The Schiit Asgard One Headphone Amplifier
Ramblings:
Head-Fi is a roller-coaster! As consumers we are always blasted by the front page of Head-Fi and it's both easy to get confused and overwhelmed as to what would be useful in an audio set up. In the 1970s everyone had big audio receivers. These devices had phono amps and FM tuners. Some could power multiple speakers and headphones. These units were the hub of many a stereo. Manufactures would challenge themselves to add as many options as possible. If you look back it actually started to get comical as the units at one point had 8 track tape players coming out the front and turntables on top. It seems consumers were attempting to get the most options possible for their money.
Minimalism Hits The Streets:
Then something changed. Separates introduced the idea that a purist just wanted one piece of equipment to do the job. The equipment became simple and clean in look. Knobs were less and less and the simplicity was in many ways like art. Power-amps had only one switch, off and on. Maybe we were lucky and they added two meters to see what power was put out? Many understood that manufactures were putting as cheap of parts as possible to make those complicated music stations do everything. So out of this paranoia a return to simple quality started with single intent units becoming the new rage. The future was these separates were then stacked one on-top of another and the end result was you had all the options as the receivers offered only with better quality.
The Look:
In 2010 a new company with a funny name showed-up but returned to the audio world the sexy simplistic minimalist design. They were different in their product look, the fact they were 100% USA built, and revolutionary in audio-concept ideas. What did this thing do? It was a headphone amp. Unlike the Asgard Two it didn't even act as a preamp. The back offered a place to input your power-cord and a set of gold-plated single ended inputs. It had a single on and off lever. That was it. The front held a volume knob and a 1/4 inch input for a pair of headphones. That was it. So for many just this simplicity was art. The fact that the bottom held 16 recessed Phillips screws had an industrial magic. The top? The top held only 4 flush Phillips screws and a gray metal air-vent. The sides, both right and left held gray metal air vents. 75% of the casework was this extruded aluminum single piece. So from a minimalist viewpoint it was very simple. The volume control again was just a simple machined aluminum knob. The volume knob only raised or lowered the volume. It did have one indicator, a single white LED which would inform you the amp was on. Could this be made any more simple?
More Interesting History:
To read about the Schiit Asgard One is a history about Schiit in a way. There was a small amount of fuss in the beginning and Schiit ended up putting a servo-relay which goes into action as to delay any power to the 1/4 inch headphone jack till a couple moments after the amp is turned on. The inventor of the O2 amp (NwAvGuy) claimed that Schiit put too much money into the fancy casework and that a diaphragm of an opened k701 headphone could be seen extruding to a dangerous level of extrusion upon turning the amp on. Schiit canceled the first production run of boards. The (NwAvGuy) the designer of the O2 amp ended up being updated on his Head-Fi Membership in the fireworks. The very first Asgards had a slight hum too. So maybe some would read all this and think Schiit is a second-rate company? Still if you read their account of the story they chalk it all up as a learning experience. We live in the information age and this baby being born had a couple issues, though nothing truly great in life is easy. It turns out that today the Asgard Two is the most reliable of all the Schiit products. So interestingly one of the first of the company products was attacked both on quality control issues and even questioned as to their manner of case work choices. Young companies with no history will at times actually become the target of people who just simply think they know better. It's only after history is made and respect is earned, that these "know it alls" tend to move on. Schiit now has a whole string of amps and DACs under it's belt, and has moved onto to bigger and more supportive real-estate. So our humble Asgard One now kinda sits as a simple piece of history. Most of us who have started business and have both won and lost in this game of chance have come to hold this gamble of sorts as cool. Cool too when stuff has a happy ending. In reality any small start-up has some guy holding his arm out, hoping it does not get cut-off. I have ended being joyful to be a part of this history that has enriched many of a Head-Fi members life. This review is a retrospect, and a reminder that some of the best things in life are simple. The photographs don't show a new product, but a product which has been used for years and years. A product with scratches and character.
The Application:
This amplifier can be placed in line between a DAC or phono-preamp. You can run a simple RCA cable to a mini-plug to a phone or IPod. All it does is give you a little more power to drive your hard to drive full size headphone or even to get a better sound from your easy to drive headphones. Pretty much all the time your going to get an improvement. It's this simple "Magic-Box" effect that really comes into play here. Most of the time in audio, the most direct path is the best sounding. In our history of audio the idea of stringing equipment after equipment, just for the sake of using all the toys, has never been a good idea. The more inter-connects, the more convolutions and back paths typically get you farther from audio truth. It's just that the most direct path is normally the most pure and best sounding.
