Schiit Asgard 3 - Impressions Thread

[Sonic Defender]

While I agree that it shouldn't be assumed everyone thinks made in the US is better, I do like to see options that aren't made in China and in the past have supported Schiit, and likely will again. My issue is that the products that I am looking for, such as the FiiO Q5S are not being made by Schiit. I did own an Asgard2, a Valhalla, and a Gungnir so I like what Schiit does, in general. I doubt that they will ever get into Bluetooth, which is a shame as that is a key connectivity mode for me and at this point the quality of the Bluetooth from my Q5S is absolutely indistinguishable from the USB so Bluetooth is right there sound quality wise, again, IMO.

 

[ev666il]

For me personally, the point of "made in the USA" is more about ethics than quality. It is true that people tend to associate cheap prices with lower quality, and from there to "stuff made in China is low-fi and stuff made in the USA is hi-fi" the step is short—but that's a relatively easy cognitive bias to identify and work around. There's stuff made in China that is pretty good quality.

However, I have a problem with the general outsourcing craze where one company outsources production to cheaper places, all its rivals follow suit to stay competitive, and two things happen: People who could afford the products no longer can, for they've lost their jobs; people to whom production was outsourced can't afford the products for they're paid a pittance. The overall economic outlook of the world is a little worse off, and a few CEOs' pockets are a little heavier—except they were already rich enough they could have had anything they'd wanted; they didn't really need to boost their income further.

A company like Schiit, who keep things as much as possible in the U.S. and show everyone how it's still possible to stay competitive without outsourcing production to cheaper countries, are IMO very commendable.

 

[HumdrumPenguin]

Where do you prefer your products to be manufactured?

No preferences, as long as the product is of good quality.

 

[bradbort]

I agree. It’s nice when things are made in my home country for ease of service and such, but nothing annoys me more than folks giving more points to “made in the USA” then audio quality. I buy Schiit when its “good crap,” but only if I think it is better than others at a similar price point. The Asgard 3 meets that bar at the moment. I would not, however, buy a Sol until they iron out their quality control issues and it gets some good competitive reviews.

 

[airwhale]

There's stuff made in China that is pretty good quality.

For instance, basically anything Apple sells.

However, I have a problem with the general outsourcing craze where one company outsources production to cheaper places

I hear you. We are not only outsourcing the production and services, we are also outsourcing the profits from those activities. Sure, at a lower rate than domestically, but still. We in the western world are rapidly loosing the skills in a huge range of domains. We are becoming increasingly dependent on South-East Asia to design, build and deliver tech.

Having worked in the IT industry for 30 years, I am seeing so many negative effects of the outsourcing trend here. Also, the next generation have no interest in IT as a profession, because why bother when all the jobs will go to those nice Indian kids anyway?

they didn't really need to boost their income further.

It is a rare day when the corporate board of directors decide they have earned enough...

A company like Schiit, who keep things as much as possible in the U.S. and show everyone how it's still possible to stay competitive without outsourcing production to cheaper countries, are IMO very commendable.

Yep, agree!

 

[Old Guy8]

This is a little off Asgard 3 specific topic, but. I've had two Schiit products fail. First was a Loki that popped loudly and second was a Floor Wart broke when received. Each replaced promptly. Helps to be in same country as manufacturer.

 

[Sonic Defender]

For me personally, the point of "made in the USA" is more about ethics than quality. It is true that people tend to associate cheap prices with lower quality, and from there to "stuff made in China is low-fi and stuff made in the USA is hi-fi" the step is short—but that's a relatively easy cognitive bias to identify and work around. There's stuff made in China that is pretty good quality.

However, I have a problem with the general outsourcing craze where one company outsources production to cheaper places, all its rivals follow suit to stay competitive, and two things happen: People who could afford the products no longer can, for they've lost their jobs; people to whom production was outsourced can't afford the products for they're paid a pittance. The overall economic outlook of the world is a little worse off, and a few CEOs' pockets are a little heavier—except they were already rich enough they could have had anything they'd wanted; they didn't really need to boost their income further.

A company like Schiit, who keep things as much as possible in the U.S. and show everyone how it's still possible to stay competitive without outsourcing production to cheaper countries, are IMO very commendable.

