Schiit Asgard 3 Headphone Amp & DAC Review

[3125b]

That could be it

To be fair their add-on boards are quite old by now and in need of updating. They are not "new" by any means.

They should to that then, the sooner the better. That kind of performance is nowhere near worth 100$ (anymore).

 

[bboris77]

Definitely DONT get the Modius unless you want an excuse to buy a balanced HPA to go with it ;-)

Oh, I know...it is a slippery slope because then I would be tempted to get the Jotunheim and so on, and I have no excuses to make that jump.

On a side note, I went through a number of Schiit's Multibit DACs including the Bifrost 2 and I liked them, but to my mind (and ears), they are all about the superb MegaComboBurrito filter which does sound unique. I just could not reconcile the fact that their intermodulation distortion is quite high, to the point that it actually may be audible. Plus my Bifrost 2 had some other issues (noise in one channel) so I returned it. When Schiit comes out with an affordable MegaComboBurrito DAC that resolves these performance issues, I will be the first to get it. Judging by their recent advancements, they are already very close, so it is just a matter of time.

 

[Jimbob54]

Oh, I know...it is a slippery slope because then I would be tempted to get the Jotunheim and so on, and I have no excuses to make that jump.

On a side note, I went through a number of Schiit's Multibit DACs including the Bifrost 2 and I liked them, but to my mind (and ears), they are all about the superb MegaComboBurrito filter which does sound unique. I just could not reconcile the fact that their intermodulation distortion is quite high, to the point that it actually may be audible. Plus my Bifrost 2 had some other issues (noise in one channel) so I returned it. When Schiit comes out with an affordable MegaComboBurrito DAC that resolves these performance issues, I will be the first to get it. Judging by their recent advancements, they are already very close, so it is just a matter of time.

Get the modius and I will sell you my surplus to requirement Jot (amp only)

 

[AudioSceptic]

It is a barebones board that would need a complete overhaul/re-design. I expect them to make new ones with Unison but not sure they will fit in legacy products, perhaps only their newest ones.. Unison takes up more PCB space than the off-the-shelf CMedia USB chip.

Thanks. I was hoping that someone knowledgeable in these matters would chip (sorry!) in.

 

[AudioSceptic]

There is absolutely no performance-related reason to get the built-in DAC when one can get the Modi 3 for the same money. The only reason would be convenience and limited desk space.

How much space is in this thing? Enough for a Khadas Toneboard?

 

[Puska]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Schiit Asgard 3 with its optional AKM4490 DAC Module. It was kindly purchased by a member and drop shipped to me for testing. By itself, the Asgard 3 costs US $199. With the optional DAC, the price becomes US $299 plus shipping.

The look is typical of Schiit products:

View attachment 71005

Power switch is unfortunately on the back. You have a choice of low gain (0 dB) and high gain. And using it as a variable pre-amp or headphone amp.

The unit is quite heavy due to inclusion of mains power supply which I like:
View attachment 71006

What I didn't like is how hot the unit runs. During testing the right side where the DAC board is, quite very hot on the bottom. The metal chassis should help with heat dissipation but still, I like to see it run cooler.

Since there is a DAC in there, let's measure that by itself first using preamp mode.

DAC Audio Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard:

View attachment 71007

Ouch! This is not good. We have a second harmonic distortion at 2 khz of nearly -90 dB which sets our SINAD (sum of noise and distortion) to almost the same value. This places the DAC in the "poor" (red) section of all DACs tested:

View attachment 71008

This must be one of the older DAC designs from DAC. As such, I am just going to quickly grind through a few more tests:

View attachment 71009

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Very poor measurements. This DAC simply is not competitive this day and age.

Headphone Amplifier Audio Measurements
Again, let's start with our dashboard, feeding the unit 2 volts and asking it to generate the same ("unity gain"):

View attachment 71012

Ah, now we are talking! This is much more respectable. Distortion is an inaudible -115 dB. Overall ranking is very good as a result:

View attachment 71013

Noise performance falls in the same category:
View attachment 71014

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Frequency response is excellent:

View attachment 71016

Output impedance is very low as well which is good:
View attachment 71017

Channel balance as you rotate the volume control is "OK" at 20 dB of attenuation:

View attachment 71018

Note that with these analog volume controls there are a lot of variations so your unit may be better or worse.

Headphone Amplifier Power Measurements
Now we get to the meat of the review to see how much power this amplifier has starting with 300 ohm load for high impedance headphones:

View attachment 71019

Interesting results. In low gain mode you have very low noise and distortion, almost approaching state of the art. If you need more power, then toggle the high power mode and boy does this thing pump out wattage! It produces 650 milliwatts which is huge. My standard for power in this test is must 100 milliwatts. There is a ton of headroom available here to drive high impedance headphones.

Switching to low impedance causes some heartburn for Asgard 3:

View attachment 71020

While low gain mode still has very low noise, distortion sets in at 10 milliwatts and climbs. High power mode is much worse but produces lots of power again at 3.4 watts.

