Whats a good move up from a asgard 2

[Ekul61]

With a fiio x5 and hifiman 400 cans? Also what could a better would amp do. Thx

 

[jerick70]

Hi Ekul61,
 
I'm not sure what amps you are looking at or what your budget is.  But I will try to answer your questions.  I just updated my kit from a Asgard 2 to a Oppo HA-1 and a Little Dot MK VI+.  I like to play with tubes and SS amps at the same time.  Things that changed in this upgrade are great punch, more power, wider sound stage, greater dynamics.  I'm sure there are more differences but I've only had these for a few days.  Overall it is a much more enjoyable experience.  The HE-400, even though they are on the efficient side of orthos, love all the power they can get. The 5 watts that the Little Dot MK VI+ puts out really makes them sing!  I think that the biggest difference I notice is using a balanced headphone output.  The SE output is a lot better than the Asgard 2 on both units I have but the biggest gain is from the balanced output.
 
One amp that you may want to upgrade to is one of the Audio-GD amps.  I've heard really good things about them. They are affordable and put out a lot of power, which your HE-400 will love!  The NFB-6 looks really good and comes with balanced and SE outputs:
 
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/NFB6/NFB6EN.htm
 
My 2 cents
 
Jeff 
 
PS: One thing I forgot to mention.  The Little Dot really tames the frequency spikes that the HE-400 exhibits too.  If this bothers you you may want to look at the Little Dot.  A bit on the higher cost side, but I really think it is a very good match with the HE-400.

 

[Ekul61]

Thx jeff.. I checked it n out.unfortunately im a neebie and they all look good. When I bought my asgard. 2 I was told just buy it you cant go wrong.. I bb like that. Takes all the researchingg out. Im guessing my budget is bout 500

 

[jerick70]

Hey no problem Ekul61.  That's what this community is for.  I would definitely look at the Audio-GD stuff then.  You may even want to upgrade your DAC at the same time. This will make a huge difference in the "synergy" of your system.  If you can stretch your budget further Audio-GD has some excellent offerings with built-in DACs:
 
For DSD with ES9018 DAC chips - http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/NFB29/NFB29EN.htm
 
Doesn't support DSD but highly thought of -   http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/NFB1033/NFB10.33EN.htm 

 

[Ekul61]

Do you mean upgrade the x5. As a newb im a litle behind. The x5 holds music and is a dac.. are u suggest ing a new dac and a different music source? Thx im learning.

 

[jerick70]

 One thing I didn't ask is do you have a computer?  Or are you using the X5 only for music listening?
 
You would keep the X5 DAP for your portable needs.  Put the Audio-GD AMP/DAC on your desktop and then plug your X5 to it with the coaxial output into the Audio-GD dac.  If you have a PC use the USB connection on the Audio-GD to connect to that.  Or you can use the X5 DAC by plugging into the RCA connections on the Audio-GD.  The DAC in the Audio-GD will be much better that the DAC on the X5.

 

[Ekul61]

Are u saying I can use my x5 as a source bypassing its dac function .
laptop and ipad. No desktop thx.

 

[jerick70]

You can use the X5 in two ways as a source.  1) connected to the coaxial connection to the DAC of the Audio-GD or 2) bypass the Audio-GD DAC by plugging the X5 into one of the RCA analog connections.  The connection that I recommend is connecting from coax to the audio-gd.  The Audio-GD has a much better DAC.
 
You can use the USB DAC connection on the Audio-GD to connect your laptop and play music from there.     

 

[Ekul61]

Is the audio gd one piece or 2....thx I think I need to read up. Give me a call sometime. I just have a few basic questions which are hard to google.

 

[jerick70]

The audio-gd's that I listed are one piece. They are desktop friendly too with a small footprint.

 

[jerick70]

PM me your phone number and I'll give you a call.