[Defiant00]

  Has anybody else noticed that there is a little bit of play in the on/off switch? Is this normal? When I flip the switch on mine either up (on) or down (off) I can push it a little further in either direction.

 
Can't say I've noticed that on mine. Just tried pushing it up further while it was on and it seemed pretty firm with no real play.
 
Of course, it's hard to say if what you consider a little play matches what I do, but no, mine doesn't seem to do that.

 

[RickB]

   
Can't say I've noticed that on mine. Just tried pushing it up further while it was on and it seemed pretty firm with no real play.
 
Of course, it's hard to say if what you consider a little play matches what I do, but no, mine doesn't seem to do that.

I emailed Schiit and Nick replied that a little give in the switch was normal.

 

[pez]

  The Asgard 2 doesn't sound "bright" in my system and I'm using it as a preamp (Bryston BDA-1 DAC, Parasound A21 amp and B&W 805 speakers) and obviously as a headphone amp primarily with the HE-400 and 500's and the B&W P7's. Some brightness "may" be coming either from source media or your source component if one is having that issue. It could be a simple issue of system matching for some...maybe I've just lucked out. I don't find the A2 to be as warm sounding in my system as the Lyr but "possibly" its more neutral in the midrange and treble than the Lyr. I'm not sure...I do know that I haven't heard any harshness/brightness from the A2. Good luck!

  Can't call the A2 bright at all either. Had it paired with Bifrost Uber for a while and after that my current DAC Yulong D100 MKII. Don't know how they both compare to Modi. Personnally I believe that A2 does well with neutral cans and likely even better with slightly bright cans. The Sennheiser 650 combo for example isn't pretty to my ears. The high frequency is just way smoothed out.

Yeah, like I said, source/DAC plays a pretty big role.  The Modi is rather bright, however, without it, it's fine.  I didn't find the DACMagic 100 or Modi pairing with the Asgard 2 to be harsh at all, but it's just a forewarning that it 'can' be bright.  Synergy can be everything in the headphone world .

 

[cel4145]

Can't say I've noticed that on mine. Just tried pushing it up further while it was on and it seemed pretty firm with no real play.

Mine has a little bit of play.

As for the brightness part of the conversation in the thread, I would describe the Asgard 2 as ever so slightly warm if colored at all. Definitely not bright.

 

[aamefford]

Just hooked up my Asgard 2. My switch seemed tight. Quick test drive with the Bifrost Uber. I was pretty pleasantly surprised. More later.

 

[Byrnie]

  I think it heavily relies on DAC and source.  With the Modi it's a bit bright.  Bright headphones don't help it any either.  Grados are definitely a no-no IMO.

Well I had the Modi+Asgard 2 with the DT880s.  Now of course I'm not calling you a liar, we've commented on various posts together in the past and I respect your opinion but this is just my view on the subject .

 

[pez]

  Well I had the Modi+Asgard 2 with the DT880s.  Now of course I'm not calling you a liar, we've commented on various posts together in the past and I respect your opinion but this is just my view on the subject .

Yeah.  I might as well chalk it up to some of the music I listen to as well.  We all know some older rock, and even newer 'hardcore' music is fairly under-produced.  And I'm not taking a shot at you.  I hope I wasn't coming off that way 

.

 

[hodgjy]

I have both Asgards.  While the A2 isn't "bright" in itself, it is noticeably brighter and less rolled off than the A1, which is why many consider the A2 to be bright.  It's all relative. 

 

[YtseJamer]

Just hooked up my Asgard 2. My switch seemed tight. Quick test drive with the Bifrost Uber. I was pretty pleasantly surprised. More later.

 
I'm curious to hear your impressions with the PM-1

 

[aamefford]

  I have both Asgards.  While the A2 isn't "bright" in itself, it is noticeably brighter and less rolled off than the A1, which is why many consider the A2 to be bright.  It's all relative. 

I'm running mine from a Bifrost Uber, with either a macbook Air via USB or an iPhone 5S via a Pure i-20 with a 30 pin to lightning adapter, coax out and coax into the Bifrost.  I have an unnamed for now  highish end all in one with a class A amp section and an ESS 9018 dac.  The all in one is much more aggressive at showing details, giving it the impression of being much brighter.  I find the Asgard 2 / Bifrost to be a bit more relaxed, in a positive way.  I ran into this same thing with a Northern Fidelity NF DAC (reviewed by project86 for those interested.  Nice dac, not many around) and a Burson Soloist SL.  I finally narrowed the differences down to the two dac implementations.  My initial thoughts are that the same issue exists with the all in one and the Asgard 2 / Bifrost Uber.  My guess is the amp sections are gonna be really close in sound, and the Dacs are gonna be where the difference comes from.  Once my RCA "Y" splitters come in, I'll be able to run same dac to both A2 and all in one amp sections and do a bit more comparing.
 
What's my point?  Maybe the brightness is a case of the A2 revealing the source's characteristics?
 

   
I'm curious to hear your impressions with the PM-1

After a couple hours last night - I am quite impressed.  The Asgard 2 is better than I thought.  A nice black background and no noticeable noise on high or low gain.  OK, shut off the music, and max the volume, and a little hum leaks through.  Nothing down in the listening range of the volume pot, and nothing when music plays.  The A-2 seems to be a good, clean amp.  I like the pairing, and tend to use high gain with the PM-1, though low gain works fine.  With my Alpha Dogs, high gain is required.  Low gain will drive them, but you can get to full travel on the volume pot without getting to ear bleed levels.
 
I think the Bifrost Uber has a fair amount to do with my experience with the Asgard 2.  The Bifrost Uber is a really nice sounding source.  The Asgard 2 seems to get out of the way pretty well.  I've read comments that it is not as musical as some amps.  I only have the unnamed all in one to compare to, but the all in one is a couple of tiers up in product placement.  The Asgard 2 compares very well.  I'd like to find a comparison to the Burson Soloist or Soloist SL, as I find the Bursons to be very musical to my ears.
 
