[HumdrumPenguin]

I got my Asgard yesterday and Im really happy with it so far. I had not looked into the size of it and I was a little bit suprised at how much bigger it is compared to my Vali1. Before buying I was wondering if upgrading from a Vali would even be audible to my non audiofile ears and im happy to say that there was a real change. I put on a song and did not really get impressed right away, then I flipped the gain switch to high and turned the volume up a bit and I just started grinning like an idioit The music came to life and it just felt great. I did notice on some songs that it was a bit to bright, but I suspect that was the recording and not the amp. I use HD800 and I think they are enjoying the extra umph from the Asgard3 compared to the Vali.

I also could hear a touch of brightness, but the HD6XX I used is reasonably neutral compared to the bright HD800. Later today I'll try on my HD700, which is more in line with yours in terms of brightness, and see what happens. I'm also assuming it may be too bright to my not so magical ears.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

It's not as certain as I thought it was, but Schiit is at least considering Unison for the cards, possibly without the transformer based isolation since that seems to be the big issue in terms of making it fit. Chances are that would still be an improvement over Gen 2.x.

There is exactly zero chance that transformer isolation will fit on the Asgard 3 sized cards, sorry. And, like I said, any Unison card is at least a year out. We haven't even started working on it.

@Jason Stoddard

Is there ANY way you guys can maybe offer up add in dac cards that are spdif/optical instead of usb? Because that would be ACES, and I'd buy an Asgard 3 with optical dac input ASAP. Optical opens up a lot more versatility vs usb input, IMHO. Just.... please.

Afraid there's no plans for this, sorry. There hasn't been any significant demand for them, since pretty much all sources are USB. Out of curiousity, what versatility does optical add? Optical seems to be the least used input these days, now that Apple has abandoned it.

 

[bradbort]

It’s useful for us old fogeys who are using a streamer leading into a preamp or integrated. They often have optical or coax out. USB definitely the way to go for anyone feeding with a PC.

Still, given that for my uses I’m feeding a streamer and a CD player into a DAC, likely I’d still stick with separate DAC. Running it through the headphone amp does not seem doable, since the outputs run through the amp itself

 

[terminatetrails]

@Jason Stoddard
I have two streamers in my home setup: NAD M50 and Bluesound Node 2i, neither offers usb output. I use the AES output on the NAD to the YGGY, and the optical out of the 2i to a Mojo (for now) for my bedside hp setup. I like using the streamers rather than dealing with cables and some unreliability of streaming from my iPhone/iPad.

 

[senorx12562]

There is exactly zero chance that transformer isolation will fit on the Asgard 3 sized cards, sorry. And, like I said, any Unison card is at least a year out. We haven't even started working on it.



Afraid there's no plans for this, sorry. There hasn't been any significant demand for them, since pretty much all sources are USB. Out of curiousity, what versatility does optical add? Optical seems to be the least used input these days, now that Apple has abandoned it.

There is a guy who has asked 2 or 3 times, @Mad Lust Envy, and I think he wants to use it for a game console. Sure he will chime in.

 

[RB2021]

I will chime into say that with a modi 3 offering optical and Spdif for the same price as the card makes A3 seem like a compromised solution. I really want an all in one as clean as the Asgard 3 but for the same price or less I can get get more function when shopping against modi and magni. Just for the cleaner one box aesthetic I'm leaning towards Asgard still but the concept and implementation of the cards, while at the same time hyping unison puts it in a weird spot marketing wise. I'm trust it's a good value product especially for people like me who can't afford a bifrost 2, but I wish the cards were implemented differently or not at all. I can't even swap them with out electronics experience so it's sort of a bummer seeing Bifrost get everything.

The promise of the lyr and jot was no outdated gear and better upgrade paths but I just want to buy a product that won't make me want to upgrade in 2 years. Idk what I'm trying so say but that's my concern about pulling the trigger on Asgard right now. That and my student loan payment haha. Cheers and sorry for the ramble I'm on mobile.

Oh and optical is desirable for game consoles and televisions that out put it. Spdif sound desirable because all the marketing about USB being terrible pre unison.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Afraid there's no plans for this, sorry. There hasn't been any significant demand for them, since pretty much all sources are USB. Out of curiousity, what versatility does optical add? Optical seems to be the least used input these days, now that Apple has abandoned it.

With optical, you can connect to:

TVs directly
Home Theater AVRs
Desktop PCs
Game consoles
Other DACs that have their own processing (like say a gaming dac that has virtual surround you can feed to the optical out, like Creative's X7, etc.)

Sure we could use their analog outputs in some of these, but we'd be at the mercy of their crap internal DACs.

Basically, optical would be for gear that exceeds the scope of just basic audio playback. If you ask me, USB is quite a bit more limited than optical. With optical, literally every device connected to my TV would all work. With USB, you literally have just one device at a time generally.

Believe me, I have a gaming demographic here that would easily want something like this from you guys.

And as someone mentioned, a much cleaner aesthetic than two pieces of gear like a Modi and Asgard 3 separate. I already have a Modi 3 and Magni 3 which serve me very well, but I'd much prefer that all in one box with all the strengths of the A3. Even on my Modi 3, I only use the optical input for all my needs.

