[adydula]

Can anyone explain in layman's terms the difference/different use cases between this and the Asgard?

Asgard can have an internal add on dac module, one of two types.
Midgard has no internal option, have to use an external dac. Like Modius E or others.

Midgard has better measurements if thats a concern and more power at the higher impedances.

Midgard has balanced inputs, Asgard does not. If thats a concern,

Both are SE outs, but Midgard has a SE Halo out with a balanced jack, but its NOT balanced.

Midgard is less in price.

Both good amps.

Alex

 

[J Ottawa]

Asgard can have an internal add on dac module, one of two types.
Midgard has no internal option, have to use an external dac. Like Modius E or others.

Midgard has better measurements if thats a concern and more power at the higher impedances.

Midgard has balanced inputs, Asgard does not. If thats a concern,

Both are SE outs, but Midgard has a SE Halo out with a balanced jack, but its NOT balanced.

Midgard is less in price.

Both good amps.

Alex

JUST One opinion with a "new" Midgard user. I'm impressed with it as my first Schiit purchase.

I much prefer external dacs since you can change and upgrade them as technology changes or improves.
I like the idea of a Headamp to do its job on its own and if there are advantages, all for the better.
In the case of Midgard you do get the Balance-in, Balance-out connections and that may yield some noise cancelling performance even if the unit is internally SE. As Schiit states, this is how many PRO audio pieces of equipment are designed and implemented.

A product like the Asgard can be great if an All In One (AIO) is a must.

Midgard gives me the itch to improve my listening experience, hence my quest for bigger and better sound.
It is considered a neutral head amplifier, hence you have the possibility to cater the sound to your liking with external devices. I'm discovering this is a huge benefit. I am sure there will be limitations to how far I can push the Midgard in this endeavour.

That said, I'm trying many different things to improve its sound and it is now fronted by my RME ADI-2 DAC FS. This allows me to adjust the sound to my liking (I could do a similar exercise with Audirvana or JRiver music players).

As for Asgard, subjectively speaking, I'm sure someone can post their experiences and configurations as an AIO unit.

I'm glad I discovered Schiit and the Midgard, and the Modius E (which I eventually sold, but a very good dac on its own).

Best of luck!

 

[J Ottawa]

well actually it does exist lol its called riverbed gold mining but trust me you wont find it fun

i hope you share with us your methods of squeezing more out of the amp.

meanwhile i am playing with dsp's and found the best entry level plugins are: equlizer by FXSound+their propriety DSPs tuned to my hearing, and then EqualizerAPO but no tas an EQ rather as low shelf/high shelf/de-Esser [just a notch filter to the 7khz and 10hkz freqs) and a specific sub-bass [rumble effect] .

pictrures attached, this setting is particularly for my TR-X00 but the EquliazerAPO settings only need to be slightly modified for different earphones.

out of trying all entry level sound processing (im not gonna build a VST suite and set it all up just for an eq, so pro level vst plugins are out of the scope of my experiments) this produced the LEAST "proccessed/overly-digital " sound and all the good stuff that eq and dsp can do for you

now i just hope i wont get crucified, being josh and all... it wasnt pleasent previous time

The EQ settings are working well Jo-JS.
More listening will be required but I like what I'm hearing = warmer presentation!

 

[Jo-JS]

The EQ settings are working well Jo-JS.
More listening will be required but I like what I'm hearing = warmer presentation!

I had an amp with an analog bass boost that I loved, all digital filters imitations caused clipping and distortion, this strange assortment of filters in eqAPO was the closest I ever got to an analogue eq. That was it's purpose. I'm glad you like it!

 

[adydula]

JUST One opinion with a "new" Midgard user. I'm impressed with it as my first Schiit purchase.

I much prefer external dacs since you can change and upgrade them as technology changes or improves.
I like the idea of a Headamp to do its job on its own and if there are advantages, all for the better.
In the case of Midgard you do get the Balance-in, Balance-out connections and that may yield some noise cancelling performance even if the unit is internally SE. As Schiit states, this is how many PRO audio pieces of equipment are designed and implemented.

A product like the Asgard can be great if an All In One (AIO) is a must.

