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Schiit Asgard 3 Headphone Amp & DAC Review

Swtoby

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I got mine 2 weeks ago and haven't had a problem yet. I got it for Argons and it is a good match. It has been working well with my less demanding headphones also.
 

Tortie

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Got my piece of Schiit today. Hooked up to my V-DAC and HD650 the Asgard sounds super nice. I never liked my pair of HD650 which I've had since 2015 until now. My other amps never did it justice. The Asgard synergizes very well with the HD650.

Originally I had planned to sell my HD650 to cover the cost of Asgard but now? I don't think so. I'll keep them. It's a nice contrast to the Sony Z7.
 

Tortie

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Update

Returning my Asgard to Schiit for a refund. My initial impressions proved inaccurate. The Asgard sounds limp, anemic, lacks bass, lacks treble extension, lacks dynamics, lacks volume headroom, and sounds absolutely boring. The output power is too weak to drive the HD650. I had the fucking knob at 3-4 o'clock with many many albums just to get a reasonable sound pressure and still, it sounds flat and monochromatic. No punch to highs. No impact to bass notes. I could plug the HD650 into my smartphone and get the same underwhelming result. Why pay $200 to have a useless silver brick occupy one of my entertainment stand's shelf's?

Maybe I got a lemon? Who knows. Now Schiit promptly emailed me a prepaid return label. I'm relieved that there was no hassle there.
 

bb8

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I had a similar problem with my first return. To drive my Fostex TH-X00, I was at 3:00 in low gain. My Objective 2 in comparison is normally at 10:00 or 11:00 in low gain. I don't listen very loud, but didn't seem right. Second one seemed to have a lot more gain, but distortion in one channel. Have owned several Schiit products over the years, but kinda turned me off the using them in the future. They were really prompt about the returns though.
 

Veri

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Got my piece of Schiit today. Hooked up to my V-DAC and HD650 the Asgard sounds super nice. I never liked my pair of HD650 which I've had since 2015 until now. My other amps never did it justice. The Asgard synergizes very well with the HD650.

Update

Returning my Asgard to Schiit for a refund. My initial impressions proved inaccurate. The Asgard sounds limp, anemic, lacks bass, lacks treble extension, lacks dynamics, lacks volume headroom, and sounds absolutely boring. The output power is too weak to drive the HD650. I had the fucking knob at 3-4 o'clock with many many albums just to get a reasonable sound pressure and still, it sounds flat and monochromatic. No punch to highs. No impact to bass notes. I could plug the HD650 into my smartphone and get the same underwhelming result.

LOL. Sorry.. shouldn't laugh but. Do consider the A30 Pro for a very powerful amp that'll drive anything to justice ;)
 

threni

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The Asgard sounds limp, anemic, lacks bass, lacks treble extension, lacks dynamics, lacks volume headroom, and sounds absolutely boring. The output power is too weak to drive the HD650. I had the fucking knob at 3-4 o'clock with many many albums just to get a reasonable sound pressure and still, it sounds flat and monochromatic. No punch to highs. No impact to bass notes.

You're sure it was turned on?

Working fine with my HD 660S. Full volume in low gain is so loud I need to turn my E30 down.
 

bb8

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LOL. Sorry.. shouldn't laugh but. Do consider the A30 Pro for a very powerful amp that'll drive anything to justice ;)
Have you tried the A30 Pro? Just curious because it seems like it isn't out yet.
 

Veri

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Have you tried the A30 Pro? Just curious because it seems like it isn't out yet.
No. I'm only expecting it act like a much more powerful L30. That's what the measurements show, but yeah no one has one yet :p
 

Tortie

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I had a similar problem with my first return. To drive my Fostex TH-X00, I was at 3:00 in low gain. My Objective 2 in comparison is normally at 10:00 or 11:00 in low gain. I don't listen very loud, but didn't seem right. Second one seemed to have a lot more gain, but distortion in one channel. Have owned several Schiit products over the years, but kinda turned me off the using them in the future. They were really prompt about the returns though.

Oh wow so I'm definitely not the only one with this issue. I already had a Magni 3 which I strongly disliked. It had bad channel imbalance, a scratchy pot, sibilant highs, weak bass, and no depth to the sound stage. Never sounded good with my Senns and was too bright for my Sony Z7.

