[Lolito]

For those who bought an Asgard 3 to use with their LCD-2C, how is it working? Is anyone using the pre-out's to go to a stereo amp? I have a Peachtree amp on my desktop that I love but it only works as a preamp when the speaker cables are unplugged - which is a pain. So I'm thinking about getting an Asgard 3 to pair with my Modi Multibit, passing through to the Peachtree for speakers.

happy with the modi multibit? thanks!!

 

[mbritt]

happy with the modi multibit? thanks!!

Very happy with the Modi Multibit. There is a depth/impact to the music that I don't hear from other DACs I've used. Some are more transparent and detail oriented but whenever I do comparisons I gravitate to the Multibit, especially for long listening sessions. I've been a little worried about combining the Modi Multibit/Asgard 3/LCD2C since they all seem to be on the warm and smooth side but from what I've read the differences between low and high gain on the Asgard 3 will allow me to adjust the sound signature a little bit when needed to suit the LCD-2C's. I might add a Modius to the mix since it has Unison if the Modi Multibit proves to be too warm in combination with the Asgard on the LCD-2C's. I also have a CEntrance Hifi Skyn iPhone DAC/Amp with a high quality mini to RCA splitter allowing me to use it as a DAC/Preamp. The CEntrance sound is slightly warm but still very detailed and engaging (pretty much their house sound). Not quite as much punch or impact as the Modi Multibit but delicious in it's own right. Not a practical solution for my desktop rig but would work well if I want to use the Asgard 3 and Hifi Skyn/iPhone as a Roon endpoint in a listening nook. Oh the choices. Planning tweaks in an audio system is like preparing a great meal and looking forward to cooking and eating it. It's also just as subjective and personal to critique. Can't wait to devour my new Asgard 3 served on LCD-2C's seasoned with the Modi Multibit or CEntrance Hifi Skyn.

 

[Lolito]

Very interesting reflection, thanks. I think maybe to always have like 2 dacs, it's not a crazy thing. Since dacs are hard to compare, you need to test them, and always have two of them, just in case the new one you get not as good in the end as expected. So keep one delta sigma dac, then one ladder or r2r or multibit ones, a more analog one... and then a new candidate for each category... So actually 4 dacs total, temporally, maximum 2 of them non temporally...

Delta sigma dacs are cheap, and the expensive ones don't really sound much much better, so you can always have a decently performing and decently priced delta sigma dac, and then one more analog, another X cost, but not top of the range... anyways... to each their own I guess...

 

[Oregonian]

Just bought a pair on Amazon. Quick question: these headphones come with a cable that terminates in a 1/4"/6.35mm - can you buy a XLR adaptor, and would it be still balanced? Come to think of it, is the stock cable with these headphones balanced even?

I only ask because my amp has better circuitry on the XLR out stage, so I'd like to try it at least.

I bought an XLR adapter off the bay for use with speaker tap feeding these great headphones. Well worth it.............

 

[ColdsnapBry]

Very happy with the Modi Multibit. There is a depth/impact to the music that I don't hear from other DACs I've used. Some are more transparent and detail oriented but whenever I do comparisons I gravitate to the Multibit, especially for long listening sessions. I've been a little worried about combining the Modi Multibit/Asgard 3/LCD2C since they all seem to be on the warm and smooth side but from what I've read the differences between low and high gain on the Asgard 3 will allow me to adjust the sound signature a little bit when needed to suit the LCD-2C's. I might add a Modius to the mix since it has Unison if the Modi Multibit proves to be too warm in combination with the Asgard on the LCD-2C's. I also have a CEntrance Hifi Skyn iPhone DAC/Amp with a high quality mini to RCA splitter allowing me to use it as a DAC/Preamp. The CEntrance sound is slightly warm but still very detailed and engaging (pretty much their house sound). Not quite as much punch or impact as the Modi Multibit but delicious in it's own right. Not a practical solution for my desktop rig but would work well if I want to use the Asgard 3 and Hifi Skyn/iPhone as a Roon endpoint in a listening nook. Oh the choices. Planning tweaks in an audio system is like preparing a great meal and looking forward to cooking and eating it. It's also just as subjective and personal to critique. Can't wait to devour my new Asgard 3 served on LCD-2C's seasoned with the Modi Multibit or CEntrance Hifi Skyn.

Is the Asgard 3 less dark on high gain or something?

 

[mbritt]

Is the Asgard 3 less dark on high gain or something?

According to the consensus on the Asgard 3 thread, low gain sounds tubey and high gain is more clear and detailed. Someone mentioned it was like having two amps in one.

