New to audio gear. Which of the two would you go with? I want to future proof myself a bit so I can upgrade headphone layer without a problem. Thanks p.
It seems people agree the A3 is the better choice. I have the A3 and the modius myself and I like it in certain situations. Pairs really well with Beyers and Sennheiser hd6xx. You can also take a look at the Jot2. It seems to be better than both the A3 and magnius. Which headphones do you have?
I currently have Meze classic 99, but want to get an open back headphone. Both the Beyer dt 1990 pro and the Focal Elex are my top picks currently.
Asgard 3 with the AKM DAC. it will provide a more fun sound. the Modius is more analytical
Hi, unless desk space is at an absolute premium, I don’t recommend either the AK or MB card over the Modius, personally. I think you’re better off either buying the Modius to pair with A3 or the Modi DAC with a MB upgrade in it. Having a separate dac and amp gives you added system flexibility (easier upgrade paths, multiple digital inputs) as a general rule. In the case of the Schiit dac modules though they have a weird quirk where they output a signal to the amp that is at a lower voltage than what a separate dac would give you, limiting the total output the amp section can provide.
IMO the Asgard 3 is the suprior amp to the Magnius overall. But, especially if you are interested in the DT1990, get the Asgard. The Magnius SE output does not perform as well at its balanced output and the DT1990 is SE only unless you mod it.
I’ve written at length about <$200 amps here:
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@WaveTheory Gotcha. Is the Asgard 3 a balanced amp?
If not, is that the only upside to the magnius?
Would meze classic 99 need balanced or single ended amp and dac. Or does it not matter? When does it matter?
( I’m super new to this, sorry if I’m not making sense lol)
WT thought to leave the A3 as just an amp is sound. getting a stack will allow you to swap DAC / Amps between themselves to play with sound profiles.
No need for apologies. We all started at 0 and had to learn.
Nope, it’s single-ended, but at its price that’s a good thing.
Headphones do not care whether they are plugged into a balanced or SE unless they are wired to only work with SE outputs. The signal they receive looks pretty much the same to them either way. The Beyer DT series is an example of their internal wiring being SE, though, so unless you rewire them (not for beginners) they must be used on the SE output of a headphone amp. The Meze and Elex are equally happy being used balanced or SE provided you have the right cables for each.
The only situation in which balanced connections matter is between your DAC and your amp. Using balanced connections there can remove external noise such as ground loops from your signal chain. However, if you have no noise issues, there should be no difference in sound quality - from a technical standpoint, they’ll probably still sound slightly different but be equal in quality - between a well-designed balanced amp and/or dac and an equally well-designed SE amp and/or dac.
The only advantage Magnius has over Asgard is that it offers the balanced connections if you have ground loop noise or something similar. Well, Magnius also runs cooler, but that shouldn’t matter in any real-world scenario. Asgard is the superior sounding amp between the two, and by a wide margin, IMO. If you develop a noise issue with a SE system, there are cheaper options than buying a balanced system, too,
I hope that is clear and helps. Happy to answer more questions when I can.
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Thank you! I think I’m going to go with the Asgard 3 and modius combo.
I’m guessing there will be additional cables needed to make this combo work. What cables would I need to make this combo work with my desktop?
Thank you for all your help!
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Awesome! That’s a really good combo to start your journey into hifi.
Cabling is straightforward. The most basic option is one short RCA stereo cable and 1 USB-A to USB-Micro-B usb cable (which should come with the Modius). The RCA connects the Asgard and Modius to each other, the USB connects computer to Modius.
You’ll see 2 micro usb ports on the back of the Modius. You can use the second one to plug into a USB wallwart (like a phone charger power brick) to give the Modius dedicated power. It’s not necessary but does increase its performance a little bit.
Another option is if your PC has an optical digital audio output is you can connect the computer and Modius via optical cable either in lieu of or in addition to the USB connection. If you use optical in lieu of USB, you MUST power the Modius with the USB wall-wart option.
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