Have a Zen DAC and a Schiit Asgard to run my HD600’s. They sound great however I dislike hearing the buzz on any loud volume with the Asgard, I also can tell there’s a lot of untapped potential in the HD600’s so I’m looking to upgrade it with a tube amp. Luckily I’m within the 15 day return so I was thinking I can upgrade for cheap(ish) to the Valhalla which seems like a decent amp. Would this be a decent choice or should I try something else?
Mostly listen to Tame Impala, Men I Trust, Nirvana and lots of classical
Also I plan to upgrade the little Zen but I’m not sure if it’s worth it since it’s only a dac
Any thoughts appreciated!
I should add that I don’t plan to upgrade from my HD600’s, I know everyone says that but I mostly just have an interest in high quality audio it’s not something I think I’ll be spending much more on
If your hearing a buzz/hum from the Asgard, it’s probably not the amp, or rather it’s more likely to be the function of a ground problem on one of the components.
The Asgard shouldn’t have an audible hum at any volume you are likely to tolerate with the HD600
You should be able to verify this by disconnecting the input from the dac and turning the volume up to levels where you would hear the buzz, if it’s still there with no input connected, it’s either something wrong with the amp, or a power issue, and you should try it off a different outlet. Ideally one you know is on a different circuit.
The reason you care even if you replace the Asgard, is whatever you replace it with will probably have the same issue, until you track it down.
You’re right, there is no buzz with all the volume up except when it’s connected to my little Zen D: anything I’d be able to do to fix this?
I know it’s probably a stupid question but if I was able to resolve this would the Valhalla still be a worthy upgrade? Even without the buzzing it just feels like there’s more potential
Then it’s either a ground loop, which can be a pain to track down.
Or the Zen.
It’s hard to remote debug a ground loop, but these are the basics, a ground loop is where you have 2 sources of ground in a system that donot agree.
At the dac you have 3 grounds, the one on the power connector, the one on the RCA connector and the one on the USB connector.
The most common issue especially if everything is plugged into the same outlet is the USB connection, computers are really noisy and some of that can get into the connection.
Easiest way to test is to not use USB, but I don’t think the Zen Dac has optical or coax.
You can try different USB outs on a computer. Laptops tend to be less noisy.
I might me stupid. I tried a bunch of things and it ooks like even when the AC slot is disconnected from the unit, as long as the RCA and USB are plugged in to the Zen it will power on and seems to work the same.
Yes the issue is likely noise from the computers USB Ground.
It’s where I’d normally suggest using optical or coax from the PC, but I don’t believe the Zen DAC has the option. The issue could also be in the DAC itself.
It would be nice to try the DAC on a different computer/Laptop, or a Phones USB, to determine if it’s an issue with the DAC or the computer.
Sometimes a different USB output on the computer (especially one from a different bridge on the motherboard) can “fix” it, physically moving the DAC to a different location can rarely reduce the noise.
There are devices to isolate USB, but they are expensive and there are no guarantees they’ll fix it.
Sorry, I’m stupid. I meant to say that the Zen works perfectly fine attached via USB and cabled to the Asgard. I previously had it ALSO connected to an ac adapter to supply power. Once I removed the AC power cable, the buzzing goes away. I appreciate your help, I never would’ve tried moving things around had you not told me those things. Seeing as the issue has resolved, I’ve started the exchange process for the Valhalla, can’t wait
You can probably resolve that with one of the Hum eliminators that are sold for musical instruments.
Or in some cases just by plugging into a different wall socket.
