So listening more back and forth from asgard3/Erish with the sundaras. I would say if you want more detail focused sound the Erish is the way to go. If you want a more smoothed relaxed sound you should go asgard3.
Erish Pros: Better Bass detail and better instrument separation. Vocals very good.
Asgard3 Pros: Smoother instrument presentation. Vocals very good.
Erish Cons: Mids and highs can get sharp. Too much detail at times.
Asgard3: Muddier bass, details can get lost within other instruments.
I feel you canāt go wrong with either. Both are good at $200 each. Free shipping and no taxes at geshelli but you may have to buy a balanced cable( I paid like $35). Schiit taxes and schiit shipping. It was like $240 i think. But obviously Erish is only balanced, and asgard3 you get a pre out. Erish is A LOT smaller and you get to customize colors. Erish barely lets off any heat and the asgard3 does give off a good amount of heat.
Iām happy with both for future headphone exploration. $400-500 total for both is great but i wonder how they compare with the rnhp? Or sonething at simular price total.
If i had to choose I would pick Erish just because of the more details and forwardness.
Here is a playlist reccomendation for the sundaras if anyone wants to hear it.
nice comparison for sureā¦ I havenāt heard the erish but it having better instrument separation is interestingā¦ ive always thought this was something the asgard 3 excelled atā¦ good depth and width and lays out a good stage and separation overallā¦ so the erish must be very impressive in that regard
Enog2 I would say the erish and asgard3 are pretty close though. Erish just has that extra foward detail but that can mess with some songs. I think it just comes down to preference and genre
I actually use a Zen DAC as my DAC but like to test new headphones on its headphone output to compare non THX SS vs THX tech, and itās startling how good the iFi Hip/Zen sound, though for the Sundara Iād say you need to use the balance out. I hit max volume on SE and still donāt get all the sound I want
So going back to the 6xx on the darkvoice i feel the midrange is pretty good compared to the sundaras. Especially with instruments and their separation
Acoustic guitars and keyboard/piano really come out with the 6xx/dv combo. But all the other ranges kind of bleed together. Vocals seem to be on par with maybe a slight edge to the 6xx, but everything else is better on the sundaras. So even though vocals sound a little better in the 6xx, the implementation of music as whole with details and seperation is better on the sundaras. I really good upgrade I feel. Also comfort is way better on the sundaras. I forgot about the lower clamp force on the 6xx, my jaw already started hurting after a few songs. Then I put the sundaras on and so much more comfy.
these respond really well if you sit them on a handful of books or a speaker for a day or so a few different timesā¦ comfort will greatly improve once you get the right clamp force for your head
Iām running the Sundaras with a FiiO K5 Pro. I feel like this amp (+in-built DAC) doesnāt have enough headroom for them, for most songs I need to have gain set to highest and volume to about 75-80% to attain my preferenced loudness. But in heavy rock and metal songs, the treble often sounds dirty and unclear in busy parts. Others with better amps donāt seem to have such complaints as myself. So I do feel like Iād profit from a new amp (JDS Atom would be my choice).
I now wonder though if I should keep the K5 Pro and use it as a DAC. Is that even possible? Is that advised? I heared that the DAC is actually the least important device from oneās setup.
Well, Heresy is powerful for sure but you can also just pick up the liquid spark, Magni 3+, or JDS Atom and they all will do pretty well in terms of power as well. Also Schiit Hel, Ifi Zen Dac, and Topping MX3 are pretty nice too for combo units with quite a lot of power to them
Switching a combo unit to just a dac and plugging a regular amplifier in is indeed possible. I wouldnāt say they are very important but they do help the sound quite a bit in some cases.
Just looked at the specs again and my K5 Pro already is capable of 1W at 32ohm, so it seems it needs to be even more powerful than the JDS Atom which can deliver about the same. Schiit Heresy looks good, will consider it, thank you.
Iām just getting into all of this really, so I might be wrong on what I wroteā¦ lol. Hope I donāt make mistake again.
Hmm, I have heard from several sources that the jds atom can power the sundaras just fine on itās low gain setting it doesnāt have to be even placed into high gain. Nonetheless, I do think heresy will do very well with the sundaras being a more analytical amp you may find it more enjoyable on the highs. Personally, I preferred the Liquid spark for treble as I felt it smoothed it out and added more detail but my own preference.
I think you will be fine. Heresy is a pretty powerful amp and should drive them without any real issues.
so personally I would advise getting at least a heresy or magni 3+ā¦ on the liquid spark and zen dac (single ended) imo there isnāt enough power to get the most out of these.
if its in the budget I highly rec the asgard 3 with the sundaraā¦ thatās where you get enough power for these cans imo
I had zero issues driving these on my spark and ifi zen dac over there can drive the argons seen during zeosās review of the unit, though he may have been using the balanced plug didnāt look. Though agreed on the asgard 3 that would definitely drive it.
