[redwoodaudio]

Hi all,

Proud 2-channel audiophile for several years with a high-end system (Lampizator Dac, Absolare Integrated, Graham Audio LS5/5 speakers with commensurate cables/sources). Recently stepped into head-fi world with purchase of Schiit Asgard 3 w/ ESS Dac, Focal Elegia phones, and Chord Mojo 2 portable amp/dac. Using head-fi system mostly at work. BTW, I am using an aftermarket Moo Audio Black Dragon cable with the Elegias.

Question 1: How much do you have to spend to seriously beat the Schiit Asgard 3 for sound quality? Its quite a remarkable piece of gear in my experience, although I've not directed compared it with other desktop devices. It blows away the Mojo 2 and killed the iFi xDSD Gryphon in A/B testing, which are more expensive (albeit portable) devices by a lot.

Question 2: To those of you who have the Chord Mojo 2, what are your favorite paired closed/open headphones? I'm considering an upgrade to the Elegias. BTW, I love the Mojo 2 as a portable device, but am not as enamored with the sound signature as I am with the Schiit Asgard 3 d/t a less spacious, less natural/"airy" presentation.

Thanks all!

 

[buke9]

Well quite a few things going on here. First off I haven’t heard the Asgard 3 yet but have heard the 2 and original but not a integrated Dac/amp version. I own a Mojo and only heard the Mojo 2 briefly at CanJam and heard the Gryphon for a short time as well but do own a iDSD Diablo.
Ok I really don’t care for the Elegia’s also so just my opinion.
A/B’ing is hard to do with a amp that is so much powerful than the others unless you can properly volume match between them just saying.
Did you go thru all the EQ settings on the Mojo2 as well ?
Look I’m not saying your wrong for you .

 

[redwoodaudio]

Well quite a few things going on here. First off I haven’t heard the Asgard 3 yet but have heard the 2 and original but not a integrated Dac/amp version. I own a Mojo and only heard the Mojo 2 briefly at CanJam and heard the Gryphon for a short time as well but do own a iDSD Diablo.
Ok I really don’t care for the Elegia’s also so just my opinion.
A/B’ing is hard to do with a amp that is so much powerful than the others unless you can properly volume match between them just saying.
Did you go thru all the EQ settings on the Mojo2 as well ?
Look I’m not saying your wrong for you .

I have no idea how good the elegias are in the scheme of things, they’re my first decent pair of phones. That being said, I like them. Looking forward to hearing more options.

Volume matching not an issue with such efficient headphones as the elegias.

I enjoy the mojo2 EQ options, particularly with the elegias, but the overall sound signature still seems a little artificial relative to the Asgard 3. I’ve owned a qutest, so I recognize a theme there. The EQ options on the Gryphon were pretty useless.

 

[wag12]

Hi all,

Proud 2-channel audiophile for several years with a high-end system (Lampizator Dac, Absolare Integrated, Graham Audio LS5/5 speakers with commensurate cables/sources). Recently stepped into head-fi world with purchase of Schiit Asgard 3 w/ ESS Dac, Focal Elegia phones, and Chord Mojo 2 portable amp/dac. Using head-fi system mostly at work. BTW, I am using an aftermarket Moo Audio Black Dragon cable with the Elegias.

Question 1: How much do you have to spend to seriously beat the Schiit Asgard 3 for sound quality? Its quite a remarkable piece of gear in my experience, although I've not directed compared it with other desktop devices. It blows away the Mojo 2 and killed the iFi xDSD Gryphon in A/B testing, which are more expensive (albeit portable) devices by a lot.

Question 2: To those of you who have the Chord Mojo 2, what are your favorite paired closed/open headphones? I'm considering an upgrade to the Elegias. BTW, I love the Mojo 2 as a portable device, but am not as enamored with the sound signature as I am with the Schiit Asgard 3 d/t a less spacious, less natural/"airy" presentation.

Thanks all!

I know I'm about 20 months too late but a friend of mine who is really into headphones and headphone amps clued me into this Fosi N3 which is a small 3.5" x 2" portable rechargeable headphone amp with built in Bluetooth. It has a 3.5mm input jack and it also can be connected using Bluetooth. It has bass boost and treble boost buttons. I've only used it with the Bluetooth connection and I'm blown away at how good it sounds with all of my headphones. I've tried it with Sennheiser HD 58X , HD 598 Cs, and Hifiman He400se and it is able to drive all of them when playing FLAC files from my computer using a Bluetooth connection with out any problems. The Fosi N3 usually sells for $50 but is now on sale on Amazon for $40. The reason I posted this here is because I just bought some new Focal Elegia headphones for $350 and I also ordered the Dekoni Custom Series Stellia-style replacement earpads so I will give you an update once I receive them on how they sound with the Fosi N3 and with my Asgard 3 and Bifrost 2 DAC.