Hi! Welcome to HFGF!
@Bmn1251âs advice is solid. Iâll also steer you toward the Schiit stack. I think the Asgard in particular will also be a better sonic match to your 6xx and Sundara. But, TBH, you canât really make a bad decision here. I just think the Schiit stack leaves more options on the table for you down the road.
Does the Schiit Stack sound much different from the Element?
Sorry, I am very new to this whole Audiophile world⊠I read someplaces if you have a good amp it âshouldnât sound different or color the soundâ but then I also see comments about how some headphones (in this example, HD6xx & Sundara) are a better match for something like the A3.
Really just asking for my own edification because Iâd love to gain a deeper knowledge of how this all works.
Thanks! I think I leaning towards the Schiit Stack at this point⊠I do have 1 final question about the A3 and then I am done bothering you all haha:
I have seen some comments about temperature of the Asgard when it is running for a while⊠I live in pretty warm area where it can sometimes get to 80 degrees Fahrenheit in my apartment during the summer months. Would this be a concern if the Asgard runs hot on its own?
I know you replied to @Bmn1251 but Iâll jump in here because Iâm smarter, better looking, and more humble ( 
).
No need to apologize. We were all new once!
That statement gets thrown around a lot but is quite misleading, IMO. As a theoretical target, an amp/dac/speaker/headphone/audio component shouldnât change the sound from what it sounds like in real life. The brutal truth is there is no audio system that can reproduce that in existence right now no matter how much you spend. What appears to have happened is that many manufactureres, especially with amps and dacs, are chasing measurement excellence: vanishingly low THD numbers, âflatâ frequency response, etc. In reality, solid state amps and most dacs surpassed the levels of measurements that are relevant to human hearing years ago. Now many are just one-upping each other instead of worrying about how good it sounds. Thatâs a long-winded way of saying that you simply wonât find an amp that does NOT color the sound from reality. Itâs also important to realize that even if 2 amps have virtually identical frequency response and distortion measurements they can sound quite different from each other. My direct response to your question then is, as you get further into the hobby, pay attention to what you enjoy over chasing measurements.
Yes. Some amp-and-headphone pairs (and amp-and-dac pairs, etc) do get along with each other better than other pairs. We call how well they get along âsynergy.â IMO itâs true that the A3 will likely synergize better with Sundara and 6xx than the Element, although theyâll both sound quite good. I own Asgard and 6xx and also the JDS Labs Atom which uses similar tech to Element. The Asgard responds better to the 6xxâs increased impedance in the bass and treble, ramping up its power output in those frequencies so that the 6xx sounds a little more full and extended than on the Atom/Element tech. Likewise the Asgardâs slight warm tuning and smooth treble should make a good match for the Sundaraâs neutral-bright signature.
It is fun! Iâm still learning! This forum has really knowledgeable people so feel free to ask all the questions you need.
No. The Asgard is designed to run quite hot. As long as you can properly ventilate its top panel you should be fine.
Just one you got wrong âbetter lookingâ 
You keep telling yourself that 
Throwing my 2 cents in here as I owned the El Stack 1 a while back. The EL Amp probably is one of a small few that can compete with a Schiit Asgard 3. I very slightly prefer the Asgard 3, but when you are talking price to performance, the Asgard 3 far surpasses the EL Amp, IMO.
@WaveTheory @Bmn1251 @Hazi59 Thanks for all of your input! I think I have made my decision to go for Schiit! Seems like the general consensus that I should just get the Modius over the Modi 3+, Modi 3 MB, or of the DAC options for the A3⊠Is that about right?
Youâre welcome!
I had a Modi 3 (not the 3+) and it wasnât quite to the standard Schiit has set at other price points. I havenât heard Modi MB, either. I will say though that the Modius is the overall best-sounding <$200 dac Iâve heard. It also comes with the option of scaling up to balanced amps sometime in the future. Plus, the Unison USB is really nice in that even if you switch inputs, the USB never disconnects from the computer. I find that handy. I run audio connections both from my motherboardâs optical output and USB. I use the USB for music apps that have an exclusive mode and set the optical out as the default audio device for Windows mixer. With Unison, I can play something through USB + exclusive mode, switch to web browser and hear a youtube video through the optical output by just selecting inputs on the dac. Otherwise you have to stop the music app, disable exclusive mode, watch the video, go back to music app, start exclusive modeâŠit gets complex.