I get you, but as I do, I would be willing to bet that very often you also elect to save money and buy the least expensive version of what you want. American's and Canadian's alike voted with our wallets to support the business models of companies like Walmart, Target etc., which created the conditions you are describing so I find it curious that while we praise Schiit, more often than not we reward companies who do not produce or benefit the domestic economy much. I doubt domestic manufacturing will ever recover in any substantial way, but hopefully I am wrong.

 

[tcellguy]

Here's a mini review of the Asgard 3.

I compared it to the Lyr 3 and Jotunheim. I mainly used the Modi 3 for the comparisons, but the conclusions also held when using the Bifrost 2. I mainly used the Aeon Flow Closed, but also spent significant time testing with the HD6XX. The Lyr 3 used the TungSol from Schiit. I tested a range of music including classical, classic rock, electronic, and metal.

Some caveats:

1. I generally prefer planars over dynamics
2. The Lyr 3 and Jotunheim are two of my favorite amps that I've heard
3. I enjoy large sound stage, but value clarity and detail in the upper mids and treble extension to a greater extent
4. I've only been in higher end audio for a couple of years

Overall, the Asgard 3 sounded to me slightly less resolving, warmer, and slightly veiled vs. the Jotunheim and Lyr 3. In many ways it adds strengths from both the Lyr 3 (sound stage) and Jotunheim (strong bass response, fast transients). It sounded great with dynamic headphones, but didn't pair very well with my MrSpeakers planars in terms of upper mids and treble detail.

All have excellent build quality, very smooth potentiometers with channel imbalance only at very low listening levels.

I'll try to break down what I heard into categories:

Sound Stage: Lyr 3 > Asgard 3 (close to Lyr 3) > Jotunheim

Bass response (slam): Jotunheim > Lyr 3 > = Asgard 3

Bass detail: Lyr 3 > Jotunheim > Asgard 3

Mids (clarity, resolution): Lyr 3 > Jotunheim > Asgard 3

Treble (extension, clarity, resolution): Lyr 3 = Jotunheim >> Asgard 3

Imaging: Lyr 3 > Jotunheim = Asgard 3

Dynamics: I'm not yet able to give a good enough description of dynamic response yet. I think they are all very dynamic sounding to me in terms of differentiation of different volume levels of different sounds.

With the AFC, the Lyr 3 is the best amp I've heard for extended time. The transients are crisp and fast, sound stage is expansive, imaging is tight, and bass response is robust. All this is achieved with ease and with the Lyr 3 it has power to spare. It's very smooth and turning up the volume keeps everything smooth without treble glare or mids shouting leading to fatigue. The Jotunhiem is similar, but adds more punch to the bass and treble, at the cost of sound stage. It's as if all the sound is collapsed into a smaller sphere, but with greater intensity. With the Asgard 3, I felt the AFC needed more power. It got very loud even at 10 o'clock on high gain. It just had this veil over the treble and upper mids that lead to a congested almost too warm sound for me (again I'm a bit of a detail treble-head). The lower mids and bass sounded great however. Detail was lower overall and resolution was less than with the Lyr 3 and Jotunheim to my ears. The main issue with the AFC was that sharp treble elements like cymbals, snare drums, etc. sounded mushy and overly damped with the Asgard 3, whereas they were sharp and realistic on the Lyr 3 and Jot. This may be related to the low impedance, but hard to drive nature of MrSpeakers headphones. I don't have other planars to test on this. Newer Hifimans might do fine.

I will say that I preferred the Asgard 3 over the THX 789 AAA.

With the HD6XX everything changed. The Asgard 3 sounded fantastic. It gave the HD6XX sub-bass! The mid bass was well controlled and very present. The HD6XX is a bit mids forward and maybe the Asgard 3 pulled that back a bit. I didn't notice any problems with the treble either. It may be that I'm not listening for as much treble detail in the HD6XX vs. the AFC. I also listened to the E-Mu Teak a bit and they sounded great as well. I still prefer the Jotunheim and Lyr 3 sound signatures overall, but the Asgard 3 is a lot of fun with dynamic headphones especially for the price.

