Out of curiosity, did you have a DAC card in your A3? I noticed mine ran significantly cooler without one. And I noticed the multibit card was hotter than the AKG or ESS chip DAC card. (Long story how I ended up trying all three.)
Sorry you had such a bad experience. My A3 and Jot2 were early production, and I have had zero issues. Really sad to see Schiit continue to struggle so much on the operations side as they have grown.
i was using a modius and Asgard 3.
wow - thatās saying something if you had heat related failures without a DAC card! I would give up and declare it a lemon as well.
FWIW - my favorite amp upgrade from the A3 was to the Lake People G111. Itās not for everyone, but itās clean and neutral (and doesnāt get the least bit warm). It can run almost anything you plug into it. Iāve been very happy switching to it from the A3. I keep a Jot2 and the G111 in my office now (Jot2 on the desk because it includes a pre-amp out, G111 next to the listening chair), and I am very happy.
I just got my jot2 today been listening to the he6se v2 all morning and afternoon so far really enjoying it coming from a thx AAA amp before this is a nice step up in dynamics and tone out of the jot 2. I bought a 2020 model A3 used with multibit dac module too and it on its way to me right now all this talk of over heating got me worried.
Has anyone tried adding more ventilation?
I realised recently that when I switch to high or low gain, there is a pop on the right driver and temporary channel imbalance. I didnāt think much of it, but when I switched the gain I noticed my right speaker cone move quite a bit during the pop (Asgard 3 is also my speaker preamp).
I looked it up and this is apparently high amounts of DC offset? I understand the popping itself can damage my speakers/headphones over time. I am not worried about this since I can just stop switching gain with speakers/headphones connected. But is there a cause for concern in other instances (during normal playback or during idle)?
Which THX amp did you have before the jot2?
I have ordered a Drop 789 because the Asgard 3 cannot power the HE6se with EQ (negative preamp). Still waiting for it to arriveā¦
I went to the Violectric amps but I have been rather curious about lake peoples higher amps as well as jot 2(or Tyr whenever that comes out.
If I was you I would change or return that amp if your main reason for getting the amp is the he6seā¦ they have enough power to get volume out he6 but not dynamics or punchā¦ The amp cause it lacks alot in the power supply so it canāt give the he6 what it needs or wants its a really harsh cold experience with thx tech combined with he6se it will most likely be fatiguing for youā¦ I have had a 789 and still currently own a sp200 they both sound exactly the same in my opinion hardly distinguishable but the sp200 has a bit more powerā¦
Weird, from the specs the 789 has more power, 6w@32ohms, no?
I got the 789 foe the HE6 because the Asgard was too weak, but i got it used for peanuts, i knew it was a long shot so i car re sell it for the same price.
I decided to try even though people say the THX is dry and boring because i use EQ, i am a bit of a basshead so i always apply a big low shelf. Maybe the THX will work then?
Which amp made thd HE6 really shine with good punch for you?
if you can get an amp thats around 2w @32 ohm rating that has the option to opamp swap, the burson v6 vivids are like made for the he6. when i first got my he6 i went down a headphone amp rollercoaster and easily one of the worst amps of all of them for the he6 was the 789. it had plenty of power for volume but not much resolving power for the bass and iāve even had amps as low as 1.5w @32 ohm (leaf audio cmd-23) with v6 vivids swapped in that were miles better than the 789. eq will only get you so far if the amp doesnāt have much resolving capabilities in my experience and no amount of eq has come close to being as effective as the v6 vivid swap iāve done in about 10 amps. just food for thought, but if itās an option for you, iād definitely say try finding an opamp rollable amp (or dac works too if you can swap the output stage). from what iāve found, the insane power demands are usually only there to keep the bass together at max driver excursion and pretty much everything i tried under $1000 had trouble at higher volumes with really low sub bass, but also had significantly better control with the burson opamps.
Wow, i will have to google a lot to understand what you just said! lol
But thanks, i will do my research.
