[googleborg]

the fingerprints might be thermal compound that was used on the transistors to help them sink heat into the chassis better, rubbing alcohol/IPA works wonders getting rid of that

 

[kingtz]

Another member and I were wondering what those were. But yeah, I tried rubbing alcohol the other day and most of it already came. Just a few spots remain, but I'll get to those later.

 

[wgb113]

nordan,
 
My advice to anyone new to this "hobby" is to start slow.  Until you're thoroughly familiar with what you have, you won't be able to tell the differences when a new piece of gear is added.  I'd go without a DAC for the next six months to a year and "learn" the sound of your current setup.  Two things will happen during that time.  First, you'll find out what you like/don't like about it and then second, you'll know when a new piece of gear improves upon that or not.
 
It's hard to sit out on the sidelines with the magazines and websites always touting the next best thing but you, and your wallet, will be rewarded it you take it ALL in, with a grain of salt of course, in the end.
 
You've got a VERY nice setup at the moment.  Enjoy it!
 
Bill

 

[Mochan]

I would second Bill's advice.  While you can get impressions of any piece of gear with 30 minutes of listening, unless you are exceptionally gifted or a genius or just plain experienced as in "old-man experienced" you will need at least a couple of weeks of living with any piece of gear to really uncover its characteristics. 
 
There is no need to rush, sit back and enjoy the experience every time you come across a new piece of equipment.

 

[kboe]

nordan,




 




My advice to anyone new to this "hobby" is to start slow.  Until you're thoroughly familiar with what you have, you won't be able to tell the differences when a new piece of gear is added.  I'd go without a DAC for the next six months to a year and "learn" the sound of your current setup.  Two things will happen during that time.  First, you'll find out what you like/don't like about it and then second, you'll know when a new piece of gear improves upon that or not.




 




It's hard to sit out on the sidelines with the magazines and websites always touting the next best thing but you, and your wallet, will be rewarded it you take it ALL in, with a grain of salt of course, in the end.




 




You've got a VERY nice setup at the moment.  Enjoy it!




 




Bill

I was going to give my advise, but I already found it here as Bill can read my mind... That's stealing you know!

 

[nordan]

Coming back rather late to this thread but I wanted to say thanks Bill for your advice.
 
Also wanted to update the thread with my opinion of Schiit itself and their warranty service. So, unfortunately I heard something go boom inside my Asgard about a week ago. I took an electronic shop class in high school and my best guess based on how it sounded is a capacitor blew in the unit somewhere. Oddly enough... the unit still worked and I honestly couldn't hear much difference in the sound quality. The fact that you know it might be broken screws with your mind a bit but I think the bass sounded a little weaker.
 
In any case, Schiit provides a 5 year warranty so I figured I'd e-mail them and ask what they thought. I didn't demand for it to be serviced since it still worked, but Jason (co-founder) e-mailed me back within an hour well past normal business hours and insisted that I send it back, shipping costs covered. I don't know if this is the norm for warranty service for audio equipment but in IT, this is almost never the case. RMA for computer parts has always been a nightmare for me so this was a pleasant change. This was apparently also the first of their units to fail from regular use. Don't I feel special. :> I'm still waiting to hear back from Jason as to what went wrong with it. Overall, I was very pleased with the customer service and I think the peace of mind from knowing a company won't screw you over for a buck is worth quite a bit and makes the Asgard's price more than reasonable.

 

[nordan]

Well just wanted to give the last update on this. The unit was fine. Apparently the sound came from something else in my room, although it's still a mystery. Nothing here is broken and it's confusing the **** out of me. So if anyone had second thoughts about the reliability of the Asgard, there are still no field failures at this point. Considering that I had Jason go on a witch hunt for a broken part, he was really cool about the whole thing. I offered to pay for the shipping costs as I felt bad at this point, but he said don't worry about it. He even switched out the case for one of their newer ones that don't get smudged as easily. I'd give Schiit three thumbs up if it was physically possible.
 
Also, now that I've been without it, my 650's sound kind of hollow. :| Can't wait to have it back with me.

 

[kboe]

Wow, great ending!  Read it to me again.

