Introduction to the Schiit Audio Midgard review
First of all, I absolutely refuse to do Schiit jokes. All-in-all it is a proud German name, host to a long line of audio engineers. We should show some respect. Also, it is kind of cliché at this point. Maybe next time. I’ll admit, I can’t recall the last time I was so excited about a review. Yes, we do play with the coolest toys on the market, but hear me out. It’s a $219 amplifier made in the US of A. Metal enclosure, discrete circuit, pre-out. I’ve seen dudes spend more on strippers. Duh, I’ve seen a dude spend more on ONE stripper. We’re talking wire strippers, obviously.
So, for what it is, Midgard is priced more than fairly. At least on paper. I love to see great sound quality getting more affordable. It excites me more than the new expensive stuff. And the other thing, that is a cherry on top: it does something different. It’s hard to get me curious about headphone amplifiers, as I’ve seen hundreds at this point and even built a couple.
I’m speaking about the Halo topology being used for the first time. In short, it is a mixed-feedback loop that includes headphones. Possibly improving sound quality. Why possibly? Because it’s very hard to measure the effect on the headphone’s output. More on that in a dedicated paragraph. So to sum things up: Schiit promises state-of-the-art performance for the price of a steak dinner in a big, European city. Steak, and a few glasses of wine, but can you do one without another?
Packaging
They did something really smart here. The box, is a regular shipping cardboard, the one that you know its colour, but it’s weirdly hard to name it. Or is it just me? Inside the device is secured by a special, custom-made cardboard insert that holds it physically at a distance from the box sides for secure shipping. Smart, cheap and works. Inside you’ll find a quick start manual, some stickers and that’s basically it. Gotta keep the price down, but honestly? It’s secure, keeps the price low and arrives in one piece. It ain’t stupid if it works.
Design and Build Quality
Out of the box, I knew one thing. It’s Schiit Audio quality. Full metal chassis, nothing to complain really. We have to appreciate the metal volume knob and Neutrik XLR connectors, something not entirely obvious at this price range. The logo on the top is stamped and then filled with paint, while other markings are made with screen printing. The only thing I don’t like is the two switches on the front. They feel kind of wobbly, but then I looked at the price and forgot about them. It’s an aesthetic little box. Sadly, the 4-pin XLR headphone connector can bend inside when plugging headphones. Some bracing could help that. A shame. Besides that, it’s all good.
Tech inside the reviewed Schiit Audio Midgard
Now we’re getting to the good stuff. Reviewed Schiit Audio Midgard is not exactly a balanced amp. The inputs are balanced, as is the volume control. The input of the amplifier is balanced too, you can see that by the input filter components. The output of the amplifier is single-ended though. So the conversion from a symmetric signal path occurs here. It means we get all of the benefits of balanced inputs, namely Common Mode Rejection Ratio, which means interference resistance.
We don’t get extra output power when using the XLR output, so keep that in mind. Not that you’re going to miss it, since it delivers 5,5W @ 16 Ohm, 3,2W @ 50 Ohm and 375mW @ 600 Ohm. It drives a Susvara to a very satisfying result. But yeah, I basically touched the end of the potentiometer wiper on low gain. The manufacturer described the amp topology as open-loop linear, with low-loop feedback. I get all tingly on the inside when I read stuff like that. But, what does it mean in English? So, amplifiers use global feedback to achieve low distortion and low output impedance. Of course, there are some “no feedback” designs, like tube amps, or those crazy amps from Dartzeel.
They do use feedback in fact. It’s not global, it’s local. You can’t build an amp with absolutely zero feedback of any sort. What Schiit meant, was that they have a design that uses a lot of local feedback and some fancy engineering to create an amplifier that is pretty linear in open-loop (no global feedback applied), so it doesn’t require too much global feedback to achieve stellar performance. On the other hand, most manufacturers prioritise very high global feedback to achieve absurdly good measurements. Think NFCA circuits from Topping.
But that means, that their amplifiers are not very inherently linear. Topping prioritises fast design and deployment of their product and using huge amounts of global feedback makes it possible. To build an inherently linear amplifier it takes a long time and lots of tweaking. We know Jason likes to take time with his stuff. There is a whole book about this type of design: Audio Power Amplifiers, towards inherently linear amplifiers by Dr. Arto Kalinummi. It’s an essence from his PhD study, which ended in him building a couple of no-global feedback amplifiers. If you’re a geek like me, this book is a must-have. It was distributed by Linear Audio, and I think it still is available on Amazon.
