[tincanear]

Hello everybody: I am new here and to headphones. I just got a pair of HD599's and love the way they sound. After reading through here I ordered the asgard3 and the 4490. It showed shipped today and I can't wait to get it. I know it sounds silly to buy an amp this powerful for these cans. But from what I have heard I probably will step up to the maybe the 650's and will have something to drive them. I use musicbee as my player so I can use the WASAPI as my source. I am not a young man so I have ripped a lot of older cd's I have as flac. I have Windows 10 and my question is will I just plug the asgard in to the USB for windows 10 to install it? Will it just bypass the onboard sound or do I have to change a setting. I am sure I will enjoy the asgard. I have enjoyed this forum already and sure there is a lot of smart people here.

general disclaimer: welcome to head-fi. too bad for your wallet...

congrats on the 4490 Asgard 3. A3 has the voltage and current to drive most headphone with ease, including IEM's, and planars, making it future-proof.

I have my A3 running from Bifrost OG multibit in Win10 19xx, so your setup experience will hopefully be similar to mine and trouble-free.

some consider the HD650/ HD6XX to be sidegrades to the HD599's. try borrowing a pair before purchasing 6XX or 650 (you may be really wanting pre-owned HD800S or something totally different for your next HP's).

good choice on ripping to flac or uncompressed (others have told sad, sad, sad stories how they ripped their entire collections to low-bitrate MP3 thinking they were done)

for Windows 10 (and there are a lot of 'flavors' e.g. version 1509...1907...20H2) so there might be some differences in the UI.
basically you want to plug the Asgard 4490 USB into the PC, wait for it to be recognized (might take a few minutes), then right click Windows icon (in lower left corner) and select Settings, then select the Sound tab, and choose from the list the Schiit 4490 DAC as your output device. be careful with the A3's volume control when getting this set up -- use the low gain setting initially (don't wan't to blow up your ears, headphones, or both)

 

[artur9]

I have Windows 10 and my question is will I just plug the asgard in to the USB for windows 10 to install it? Will it just bypass the onboard sound or do I have to change a setting. I am sure I will enjoy the asgard. I have enjoyed this forum already and sure there is a lot of smart people here.

On my Mac it shows up as an audio device and I have to select it. I don't know how different it could be under Win10.

As an aside, nothing is better than not routing the system alerts to the headphone output (at least, audio-wise). Not having my nap sessions, I mean Zoom sessions, interrupted by a system klaxon is very nice.

 

[exwhyzed01]

Does anyone know what type of DC power rails are available inside the Asgard 3, or at least what the transformer's step down voltage is? I want to wire-in a device, most likely an audio spectrum analyzer that uses DC 5V, and i don't want to have a USB jack sticking out of the back of the unit just to power it. Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided.

 

[Magic77]

Does anyone know what type of DC power rails are available inside the Asgard 3, or at least what the transformer's step down voltage is? I want to wire-in a device, most likely an audio spectrum analyzer that uses DC 5V, and i don't want to have a USB jack sticking out of the back of the unit just to power it. Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided.

I’m assuming you would need a schematic of the Asgard 3 to do something like that. I would post this in the DIY Discussion forum. Someone there may possibly know.

 

[tincanear]

Does anyone know what type of DC power rails are available inside the Asgard 3, or at least what the transformer's step down voltage is? I want to wire-in a device, most likely an audio spectrum analyzer that uses DC 5V, and i don't want to have a USB jack sticking out of the back of the unit just to power it. Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided.

how much current does this device require? might be better off powering this device separately. presumably, the line level audio signal also has to be fed into this spectrum analyzer too. even if the current can be supplied by the Asgard 3's power supply, it most likely will add electrical noise onto the A3's power supply rails, which are likely to be at least +-15V or possibly +-25V.

Are you hacking a hole into the A3's case to install this spectrum analyzer? would definitely void the warranty should the unit have problems.

IMO, you might be better off selling this one (AFAIK resale value on Schiit in Canada is pretty good) and buying an amp (perhaps a second-hand or discontinued model) from another brand that has a spectrum analyzer built in.

 

[exwhyzed01]

@ tincanear
Thank you. Yes i was planning on hacking a rectangular hole in the case. I may just do as you say and look for a used unit with a spectrum analyzer. The RME ADI-2 FS is the only one i can think of for now.

 

[ColdsnapBry]

Just want to check before I pack my asgard 3 up for RMA. The unit itself shouldn't be making any buzzing noises right? After a few months I noticed the unit makes a hum / buzz, it's pretty noticable in the dead of night. Additionally I have a hum / buzz through the headphone that I think could be related. Schiit was really helpful in replying back to me.

 

[Chastity]

Just want to check before I pack my asgard 3 up for RMA. The unit itself shouldn't be making any buzzing noises right? After a few months I noticed the unit makes a hum / buzz, it's pretty noticable in the dead of night. Additionally I have a hum / buzz through the headphone that I think could be related. Schiit was really helpful in replying back to me.

As long as it makes noise when nothing is connected, then RMA it.

 

[Josz27]

Could someone give an A2 to A3 comparison? I think I read somewhere in this thread that A2 had better female vocals, but someone could please to elaborate the differences?
How much is an upgrade overall?
Days Ago I lost a Schiit A2 at 60usd.

