Element II vs. Modius/Asgard3 stack

[jbukka0104]

I owned both of these and eventually sold the Schiit stack. The Element is more compact so it sits better on the desk, it has a switch for changing between headphones and the preamp out, and it runs much cooler.

Question about this ,actually...how hot does the A3 really get? Can get upwards of 80 degrees in my apartment during the summer time. Could that be a real concern at this kind of ambient room temperature?

 

[Zensō]

Question about this ,actually...how hot does the A3 really get? Can get upwards of 80 degrees in my apartment during the summer time. Could that be a real concern at this kind of ambient room temperature?

You could practically fry an egg on the original Asgard. The Asgard 3 runs much cooler, though it still runs hot enough that I personally didn’t like stacking it on top of other gear (though lots of people do so without issue). That said, there shouldn’t be any problem with the electronics due to the heat. The main consideration would be having the additional heat source on your desk in an already warm apartment.

 

[Zensō]

Question about this ,actually...how hot does the A3 really get? Can get upwards of 80 degrees in my apartment during the summer time. Could that be a real concern at this kind of ambient room temperature?

PS - Not sure if you saw this. Interesting review and lots of good info in the comments.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/schiit-asgard-3-headphone-amp-dac.14393/

Take a close look at the 33 ohm distortion graph toward the end of the review...

 

[jbukka0104]

Could you help me understand what this means? To me, it looks like low impedance headphones may experience more distortion on an A3... I feel like I am missing something because this would mean cans like Sundara would be distorted yet people recommend the A3 for the Sundara

 

[Zensō]

Could you help me understand what this means? To me, it looks like low impedance headphones may experience more distortion on an A3... I feel like I am missing something because this would mean cans like Sundara would be distorted yet people recommend the A3 for the Sundara

The distortion appears to be on the edge of audibility with some low impedance headphones. IMO, this amp is ideally used with high impedance headphones that need the power it provides. This post goes into detail about audibility thresholds: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-thresholds-of-amp-and-dac-measurements.5734/

 

[ClosDeLaRoche]

Some people claim the Asgard is "warmer". The measurements don't bear this out. It's highly unlikely anyone could consistently identify which is which in a level-matched blind test (even the owner/designer of Schiit has admitted to being stumped at times when comparing his own amps blind). In any case, if there are differences, they are likely to be so subtle as to be inconsequential in normal listening.

As you get more into this hobby, I think you'll find audiophiles generally have very vivid imaginations (we're all susceptible to expectation bias, it's part of being human). It's not unlike wine tasting and other pursuits that involve using our flawed senses in an attempt to detect subtle characteristics.

More on this topic:

http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2012/04/what-we-hear.html

As a wine professional I have thoughts about that wine analogy

 

[Zensō]

As a wine professional I have thoughts about that wine analogy

You must be familiar with this then...

https://freakonomics.com/2012/02/28/the-days-of-wine-and-mouses-full-transcript/

 

[Fetch_Execute_Break]

It is slightly off-topic but as a handsome German Polish guy where can I purchase a JDS Labs Element 2 in Europe?

 

[Honken]

It is slightly off-topic but as a handsome German Polish guy where can I purchase a JDS Labs Element 2 in Europe?

I never had any issues ordering directly from JDS themselves. While the shipping isn't exactly cheap, I've never had any issues with it either.

 

[Acerun]

Wouldn't it be correct that the Atom Dac/Amp that would be better performing than the Element II and for half the price?

 

[Blake Klondike]

Wouldn't it be correct that the Atom Dac/Amp that would be better performing than the Element II and for half the price?

According to JDS, both Element and Atom are transparent and Element has +1 db additional power.