SO, I was asked to also put his here, merged a couple other post into this one
Bare with me here as I dont write these things for a living or anything...
Just unboxed mine. It was delivered at 1 pm it is 4:15pm and the case is still cold from beign inthe truck. Must have been frozen in the truck/plane to still be this cold three plus hours later.
No blemishes that I can see, volume pot is smooth motion. Once it warms up a bit more I will give it a good listen with HD650's, HE-500's, SR325i's and reprot back. I will be using my Modi as the DAC.
Ok, so first and second impressions were not so good.
I plugged in the Asgard 2 and let it warm up for 15 minutes or so. Then hooked up the HD650 and got muffled sound and distortion in the left channel at all levels.
The Asgard was only warm on one side (right side near the headphone jack). So I figured I better wait till was good and warm. 45 minutes later it seemed to be warming up nicely. Plugged the HD650 back in and same thing (muffled and distorted).
Let the troubleshooting begin.
First thing I did was unplug the USB cable fromt he laptop and replug it in. BANG it fix the problem. Not sure what the cause was but it works now.
Might have been an initialization issue with USB on the Modi?
So, on with the third impressions. It seems to take a long time to get hot n ready for action, about an hour and fifteen minutes? Maybe it was still frozen on the inside?
I used a soundtrack from Eureka Seven with some tracks I am very familiar with to test. HalCali - Tip Taps Tip, Flow - Days, and Denki Groove - Niji. I listened at an elevated level to analyze the sound, higher than I would normally listen to for long periods.
This is comparing the Asgard 2 to the Magni using the Modi as DAC from an MX11 laptop, Foobar Flac.
Can hear a hum when my ear is about five inches fromteh amp. But it is not noticable whith phones on.
HE-500 (cause I know you want to see this first)
The Magni drives these phone OK but seemed to be lacking detail and low end punch. Still sound good, though. Just not quite there.
With Asgard 2 the phones prefered the high gain setting. Seemed to get better separation and more punch. Opened up the soundstage a little more. There was more definition and detail. Bass was very good crisp where needed. Mids cleared up some. Highs were more pronounced (could hear a hisssss when "ss" were sung). Like it was maybe a litle bright, but not bad. Definitely felt more lively withthe Asgard 2.
On low gain volume pot needed to be at ~2 o'clock, high gain it was at ~11:30 to 12.
HD650
With the Magni It seemed like there was someting between me and the music. I have heard others say veil, or like there was a towel over a speaker that masks the sound. It wasn't quite that bad but it was just lacking energy?
The Asgard 2 cleared most of that away in high gain. It made them wider (soundstage) and deeper and higher. I can hear the separation much better. Gives the bass more energy and clearity (not as punchy as the HE-500 but a good improvement non the less). Again there was a hiss when 'ss' were sung. Maybe a little more pointed that the HE500's but still not bad. Mids are fuller and more distinct.
Volume pot was at ~12 noon only high gain for these phones.
SR325i (G-cush and T-shirt mod)
The Magni does not really like these phones, withthe G-cush alone they are way to bright and shrill, peircing and painful for some songs. The T-shirt mod under the G-cush tames that so they are tolerable but I don't typiclly use the Magni with these due to this issue.
I was expecting similar results with the Asgard 2, but that's not the case. The Asgard drives these phones just fine (with the mods). Wide soundstage, good mids and highs, but the bass is not there. The other two phones above are quite a bit more full than these phones. The Grados sound much better with my modded x-fi in my main computer rig and that's probably where they are going to stay.
So, overall the Asgard is a good step up from the Magni, as I would expect it to be. Next I think I will get a Bifrost and see how that changes things.
Hope this helps some of you fence riders jump in this Schiit pile with us...
Here are some photos to compare the finish to what was on the Magni/Modi
