🔷 Schiit Asgard 3

My credit card flagged purchasing from them the first time or two. Truth is their a boutique shop and a lot of assholes that have hurt credit card companies to sell the products online have had to eat the charges for fraudulent purchases. So the big issue is that Schiit is the target of fraudulent charges not you the buyer.

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I’ve had this amp for quite a few days now and am really happy with it. However, I notice that I literally can’t see my volume knob indicator (especially at night). How do the rest of you deal with this without resorting to “permanent” methods? Any particular stickers or other ideas to recommend?

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I took a red permanent marker and drew a visible dot. Works like a charm.

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I use some clear adhesive little rubber feet things and just stuck one on the dot so that I could feel it. Something kinda like this - https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01N922DLO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_-0EjFb6D5RGJT

You could probably use one of these triangular stickers

Sticko Scrapbooking Stickers, Trendy Triangles https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HY5KIS8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_a5EjFbSJWP3FH

Or these:

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This is one of my two issues with Schiit. The practically non-existent volume indicator and the power switch in the back. I bought a set of these LightDims Black Out Edition, for the Volume indicator and the white ones to dim any bright LEDs. I guess that makes it three issues hehe.

They are easily removed and do not leave any residue although they stick harder to the greyish knobs on a black amp for some reason but are still removable.

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You must use these

133875521-crazy-googly-eyes-isolated-on-white-background- (1)

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Even better :rofl:

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Bought mine B-stock and this was already applied. Looks like the previous owner had trouble seeing the indicator too

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Thanks for the replies, everyone! Ended up going with these stickers. Plan to cut out a very thin rectangular strip so that there is a very clear indicator line. I’ll try to post pictures if it turns out nice!

Looks like the silver E30 is made for the Asgard, heh. :slight_smile:

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I agree! They look gorgeous together! Sometimes I stop what I am doing just to admire my stack. =)

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@jharismaiden Agreed! Bet it SOUNDS great too! I have the e30 with jds atom and Sundaras and love it. Makes me wonder what the asgard would do, tho I don’t want to give up the crisp
detail I am getting now. Hmmm.

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These are!

Update! Finally added indicator line with sticker i bought. I think Asgard still looks handsome. My indicator dot can still be seen because I fudged up applying the sticker, but it’s not apparent unless you put your face right in front of the knob.

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Thanks! :smiley: It’s my first foray into the hifi world I suppose . After some mails ( and slightly ranting lol ) I got through with my purchase later that very day and I should be getting my first … errr second piece of gear to drive my DT 880 that I bought last month. I got the su 8 after waiting nearly 3 months from drop.
@Blu I’m from the Caribbean so I have to use a freight forwarder through miami to get most things and that gets to be very expensive then customs joins in on the fun once it lands and it just goes to shit and even “affordable” to you is quite the deliberation to me as I try to justify spending nearly 2x or sometimes 3x ( can go even higher than that! ) the cost for some entry level crap -.-

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Oh man that’s really rough… I hope you enjoy! I think it will be worth the wait at least :slight_smile:

So rather than do a “total” here is the Asgard 3 review or experience, which has been done several times already with this $199 Schitt marvel…this is just about my experience and some of the things that are important to me, my music, tastes and headphones I use day to day.

I use a lot of Schiit stuff here on daily basis. Lyr 3, Jotenheim, used to have a Vahalla 2, OG Lyr, OG Asgard and a Magnius.

One thing that i did notice with the Asgard 3 is that its no loger Class A for the most part, but the first 500 mw is “heavily biased” into Class A and and as Schiit states its like having a 1/2 watt Class A amp with a 3.5 Class AB turbo charger…hmm sound like an American Muscle car paradigm!! LOL.

What this means to me is it doesnt run “hot” enough to fry eggs on like the first generation Asgard! I stack it in my Schiit Stack and run it for hours and its just fine…no real heat issues.

The volume knob attached to a nice Blue Velvet Alps is buttery smooth…easy to adjust. One of the first things I do with a new amp is look for hum and hiss at all volume levels with both high and low gains and a wide variety of impedance headphones.

For the most part the amp is very quiet. No audible hiss heard. But one thing I did notice at first was an audible RF noise in high gain at the 3pm to full volume pot position…no other Schiit amps I have exhibited this much of RF pickup or noise!

