I just did the update. My equipment is the ares 2, fed by a sonos port (not boos please!), into a rogue sphinx v3, with psb t2 speakers and focal clear headphones. When I use headphones, I use s Schiit Asgard V3 (whatever the latest is). If I did not have it, I would just use the rogue’s...

I have the Asgard 3 It is an amazing headphone amp. Whether you buy the mb card or the external DAC depends on what you want to feed it. If you just want to use usb, the card is attractive. If you also want to use coax or toslink, go external.

I have the modi multibit and the Denafrips ares. The ares is more than 2x the price of the modi, and actually is quite a bit more interesting to me in my tradtional two channel stereo. I have the modi now serving as the DAC on my PC based music system. That being said, I don't use the USB input...

I agree. It’s nice when things are made in my home country for ease of service and such, but nothing annoys me more than folks giving more points to “made in the USA” then audio quality. I buy Schiit when its “good crap,” but only if I think it is better than others at a similar price point. The...

I’d be pretty comfortable using splitters for digital coax. I’ve had varied results for analogue signals. There really is no way to know until you try. If, however, you use a switch, such as the sys, there will be no guessing.

I’ve tried the audio quest splitter. It depends. I’d be more worried about changing impedances than signal loss. For some there will be no difference. When I tried to split signals going into a rogue sphinx (trying to share an RCA port), the degradation was very noticeable. For a phono preamp it...

I’ve actually had better luck splitting digital coax, but I tend to agree. Splitting (or converging into one) with a splitter can cause audible differences for analogue signals.

A Sys might give you cleaner sound.

I’d suggest buying the new cans. The mobo might be able to drive them fine. The magni definitely could. The Asgard 3 will sound better, but it will be an incremental improvement.

you saw that Amazon just came out with HD, UHD? If that is your cup of tea, it might make you an even cheaper date

Thanks. I had not thought blue jeans made extension cables. Good to know!

Thanks. The prices I’m seeing for “high quality” replacement cables for the Clear are mad money here in the US. It would probably be significantly cheaper for me to order from Hungary and have them shipped :)

A different question for folks. I have the A3. Really nice. I have it fed through my rogue sphinx from a variety of sources, including a Denafrips DAC. My question is more pedestrian. My headphone cable on Focal Clears is a bit too short. Does anyone have decent recommendations for a headphone...

I believe I did respond to this days ago. If you are using a PC as your only digital input, then you are correct. The USB would connect to the DAC card in the A3, and the turntable (w/a built in preamp) would feed the analogue inputs of the A3. You could output to powered speakers via the...

A3>liquid sky> magni, although the gap between the A3 is much greater than between the liquid sky and magni. I’m super pleased with the A3

If your only digital input is usb, then yes having the card integrated makes sense. In terms of the turntable, you do need a preamp if its not built into the turntable, but that would be necessary regardless

I have not had any grounding issues with the Asgard 3. I believe I did with the original. I find the dynamics of the sound too be excellent, and I have compared it with the Magni 3. IMO, the Asgard 3 is an excellent sounding headphone amp, and the black chassis looks great!

My experience with DACs in a traditional stereo system, and headphone amps is more mixed. For DACs I hear the most difference, if I hear a difference, from speakers. For “good” DACs, I heard greater imaging and placement. For some DACs, I also hear greater bass extension, although that seems odd...

I tend to agree that squeezing all of that into a headphone amp may not be the right thing. It starts to be a mini-integrated, but limited to headphones. A separate case with lots of multiple inputs (coax and toslink, maybe two each) and only one USB could be the way to go....but you might want...

It’s useful for us old fogeys who are using a streamer leading into a preamp or integrated. They often have optical or coax out. USB definitely the way to go for anyone feeding with a PC. Still, given that for my uses I’m feeding a streamer and a CD player into a DAC, likely I’d still stick...

I’m really liking the Asgard 3 in black in my main system. For dacs I’m using a denafrips ares 2, bought before I saw the bifrost 2. Loving the Asgard with focal clear headphones. It’s a really nice match.

Actually multibit (and other “traditinal” R2R ladder DACS) are the only ones that DO sound different to me.

I’m not seeing anything about a V2 for the Mimby. Is that confirmed?

Coming back to close out this issue. The unit was flawed. I had schiit swap it, and everything has been fine ever since. Hopefully they did not sell it as a refurbished, since its a subtle problem that only becomes apparent if using toslink.

Which Oppo do you have? The 105 and 205 both have native digirtal and toslink outputs. You can tell it to downmix to PCM within its firmware. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding...why did you need the hdmi splitter/stripper?