New Schiit. With measurements.

[Veri]

Schiit released two new products, Bifrost 2 DAC with their new 'Unison' custom USB input,
and Asgard 3 with new modular architecture to allow for future upgrades
https://www.schiit.com/about/news/a-new-era-meet-asgard-3-and-bifrost-2

Both products come with an in-house measurement report under 'Specs' which they have done for their products since Modi3/Magni3. A nice novelty. https://www.schiit.com/products/bifrost-1 | https://www.schiit.com/products/asgard-1

Measurement-wise the Bifrost looks pretty comparable to the soekris measurements, which would mean we're looking at 90SINAD best case. For the $699 that's not very impressive performance, unless you believe in the magical claims about their new USB interface.
The Asgard looks decent at $199 but imo, it would have been a real giant-killer if it had an XLR output.. but then that would cannibalize the Jotunheim sales performance in low(0dB) gain is just about same as magni, only in high gain it trumps the magni in distortion and power.

Both come in black versions which admittedly do look good on photo:

Feel free to share your thoughts

 

[Blumlein 88]

It is schiit. Why would anyone buy schiit? Those are my thoughts. Ass-guard is an appropriate name as well.

 

[maty]

I think they are unfair comments. Now they incorporate measurements and graphs, maybe they have improved implementations.

Judging or, rather, denigrating by name / nomination is out of place, be it a company or a person.

Of course, given its past history, it is better not to be the first buyers, to experience others and comment.
But that criterion is also my norm with new products, for example the new Purifi 1ET400A.

 

[Veri]

I think they are unfair comments. Now they incorporate measurements and graphs, maybe they have improved implementations.
Judging or, rather, denigrating by name / nomination is out of place, be it a company or a person.

I dislike multibit mystification. I dislike bad grounding practices and reports of lousy customer support. I don't like the fact warranty is not transferrable (but this is not uncommon in the field).

I do like they responded well to ASR and the customer demand of measurement verification for tested performance, I like how their new products get measurement suites. I do have some concern that their former Gungnir and Yggdrasil are not getting the measurement treatment (for good reason...?).

Anyway. I don't feel we're being unfair in the least. And with a name like Schiit there's bound to be jokes of the ass guard type.

 

[maxxevv]

The headline power figures sort of catches the eye, but looking at the AP reports suggest that those figures are not exactly well controlled beyond that cited "1V " output figure. All the charts look somewhat like what the Magni 3 does.

 

[Veri]

All the charts look somewhat like what the Magni 3 does.

Yep. There is more power but if looks very "same-same" as Magni. I guess it's market segmentation, a bigger magni but not balanced in/out like Jot...
It wouldn't surprise me if it measures better than Jotunheim on the bench with proper 2V input, though. But who knows.

 

[Wombat]

I dislike multibit mystification. I dislike bad grounding practices and reports of lousy customer support. I don't like the fact warranty is not transferrable (but this is not uncommon in the field).

I do like they responded well to ASR and the customer demand of measurement verification for tested performance, I like how their new products get measurement suites. I do have some concern that their former Gungnir and Yggdrasil are not getting the measurement treatment (for good reason...?).

Anyway. I don't feel we're being unfair in the least. And with a name like Schiit there's bound to be jokes of the ass guard type.

There are too many jokeable product names to believe they aren't deliberately contrived to be snickerable. Schoolboy mentality.

 

[Veri]

There are too many jokeable product names to believe they aren't deliberately contrived to be snickerable. Schoolboy mentality.

Lots of people eat it up though, they've had plenty of success out of sheer marketing effort I'm sure. I mean they have a dedicated 'Schiit Happened' front-paged diary over at head-fi, for Schiit sake

 

[Wombat]

Lots of people eat it up though, they've had plenty of success out of sheer marketing effort I'm sure. I mean they have a dedicated 'Schiit Happened' front-paged diary over at head-fi, for Schiit sake

But if you say your Schitt is shit they don't think it funny.

 

[Cosmik]

Best of luck to everyone with expensive headphones

 

[Veri]

Best of luck to everyone with expensive headphones

Ahh. Right. This uses the same Continuity™ stage as the Lyr 3, killer of headphones.

 

[Svperstar]

Well there goes the resale value of my Asgard 2 Knew I should have put it up on Headfi 6 months ago

 

[mansr]

Ass-guard is an appropriate name as well.

Is that what buttplugs are called in America?

 

[trl]

Based on page #6 from https://www.schiit.com/public/upload/PDF/Schiit Amp APx555 Standard Test Suite_ Asgard 3.pdf I still don't get it why they don't use some sort of shielding between the transformers and the rest of the components. not saying that @-120dB someone will actually hear that mains hum, but still knowing that 2nd harmonic is @-128dB and 3rd harmonic is @-124dB and the 180Hz and 240Hz are @-118dB should be uncomfortable.

 

[trl]

Just looking over https://www.schiit.com/public/upload/PDF/Schiit DAC APx555 Standard Test Suite_ Bifrost 2.pdf (pag. 5 and pag. 28) and I see that 2nd harmonic is about 96dB away from the fundamental one. Also, linearity start bending at around -105dB (pag. 24 and pag. 47).

Asgard 3 really seems to measure pretty well, but not sure if I can say the same about the Bifrost 2.

 

[pkane]

denigrating by name / nomination is out of place, be it a company or a person.

It's completely fair to refer to a product and a company intentionally named after a bodily function as that bodily function

 

[scott wurcer]

I dislike multibit mystification.

They are still using one of those high glitch energy DAC's that do not list audio as an application (for good reason). A student in Europe designed a de-glitcher for these DAC's as a project, it was very complex. There was a failed attempt as far as 30yr. back to push them as our solution, thankfully the AD1862 guys won.

 

[Veri]

They are still using one of those high glitch energy DAC's that do not list audio as an application (for good reason). A student in Europe designed a de-glitcher for these DAC's as a project, it was very complex. There was a failed attempt as far as 30yr. back to push them as our solution, thankfully the AD1862 guys won.

That's very interesting! And a very odd choice for audio, then.

 

[wadec22]

I wouldn't buy either without them hitting amir's bench for all the obvious reasons, but I agree with @Veri - in an industry that seems to use the same few case designs and templates for everything under $300 or so, I like the black color and case design.

 

[scott wurcer]

That's very interesting! And a very odd choice for audio, then.

I case anyone is interested. I checked my archives, I'm not at liberty to post any details but the DAC they use is capable of -122dB highest harmonic at -1dB FS and linearity of +-0.05dB down to -120dB FS with the de-glitcher implemented. I expect it would add $200 or so to the price. It's too bad this design never made it into a commercial product.