Asgard 3 sounds bad?

Just got an asgard 3 and van been listening to it for a bit. Unfortunately everything I listen sounds horrible now, I can’t hear vocals at all or they are very distant and echoey. The everything in general just sounds bad, like it wasn’t mixed well or something, it sounds fine just on my phone. Is this just a dud? Or do I need a dac? I know my phone isn’t the best dac but I feel like it shouldn’t sound as bad as it is.

what headphones have you used with it?

edit - also, welcome to HFG!!!

Using kph30i clears with it

So if I understand correctly, you run your phone > Asgard 3 > kph30i ?

I’m no expert in this but I think your setup is weird. The Asgard being an amp, it needs a certain level of input from the DAC. Iirc, it needs 2volts. I doubt your phone can output such voltage, and even less so with a decent current. I think it’s probably the cause of your weird sound.

To sum up: I think that the Asgard 3 needs a dedicated DAC to work correctly.

To go further, maybe you can tell us a little bit of your story: what brought you to buy an amp? I find it strange to spend that amount of money to run from a phone to a kph30i, but maybe it’s because I don’t get the whole picture.

What kind of cable(s) are you using in your setup?

Asgard 3 is a modular amp. Maybe he got it with a dac chip inside it?

Mighty_sheldor says his phone is not the best of DACs, so I guess his Asgard has no module :eye:

Yes that the correct setup, the amp isn’t really for the kph30is I have mk3 argons coming soon. I never really thought about voltage at all but that would definitely make sense

Amazon basics

Maybe look into an economical DAC? Schiit Modi, Monoprice Liquid Spark DAC or even a Topping unit.

Are you running a line-out cable from your phone to the amp?

you might want to try running a line out from your PC or laptop into the amp and see if that changes anything.

Sorry, formulated the question badly.

To give some background:

image

Phones usually have 4-pin outputs (those four rings on the jack). When you now take a 3-pin cable, that fourth pole (often microphone) is connected to Ground (pole 3).
Due to the way Electret Mics work, that 4th pole carries a so called bias voltage.

You should now see the problem since Ground + Bias Voltage is very close to the signal level of Pin 1 and 2.


Searching for “Headset Phone Adapter” should bring up plenty of cables like these:
image
Then plug your Asgard into the green socket.

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good idea Maze think Schiit especially recommends a splitter in the manual if im not wrong