[Rensek]

Has anyone here been able to do an A/B or other comparison between the Emotiva A-100 and the Asgard 3, with the HD6XX'S ?

Emotiva A-100 does a half watt of class A before biasing into class B, according to their tech support. As far as my ears can tell it outshines my magni 3. I am wondering how it compares to the Asgard 3.

If Asgard 3 is worlds better then it becomes a very attractive purchase for me, for office use. If the Emotiva A-100 is close to the Asgard 3 then I will have to consider a second A-100, as its a very versatile product.

I've given up on my hope that Schiit would make something similar.

 

[halozero]

Thanks for your response! I’m also getting started with headphones (my hd6xx are in the mail currently) so we’re probably on the same level of knowledge and experience on this particular front which is fine with me! If something is a noticeable improvement then it’s a noticeable improvement. If you get a few minutes (and have the ability) listen to the Ára bátur by Sigur Ros. The last couple minutes get very big and very layered and I’m wondering how clearly the Asgard separates each of the instruments as they’re added.

MiddestFi, I’ve spent more time with the setup, and included some A/B testing of Ára bátur with and without Asgard/Modi.

Source: Spotify (highest avail quality) on MacBook Air. No EQ.

6xx plugged into MacBook audio jack sounds quite good. Gradual presence of strings between 6;00 - 7:00. Choir and horns gently fading in around 7:00. Additional strings around 7:25. Crescendo of cymbals and horns at 7:45 well separated from strings and choir, as well as timpani(?)

6xx plugged into Asgard/Modi fed by MacBook USB: I still don’t have expert audiophile vocabulary to describe it, but I do experience more clarity and, I want to say “definition”.

And as you’d expect, from a sheer power standpoint, it’s a dramatic difference. Max volume with MacBook audio jack is “loud enough”. The same volume from Asgard only around half way (high gain).

Still very early, but I do wonder if I should have started with, say, a 660s straight into Mac or iPad, and added amp/dac in a future budget.

p.s. Using Global Delight’s Boom 3D app on Mac to EQ makes a huge difference. All my life I’ve boosted bass and treble on whatever equipment provided. Who knew I’d prefer to EQ similarly with this headphone setup.

 

[MiddestFi]

MiddestFi, I’ve spent more time with the setup, and included some A/B testing of Ára bátur with and without Asgard/Modi.

Source: Spotify (highest avail quality) on MacBook Air. No EQ.

6xx plugged into MacBook audio jack sounds quite good. Gradual presence of strings between 6;00 - 7:00. Choir and horns gently fading in around 7:00. Additional strings around 7:25. Crescendo of cymbals and horns at 7:45 well separated from strings and choir, as well as timpani(?)

6xx plugged into Asgard/Modi fed by MacBook USB: I still don’t have expert audiophile vocabulary to describe it, but I do experience more clarity and, I want to say “definition”.

And as you’d expect, from a sheer power standpoint, it’s a dramatic difference. Max volume with MacBook audio jack is “loud enough”. The same volume from Asgard only around half way (high gain).

Still very early, but I do wonder if I should have started with, say, a 660s straight into Mac or iPad, and added amp/dac in a future budget.

p.s. Using Global Delight’s Boom 3D app on Mac to EQ makes a huge difference. All my life I’ve boosted bass and treble on whatever equipment provided. Who knew I’d prefer to EQ similarly with this headphone setup.

Awesome. Thanks for the info! I’m still very torn between the Atom and the Asgard 3. I’m certain the atom will produce cleaner power (lower distortion, etc) albeit at half the amount but does that innately better? Will the atom be clinical? Will the Asgard be more musically engaging and will I benefit from the additional power? I DONT KNOW!

 

[rkw]

I’m certain the atom will produce cleaner power (lower distortion, etc)

What makes you so certain about that? What do you know about its design?

 

[KukoCL]

My Asgard 3 with Multibit card just arrived :3

I'll post my thoughts maybe tomorrow, I wanna try it well before posting.

So far for now, I like a lot what im getting with my HD660S and this DAC/AMP <3

 

[MiddestFi]

What makes you so certain about that? What do you know about its design?

That’s a fair question. “Almost certain” is far too strong. The Atom measures to have extremely low distortion and noise levels especially for the price (along the lines of th THX AAA789). Most Schiit product measurements I have seen have ended up with a mediocre measured THD/noise. This is however a sweeping generalization and the newly designed and improved Asgard may not have the same pitfalls. Also worth mentioning is that I do realize that measured performance is just half the equation-just because the product measures well, doesn’t mean it’s going to sound good. The opposite is true, within reason, also. If you have any insights into the matter, I’d like to hear them.

 

[KukoCL]

Hi, just want to report i was having a small problem with my Asgard 3 with multibit card on certain Windows 10 laptops.