Midgard gives me the itch to improve my listening experience, hence my quest for bigger and better sound.
It is considered a neutral head amplifier, hence you have the possibility to cater the sound to your liking with external devices. I'm discovering this is a huge benefit. I am sure there will be limitations to how far I can push the Midgard in this endeavour.

That said, I'm trying many different things to improve its sound and it is now fronted by my RME ADI-2 DAC FS. This allows me to adjust the sound to my liking (I could do a similar exercise with Audirvana or JRiver music players).

As for Asgard, subjectively speaking, I'm sure someone can post their experiences and configurations as an AIO unit.

I'm glad I discovered Schiit and the Midgard, and the Modius E (which I eventually sold, but a very good dac on its own).

Best of luck!

The balanced Pre-amps outs are nice if you want to go with a pair of monoblock amps etc..
But no remote...so for me I would rather go the separate pre-amp route, Schiit has some of these with a remote etc..
Lots of good choices here...

Alex

 

[J Ottawa]

Yes please! I'm very interested.

Saaki, sorry for the late reply.

I've been experimenting with my Midgard. Please note the following:

1. I don't have a balanced cable yet to try out the Halo effect via the 4 pin XLR connector on the front. I have ordered a cable.
2. Some of the improvements come from other members here on Head-Fi and most of what has been suggested yielded improvements (big thanks to this community).
3. The Midgard is fronted by my RME ADI-2 DAC FS (AKM 4493 version).
4. Headphones used are Neumann NDH-30.

Here goes with the way I've improved the sound.

1. Using balanced cables from RME to Midgard. While I do think that SE sounds just as good through the Midgard, there is some easiness to the volume available to make the sound seem more effortless using my XLR cables. This is a subjective comment on my part. I did use SE for awhile and it was fine; I prefer Balanced.
2. The critical warm up stage. I did leave the Midgard "on" one night and when I returned in the morning I found it sounded much better in its "warm" state. I am a firm believer it sounds better after one hour of run time from cold. YMMV.
3. I absolutely make use of the CrossFeed feature in my RME for headphone usage. I've settled at setting #1 (sometimes #2) on my RME DAC.
I remove the CrossFeed setting when listening via speakers.
4. I've settled on NOS filter setting on the RME. In all honesty, they all sound good with my fav being SD Sharp; SD LD and NOS (not in that order). It's a personal thing.
5. I have now started to make use of the PEQ on the RME to warm up the sound and this was surprising. Settings were suggestion I received here on Head-Fi and I just went with it. I could have used Audirvana's PEQ feature as well.

Here are the (some) settings that are working well with me:
1. Bass: frequency = 66 hz; bass boost = 4 to 9 db (9 was suggested and I did try it) depending on my brain and ears's mood; Q = 1.5
2. Mid-High: 7 kHz. -2.0 notch. Q =1.5
3. High: 10 kHz notch. -2.5 db. Q = 1.2
4. High: 14.3 kHz boost to compensate for NOS. gain of +3 db. Q = 1.2

6. Midgard is set in Hi-gain mode.

* As stated previously, HALO testing will begin once I received my new balanced cable.

As I type this I am currently using the RME + Midgard to power my Yamaha HS-7 speakers in near field (Crossfeed is off).
Listening to Herbert Von Karajan with the Berlin Harmonic Orchestra, Beethoven Symphonies using period specific instruments: Sounds Awesome!

 

[Jo-JS]

I see that my eqAPO filters are getting some love here so here's the whole file. i didnt know i can attach it or i'd have posted it here earlier.

like previously stated this is meant to smooth out any harshness and peaks at the post 7Khz range

two notch filters to eradicate any hisses [de-esser], may not be necessary

and the main goal, give thumpyness (sub bass) and extra warmth WITHOUT sacrificing any of the dynamic range of the music, at least to my gear and ears.

its pretty much a "catchem all" bass boost, it works well with all my different phones, unlike my actual equaliser settings (which im using a separate program that i like better than eqAPO) which does only works with ONE earphones at a time

hope you enjoy it

Josh.

