[holden4th]

The replacement arrived on Friday and I set it up yesterday afternoon on my iMac coupled with the Modi3+. After going through the two manuals I set it up to play and........ nothing. Not a sound. I moved switches, I replaced RCA cables, etc with no luck. Rather than play around and get frustrated I decided I needed time to think this through. No sound at all did not make sense. I then started to ask myself, why couldn't I hear anything at all? The Modi3+ came up as a sound source on my Mac yet was this the problem.

So this afternoon I connected A3/Modi3+ to my work laptop, made sure that all switches were in the correct position, turned on the power at the wall, flicked the power switch at the back of the A3, pressed play on a YT track and ....... nothing. Now a number of you who own/ed the A3 will be nodding your heads, knowing what the issue is. I put down my HD650s, for about a minute while I poured a glass of red and it sounded like there was music coming from my cans. Yes there was, and in full glorious stereo! What? How does this happen? On a hunch I did what I should have done in the first place - RTFM - all of it! There, on the FAQ page was the answer under No Sound. The A3 has a start up delay of between 20 - 30 seconds and yesterday I switched off the power each time I made an adjustment. It never got a chance to start.

So I'll set it up tomorrow on the Mac, disconnecting my Playmate 2 first because I have one not very operational USB port.

Now I'm thinking back to the first Asgard 3 I got and wonder if they way I connected it up was the issue with the mono sound and not the amp. It's quite possibly the reason. Yesterday, I was using the RCA cables I bought specifically to connect the Modi and the Asgard. These cables are quite thick and stiff and this tended to pull them part way out of the RCA sockets on both machines. Is this why I could only hear in mono and the left channel was missing? It was the L channel that had the issue of not fully connecting yesterday. I've now got a cheapo pair working at the moment and they stay put.

 

[Ricro]

Hello everyone, total noob here, so sorry for stupid questions and long text…

For some time, I wanted to get myself some better quality headphones for gaming and music (with a stronger bass and fullness in the sound).
I've been using the SteelSeries Arctis 5 “gaming” headset for almost 3 years. They are ok for music, but when gaming I could never hear footsteps, especially ones which are further away. When they are close, it’s hard to determine the position or pinpoint, neither for footsteps nor gunshots. And of course, as a total beginner, I took the AKG K702 on as recommended by a local shop and tried them in PC input directly to my mobo.
They are complete opposite experience of these before and I didn't like the sound, in the meantime I bought a used Schiit Asgard 3 amp with integrated AKM 4490 DAC.
And so in another shop I bought Audio-Technica ATH-M50x. Which I liked because they have that punchy sound for music, and they were OK in the game, but extremely uncomfortable for the head and ears. I couldn't spend more than 45 minutes with them, so I was looking for an alternative to closed back headphones and decided on the Beyerdynamic DT770 pro 250 as a replacement for AKG 702.

At first, the sound was a bit strange, but it has a wider range of sound than mx-50, which I liked in the game and the music to some extent.

The problem started two days after with music, mostly rock or some movie trailers and games, when I could hear distortion in sound and soft crackling mostly in left. I would define it as high bass and male vocal, no mater is it quiet or loud.They are dead silence when nothing play no noise.. On a low gain, DT770 need to be set much louder in comparison to MX-50, even tho their sound is much “thinner”.

I must mention that after use of any headphones listed, I can feel slight pain in my ears(mostly right)… Is that normal considering that they are much better headphones compared to the “gaming” ones that I used to listen to really loudly but never got any pain in my ears? Had headphones tested in other outputs and that didint gave any results cause i have ground loop directly from the PC, and it seems to me that via mobile phone is ok, although the sound is really quiet and slightly warmer.

Do I have the right to suspect that Asgard 3 is not working properly? Or is the issue in me when it comes to expectations.

I thought that I could finally enjoy the sound after spending so much money on headphones and equipment.

Any advice or suggestion is welcome. Thanks in advance and sorry for my English

 

[holden4th]

When I got my Asgard3 I deliberately did not get one of the available DAC cards but opted for the stand alone Modi. I don't regret that decision. That said, the first A3 delivered would only produce sound in mono. Schiitv were great in replacing it.

Yes, it sounds as if you have a faulty A3 and this has been a problem with some of them. Contact the person who sold you the A3 to find out if it's still in warranty. If that's the case you need purchase details to return it to Schiit who I am sure will replace it.

The A3 is an amp that punches well above its weight, best wishes in getting a resolution.

 

[Ricro]

Thanks for the answers, it's probably a problem with Asgarad. In the meantime, I ordered an E30/L50 stack from Topping. And Asgard has no warranty anymore, so I'll send it to the Netherlands for service later and see what they say… Already tried 3 pairs of new headphones on it, and they all have the same issue. Hope this Topping will be better choice for me and there won't be any more problems.

 

[dankx]

I had the same issue for over a year, and I've finally located the source of the issue which is the USB-B port. When I move the USB-B cable so it has greater contact against the top of the port it no longer has any static.

 

[PointyFox]

Try a different USB cable. I've seen where some cables work on some things but not others.