Some times, when i clicked or moved something on screen the audio stutters when the computer loads small elements. It happens when the Schiit multibit is configured to 32b/192khz.

Installing the ASIO4All drivers inmediatelly fixed it after restarting the app where i was playing music (Tidal in my case).

In my main Desktop PC in home did never had that problem, but it's a pretty powerfull gaming computer tho.

 

[squishware]

I suspect it has more to do with your Windows box than the Asgard 3. Have you tweaked it for audio? The multibit does not resolve above 24 bit and in my opinion sounds best at 16/44.1 FLAC. Try it!

 

[KukoCL]

I suspect it has more to do with your Windows box than the Asgard 3. Have you tweaked it for audio? The multibit does not resolve above 24 bit and in my opinion sounds best at 16/44.1 FLAC. Try it!

Nope, i tweaked nothing. Just connected it in two different laptops on my work and in my main desktop PC at home.

In all of them i see the same sample rate options:

Edit: I tried in 16/44.1 as you said, and it certainly sounds "different" lol, like more warm and less air. I kinda like it more, and makes me feel a bit sad for having such high audio resolutions and i'm liking it more at standard CD quality.

Double Edit: Okay, this is driving me nuts, lol. Now i wonder if it's just me thinking i hear it different at 16/44, because isn't the multibit supposed to play the music at its original sample rate (that's the multibit part no?). I have the "exclusive mode" enabled in the device properties.

 

[KukoCL]

Well, Windows 10 was actually controlling the bitrates, that's why i heard a change when i moved the bitrate options on the device settings.

I didn't know in Tidal, when you select your DAC, it shows a "more settings" button to enable the exclusive mode for the DAC. Thought i only needed to activate it in the device settings.

Now the asgard sounds better than ever!, every track is played in its best way.

in my opinion sounds best at 16/44.1 FLAC. Try it!

Yes!, it did with Hi-Fi music in Tidal, now it does that with Hi-Fi and master and i don't have to be moving bitrates anywhere.

I feel dumb for posting this, but i hope it helps someone that didn't know about that hidden setting in Tidal to get the best of the Asgard. *facepalm*

If you don't do that, and select a Higher bitrate than the song's bitrate, it sounds more brilliant, less bass and kinda congested.

 

[ev666il]

What I found is that exclusive mode in Tidal boosts the volume by a lot—tantamount to a high gain switch. I also hate giving up on the equalization when I use it—my cans sound their best when equalized to the Harman Target Curve, IMO.

That said, my Asgard 3 is finally here and I’ll be giving it a good spin in the coming days

EDIT: I listen to pretty high volumes and when I really crank it up, the Asgard 3 has some background hum. Is anybody using a ground loop isolator with it? I'm open to suggestions.

 

[rkw]

What I found is that exclusive mode in Tidal boosts the volume by a lot—tantamount to a high gain switch. I also hate giving up on the equalization when I use it

Tidal itself doesn't boost anything. Exclusive mode causes the system (e.g. Windows) to send Tidal's stream directly (bit perfect) to the device. It is your equalizer that is lowering the volume. What are you using?

 

[ev666il]

Tidal itself doesn't boost anything. Exclusive mode causes the system (e.g. Windows) to send Tidal's stream directly (bit perfect) to the device. It is your equalizer that is lowering the volume. What are you using?

I thought I'd noticed the volume boost before I started using EQ, which would have made it odd (more so in consideration of the fact that I did not experience it with MusicBee's exclusive mode), but I tried this again yesterday without having EQ on and volume output didn't change. The only logical conclusion is that I had EQ on when I tried Exclusive mode on Tidal and noticed the boost, as you mentioned. I'm using EqualizerAPO with HeSuVi, by the way; matching the Harman Target Curve on the Focal Elegia takes a rather significant boost in the 3-4kHz region so the preamp is around -6db, which makes it pretty noticeable between on and off.

 

[sehnsucht]

EDIT: I listen to pretty high volumes and when I really crank it up, the Asgard 3 has some background hum. Is anybody using a ground loop isolator with it? I'm open to suggestions.

Using the Asgard 3 with the 4490 DAC via USB from Android (UAPP) into Sennheiser HD660S headphones (150 ohm) I hear no hum and only the very faintest of hiss in high gain on full volume.

 

[airwhale]

Finally took delivery of my Asgard 3 with Multibit card today. It was a tough couple of weeks seeing it sit in the Netherlands, just waiting for the DAC module, but now it's here. Sounds fantastic, based on all of 15 minutes streaming from Tidal HiFi. I must say I was surprised how far I had to turn the dial on Low Gain - I could easily get to 3 or 4 o'clock without getting too loud. I wonder if my AKG Q701's are a bit harder to drive than only the 62 ohm impedance suggests... Anyway, they now sound relaxed and really increased a lot in the bass. I didn't expect this much boost, but it's lovely.