I was all set to get a Lyr, but didn't think it would pair all that well with the PM-1's so I went for the Asgard 2.  It is a nice pairing with both the PM-1 and the Alpha Dogs.  I really want to do some comparisons to summit-fi gear at the July SF Bay meet, and see whee it really stands.  For the price I paid used for the Bifrost uber and the Asgard 2, it seems so far one heck of a value.
 
Caveat - all impressions after only couple hours, so the new toy / fanboy syndrome hasn't worn off yet.  Still, I am pleasantly surprised.

 

[Byrnie]

Yeah.  I might as well chalk it up to some of the music I listen to as well.  We all know some older rock, and even newer 'hardcore' music is fairly under-produced.  And I'm not taking a shot at you.  I hope I wasn't coming off that way  .

You were fine, bud. I didn't take it as a shot either just different point of view.

 

[pez]

  I'm running mine from a Bifrost Uber, with either a macbook Air via USB or an iPhone 5S via a Pure i-20 with a 30 pin to lightning adapter, coax out and coax into the Bifrost.  I have an unnamed for now  highish end all in one with a class A amp section and an ESS 9018 dac.  The all in one is much more aggressive at showing details, giving it the impression of being much brighter.  I find the Asgard 2 / Bifrost to be a bit more relaxed, in a positive way.  I ran into this same thing with a Northern Fidelity NF DAC (reviewed by project86 for those interested.  Nice dac, not many around) and a Burson Soloist SL.  I finally narrowed the differences down to the two dac implementations.  My initial thoughts are that the same issue exists with the all in one and the Asgard 2 / Bifrost Uber.  My guess is the amp sections are gonna be really close in sound, and the Dacs are gonna be where the difference comes from.  Once my RCA "Y" splitters come in, I'll be able to run same dac to both A2 and all in one amp sections and do a bit more comparing.
 
What's my point?  Maybe the brightness is a case of the A2 revealing the source's characteristics?
 
After a couple hours last night - I am quite impressed.  The Asgard 2 is better than I thought.  A nice black background and no noticeable noise on high or low gain.  OK, shut off the music, and max the volume, and a little hum leaks through.  Nothing down in the listening range of the volume pot, and nothing when music plays.  The A-2 seems to be a good, clean amp.  I like the pairing, and tend to use high gain with the PM-1, though low gain works fine.  With my Alpha Dogs, high gain is required.  Low gain will drive them, but you can get to full travel on the volume pot without getting to ear bleed levels.
 
I think the Bifrost Uber has a fair amount to do with my experience with the Asgard 2.  The Bifrost Uber is a really nice sounding source.  The Asgard 2 seems to get out of the way pretty well.  I've read comments that it is not as musical as some amps.  I only have the unnamed all in one to compare to, but the all in one is a couple of tiers up in product placement.  The Asgard 2 compares very well.  I'd like to find a comparison to the Burson Soloist or Soloist SL, as I find the Bursons to be very musical to my ears.
 
I was all set to get a Lyr, but didn't think it would pair all that well with the PM-1's so I went for the Asgard 2.  It is a nice pairing with both the PM-1 and the Alpha Dogs.  I really want to do some comparisons to summit-fi gear at the July SF Bay meet, and see whee it really stands.  For the price I paid used for the Bifrost uber and the Asgard 2, it seems so far one heck of a value.
 
Caveat - all impressions after only couple hours, so the new toy / fanboy syndrome hasn't worn off yet.  Still, I am pleasantly surprised.

 
 
I'm also very curious to how the Asgard 2 stacks up to the Soloist.  I'm still extremely happy with mine even after hearing all of the nice DACs and amps at the recent meet.

 

[YtseJamer]

Thanks aamefford!

 

[KLJTech]

  Unfortunately no, I don't; A2 is my introduction to the Shiit family and it's a great one.
 
I could compare to Musical Fidelity headphone amps (I own both V-CAN II and M1HPA) but that is not what you are asking, of course.

 
I'd love to know what you think of the Asgard 2 in comparison to the M1HPA. A buddy of mine has the M1HPA and I did listen to it for about 20 minutes but not with headphones that I was familiar with and he is using a different DAC than I have on hand. I did notice that it didn't feel as warm to the touch as the A2 BUT maybe that's due to the case being taller (top of the case farther from the board)...I'm not sure. I believe that the M1HPA is a Class A design...at least as far as I know.  I have read that the Musical Fidelity makes a very nice single source preamp and has received a lot of great reviews.  

 

[Drew769]

I just bought an Asgard 2 about a month ago. I have a pair of Beyerdynamic 990. Pros that I use for listening after the kids have gone to bed. I've been using an older Yamaha integrated strictly for its headphone section to drive them, and it recently crapped out. Not wanting to go overboard on a headphone amp, I checked into the Schiit line. After lots of research here, I resisted the urge to start higher in the product line and went with the seemingly do-it-all Asgard 2.

Glad I did! The build quality is suburb, easily matching my Rogue tube gear in quality and appearance. More importantly, it sounds wonderful with my cans. Smooth, powerful, solid state that sounds like good tube gear. There is absolutely zero external hum on my unit, and also nothing through the headphones except music. This little amp matched up with a good set of headphones may be one of the best deals in audio.

My source is my VPI TT with Benz Micro Ace SL, driven through a PS Audio GCPH Phono amp, and a Rogue Perseus Magnum preamp. My other source is a Rega a Planet 2000 with a Rega DAC, again through the Perseus. Everything sounds good together!

Don't let the price fool you -this thing is serious. Highly recommended!