 

[ColdsnapBry]

According to the consensus on the Asgard 3 thread, low gain sounds tubey and high gain is more clear and detailed. Someone mentioned it was like having two amps in one.

I must agree, after having the Asgard 3 as my sole dac/amp for the better part of this year.

 

[mbritt]

Asgard 3 and LCD-2C make a great combo. I was worried because someone online said that both were on the dark/warm side and it might be a bit much to combine them, especially with Modi-Multibit which I'm using. I can say after a few days of listening that there's nothing to worry about. I connected the Modi-Multi to the Asgard 3 using Morrow Audio silver cables, thinking that the brightness and detail inherent in silver interconnects would be a good thing in this chain. Haven't done an A/B comparison but I had these cables already so nothing lost by using them. I did do a comparison of the Asgard 3 and my other similar headphone amp, Yulong A100 (Class A). The Asgard 3 had a bit more depth/energy to the music but neither are disappointing and if the Yulong had pre-outs I wouldn't have been looking for a new amp in the first place. On my desktop I have a Peachtree MusicBox integrated tube hybrid amp that has pre-outs but they are only activated when no speakers are connected. It's headphone circuit is underpowered for the LCD-2C so I wanted something more powerful on my desktop that would act as the pre to the speaker amp when not using headphones. I have the Peachtree amp connected by Blue Jean Cables RCA interconnects from the A3 and I leave the volume set at the 12 o'clock position. I adjust volume using the Asgard 3s lovely pot with the gain setting on low. Still getting used to the sound but I don't think the Asgard takes anything away from running the amp directly from the Modi-Multi. It might even add a bit of dynamics but it's too early to tell and I'd have to do more A/B testing which is hard when you are just enjoying listening to music. I've been immersed in the new Tom Petty Wildflowers and All the Rest release for the last couple of days and the acoustic guitar chords on songs like Harry Green are really outstanding. One thing of note about the Asgard 3 with the LCD-2Cs is that with other head amps I can hear the soundstage/headstage as described by multiple sources online as 3 distinct blobs but the A3 spreads the soundstage out and moves the vocals forward a bit. Taking them from the back part of the top of my head to the middle/front of the top of my head. I have to agree with the headfi member from the Asgard 3 thread who said it was the best $200 he's ever spent.

 

[ColdsnapBry]

Anyone else think though that the LCD 2C sounds better on the Asgard3 in low gain mode? High gain has a bit too much grain or detail.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

^The LCD-2C is a very easy drive. I know folks tend to think of planars as these powerhungry cans that need a regular powerplant in order to sing. Not this Audeze however. I owned it for about half a year and always used low gain over my, at the time, V200. If you pop your amp into high gain chances are you’ll end up with no volume control whatsoever amd struggling to find a nice listening level between 8:30 and 9 on your amp..effectively where a lot of amps show signs of imbalance.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

^The LCD-2C is a very easy drive. I know folks tend to think of planars as these powerhungry cans that need a regular powerplant in order to sing. Not this Audeze however. I owned it for about half a year and always used low gain over my, at the time, V200. If you pop your amp into high gain chances are you’ll end up with no volume control whatsoever amd struggling to find a nice listening level between 8:30 and 9 on your amp..effectively where a lot of amps show signs of imbalance.

Agreed. Mainstream DACamps like RME drive LCD-2C fantastically.

 

[blackdragon87]

owned these for two years now, really been enjoying them recenlty running them balanced with my jot and new bf 2

 

[cenumis]

Currently using a few EQ presets by the usual people like oratory1990 etc, but I can't pin point the frequency which I can tweak to remove/reduce the "tss" sound that I get from some vocals. Any tips?

 

[kyotousa]

Anyone else think though that the LCD 2C sounds better on the Asgard3 in low gain mode? High gain has a bit too much grain or detail.

If you actually hear more detail on high gain, that means it was underpowered at low-gain no?

 

[Slaphead]

Currently using a few EQ presets by the usual people like oratory1990 etc, but I can't pin point the frequency which I can tweak to remove/reduce the "tss" sound that I get from some vocals. Any tips?

That "tss" sound is sibilance, and it's made up of many frequencies - it's a form white noise basically and you're not going to get rid of it with EQ alone.

You'll need some kind of de-esser plugin in your audio chain, but that's not recommended as de-essers are designed to work on a pure vocal track and will likely have a negative affect on a fully mixed track.

However https://thehomerecordings.com/de-esser-vst-au-plugins/ has a list of de-essers you might want to try including "Lisp" which is free.