I think for the asking price this amp is great and pairs very well with the HD6XX. The Modi 3 / Asgard 3 / HD6XX is a really amazing sounding combination for the price.

 

[XERO1]

Great review!

I posted a response in the Lyr 3 thread earlier today comparing the Asgard 3 with the Lyr 3 and I think it was pretty close to what you found in your comparison.

Here is my post:

"I currently own an Asgard 3 and have heard the Lyr 3. I also own a Lyr 2, and at one point I owned an Asgard 2.

When I directly compared the Asgard 2 and the Lyr 2 against each other, they sounded very similar but the Lyr 2 definitely pulled ahead when it came to soundstage size and vocal reproduction. I also had the LISST 'tubes' for the Lyr 2, and when I used the LISST's and compared it again with the Asgard 2, they sounded nearly identical. So the tubes seemed to be primarily responsible for the increase in soundstage and vocal quality that made the Lyr 2 sound a little better to my ear.

But the Asgard 2 was by no means outclassed by the Lyr 2. The Lyr 2 just had a little more 'tangibility' to its sound compared to the Asgard 2.

And the same is the case with the Asgard 3 and Lyr 3. On its own, the Asgard 3 sounds fantastic, but when I listened to the Lyr 3, I heard the exact same improvements over the Asgard 3 that I heard between the Asgard 2 and Lyr 2. They were relatively subtle, nothing 'night and day', but they were definitely there. To put it in numbers, I'd say the Asgard was about 90% as good as the Lyr.

Now if that last 10% is worth another $300, that's for you to decide."

 

[ev666il]

It’s very interesting to read that Lyr 3 has comparable bass slam, and better bass articulation, than Asgard 3 and Jotunheim.

My experience with tube amps is very limited, and only with speakers rather than headphones; that was back around 2010-2012. All tube amps I heard (mostly at shows, occasionally at some enthusiast’s homes) were warm, mellow, laid back—with rather loose bass. For the tight, fast bass sound that hits like a kick in the stomach (which is what I liked), one had to turn to specific brands of solid state amps. Krell was my favorite.

Perhaps I only heard a subset of warm, laid-back tube amps—or simply tube amps have changed over the years. I never thought I could be interested in a tube headphone amp, but now I’m not so sure anymore...

 

[gdpeck]

Here's a mini review of the Asgard 3.

I compared it to the Lyr 3 and Jotunheim. I mainly used the Modi 3

Great review! Is your Modi3 multi-bit or 4490? I'm looking to upgrade my desktop DAC / AMP setup and am strongly considering Asgard 3 / Modi3 (4490) / Loki.

 

[tcellguy]

I have both Modi 3 and Modi Multibit

Only tested the Asgard with the Modi 3 (AK4490) and Bifrost 2.

The Modi 3, Multibit, and Bifrost 2 each have a different sound signature. The Modi 3 is just crazy good for the price.

 

[gdpeck]

I have both Modi 3 and Modi Multibit

Only tested the Asgard with the Modi 3 (AK4490) and Bifrost 2.

The Modi 3, Multibit, and Bifrost 2 each have a different sound signature. The Modi 3 is just crazy good for the price.

Thanks for the info. I know I could do Asgard 3 Modi multibit for the same price as Asgard 3, Modi (4490), Loki, but it just seems like having the Loki around might be more fun. Primary headphones are HD6XX and current dac/amp is dragonfly black & Corda Headfive (I keep amps I like around for a looong time). Do you think I'm on the right track going foregoing multibit for EQ?

 

[HumdrumPenguin]

Thanks for the info. I know I could do Asgard 3 Modi multibit for the same price as Asgard 3, Modi (4490), Loki, but it just seems like having the Loki around might be more fun. Primary headphones are HD6XX and current dac/amp is dragonfly black & Corda Headfive (I keep amps I like around for a looong time). Do you think I'm on the right track going foregoing multibit for EQ?

My setup is composed of the Asgard 3 with the 4490 module, and the HD6XX. I really love it.

 

[gdpeck]

My setup is composed of the Asgard 3 with the 4490 module, and the HD6XX. I really love it.

All-in-one would be awesome, but I need an optical input, so the module is out for me. It does seem like Asgard 3 with Schitt 4490 is a great combo though.