 

[sidpost]

...
Days Ago I lost a Schiit A2 at 60usd.

Lost, as in lost an auction? Or lost, as in stolen or forgotten on a park bench?

 

[tincanear]

Could someone give an A2 to A3 comparison? I think I read somewhere in this thread that A2 had better female vocals, but someone could please to elaborate the differences?
How much is an upgrade overall?
Days Ago I lost a Schiit A2 at 60usd.

MY $0.04:
A2 has a warmer midrange, but I find it a bit veiled sounding as well. A3 is warmer in the bass and has better detail, image left-right location of instruments and a bit less recessed on the top end. A3 runs cooler it that's an issue for you. Overall I find the A3 to be a better unit when used for well-recorded acoustic music (e.g. jazz, classical) and paired with an OG Bifrost Multibit. YMMV.

If your are driving low-impedance planars, and $199 is within your budget, then A3 is the way to go. (might be some pre-owned units avail from those upgrading to newly released Jotunheim 2, but no warranty)

If you are looking at A2, the b-stock units at $119 plus tax & shipping come with a full 5 year warranty. Yah, $60 is cheap for a used A2, but if if fails (pre-owned unit might be several years old) and blows up your headphones, have you really saved any money?

 

[Josz27]

Lost, as in lost an auction? Or lost, as in stolen or forgotten on a park bench?

A guy posted it in a FB group in where I am, basically I was the one that asked him to post it on ebay, but then for some reason(about shipping to my country) I did not finish the transaction (don't bought it), then the schiit was sold some days later

 

[Josz27]

MY $0.04:
A2 has a warmer midrange, but I find it a bit veiled sounding as well. A3 is warmer in the bass and has better detail, image left-right location of instruments and a bit less recessed on the top end. A3 runs cooler it that's an issue for you. Overall I find the A3 to be a better unit when used for well-recorded acoustic music (e.g. jazz, classical) and paired with an OG Bifrost Multibit. YMMV.

If your are driving low-impedance planars, and $199 is within your budget, then A3 is the way to go. (might be some pre-owned units avail from those upgrading to newly released Jotunheim 2, but no warranty)

If you are looking at A2, the b-stock units at $119 plus tax & shipping come with a full 5 year warranty. Yah, $60 is cheap for a used A2, but if if fails (pre-owned unit might be several years old) and blows up your headphones, have you really saved any money?

Thank you very much, I'm interested in A2/A3 for low impedance audio technicas , I don't know how common is ad900x here but that is a bright headphone that I wonder how it behaves with A2/A3 xD.

 

[tincanear]

Thank you very much, I'm interested in A2/A3 for low impedance audio technicas , I don't know how common is ad900x here but that is a bright headphone that I wonder how it behaves with A2/A3 xD.

(revised)
from the specs, AD900x is pretty efficient, so both A2 and A3 would have plenty of power for these.

just briefly tried out A2/A3 on an old pair of K702's (ear pads need replacing??) and with vocals, Mary Black, No Frontiers album, the A2 is better (A3 sounds a bit bright and bass light).

Do you already have the AD900x? And what is your DAC / source?

 

[Josz27]

(revised)
from the specs, AD900x is pretty efficient, so both A2 and A3 would have plenty of power for these.

just briefly tried out A2/A3 on an old pair of K702's (ear pads need replacing??) and with vocals, Mary Black, No Frontiers album, the A2 is better (A3 sounds a bit bright and bass light).

Do you already have the AD900x? And what is your DAC / source?

Yes I already have them, I also Have Ath a1000z , ad2000x and a Pinnacle p1 Iem.
I have as source a HRT microstreamer dac/amp, if someone tried that one would be nice to know how bright/warm is asgard in comparison.

I also Have a LGV30+ that I use with the pinnacle p1(which also would be useful to know how asgard compares to the amp section of the LG quad dac).

Recently I tried a Topping L30/D90 combo.

Unless I had some specific configuration, I found it not very musical, I compared the amp section of my HRT vs L30 and I preferred the HRT, l30 had more highs but not in a good way for me, and it was not exactly more detail for me, I found more enjoyable the sound from the HRT amp.
L30 was "sterile" sounding not very musical, not pleasant at all, at least for me.
It was surprising for me since the HRT was supposedly a bright amp, and L30 was brighter lol, and not in a good way for me.

Here comes A2/A3, which are supposedly richer amps compared to the chip driven amps like heresy, magnius,l30 .
I want a musical amp that focus in sounding good( yes I know "good" varies from person lol) , honestly while the amp sounds clean (in noise) I think it does not matter for me if the amp has 130Sinad or something like that, therefore I Prefer something focused in good Sound quality instead in just fosusing in numbers, but that's me.
I mean, if the distortion/noise of a 113sinad amp is not audible, why bother with a 121sinad amp that probably sounds worse?
That's Why I have an eye for the asgards, I think that I would prefer something that makes my musical experience better enjoyable/more fun, something with "musical sound" over something just focused in numbers that I don't find enjoyable or sounds sterile in exchange for good measurements.

EDIT:Maybe now my message is big, but I would like to add that matchup is important, and While I don't like topping L30 maybe it could be a good match with some headphones, the treble boost could help very treble shy headphones