Then I got the Asgard thinking it would be an upgrade and it sucks even more. Even if it's a defective unit I don't want to roll the dice a third time with Schiit.
 

Jimbob54

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Update

Returning my Asgard to Schiit for a refund. My initial impressions proved inaccurate. The Asgard sounds limp, anemic, lacks bass, lacks treble extension, lacks dynamics, lacks volume headroom, and sounds absolutely boring. The output power is too weak to drive the HD650. I had the fucking knob at 3-4 o'clock with many many albums just to get a reasonable sound pressure and still, it sounds flat and monochromatic. No punch to highs. No impact to bass notes. I could plug the HD650 into my smartphone and get the same underwhelming result. Why pay $200 to have a useless silver brick occupy one of my entertainment stand's shelf's?

Maybe I got a lemon? Who knows. Now Schiit promptly emailed me a prepaid return label. I'm relieved that there was no hassle there.

Not sure how to square your 2 posts - did something change in the hour or so between? I get there is a degree of ear burn in, but this gen of amps (like DACs) should sound essentially the same as whatever you had before , just maybe more powerful. So a swing from "great" to " schiit" in an hour sounds like something got wiggled loose/ broke.

EDIT- the posts were actually days apart, not an hour or so.
 
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Tortie

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LOL. Sorry.. shouldn't laugh but. Do consider the A30 Pro for a very powerful amp that'll drive anything to justice ;)

Oh well. This is the second time I stepped in schiit. Didn't learn from my first mistake with the Magni 3. The Head-fi'ers are still singing Schiit's praises on the Asgard 3 Impressions thread. Even after my experience and @bb8 confirms it's not an isolated incident.

The recent teadown video of the Lyr 3 by YouTuber, Mark Furneaux, which revealed sloppy build quality and design issues should have been a red flag but I overlooked it because I wanted to "buy American" and I was probably a victim of the Schiit hype echo chamber at HF and SBAF. I was really hoping there was some truth to the hype.


At least the return process seems to be easy.
 

Tortie

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Not sure how to square your 2 posts - did something change in the hour or so between? I get there is a degree of ear burn in, but this gen of amps (like DACs) should sound essentially the same as whatever you had before , just maybe more powerful. So a swing from "great" to " schiit" in an hour sounds like something got wiggled loose/ broke.

My initial impression of the Asgard 3 was based only 20-45 minutes of listening. It wasn't focused listening. I was preoccupied with web browsing and checking audio settings on my PC. So it was backgro6 listening.

As I experimented with more and more albums over the next few days and listened more intently without distractions the characteristics of the Asgard began to reveal themselves more clearly. The anemic bass, bloodless midrange, and smoothed over highs became glaringly obvious and too comspicous to ignore. My ears (and likely most people) can generally adapt themselves psychoacousticly when faced with subpar sound from, for instance, high distortion bluetooth headphones, but I struggled to enjoy the Asgard 3. I just kept cranking the volume up. Hit 4 o'clock in a couple of albums and still, no dynamics, no punch, no thrills. Even the Magni managed to deliver a more lively presentation with the HD650.
 

threni

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The recent teadown video of the Lyr 3 by YouTuber, Mark Furneaux, which revealed sloppy build quality and design issues should have been a red flag but I overlooked it because I wanted to "buy American" and I was probably a victim of the Schiit hype echo chamber at HF and SBAF. I was really hoping there was some truth to the hype.

Some hype (if by hype you mean "an objectively positive review") in the original post in this thread too:

"Pair the Asgard 3 with an external DAC though and you have one of the most powerful headphone amplifiers out there especially for high impedance headphones. The results is immediate satisfaction with amazing authority to produce any level of loudness you want or need.

Assuming you leave the DAC behind, I am happy to recommend the Schiit Asgard 3 headphone amplifier."

Either something else is faulty in your audio chain or you suffer from very bad luck.
 

threni

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Keep in mind the HD660 is 150 ohm and the HD650 is 300. Power output, according to the Asgard specs roughly doubles as load impedance halves.

Sure, but it's too loud even in low gain. In high gain I never went past 12 and that was with the internal DAC module which was reviewed here as rather quiet.
 
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