[Traum]

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.

Would be very much interested in your impressions, especially in comparison to the Magni.

 

[disastermouse]

Quote:

Can't wait for your impressions on the HE-500!

Me too!  Me too!

 

[atbglenn]

Quote:

Schiit has been great with me.  They sent me a shipping label for an easy return, and are sending me out a replacement very soon.  No complaints here.  Excellent service.
 

Glad Jason's taking care of you! I'm sure the replacement will be amazingly silent! 

 

[bearFNF]

Bare with me here as I dont write these things for a living or anything...
 
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...

 

[Slaughter]

Hey guys, don't you think reviews and impressions would be better served in the Asgard 2 thread versus this announcement thread? This thread is going to make it harder for those in the future to find info on this amp as most people will be looking in the full size amplifier forum. Just a thought.

 

[bearFNF]

This is where they were asking for it so I posted it here.

 

[Slaughter]

Maybe everyone can copy and paste their reviews / impressions into the Asgard 2 thread. It just doesn't make much sense to have them here.

 

[bearFNF]

I actually did not know about the other thread.  I just put it in there now.

 

[NotAnAngel]

Just received my A2 a few hours ago; serial number is still below 200.
 
While I was following this thread for quite a while, after opening a box and quick listen I felt compeled to register and share as there is definitely something to say. 
 
A2 replaced my beloved Musical Fidelity V-CAN II in one of my systems (Musical Fidelity V-DAC II/V-PSU II/AudioQuest Cinnamon USB/Golden Gate RCA/Audirvana Plus), and first time I heard A2 I was pleasantly shocked on how good it sounded with Beyerdynamic DT990/600 Ohms! 
 
Sound was very clean, balanced, and neutral; it was slightly darker than V-CAN II - and this seemed to work fine with DT990. A2 managed to reproduce low level details with great precision (especially highs). Also, low frequencies were much better controlled with no boominess nor distortions (V-CAN II sometimes cannot handle these correctly).
 
I also quickly pulled Beyerdynamic T90 (only 120+ hours) from my other system (Arcam rDAC/Musical Fidelity M1HPA/AudioQuest Cinnamon USB/AudioQuest Big Sur RCA/Audirvana Plus) but intresting enough T90 sounded not very good with A2 ((dark with slight hint of muddiness; I almost preferred DT990 sound here). Usually T90  sounds very accurate, much brighter, and more open with M1HPA. But again, having only 120 hours is way low for any critical listening so I would take this with a grain of salt.
 
Transformer hum. Compared to all of my other equipment that is dead silent, A2 does have some mechanical hum, although it is not loud by any means. Sitting next to MacBook Pro, Mac's noise almost overshadows its hum. If I put my ear next to it (1/2 foot or less), I can definitely hear it.
 
Also, mine had much stronger hum when it was cold (right out of the box, 45F or so), which kind of scared me a bit, but after warming up to room temperature it was less noticeable. After 10 min of use the temperature went up much more, which made most of the hum gone. 
 
---
EDIT: Also reposted this under Asgard 2 thread

 

[KlausInDK]

Mine got to the customs in Denmark yesterday evening - next step ransom letter?

 

[MattTCG]

"On truck for delivery." 

 

[blasjw]

Just finished taking apart my Asgard 2.  Found an interesting "mod" on the bottom of the PCB.  It looks like a "scratch" that  apparently cuts three traces on the board.  Appears to be related to the gain switch.
 
 

 
 

 

[MattTCG]

Mine was waiting for me when I got home about an hour ago. Shipping was a day late due to the weather I guess. I have a good ding right on the front top corner. 

 It's not the end of the world but dang, it's brand new!! I'm kinda nutty about that stuff. It will drive me crazy. 

 

[tuna47]

Just got mine sounds great so far good bass smooth mids needs some burnin

 

[MattTCG]

So can I pre-amp out to my vintage receiver and be able to use the headphone output stage on the receiver when wanted?