 

[J Ottawa]

I see that my eqAPO filters are getting some love here so here's the whole file. i didnt know i can do it or i'd have posted it here earlier.

like previously stated this is meant to smooth out any harshness and peaks at the post 7Khz range

two noth filters to eradiscate and hisses [de-esser], may not be neccesary

and the main goal, give thumpyness (sub bass) and extra warmth WITHOUT sacrificing any of the dynamic range of the music, at least to my gear and ears.

its pretty much a "cathem all" bass boost, it works well with all my different phones, unlike my actual equaliser settings (which im using a separate program that i like better than eqAPO) which does only works with ONE earphones at a time

hope you enjoy it

Josh.

Absolutely Josh. Your input was invaluable! Thanks again.
I'm enjoying the new sound signature without having to try new boxes that sound this way or that way; for what it is worth.

 

[Jo-JS]

Absolutely Josh. Your input was invaluable! Thanks again.
I'm enjoying the new sound signature without having to try new boxes that sound this way or that way; for what it is worth.

who wouldve guessed that i saved my own ass.

my computer decided to commint Seppukku yesterday, because i uploaded my settings here, i just dled it and applied.. saving those settings saved me a LOT of time LOL

conicidentally i also, for the first time made a Playlist file for winamp three days ago containing all the FLAC files I ripped over the years, each in different SSD of course, Just in case i clicked on a flac file and it would erase the play list.. I never bothered to do this before, I had this urge three days ago, someone up there knew....

 

[InvisibleInk]

who wouldve guessed that i saved my own ass.

my computer decided to commint Seppukku yesterday, because i uploaded my settings here, i just dled it and applied.. saving those settings saved me a LOT of time LOL

conicidentally i also, for the first time made a Playlist file for winamp three days ago containing all the FLAC files I ripped over the years, each in different SSD of course, Just in case i clicked on a flac file and it would erase the play list.. I never bothered to do this before, I had this urge three days ago, someone up there knew....

There is no substitute for verifiable backups.

 

[Jo-JS]

There is no substitute for verifiable backups.

usually in my experience its neccesary in a FAFO situation, which I occasionally do, but then im prepared to lose everything, yesterday windows just decided it had enough, and it died. no system image back up worked.. had to replace the whole drive..

but like i said god or someone really likes me because three days ago i had urges to upload my soundfx and eq to here, and save all my playlist. so really nothing but some settings were gone.

 

[InvisibleInk]

usually in my experience its neccesary in a FAFO situation, which I occasionally do, but then im prepared to lose everything, yesterday windows just decided it had enough, and it died. no system image back up worked.. had to replace the whole drive..

but like i said god or someone really likes me because three days ago i had urges to upload my soundfx and eq to here, and save all my playlist. so really nothing but some settings were gone.

What a relief

 

[planx]

Hi all just wondering if anyone has experience with HE-500s. On paper they have more than enough power for HE500s but was curious how they paired with the HE-500s or similar sounding cans.

 

[anorphirith]

I received my Midgard, it sounds amazing, incredible soundstage and details. it's the best amp I've heard since my SuSy Dynahi.
I picked and ordered new capacitors for it with 4x the capacitance while having less resistance. I checked the specs of the components they should match. I also got a new higher amperage power supply.

 

[George Chronis]

Thanks!

Agreed with these. He should've done his research on the product thoroughly especially about the Halo having the same power and volume output as the SE.

Skipping to my personal experience with SE against Halo, I agree with him about 50%, but that's because I have tried the Midgard with a lot of headphones that he has used (and from Schiitr) and there are some headphones out there such as the HD650/6XX that has a very noticeable difference in the two outputs while others have negligible difference such as the DCA Aeon 2 Noires. In my experience, the Halo has never been worse sounding than the SE out, but I suspect that the Halo secret sauce is the real-time impedance matching of some headphones with wild impedance swings at certain frequencies and phase error feedback correction as well during the Halo mixed mode feedback circuit which translates to the differences in what we hear. This is pure speculation about the Halo topology and nothing I mention are facts.

How would you compare your Magnius to the Midgard on the same source being the Lokius here? I had a Magnius that I just sold and bought a Midgard. Unfortunately, the Magnius sold too quickly for me to be able to do a comparison, so it'll have to be from memory for me now and I haven't even listen to the Magnius in the past few months...