A Wire With Gain:
In concept this is what everyone wants. The idea of just getting a pure amplification of signal with no color or change is what the goal is. Sadly though audio life is never normally so simple. Normally the question is if the amp is getting out of the way, and showing us character we know exists elsewhere. Tube amps tend to add a very slight or at times very noticeable warmth to the audio chain. There is nothing wrong with viewing the world in rose colored glasses. At times this style of color can go on to make things more listenable. But in the end the color is in reality keeping us just slightly from audio truth. After a while the mind can figure out where the fuzzy effect is taking place and the area of signal that is being smeared. That is where solid-state comes into play. Solid-state when done right should be a reference tool of power. If your confident of your quality, it should then become an audio microscope used to view truth, allowing you to identify anything else in your system which adds color, and that's exactly what the Asgard does. It steps out of the way and just becomes clear as glass adding nothing or taking away anything from the signal.
Treble:
The Asgard has a very detailed treble. There is a nice sound-stage and presence to everything. Having been used to tube amps I maybe feel that the Asgard is slightly bright, but that could just be me. The amp is in reality just being a wire with gain, completely with out color or introducing sonic artifacts of any style. Never are we finding the treble too bright or holding any distortion at any volume. I'm sure there would be equipment to study the distortion levels but none here in the range of human ear perception.
The Mid-range:
I have to say that this amplifier does a great mid range. I do own some amplifiers which tend to maybe excel at the mid range detail even just slightly better than the Asgard but that is really a reach. The overall romance here is how everything is in one single coherent placement. The treble connects naturally with the mids and the mids connect naturally with the bass.
The Bass:
Most of the time it could be stated that this amp produces the quintessential audiophile bass. That bass is not boomy or even present except when shown by the source. Maybe off-hand I would call this a little thin. Still not thin in a bad way but thin in a detailed way. If I was given the choice of heavy bass color or this combination of clarity and speed, I'm choosing this. Most of us have our amps which just exude color and boomy non-clear bass. Wanting something that for all intensive purposes is what an audio glass block is describes the character of the Asgard One. So you may wonder if that is boring? The amp has no outstanding character of it's own. It's not sexy in that regard. It really does nothing. It's a sheet of blank notebook paper, there is nothing written on it. It's that lack of personality which takes a while to learn to love.
The Sound In Ending:
It's not exciting at first. So in many ways it's an underwhelming experience which then grows on you as you learn the character of all your other pieces of equipment. The amp just has no personality of it's own. None. So really that's the best part. A no-nonsense approach which just gets out of the way. Clean and pure.
The Build:
Just like the sound, the build takes a while to fully understand. There is nothing which stands out except this simple ease of use and clean design applications. I thought the on and off switch would become an issue as it sticks way out beyond the amp, but it has worked fine for years and years. It gets a little hot which may surprise folks at first. After you realize that getting hot is normal, you tend to ignore the heat. The volume knob has a super nice feel being both smooth and sturdy. The rubber feet they give you tend to work, but I could never fully get used to placing the amp on end. You can see how your going to get better airflow going end to end but the amp seems like it could get knocked over by a random nudge? All and all the RCA jacks are rock solid, the amp tends to just work as intended day in and day out.
In Ending:
You can read the specifications all day long. You can read the reviews or you can just get one. The new Asgard Two is pretty much exactly the same. It sounds the same but can also be used as a preamp. Even on the used market, these are reliable and strong values to find. It's not like they need to be improved on in any sense. The Asgard can power all but maybe the most power hungry headphones with ease. It's also quiet enough to run your most sensitive IEMs with no perceivable noisefloor or channel imbalance at low volume. Due to the simplicity of design the unit ends up having a number of applications being used as an amp for TVs with headphones, or home headphone cinema applications. You can hook it up on the other end of a phone for an amp, or hook it up to any portable DAC. You can plug a phone into it and have a complete Head-Fi station. At the 2016 retail they are a rare value and a great purchase on the used market, as this technology is never really going to be improved upon, how could it, it's just an amp? It's built great, with not a single piece of plastic to be noted. It's been explained as the least profitable product margin (per unit) the company makes but also gives them the least warranty trouble and ends up as a loyal cornerstone product in their history. This was the baby that started it all and got the plane off the ground.
This product just emits a very cool meat and potatoes vibe. It's not boring but at the same time creates no fuss. It's a down to earth product doing a down to earth job in an audio world floating in the hype zone far from reality at times. In ending it's kind of like an old car, it's heavy and just keeps working. It has stood the test of time and just sits there being what it is.
great context and is actually helpful.