[kman1211]

The Asgard is right on the edge of that for me. Just a wee bit raspy and forward for my tastes. But otherwise excellent. I'm sure most people will love it.

The Lyr 3 did seem a bit more relaxed in the treble than the Asgard 3, with the stock tube that is, the tung-sol was slightly abrasive to my ears and actually liked it less than the stock tube despite most saying they like it more. The Asgard 3 isn't raspy to me with my T1.2's or my other headphones, so I'm happy. It is good seeing the newer Schiit amps toning that abrasiveness down.

 

[tamleo]

Honestly I found many Schiit amps including the Magni 3 to have an almost raspy somewhat abrasive sound to them. I immediately realized the Asgard 3 doesn't have this issue. The Lyr 3 and so far the Asgard 3 are the only Schiit amps i've heard I truly like the treble on. The Lyr 2, Valhalla 2, and the Magni's were all slightly abrasive to my ears, not the case with the Asgard 3 or the Lyr 3. I haven't heard the higher end Schiit amps such as the Mjolnir 1/2 and the Ragnarok 1/2. Nor have I heard the Jot.

Sold my Magni2u, Asgard2 and Mjolnir1 last year because they severely lacked of detail compared to my new Magni3. Never looked back. Though i liked the natural treble on the Asgard2, the Magni3 just made the Old amps sound hollow because of its high level of detail.
Now i can see a substitute for the Magni3, can’t wait

 

[kman1211]

Sold my Magni2u, Asgard2 and Mjolnir1 last year because they severely lacked of detail compared to my new Magni3. Never looked back. Though i liked the natural treble on the Asgard2, the Magni3 just made the Old amps sound hollow because of the high level of detail.
Now i can see a substitute for the Magni3, can’t wait

Honestly I immediately noticed more detail on the Asgard 3 compared to the Magni 3.

 

[XERO1]

Honestly I immediately noticed more detail on the Asgard 3 compared to the Magni 3.

Oh yeah. To my ear, they have a similar tonality (aka Schiit's house sound) but the Asgard 3 has significantly higher resolution capability.
I say 'capability' because the A3 will only sound as good as the recording allows it to sound. This really tripped me out, because it revealed that a lot of recordings that I had thought sounded great on other amps, were actually not quite as great as I thought they were. And then other 'great sounding recordings' now sounded better than ever.

That's the crazy thing about having an amp that is extremely transparent to the source, it really lets you hear exactly whats going on in a recording, both the good and the bad.

 

[alota]

@wushuliu your asgard is with dac?

 

[wushuliu]

@wushuliu your asgard is with dac?

No, just the amp.

 

[wushuliu]

Put some more time in on the Asgard after letting it cook for 15hrs. It's mellowed out considerably! Must admit I didn't expect it to, or at least not this much. Slight forwardness is gone, the touch of raspiness is also gone. Now it's just smooth and even, more like the typical Class A amps I've heard except with more controlled dynamics and lower noise floor. Transients stop on a dime.

 

[alota]

Put some more time in on the Asgard after letting it cook for 15hrs. It's mellowed out considerably! Must admit I didn't expect it to, or at least not this much. Slight forwardness is gone, the touch of raspiness is also gone. Now it's just smooth and even, more like the typical Class A amps I've heard except with more controlled dynamics and lower noise floor. Transients stop on a dime.

Wow really awesome for this class price

 

[RockaRolla]

Anyone able to give some impressions comparing Asgard 3 against JDS Atom and Emotiva BasX A-100?

 

[wushuliu]

Anyone able to give some impressions comparing Asgard 3 against JDS Atom and Emotiva BasX A-100?

I haven't heard those two specifically but I have a *really* hard time believing a cheap opamp-based amp like the Atom has anywhere near the sonic performance as the Asgard. Been there done that with opamps. Sterile, flat, measures great I'm sure, and probably comes with a cheap SMPS.

The Emotiva is a different animal. Looks like Class A/B amp with a headphone output section added. So good amount of power. But Emotiva's business model is basically take run of the mill Class A/B designs and repackage them in nice, affordable, decent built units. IOW, you get a little bit more than what you paid for.