 
Glad it worked out for ya.  Enjoy your Schiit.

 

[LeChuck]

Quote:

Also, now that I've been without it, my 650's sound kind of hollow. :| Can't wait to have it back with me.

It often works this way. You really don't realize what you're missing until you hear something better, and while it might not strike you at first, when you take away that "something better" it becomes apparent. You'll find that this hobby obsesses in the minutia of things, and you'll soon be critical of things you never cared about before. It's easy to get lost in at all, just remember (some of us forget), it's all about listening to music.

 

[kboe]

Amen brother.

 

[wgb113]

Glad to hear everything worked out for you nordan.
 
I must have picked up on kboe's advice subliminally while wandering through downtown Carrollton...had dinner at Plate's the day after I posted that!
 
Jason and the gang at Schiit are doing everything right.  I hope they realized some satisfaction in 2010 with the launch of the company and have some great announcements for us in 2011.
 
Bill

 

[Guidostrunk]

Schiit Asgard = too damn funny.

 

[sennhd6508619]

So I am new to this whole "audiophile" world and I have several questions. I just purchased the Sennheiser HD650 and they sound great but I know they must sound better if they are what everyone has been talking about on top of a 200 hour break in.
 
I have the udac-2 ordered and noticed they are rated from 16-300 ohm to power high impedance headphones with the HD650s being 300ohm. Why is it that another dedicated amp is needed if these can be powered with this dac/amp combo? Also, I keep seeing comparisons between the Schiit Asgard and the Matrix-M but from what I am reading there is minute differences between the two but I think I am leaning toward the Asgard because of where it's built and the possible customer service convenience. From a macbook would the setup be easy if I was to buy one of these amps, using the udac2 as the dedicated dac? Also, where the heck are you guys getting all these lossless FLAC and ALAC files from? Are you all really buying the CDs for every song you like? I've been rummaging through all my old CDs re-ripping them in the Apple Lossless Format but a majority of all my music was acquired from friends, downloads, etc. all of which are in the apparent lossy (rubbish) mp3 128kbps format. I'm also not sure what all the talk is with the dac, what exactly is it doing, I don't understand the whole 24/96 kHz? Oh and what exactly is the "soundstage" that I keep reading is improved with amps, cardas, etc?
 
This might sound crazy but I was at a NHL game the other day at the American Airlines center and as I'm sure you guys have heard the music at a professional sporting event, it just sounded amazing. The bass was very strong and the vocals were crystal clear. Albeit I understand these sound systems are probably in the hundreds of thousands of dollars but is that unique bassy but crystal clear "treble" reproducible with headphones or am I being overly wishful?
 
Well I know this might be long but I just really needed help being new to this world of headphones and "audiophilia."
 
Thank you...

 

[kboe]

 
 
Welcome to HeadFi and sorry about your wallet.
 
The uDAC2 should drive the 650s ok.  The Original uDAC, (which has a little more drive than the 2) drove my 250 ohm DT990s just fine.  
 
The FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, WAV and other formats are usually ripped from CDs, (yes we still do it that way).  You can also download cd quality or HiRez, (24/96 or 24/192) from websites such as Linn Records or HDTracks.  And I would submit to you that using as high quality recordings as you can will give you better results than an extra amp would.  
 
Soundstage is used differently by different people sometimes, but I would define it as the "image" your setup cast from left to right, front to back, and high to low.  This is easily heard or discerned with live concerts, symphonic recordings and studio produced rock.  These will all seem to have smaller or larger soundstages.  The Live or Symphonic recordings will seem bigger while the rock ones produced in studios my seem smaller or more closed in.
 
Let us know what else we can help you with!

 

[bmichael]

Just following up on this thread... (Funny, I spent the last two days looking for IEMs and now instead I'm gonna drop a grand on a desktop headphone rig instead.)

I want the 650s. It seems like having an amp is required, so I should go buy some Schiit. But what is this uDac thing? Does that obviate the need for an amp? How exactly does a DAC work? My source is lose less or V0 mp3s from a MacBook. Does the DAC plug into the adio port? Or is it USB?

Do I need some Schiit or should I get a DAC for the 650?