This comes up occasionally. Schiit’s modular units don’t have a digital out. That’s why I advise friends just starting to get separates, allowing for easy upgrades.
Consensus seems to be:
Get the separate DAC if you have the space and the money as it has more inputs and down-the-road flexibility (and, you can get an Yggdrasil for this role :-O )
I personally love the the desktop & power strip friendly demeanor of my Asgard with MB Card.
I simply wanted to use A3 only as a dac so I said to put the gain low to have as little noise as possible, from what I understand it is not possible to use A3 only as a ""internal multibit dac
OK, now I see where you're going. I have a Schiit Modi3+ as the DAC attached to my Asgard 3 and it works very well. Of course Schiit have the Bifrost, Gungnir and Yggdrasil stand alone DACs. There's also other well known DAC brands such as Topping, Denafrips also to consider. I assume that you will be connecting them to the Rupert Neve you mentioned.
Generally, low gain is preferred, unless one is driving a high impedance/low sensitivity transducer, and head room or dynamics are insufficient with low gain.
Unneeded high gain may worsen noise floor, hiss or distortion on transducers that have too low impedance/high sensitivity. In addition, for these sensitive transducers, you get a more precise control of the volume knob while utilizing the low gain setting, rather than only using part of the volume knob with high gain (might introduce channel imbalance at lower volume positions?)
Generally, low gain is preferred, unless one is driving a high impedance/low sensitivity transducer, and head room or dynamics are insufficient with low gain.
Unneeded high gain may worsen noise floor, hiss or distortion on transducers that have too low impedance/high sensitivity. In addition, for these sensitive transducers, you get a more precise control of the volume knob while utilizing the low gain setting, rather than only using part of the volume knob with high gain (might introduce channel imbalance at lower volume positions?)
yes I am perfectly on what you say, with my xs yesterday I realized that at low gain the lows and mids were more structured and defined, then at high gain the imbalance of the channel at low volume bothers me too.
P.S. I agree 100% with your definition of the audiophile.
Generally, low gain is preferred, unless one is driving a high impedance/low sensitivity transducer, and head room or dynamics are insufficient with low gain.
Unneeded high gain may worsen noise floor, hiss or distortion on transducers that have too low impedance/high sensitivity. In addition, for these sensitive transducers, you get a more precise control of the volume knob while utilizing the low gain setting, rather than only using part of the volume knob with high gain (might introduce channel imbalance at lower volume positions?)
if you connect a headset like degree and asgard 3 high gain, turn up the volume very slowly from "0" to 1/4 volume you will have at least a minimum of channel imbalance at very low volume, hd650 is fine at high gain but hifiman xs is much better low gain.
Then there's the argument that high gain introduces more and more background noise which is a bad thing.
I used to prefer the high gain setting on all of my Schiit amps because I liked how it made them sound more upfront and vivid, similar to what adding a little bit of dynamic compression does to a mix. But I began to notice that listening fatigue would begin to set in relatively quickly, so I knew something was off. But when I would go back to listening at low gain, everything sounded a bit dull and lacking in pop when compared directly to the high gain setting. I eventually discovered that the trick was to not quickly switch back-and-forth between the gain settings but to listen to the amp in low gain for an hour or so, which allowed my brain to adjust to and also begin to enjoy the mellower, more natural sound signature, and then when I would switch back to high gain (roughly level matched with low gain), I could then more easily hear all the unwanted things that the high gain setting was adding to the sound of the music. So for me, I now prefer to keep my Schiit amps in low gain, unless the headphone and/or song requires the use of high gain to achieve the desired volume level.
But of course, there is always at least one exception to every rule, and for me, that's the NITSCH Piety. I much prefer its sound when it's set to high gain.
And sometimes, a mellower tuned headphone can actually benefit from the extra kick that the high gain setting can give it.
But to be clear, there's no wrong or right choice here. It just comes down to what sounds best to you with the headphones that you're pairing with the amp. And with some harder-to-drive headphones, high gain will be your only choice!
My three main headphones are Ananda Stealth, HD580 and HD6XX and all require high gain to sound at their best. I also have three different sets of Flare iems (R2A, Pro and Gold) and while they will run happily in high gain, using low gain and upping the volume control brings out the best in them.
I have used both hi and low settings and never noticed any difference to my ears all music being played in lossless on a MBP fed usb to Asgard 3/card (multi) then to Focal Clears or HiFiman HE 400i.
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