Both companies also cater more to the 'it all sounds the same once level-matched' crowd. So different priorities.

IMO once you hear good Class A-biased gear, whether tubes or fets, it's really hard to go back. There are always exceptions of course (Neurochrome?).

Put another way - I have the Cavalli Liquid Spark, which is FUN. Man, I love that thing. So cute and sounds so good. It also costs $110. The Asgard is only $90 more. The Asgard 3 kills it with fire, stomps on it, grinds it bones, and eats the ashes. It should not cost $199. I've been in the hobby long enough to recognize that right away, even if it's not quite my preference sonically.

 

[Mani ATH 87]

I flicked the power switch on my Asgard 3 yesterday and for some reason the amp didn't turn on...my finger kind of slipped off the power switch when it pushed it so it was weird, but the amp was sitting in the on position and definitely wasn't on.

Hopefully that's just a strange one off and it doesn't happen again.

 

[alota]

I haven't heard those two specifically but I have a *really* hard time believing a cheap opamp-based amp like the Atom has anywhere near the sonic performance as the Asgard. Been there done that with opamps. Sterile, flat, measures great I'm sure, and probably comes with a cheap SMPS.

The Emotiva is a different animal. Looks like Class A/B amp with a headphone output section added. So good amount of power. But Emotiva's business model is basically take run of the mill Class A/B designs and repackage them in nice, affordable, decent built units. IOW, you get a little bit more than what you paid for.

Both companies also cater more to the 'it all sounds the same once level-matched' crowd. So different priorities.

IMO once you hear good Class A-biased gear, whether tubes or fets, it's really hard to go back. There are always exceptions of course (Neurochrome?).

Put another way - I have the Cavalli Liquid Spark, which is FUN. Man, I love that thing. So cute and sounds so good. It also costs $110. The Asgard is only $90 more. The Asgard 3 kills it with fire, stomps on it, grinds it bones, and eats the ashes. It should not cost $199. I've been in the hobby long enough to recognize that right away, even if it's not quite my preference sonically.

from my memory emotiva has a resistance in the headphone output. you can remove the resistance to dirve headphone like he-6. but basically like you told is an a/b amp design

 

[kman1211]

Put some more time in on the Asgard after letting it cook for 15hrs. It's mellowed out considerably! Must admit I didn't expect it to, or at least not this much. Slight forwardness is gone, the touch of raspiness is also gone. Now it's just smooth and even, more like the typical Class A amps I've heard except with more controlled dynamics and lower noise floor. Transients stop on a dime.

Yeah, like the Lyr 3 it mellowed nicely after some use. It's a very smooth sounding amp. I have to say with my modified DT 480, the headphone just sounds incredible now, which is a vert fast, and detailed headphone, it really shows the prowess, speed, and detail of the Asgard 3.

 

[XERO1]

Put some more time in on the Asgard after letting it cook for 15hrs. It's mellowed out considerably! Must admit I didn't expect it to, or at least not this much. Slight forwardness is gone, the touch of raspiness is also gone. Now it's just smooth and even, more like the typical Class A amps I've heard except with more controlled dynamics and lower noise floor. Transients stop on a dime.

Yep. I had the exact same experience. It definitely needs around 24-48 hrs of on-time before it sounds it's best. After that, it sounds great from the moment you switch it on. I don't think it needs much (if any) warm-up time.

Put another way - I have the Cavalli Liquid Spark, which is FUN. Man, I love that thing. So cute and sounds so good. It also costs $110. The Asgard is only $90 more. The Asgard 3 kills it with fire, stomps on it, grinds it bones, and eats the ashes. It should not cost $199.

Dayum! Um.... OK.

But seriously, even if it cost $299, I would still consider it to be an excellent value.
While I haven't heard every budget amp out there, I've heard enough to be confident in saying that the Asgard 3 pretty much has ZERO competition at it's current (and even it's future) price point.

 

[TommyFro]

Odd question for you guys but can anyone measure the width of the volume knob on their unit? I just ordered my Asgard 3 in black and wanted to get a volume knob that looked better than the contrasting one IMO. Thanks!