Okay, what about the Halo topology? I have a separate paragraph about that, down below. The power supply uses a 16VAC wall-wart brick and a stacked power supply design giving a couple output voltages, but the most important part runs on bipolar +/-30V and +/- 20V rails. It gives the amp great performance into high-impedance headphones. Headroom is king. It is by measurements the best SE amplifier Schiit has made. Also, the most powerful. The preamp outputs can’t be turned off, that is the biggest con of this amplifier, one we shouldn’t have to bother with. There is space on the PCB and on the front panel for that. Shame it wasn’t done.
Halo topology
So the Halo topology is based on a 40-year-old paper (which was not disclosed by Schiit) that described using mixed feedback to improve the speaker’s performance. According to Schiit, the original paper mentioned a 6dB improvement in acoustic measurements. Sadly, I couldn’t find any paper that fits the description. The Quad current dumping amplifier seems to be on a decent track, but don’t quote me on that. The idea is, that Halo output has sense resistors (hence 2Ohm output impedance), that allow for mixed-mode feedback (voltage and current feedback).
I suspect that mixed mode feedback allows for a partially current drive, of the driver, which should result in the driver being powered “better”. It is also assumed (which I agree with), that this system will have the biggest impact on headphones with impedance peaking. That makes perfect sense to me, as the “floppier” the driver, the more error it will create, giving the Halo more to work with.
That said, all of that wasn’t supported by measurements. Jason said, that they don’t want to spend resources and time. They invited people with measurement gear to get reviewed Schiit Audio Midgard for free and to measure it to heart’s content. This is how I got mine, even though I only have access to electrical measurements, not acoustical. I told them, but still got it. Thanks for this chance, I appreciate it. As usual, I wasn’t asked to say anything positive and they have no influence on this review. They’ll see it at the same time, as you do. As usual with Ear-Fidelity.
Measurements
For starters, I would like to thank Remco Stoujesdijk from It’s Only Audio for providing those measurements. His help was crucial in understanding the Halo as much as we were able without excessive reverse engineering. Measurements were done with Audio Precision APx585. Measurements were taken with XLR inputs and both headphone outputs. As you can see, Midgard is a fantastically measuring amplifier with impressive specs. Please note the scale of the attached measurements. They have been scaled up, so we can actually see something.
Frequency response, please note the scale. It’s completely flat in the audio band better than (-0,125dB).
THD+N versus measured output, which is astonishingly low. You can see it’s optimised for around 2V.
SNR @ 10VRMS input, max gain, over 22kHz bandwidth, brick wall filtered. With bandwidth up to 96kHz the result is 6dB worse @ 123dB indicating the white noise performance of the amplifier (flat noise density across the bandwidth, i.e. thermal noise).
Distortion products @ 1VRMS
Spectrum @ 1VRMS @ 1kHz
IMD 19kHz + 20kHz
Proof of mixed feedback. Loading was 100Ohm resistor (mildly inductive) + 66nF capacitance. If pure current feedback was used, the -3 dB point would be near 24 kHz, instead, it is 71 kHz so current feedback does not dominate.
In a sweet shot with a thermal camera, you can tell where the transistor’s die is. Notice a really hot, 85-degree C resistor up top.
Spectra of amplifier’s output at 1V (reference) and 200mV (measurement with headphone load) with different loads, with or without Halo. Notice the gain in the noise transfer around 600Hz, showing up on Halo measurements. It came up in 1M points FFT, averaged 4 times. We don’t have a good explanation for it besides it is caused by cold headphone drivers (a cold day) and it faded away with time. It might be also correlated to Halo, but at those levels, it’s speculative. But well, let’s say we measured a difference.
Dark purple: unloaded
Blue: HD800 no Halo
Dark purple: unloaded
Pink: HD800 with Halo
Dark Purple: reference
Pink: Meze Liric no Halo
Dark purple: reference
Brownish: Liric with Halo
How does the reviewed Schiit Audio Midgard sound?
I gave Schiit Audio Midgard one day of warming up before I started the testing. I had to start with its “magical” output first. And since I’m lazy and I had the Susvara on hand… I was blown away. It’s not Susvara and EF1000’s level of performance, but still, the Midgard was doing a really good job. It’s like a substitute teacher showing up and actually teaching you stuff. Never happened in my time. Okay, okay, I thought, let the man cook then. I listened to this set for a couple of hours before I had enough. It was a satisfying, fun music session and I couldn’t say I missed out on something. But then, I had to get back to reality. I pulled a set of more reasonable, but still challenging headphones. Two of them have peaking issues. Most of my listening was done on Halo output. The difference is described below.