Jeez, I am going down the rabbit hole faster than Michael Jordan went down that hole in Space JamâŠ
What is your reason for using 2 different output off of the same motherboard? I was planning on using USB but I just realized that my PC does have an optical output as well.
Let me put a quick 2 cents here as I own a JDS Labs Element 2. Sound-wise, I think it will do just as fine as the A3, but probably sound different, as @WaveTheory have already explained in his post. As for pairing, I would say that both DMS and Zeos have praised the pairing of the Sennheiser 600 series with the Element, so Iâm not so sure itâs a clear win for Schiit.
Also, I would say if you want to minimize desk space, Element is the way to go. Aside from an, IMO, somewhat oversized power brick, this thing is small. Itâs almost the size of my hand and yet delivers some nice and clean power.
As for heat, it does run from warm to hot depending on gain and your temperature. Now I live in Brazil and we stay between 25ÂșC and 30ÂșC for around 6 months a year, but Iâve experienced hotter things with Class A designs, so I think you should be fine.
But again, I donât think you can go wrong either way, so⊠have fun and enjoy the ride down the hole. 
Lol. Thatâs an old-school reference.
Exclusive mode bypasses Windowsâ software audio mixer. If you have multiple apps running that can all produce sound the mixer does what its name implies, mixes all the sounds together into one audio signal. This mixing often requires changing bit rates or sampling rates and adds more layers of processing to the signal. That added processing can degrade overall audio quality. Music apps with exclusive mode bypass that audio mixer and send that audio signal direct to the dac without changing it (usually, if itâs a good exclusive out - which most are - unless youâre using AmazonHD, which isnât - there are rabbitholes upon rabbitholes here). Games often engage an exclusive mode too so you donât get interupted by message notifications or the like while playing. Exclusive modes mute any other apps that arenât the one engaged in the exclusive mode. If you were playing music through Foobar2K for example in exclusive mode, you couldnât hear a youtube video in your browser. In fact, you may have to restart your web browser to re-engage its audio entirely if you launched the browser while Foobar had exclusive mode engaged. All that is a pain to manage. The approach I mentioned above was my way around that issue and makes managing multiple apps with sound easier while still giving me the option of an unaltered music audio signal.
Since you will probably ask, the difference in audio quality between the Windows mixer and exclusive mode isnât huge for most material. Windowsâs mixer is actually pretty good. However, with a lossless file of a high quality recording played back on quality audio gear, you can start to hear the benefits of exclusive mode.
@WaveTheory This has been a very productive work day and I have learned a lot 
Starting out, I think I would probably only use 1 input. I usually am just listening to music as I browse the internet. If not, I am listening to music when I am on discord and gaming with my friends and it sounds like using multiple inputs and exclusive mode my mess with my ability to hear some tunes as I chat/game⊠That is, unless I completely misunderstood what you were explaining to me.
After these conversations today, I am going to have to make a Pros/Cons list for the Schiit Stack and the Element 2 to decide because of my Type A personality lol
@WaveTheory Very solid, helpful info from you in all these recent posts. Thanks to ALL who contributed.
New member here. Just ordered an Asgard 3 with True Multibit DAC. I had the original Jot and sold it as it didnât seem as good, to my ears, as my old standby PS Audio GHCA amp and Musical Fidelity M1 DAC combo. I hope the Asgard fares better with my HD-650, B&W P9, and Audeze LCD2.
Unfortunately shipping is delayed. In the meantime I catch up on the many threads on these forums.
Welcome to the forum.
I donât have the MB module, but I can say the A3 is fantastic.
Mine does fantastic with my Aeon RT, HE-560, DT880(600ohm), HD58X, MadDogs, personally modified Fostex t40rp mkIII. The amp has plenty of power and a great sound with wide soundstage.
Newbie alert. Got here from a Z review. I just ordered the Asgard as my first amp. I have a Nad HP50, One More Trident, and a week ago I got the M570 as my first Planar. I was enjoying the Zen Dac for 6 weeks, then it just started making white noise for no reason. Found this thread and all the love for the Asgard. I am going to restart with a good amp. Hopefully ifi will replace my Zen Dac under warranty. They have been very slow to response. What sound improvement should I expect for the A3 and Zen combo?