After a little cable swapping and re-routing the RF noise went totally away. What was it. One of by Blue Jeans interconnects I have had for years was the culprit. Only one of the cable pair was at fault…I will have to take a look at this cable later…it may be its only shield connected on one end and a simple reversal of the direction its connected may fix this RF pickup. So in the end the Asgard 3 here is pretty much dead silent. No internal transformer hum or mechanical transformer lamination noise.

One minor complaint I have is the missing ON/OFF light or led on the front panel that many used to complain about as being too bright…the now usual white led is on inside the unit on the pcb and you can see this thru the ventalation holes on top. But in my stack its not well “visable”…not a big deal sonically at all…just my personal I miss that dang light!! LOL

Like most all of Schiit amps in this smaller form factor, when you lift it up it feels solid and well built. Its a very simple discrete amp with no real frills, the volume knob, the gain select switch and internal I/O or addon adapter switch if you choose to purchase. Mine is the naked Asgard 3…I use the Schiit Bifrost 2 MB dac almost exclusively…its that good IMO.

One thing when I sent back my Magnius and Modius (another story)…I requested Schiit to send me the Asgard 3…and I said color doenst matter…they sent me a silver one! It was like an expectant father not know the sex of a child before birth!! When I opend the box and immediatley said " they sent me a silver one!!" like it really mattered…I wonder what I would have said if it was the “black” version??? Hmmm.

Power wise its stated this will drive most headphones out there…and even Amos from down under even tried his Susvaras on the amp and from his review at head-fi it drove them well!

So for my first listen I used Focal Clears and my Heddphones then onto HD600’s. All were able to be palyed at very loud levels with the HEDDs being the most difficult load on the amp. With 5 watts etc there is more than enough power to do the job.

With the HEDDs i could actually turn up the volume knob to 100 % on low gain to get them to “come Alive”…this was interesting to me…I dont know if the volume pot is logrithmic or not…on the Magni’s Schiit used log tapers and it helps get you out of the low potential channel “tracking” area of a pot.
I mainly used high gain with the HEDDS at approx 9-10 volume positions. Withe the Clears Low gain and around 9 to 11 oclock positions. The Clears are an easy load more so than the HEDDS. The Senn HD600 needs to be in the high gain position and about 10 oclock.

From the volume pot settings the Jot appears to have more power…ie lower postions on the pot for the same level. This may be due to the Asgard having a log pot? I will ask Schiit this.

So the amp has a lot of power and can drive most headphones, making the amp for $199 and excellent entry level amp that will last a long time…and its a 5 year warranty!! You might say but what about the Magnius…its another good choice if you “need or want” balanced capability…but the Magnius only has a 2 yr warranty…still great but…and the Asgard makes no bones about not having balanced outs…

How does it sound…Side by side the Schiit Jot, plug and unplug. level matched they are very much the same sounding signature to me…I had a hard time telling them apart! Using only SE of of course.

A lot of Jot owners state the Jot is a warmer or softer amp…and I agree there and the Asgard IMO is pretty much similar…its like a gentle high pass filter is being employed…just a little. This pairs very nicely with "bright " headphones…makes things very musical and not fatiguing at all…nothing like the THX sterile sound signature…I dont have any Grados here ATM but this would be a nice amp for them IMO.

The Focal Clears some state has a metallic sounding high end, this amp with the Clears doesnt exhibit this “trait” for me at all…so again maybe a good match for those that experience this?

There isnt much more to say about the Asgard 3 from here…for all its improvements. 3.5X more power than Asgard 2, lower heat due to the Class A and AB design and coupled with the Continuity design to eliminate crossover distortion, an new greatly improved power supply with a 48VA transformer (2x that of Asgard 2) and more AC filtering at a cost that is $50 lower than prior Asgards makes for a brilliant amp for anyone wanting to get into this crazy headphone “thing”…and if your “Really” cheap a B-stock can be had for even less!!!

Alex
:grinning:

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I have the jote, A3 and BF2… Good stuff … Enjoyed the read…

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Can confirm that the Asgard 3 sound good with the SR80e and the Hemp LTD Edition.

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