I know the HEL is coming judging from the images from the recent CanJam, but this would be more appealing for those wanting more juice and don't need chat.

Trust me, we're around.

 

[CTheE]

There is exactly zero chance that transformer isolation will fit on the Asgard 3 sized cards, sorry. And, like I said, any Unison card is at least a year out. We haven't even started working on it.



Afraid there's no plans for this, sorry. There hasn't been any significant demand for them, since pretty much all sources are USB. Out of curiousity, what versatility does optical add? Optical seems to be the least used input these days, now that Apple has abandoned it.

Hey Jason,

as you have no plans for doing this yourself - Would there be a way for letting others come up with cards that fit your products? I imagine there ought to be a way that doesn't add to your warranty rates etc. Open source hardware is still very niche, idk.

All the best,
C

 

[Clemmaster]

For sure, optical would be great for TV setups!

 

[Jason Stoddard]

With optical, you can connect to:

TVs directly
Home Theater AVRs
Desktop PCs
Game consoles
Other DACs that have their own processing (like say a gaming dac that has virtual surround you can feed to the optical out, like Creative's X7, etc.)

Sure we could use their analog outputs in some of these, but we'd be at the mercy of their crap internal DACs.

Basically, optical would be for gear that exceeds the scope of just basic audio playback. If you ask me, USB is quite a bit more limited than optical. With optical, literally every device connected to my TV would all work. With USB, you literally have just one device at a time generally.

Believe me, I have a gaming demographic here that would easily want something like this from you guys.

And as someone mentioned, a much cleaner aesthetic than two pieces of gear like a Modi and Asgard 3 separate. I already have a Modi 3 and Magni 3 which serve me very well, but I'd much prefer that all in one box with all the strengths of the A3. Even on my Modi 3, I only use the optical input for all my needs.

I know the HEL is coming judging from the images from the recent CanJam, but this would be more appealing for those wanting more juice and don't need chat.

Trust me, we're around.

I hear you. The catch is, if we do optical on a card, then USB is out. There's just not enough space on the card, I'm afraid.

Is there really a demand for a limited product like that, or would it be better to do, say, a multi-input DAC that matched the width and depth of the Asgard 3 at, say, $149-199? Then you could have 3-4 inputs and much more versatility.

 

[bradbort]

I tend to agree that squeezing all of that into a headphone amp may not be the right thing. It starts to be a mini-integrated, but limited to headphones. A separate case with lots of multiple inputs (coax and toslink, maybe two each) and only one USB could be the way to go....but you might want to do an actual survey to gauge interest (I say as a market researcher ). I also wonder if you would then have to decode Dolby and other TV specific codecs.

 

[RB2021]

I hear you. The catch is, if we do optical on a card, then USB is out. There's just not enough space on the card, I'm afraid.

Is there really a demand for a limited product like that, or would it be better to do, say, a multi-input DAC that matched the width and depth of the Asgard 3 at, say, $149-199? Then you could have 3-4 inputs and much more versatility.

Yes as much as optical would be nice, I wouldn't give up USB for it without the option to swap the cards easily myself. The modi 3 compliments the Asgard well in function but not in form.

I'd like the second option with Unison usb and user swapable cards please . A cheaper DS DAC for those who can't afford a Bifrost 2. I would just worry that it would be hard to seperate it self from the magni/modi stack. Add Bluetooth with Ldac input to compete with the Topping D50S you'd have a killer but that might be asking too much.

Imaginary Pros:
Multiple switchable inputs.
Heavier and larger with internal power brick.
Bluetooth in(a stretch)

Cons
Cost compared to modi 3.
Product line inflation.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

While that does sound great, at lot of the demographic I deal with prefers everything all in one unit, hence why an Asgard 3 with just an optical add in dac card would be sweeeeet. At least on my side of things, we deal with optical quite a lot more than we'd deal with USB, so it's not something we'd generally miss.

But I think a DAC the size of the Asgard with all those inputs would be popular in general for that price point. I'm sure there's a lot of people here that would love that if the new Bifrost is out of their league in terms of price.

If an Asgard with optical is entirely oit of the question, I'd probably, and annoyingly (lol) would buy an Asgard 3 with similar sized dac to replace the mini stack.

 

[treecloud]

Is there really a demand for a limited product like that, or would it be better to do, say, a multi-input DAC that matched the width and depth of the Asgard 3 at, say, $149-199? Then you could have 3-4 inputs and much more versatility.

Or maybe a 4490 Bifrost 2...hummm? Pretty sure that would tickle a lot of boxes...

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Or maybe a 4490 Bifrost 2...hummm? Pretty sure that would tickle a lot of boxes...

Yeah, I won't lie in saying that If I can't get the Asgard 3 all in one with optical, I think I'd get something like that myself. The Mini stack slides around too much for me and I'm constantly having to reposition the Magni back on top the Modi when I adjust the volume, lol.

Mind you, the stack is a bit out of reach so I have to overextend to adjust, so it's a personal problem. A heavy Schiit stack would benefit me for purely dumb reasons, lol.