Okay so here's some update regarding Asgard 3 vs Project Polaris if anyone's interested.
I couldn't find any info while I was buying this so I thought would be helpful for the future generations if anyone's in the market for solid state amp in this price range. I'll include Dragonfly Red in the mix since that's what I'm upgrading from. Also dac used (except Dragonfly Red which has dac built in) is Modi Multibit. Headphone used is Denon AH-D2000 (so the same can be applied to TH610/TH900/TH-X00/E-Mu Teak...etc). Sorry I don't have any other headphones at the moment to test. Here it goes.....
Asgard 3
- $200 (no module)
- Biggest physical size, heavy too. Feels like having a phonebook / encyclopedia on my desk. Reason being power supply is inside the unit. Actually much prefer the foot print of other 2.
- Heavy volume knob, I'd say depending on preference some might find it too heavy.
- Gets pretty warm, not enough to be hot but definitely feel like a heat pack or something. More or less on par with Modi Multibit.
- High gain sounds better than low gain, low gain sounds vocal/treble recessed and less clarity. Also not as loud as I anticipated, low gain I can use 12 o'lock while high gain is about 9 o'clock. In comparison to Polaris at the lowest low gain I use about 9 o'clock too. Even though on paper Asgard 3 is more powerful, which I find weird.
- Soundstage isn't as wide as I thought it would be. I keep reading it has wide soundstage but it seems pretty average. Though I also suspect Modi Multibit doesn't have super wide stage either so it could be that.
- Imaging is precise, I'd say a little bit better than Polaris.
- Sound profile I'm a bit surprised, it's actually more relax sounding than Polaris. It has less treble and less bass and surprisingly forward vocal.
- I enjoy this for rock a bit more.
- However overall it has less texture than Polaris in all frequencies, has more of a clean and precise sound. Trade off is feels like there's less minor nuances.
- Feels fast.
- Overall not bad and as I mentioned more relaxed listen but less details.
Project Polaris
- $250 (prebuilt, acrylic top)
- About same size as Modi Multibit and pretty light too, power bar is on the cord so it reduce physical size on main unit.
- Smooth volume knob and weight is about just right.
- Stay cool even after listening for many hours.
- It comes with "attenuation module" with 3 gain settings (low, medium, high), attenuation module sort of works like a base gain then it multiplies the gain setting after (low, medium, high). Similar to Asgard 3, don't use attenuation module is reduced treble clarity and vocal clarity and in general just make things sound muffled.
- Soundstage is wider than Asgard 3, and because there's more treble on this unit so you can hear the room echo a bit better. Though still isn't as wide as I thought it would be, could be the headphone or could be the dac, not too sure.
- Imagine isn't as precise as Asgard 3 but still not bad.
- Sound profile..... surprisingly kind of more of everything compare to Asgard 3. More treble detail, more bass slam, slightly less vocal presence but more detailed vocal. Warmer mids.
- I enjoy this for acoustic songs a bit more.
- Because it has a lot of small details so relative to Asgard this feels a little bit more tiring to listen to, where it's like giving you all the information. On Asgard everything's a bit more dialed back and more relaxed.
- Feels slow somehow, maybe longer decay?
- I end up keeping this one since I like the smaller foot print better also this feels a bit more "special" as it does have a bit more of everything.
Dragonfly Red
- $200 (dac included, so effectively less than half price of other 2 options)
- Tiny, it's like usb stick.
- No volume knob, you have to adjust through PC volume. I use AutoHotKey to map volume shortcut from keyboard.
- Pretty much cold all the time.
- No gain setting, just volume from PC. Though still enough to drive most things out there, just probably can't drive 300 Ohm headphones well (I say probably since I don't have 300 Ohm headphones to test).
- Soundstage surprisingly not bad for such a small unit, not as wide as others but not too far behind.
- I will say imaging is probably Dragonfly Red's shortcoming, it's just okay but nothing that stands out.
- Sound profile....... very warm and rich and bassy. Has the most bass and deepest bass out of the 3 (surprisingly). Treble is exciting yet smooth. Just overall less clean and precise as the other 2 which make sense considering the size and price.
- I'd say most things sounds pretty good with this.
- Detail is surprisingly good I would say it's 90% there for half the price. Honest for most people I would say this is enough.
- Speed feels about right in the middle.
- Overall to be honest I think this is pretty good considering the size and price. If you don't have any demanding headphone this would probably be enough. I think we're just picky in this hobby so we'll chase for the final 5-10%.
Conclusion
As I mentioned I end up keeping Polaris because it sounds more rich and more detailed. Where as Asgard is more a very clean and precise type of sound, though a bit more relaxing (or boring, depends on how you take it) for longer listen. And as I mentioned Dragonfly Red is less than half price and gets 90% of the job done if your headphone isn't too demanding. But otherwise Polaris do have better....... everything over Dragonfly Red (except bass quantity, Dragonfly Red has more bass).
If I were to nitpick is that I'm not that big of a fan of the open pcb look. I know they offer aluminum top option too but it's not the same as having a fully enclosed unit like Asgard 3 (also looks good too). So if in the future they can offer a full metal enclosure that would be neat (yes I understand that adds cost, I guess we can't have it all).
All in all Polaris is a great unit (if you don't use attenuation module), oh though unfortunately solid state will never get that holographic imaging / soundstage vs a tube amp. So I'm gonna try a tube amp next and see where it goes, for now I'm keeping the Polaris lol (Asgard is going back, using 15 day return policy).