Without Halo, the sound sounds like any other amplifier. Gets it on a level of Jotunheim 2 and WHAMMY (which is still really good). We basically have a very good SE amplifier. Halo feels like removing compression from the sound, it returns it to a more natural, more open and more dynamic state. Since the measurements show absolutely no definitive difference on the electric side, it seems to support the theory that the driver behaves differently.
On Meze Liric in the song When It Comes To You by Dire Straits, Mark’s vocal comes in much closer and seems bigger while losing dynamics. Instruments playing in the upper midrange sound offensive because of Liric’s peaking in that region (also why I didn’t like them with midrange forward M15S). With Halo output, the soundstage opens up and the sound stops dry-humping your head. The separation between shows up, giving each instrument better placement on the scene. The peaking of the headphones seems to be tamed, as it stopped being audible. Meze Liric with Metallica’s Thing that should not be showed minimal differences and out of all my tests here, the effect was miniscule.
On the Sennheiser HD800 difference is also audible. Listening to the Opening Suite from Halo Combat Trilogy OST makes it easy to pick up. Using Halo on Halo (see what I did there?) opens up the soundstage once again. It separates sound sources, creating extra depth. The biggest difference was in the choir. It gained so much dynamics it got reasonably close to the real thing. It also allowed much more low-level detail to show up. The famous harshness of the HD800 was reduced to a level that doesn’t bother me.
Now to the good part, listening with Halo. I’m extremely impressed with the performance and sound of the Midgard. This amp sounds like it costs a couple times more than it does. What comes forward is terrific resolution, coupled with full timbre, holographic sound staging and incredible realism. Yeah, I am excited. It sounds right up my alley, so maybe cut my enthusiasm in half. The tonal balance is really good, only the bass is a bit less present than I would like it to be.
The sound is extremely effortless, even with more demanding headphones. It does help the headphones sound better, even though it doesn’t seem like it in the measurements. Shame I couldn’t provide acoustic measurements. If find a way, I’ll. In short, it is an insanely capable amplifier that bested all my references, including its own older brother. Inherently linear design with lots of headroom is the future, even without Halo. Together, they provide something spectacular. I have found Midgard to be extremely transparent and it scales greatly with other components. What I meant by transparent was: that it doesn’t limit the sound in any way. Not “it sounds flat”. The better the companion equipment, the more ahead of the competition the Midgard was.
Bass
I find it extremely satisfying, but slightly lacking in quantity. I wish there was a bit more, especially when listening to rock, metal and EDM. Touch more, would make this amp basically perfect. I enjoyed listening to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance, with its leading overdriven synth melody during verses. I like how it and the main bass line were separated from the rest of the sound. Very often you hear me say meat on the bones in regards to bass. It’s a bit too lean. No fat here at all. For real instruments refer to Otherside by Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I love how clean the bass line is. It’s so easy to pick It up apart from other instruments. There is a lot of detail in this instrument, all of which gets delivered to your ears. Drums fill up the rest of this range with a funky pop we all love RHCP for.
Midrange
The best effect here was together with the EF600 as a DAC. I was delighted to hear how good the midrange was. Soundtrack Halo Trilogy and the famous Opening Suite is a great example of reviewed Schiit Audio Midgard’s prowess. I was thrilled with how much dynamics in the choir was provided. Especially compared to the competition, here I felt like I was getting as close to the original as I could. It’s so easy to tell every minute change of volume and timbre as the choir follows the melody. The effortlessness of Midgard also helps to make this range so convincing. I couldn’t pick up any colouration added.
When It Comes To You by Dire Straits has a mix of vocals together with guitars. I was pleased to hear them completely separated from each other. Nothing is mixing together. Since I’ve been raving about voice, now I’ll focus on the guitars. They have a very nice timbre and a full-bodied presence throughout the recording. I like this song for its use of guitars across the soundstage, creating a nice back-and-forth between them. Overall, it’s a very detailed, natural sound that is stuck with me now.
Treble
Let’s stick with this song for a minute more. It uses a lot of cymbals and different bells. The reviewed amplifier does a fantastic job of marrying treble detail and weight. Metal does sound like metal, with suitable crash and reverberation. Nothing is hidden or influenced by this amp. Once again every single sound is completely separated from others. Then I went to Time by Pink Floyd, an obvious benchmark for treble. In the opening sequence, I was impressed by how much information was recorded. Every clock was different and produced a different tone. All of that without any hint of artificial brightness from the amplifier. Very often treble resolution is a result of a brighter tuning. No such thing here.
Soundstage
Another strong point of the newest amplifier from Texas. While not extremely wide, the soundstage has amazing depth and layering. Every sound source is a very well-defined point in the space. Drums and cymbals in The Thing That Should Not Be by Metallica are very well-defined from left to right, especially at the end, where they dance from one side to the other. Even with compressed music such as Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, there was some depth and width, especially when using Halo output. The abovementioned performance is way above Midgard’s asking price.
