a great price. I think this hits that mark. At $200, this is a deal. You can have some tube characteristics while still having a very powerful amp, that delivers great sound. I am happy with my purchase and plan on putting many more hours on this in the future! If anyone is interested in a new amp under $500, I think this is a real contender. I am getting the iFi Zen Dac in on loan on Friday. I will update this review with a comparison section below once I have written up a review for it in its proper thread. I am excited to see how they compare.

    Pics or it didn't happen [​IMG] 111578773_2619284101645135_3333228402234595927_n.jpg
     
  7. Inoculator

    Inoculator Friend

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    Just got in the Asgard 3 (Thanks @dncnexus ) I purchased to hold me over while I wait for my SW51+. I figured rather than have a desktop amp gap since I sold my LP I would try something new and see if it sticks around as a budget/backup amp.

    Quick question I have not found an answer to. Does anyone know around where unity gain is on this when using high gain? I typically do all my volume control at the Freya S, so just figuring out where to set the Asgard.

    So far after just an hour of listening, I am finding it to be a bit of a mixed bag in the grand scheme of things, although it seems to get better as it warms up. I was hoping it would not sound budget after coming from the modded LP with NOS tubes...but unfortunately, it just misses the mark a bit. Different price brackets though, it is certainly punching above its weight class at $200. Have a lot of time ahead to get familiarized with this amp, and likely will be doing heavy Verite/Auteur comparison using this amp as I still have a wait ahead on the SW51+. Haven't tried out HD 600 yet, just Verite, but I get the sense the HD 600 may be great with this. Really relaxed, smooth top-end, and not overly assertive bass, which plays into the signature of the HD 600. Nothing worse than an amp/track coming at the HD 600 with aggressive bass and the HD 600 falling short.

    EDIT: My apologies, take those initial impressions with a grain of salt. I was using passive mode on the freya S, which I now realize was suboptimal/incorrect as my DAC is balanced and the Asgard 3 is SE. Strangely enough, I was still getting a perfectly fine signal via passive and Nexus 1X gain does not really sound all that different. Might explain some veil and meh feelings I initially had though. Will shut up now until I get to spend more time with this amp.
     
    Last edited: Oct 23, 2020
  8. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Nexus sounds better as a gain stage, just in case you are wondering.

    Try Asgard 3 without an active preamp or 1/2 of a passive preamp in front. Of course this means a DAC with SE outs.
     
  9. Cooper32

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    My impressions on the Asgard 3 (I'm too new to this hobby to be doing proper reviews).

    My first standalone head-amp was the Vali 2. I wanted to get a SS amp to complete the lineup, so to speak. I ultimately decided to skip the $100 amps (Liquid Spark, Atom, Magni) and go with the Asgard 3. I was not disappointed.

    Chain: PC -> Eitr -> Modi Multibit -> Asgard 3 -> HD 6XX

    Compared to the Vali 2, the Asgard 3 sounds very similar. I'm not gonna say that it sounds like a tube amp, but it does give you hints of the tube sound. While the Vali 2 - HD 6XX pairing makes vocals sound lush and forward, the Asgard 3 makes the vocals pull back a little in the soundstage while still maintaining some of the warm, lush sound. Where I can tell the mid-range apart the most easily is with quick succession of notes in a string instrument (vibrato, maybe???). The Vali 2 would smooth over these noticeably more than the Asgard 3.

    I don't have much to say in the treble and bass regions other than repeat what other have said: treble is detailed but non-fatiguing and bass is clear and has good heft.

    I have read that the Asgard 3 is a bargain for $200. I can't really echo that since I have never heard anything more expensive than the Asgard 3. What I can say is that I have no regrets with spending $200 for it and I'm very happy with the perceived sound quality I got in return.

    PS: This turned out to be more of a comparison between Asgard 3 and Vali 2. My bad. I guess I don't have that many other points of reference or experience to do a standalone Asgard 3 review.
     
  10. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    Thanks for your thoughts. As to you PS, comparisons to a known quantity is much more useful than some sort of standalone review.
     
  11. Cooper32

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    Good point. Will keep it in mind for future impressions.
     
  12. ForWhomHow

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    Hello everyone. Just need an advise.

    Got Audio Technica ath-a9990z cans, which have only 44 ohms. Will asgard 3 witth 4490 be a good option for them? Or is it to powerful for such a low impedance headphones?

    Thx in advance
     
  13. Cooper32

    Cooper32 Facebook Friend

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    Not sure if only friends have the right to say this but here goes:

    @ForWhomHow:

    1) Please go introduce yourself first here first:
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/new-members-introduce-yourself.17/

    2) Go read this:
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/what-is-sbaf-10-articles-for-behavior.5555/

    3) I could be wrong on this so if anyone else knows, please point it out. Your question should go on the general advice thread (link below), not the Asgard 3 thread. The threads for each product are generally for measurements and sound impressions.
    https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/the-all-purpose-advice-thread.19/
     
  14. will_f

    will_f Friend

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    The amp will work fine with them. Probably want to leave the gain switch on “low”.
     
  15. ForWhomHow

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    [
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2020
  16. ForWhomHow

    ForWhomHow New

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    Really appreciate your useful reply, many thanks
     
  17. bengo

    bengo Friend

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    Just use the like button ..
     
  18. ForWhomHow

    ForWhomHow New

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    Just was a sarcasm ..
     
  19. crenca

    crenca Friend

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    Seriously, just use the like button. We try to keep the noise of chit chat, sarcasm, and other thread fill/wasters to a minimum here.
     
  20. RedFuneral

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    I'm continuously grateful for the gain selection & its subtle effects on the sound with this amp. I've been preferring the low gain as of late for its more restrained & restricted sound. It may even be a seasonal thing; the forward propulsion of HG was a great fit for the more upbeat music I was listening to this summer & LG more fitting for the more introspective music I've tuned to as the temperature has started dropping.
     

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