The jot2 has slightly elevated bass it really kicks ass on drumsā¦The sp200 actually has better low end performance some say compared to the 789 but is slightly more lean sounding an even more shrill then the 789ā¦ The burson op amp and modding is something to look intoā¦ you could also look at the singxer sa-1 is supposed to be a really good pairing havenāt tried it personally because it was a tad bit above my canadian dollar budget for this yearā¦ its full class A so you get raw power on tap all the time helps bring the most out of the he6 apparentlyā¦
Are u saying any amp that uses op amps will drive the he6seās well??
No just that basically every single amp in the sub $1000 range is sterile and lifeless and absolutely do not have even a slight semblance of synergy with the he6, but that can change drastically if you swap out the opamps if itās a possibility. For instance I tried the dx7 (pro?) and it sucked. Was looking for something in an all in one for a second setup and it was awful. Right about the time I was going to return it, someone told me that the opamps were swappable and I tossed in my v6 vivids and it was a night and day transformation. Massively improved quality all around but more importantly the bass was so much more held together that I ended up keeping the dx7 for quite a while before selling it. Basically the same story with every other amp I tried that had opamp rolling as an option.
So what ur favorite amp so far you have swapped burson op amps into?
So what amps have you done this too? Ive never modded any amps circuity before but Iām definitely down to try!
Off the top of my head, Topping DX7(canāt remember if pro), A30(non pro), Aiyima A07, Douk U3, Topping entry level tiny one canāt remember name., Leaf Audio CMD-23, there were like 2 SMSL amps but I canāt for the life of me remember which ones. And a couple DACs had easy opamp sockets as well. I know thereās more but itās been a while. If I remember more Iāll add them into the list but Iām drawing a blank right now lol.
It would be great if you could remember which SMSL amps you rolled. The DA-8S perhaps? LOL!
As for the THX, I still use my SP200 almost every night. Especially now since I am running it through the TA-20. Seems to take the edge off of things. The two together make a great combo. Tubey goodness and clean powah!
That said, I have just added an SA-1 into the environment. Head to head the SA-1 is a better amp, straight up. But that TA-20 keeps the SP200 in the game. Speaking of the TA-20, The Class A output that comes from itās balanced jack is absolutely stupendous. The Elegiaās love that amp and could be the best sounding combo on the desk right now. Iām doing head-to-heads with the SA-1 to see which one will take that title!
I honestly do not think changing an op amp that the circuit is designed to accommodate would make a huge difference. In your case it did to you. Great.
From the DX7pro website:
If I read this correctly the highest power is 1.4 watts at 32 ohms. So this would be less at higher impedanceās. The HE6 is a hard to drive headphone for sureā¦and many folks think they need alot more power than 1.4 watts to drive them and they are a 50 ohms Sound Pressure Level (SPL): 83.5 dB. Pretty inefficient . So there will be even less power than the 1.4 watts at the HE6ās 50 ohms.
So there is that.
Also changing out an op amp doesnt make the amp produce more power. It can change the characteristics of the amp somewhat, its again like changing out tubes etc that many of us chase for a better or different sound.
Class A amps dont make any more power just because they are Class A, its just then are running all the time, with or without an input signal, and they have a benefit from having no cross-over distortion.
The power ārawā is just as ārawā with a Class A or AB etcā¦
IMO having these and Susvaras there are a few sub $1K headphone amps that have more power and should drive the HE6 as good as the DX7ā¦IMO Schiits Jotenheim has more power and when I tested it drove them very very well.
I also had the Burson with the classics , vivids, Sparkos, and several other op ampsā¦again no power increase just a different sound profile. In most case hard to really discern and real world differences.
Alex
:>)
I ended up pulling the trigger on Monolith Liquid platinum and geshelli J2, given the asgard 3 was DOA 4 times in a row. Will be able to do a side by side to my Magni 2/Modi 3 thankfully.
Probably ate $110+ after having to pay 15% restocking fee and $30 shipping back. not happy about that, and will likely be avoiding all Schiit products from now on.