Comparisons
Topping A30Pro
Topping really did stir the market up with their affordable, high-performance devices. Sadly, I wasn’t able to grab any of the newer offerings around this price. Still, the A30PRO @ $269 is a capable little amplifier. It features a now famous NFCA module that uses composite amplifiers and a truckload of feedback to offer the best measurable performance. As you can see, a topology is completely different from that of Schiit Midgard. I like the A30 for its great bass, pleasant tonal balance and nice detail. How do they compare? Topping has to give it to the reviewed Schiit Audio Midgard this time. Besides a touch more bass, which I like, the A30Pro is not as good sounding as the American amp.
Bass
Chinese amp has a really nice fullness and thump to it. With the soundtrack from Doom Eternal, I actually preferred it. It sounded much more powerful. On the flipside, Midgard delivers a resolution and finesse that is outside its competitors’ reach. It’s quality over quantity and you know which one I prefer.
Midrange
In my opinion, midrange is hands down better on the Midgard. The A30Pro suffers from a flat delivery, and lack of dynamics in this range. Midgard is just so much more natural, open and fun. It’s more a case of Topping not delivering than Midgard adding tone.
Treble
On Topping’s amplifier, the treble feels recessed in comparison to Midgard and other amps. It creates this pleasant, darker, more bassy tuning. Many people prefer that, so no harm is done. The quality of the treble is good at it’s price. It’s smooth rather than extremely detailed, but still has a pleasant ring to it. Midgard offers a more even presentation, and to be frank just better treble. Better how? More detail is more airy, yet still doesn’t go into sharpness.
Soundstage
This is the weakest point for the A30Pro, as it has a narrow and shallow soundstage. Really, it’s nothing special. Then when you listen to Midgard, it’s the complete opposite: big, open, precise positioning. Holographic I would even say. No competition.
Jotunheim 2
Jotunheim 2 is one of the most popular amps in its price range. Fully balanced, linear power supply, nice output power and add-on cards… All for $399. It’s worth mentioning that it uses some of the coolest tech from Schiit Audio, namely the Nexus current feedback, an inherently differential amplifier with a Continuity S output stage. Those are being used in some of the best stuff from them, including Tyr power amplifier at $1599. Pretty nice package if you ask me. Of all of the amplifiers here, it was the closest to the Midgard in terms of overall sound quality. Jotunheim 2 is a daily driver of my friend, who was kind enough to lend it to me. Jotunheim has a nice, even presentation, with great sound staging and stellar resolution.
Bass
Quantity-wise Jotunheim 2 is somewhere in-between A30Pro and Midgard. Much closer to the latter, than the former. The character is also similar to Schiit’s offerings. Tight, controlled, snappy lows are the name of the game. On some tracks with Midgard, I could hear some roll-off, while Jotunheim played everything evenly. Don’t know why is that, but I guess it is what it is. Point for Jotunheim.
Midrange
This time point goes straight to the Midgard. Its midrange is stuff from legends. The Jotunheim 2 does a good job in terms of resolution and tonality. Yet Midgard is straight-up better, especially when it comes to the natural, dynamic reproduction of voices. Jotunheim 2 sounds like it’s been slightly compressed in comparison. I think that’s either Halo or just an insane amount of headroom kicking in.
Treble
Jotunheim 2 has a very satisfying treble. Smooth, with a bit of a sparkle. Similarly to bass, it’s between Midgard and A30Pro quantity-wise. It’s a great performer, and similar in style to the Midgard. On the other hand, it lacks the airiness and resolution that is provided by Midgard.
Soundstage
Sound staging was a close shave. Jotunheim has a laid-back style, that I enjoy so, so much. I feel like I’m in a loop. Once again Midgard does a similar style, but better. The comparison between the two reminds me of Peacemaker and Bloodsport from Suicide Squad 2.
“He does exactly what I do!”
“But better”
WHAMMY
One of my favourite amplifiers, WHAMMY, is a DIY project you can assemble yourself. I love this thing. It isn’t that expensive for a kit, as you can grab it for $299. It features a single-ended topology with an opamp gain stage and a MOSFET class A output stage. I have a Muzg Audio dual opamp installed, which adds around $40 to the price tag. There are a lot of discrete opamps you can use, including Burson Audio, Stacatto Audio, Sparkos Labs and more. Soundwise, WHAMMY delivers a thick, warm tone. It marries that with a really good resolution and solid sound staging. You can control those things with the change of opamps, putting you in control of the sound. I have chosen Muzg’s opamp as it is the most neutral sounding out of all I have.