Headphone Amplifier Listening Tests
As usual, I start with my tough to drive, low impedance (25 ohm) Ether CX headphone. I drove the Asgard 3 using its DAC input and while I had enough power to drive the CX, I was surprised that I had to max out the volume control to get it super loud. Same thing happened with Sennheiser HD650 headphone. This was puzzling.

I switching things around and drove the Asgard using my everyday RME ADI-2 DAC V2. Wow, what a transformation. I had enough power to once again cause my ear lobes to literally resonate with the bass beats! Power was clean and seemingly infinite. Yes, with the CX I got it to crackle but that was at such a level that hearing damage would occur at any moment. Overall fidelity was superb with fantastic detail, resolution and impressive bass.

It seems that the internal DAC is the older Schiit designs that only output 1.4 volts and hence can't drive the amplifier section to max power (nominal DAC output is 2 volts for RCA/unbalanced).

Conclusions
Let's dispense with the bad news first: the AKM4490 DAC simply is not performant. It doesn't measure well and produces too little output to let the amplifier spread its wings. It doesn't integrate well anyway, forcing you to still use an analog volume control with its attendant channel mismatch.

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.

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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I connected my headphone AKG 712 to a rca to 3.5 adapter connected to rca out on my Freya S. Sound is superb! Do I need other headphone amplifier?

 

[Jimbob54]

I connected my headphone AKG 712 to a rca to 3.5 adapter connected to rca out on my Freya S. Sound is superb! Do I need other headphone amplifier?

I think you answered your own question. "Sound is superb".

 

[solderdude]

Every design, especially at this price point, is a compromise of sorts

yes... this

 

[Ron Texas]

Sometimes I wonder why Schiit bothers to make stuff like this when they know how to build a decent cheap DAC?

 

[solderdude]

I connected my headphone AKG 712 to a rca to 3.5 adapter connected to rca out on my Freya S. Sound is superb! Do I need other headphone amplifier?

The output R of the Freya S is 75 Ohm. That is quite high if it were a headphone amp.
Fortunately the 60 Ohm impedance leaves almost half of the output voltage left for you and the fact that the K712 doesn't change tonality on a higher output resistance is very fortunate as well.
With 100dB/V you can play decently loud directly from the RCA out.

When you are happy with the sound and want to use it this way, why not.

 

[Puska]

I think you answered your own question. "Sound is superb".

Freya is connected with modius. I think Freya measures better then Asgard 3!

The output R of the Freya S is 75 Ohm. That is quite high if it were a headphone amp.
Fortunately the 60 Ohm impedance leaves almost half of the output voltage left for you and the fact that the K712 doesn't change tonality on a higher output resistance is very fortunate as well.
With 100dB/V you can play decently loud directly from the RCA out.

When you are happy with the sound and want to use it this way, why not.

can you please explain this in a simple English.

 

[Veri]

Freya is connected with modius. I think Freya measures better then Asgard 3!

can you please explain this in a simple English.

Freya is a pre-amp meant for further amplification. As solderdude explaining for the K712 it "works", but for many other headphones the frequency could change so beware when you change headphones. In this exact situation however, you can get away with it.

 

[LTig]

Having used a variety of different headphone amplifiers from Schiit (Magni 2U, Vali, Vali 2, Magni 3, 3+, Heresy, Valhalla 2, Lyr 3) and JDS Labs (Atom and El Amp II), I have settled on the Asgard 3 as the perfect amp for high impedance headphones (HD800S, HD600, DT150).

It might have been cheaper and faster to just buy an RME ADI-2 DAC and be done with it for good.

 

[bboris77]

It might have been cheaper and faster to just buy an RME ADI-2 DAC and be done with it for good.

Yea, but where is the fun in that?

Plus, I don't hoard equipment - I sell it. You would be shocked to see how well Schiit products preserve their value.

 

[solderdude]

can you please explain this in a simple English.

driving the K712 directly from the RCA out is not ideal, it just happens to kind-of work somewhat.
You won't break anything using it this way so if you are happy using it this way ... why not.

 

[Puska]

driving the K712 directly from the RCA out is not ideal, it just happens to kind-of work somewhat.
You won't break anything using it this way so if you are happy using it this way ... why not.

Thank you!

 

[amirm]

@amirm, when you test frequency response, do you use preamp outs or headphone jack? I’m asking because many people have remarked how this amp sounds warm and how the high gain mode makes it more trebly etc. Your measurements do not seem to support that.

It says so on the graph:

I would ignore all the subjective reviews out there.

 

[AudioSceptic]

It might have been cheaper and faster to just buy an RME ADI-2 DAC and be done with it for good.

Yes, how much does that lot add up to?

Edit: Turns out, not so much if each one is resold when a new one arrives.

 

[mhardy6647]

Interesting unit, despite some "engineering hickups" (funny term, isn't it?).

I belive that the Pontiac Aztek was an example of a styling hiccup. The stylist was sketching away, top to bottom (or maybe bottom to top) -- then, he/she/they must've hiccuped.

 

[Jimbob54]

I belive that the Pontiac Aztek was an example of a styling hiccup. The stylist was sketching away, top to bottom (or maybe bottom to top) -- then, he/she/they must've hiccuped.

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