Bass
Huge difference here. WHAMMY has this big, bold bass. It’s meat on the bones and a nice amount of fat. It’s so much fun, I absolutely love it. With EDM, or metal this DIY amp kicks bottoms with no care in the world. It’s like David and Goliath all over again. Midgard, what lacks in quantity, makes up in quality. Resolution, speed, textures, it’s just better. If I could have both…
Midrange
Similar story here. WHAMMY has a nice warm, rich tone. Midgard has resolution, dynamics and a more natural feeling. It’s pick your poison, but I do believe Midgard’s performance is a level up. Just for the incredible scale and dynamics alone.
Treble
This is as close as any competitor got to the Midgard. Whammy has a fantastic treble, bold, with natural weight, and great detail. While not as airy and detailed as Midgard’s, WHAMMY produced a nicer attack and felt more interesting. Curiously, besides being heavier, it didn’t go into harshness even once.
Soundstage
DIY amplifier sounds closer and smaller in scale. While it is not as wide as Midgard it still puts up a fight in precision. The thing that should not be by Metallica has this really cool sequence at the end, where cymbals and guitars are floating in the air right to left. The WHAMMY handled that with ease, but it was not as spectacular as with the Midgard. Still, it was a great performance. Out of the comparison amps, I find WHAMMY’s sound staging the most natural feeling.
Pairing
Andromeda Emerald Sea
I was really worried about this mix. We all know Andromeda is a troublesome IEM with its low impedance and super-high sensitivity. So, how it went? We are literally at the bottom of the volume range, yet still, the tracking is really good. It starts to lose balance at whisper levels, which for an analogue, potentiometer-based regulation is crazy good. Sound-wise, it drives Andromeda with no issues and no noise is audible. Dead quiet. And since it’s Andromeda ES, it’s crazy good.
I think it’s my favourite companion for the Midgard, which solves its biggest issue – the peak in the upper midrange. With Halo, it turns to extremely satisfying, resolving headphones with a nice sprinkle of warmth. Great sound staging for a closed-back headphone is something worth mentioning. If you are looking for a set that won’t bother a person sleeping by your side, this is one of the best you can get. It’s possibly the best-sounding Liric I have heard. Especially with EF600 as a source. This set works fantastically well with any genre of music and is as universal as it gets.
Sennheiser HD800 SDR mod
I understand the position of the HD800 on the market, but I personally don’t like it. It’s great for gaming, but that’s it. Before you come at me with the torches, listen. With the Halo output of the Midgard, it sounded much closer to what I enjoy. It got somebody to the sound, the soundstage was great and the harshness was almost completely gone. If you are looking for an amp for these headphones, it’s worth a try. Especially, when the best-recommended amps are usually a couple of times more expensive than the HD800. Not to mention the Midgard. As a transparent amplifier, it preserves the main selling point of the Sennheiser’s dynamic flagship, while it mitigates its weakness.
I’m happy to report, that the Midgard does a great job with IEMs. The channel matching of the potentiometer is really good even at the lowest levels. Kudos, especially since it’s a quad potentiometer. The EJ07M is a great representative of Mid-Fi IEMs, it even went on a vacation with me in February. I couldn’t pick up any noticeable issues, noise is inaudible.
Schiit Audio Midgard Review – Summary
This is as close to a must-have that I’m comfortable with. Schiit Midgard is the best amplifier at its price point if you use the Halo output. It bested even much more expensive competition. It is also as close to transparent as it can get. The only thing I would change would be to add a touch of bass. I’m not able to pick up its sound signature. That means either, there’s none, or it’s time for a new hobby. I heard painting Warhammer 40k figurines is pretty cool.
Build quality is okay, only the selector switches feel a bit wobbly and the headphone XLR is not stable. Functionality-wise, the non-switchable pre-out makes me angry. We were so close to perfection. Besides that, it drives almost everything, even makes Susvara sound good (not perfect though), can handle IEMs with ease and is physically small.
While the measurements are basically as good as it gets, they haven’t shown any proof for Halo to make a measurable difference. I’m looking at your acoustic measurement guys, it’s your turn. It scales fantastically with other gear. If you are starting, get the Midgard and spend the rest of your money on balanced cable, headphones and DAC. It’s the best bang for the buck I’ve seen in my life. This Schiit is amazing! It’s a Schiit joke, they earned it.
Highly Recommended.
Big thanks to Schiit Audio for providing the Midgard for this review. I wasn’t paid or asked to say anything good or bad about this product, all of the above is just my personal, unbiased opinion.
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