Looking to hear what others think between these two. Currently have a pair of 660s and 400i and looking to upgrade my current setup of an Audio Engine D1 and Schiit Magni 3. I know the topping is considered balanced out but is it really balanced if the dac and amp don’t have balanced input/output. Although I have also not heard good thing about the Schiits SE performance. I am torn between the two choices.
if you want a warmer sound, the Schiit stack.
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What about in terms of imaging and soundstage?
I don’t have answers for that…but realistically, you won’t go wrong with either. however, you will get much better service / support from Schiit, being they’re in the US. a bonus to the Schiit stack is the ability to add the Asgard 3, a hybrid tube, at a later date and keep the same size / form factor.
What is a “warm” sound though? AFAIK frequency response measures near perfectly linear, so what is “warm” in context of amps?
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it denotes the exact same thing as warmth from a DAC…however, from a SS amp, it’s not as pronounced as a OTL tube, or even a hybrid tube amp like the Asgard 3.
The magnius modius is pretty neutral clean, not something I would really call warm, the modius does relax the magnius a bit but it’s still more neutral than warm
Both stacks will be sharper imaging wise, but the schiit is a bit wider, neither really have much depth or that great placement imo
Asgard 3 is solid state
Assuming the a50s preforms similarly to the a90, personally I would rather go magnius modius here mainly because I think the schiit is slightly more organic and has more control but really they are fairly similar in the end and if you care about how they measure both won’t let you down there (keep in mind both are focusing higher numbers on paper rather than actual sound quality), but really I would pick the asgard 3 over the magnius for something higher preforming (you could stick with the modius).
Most all amps will measure perfectly flat even those that people tend to commonly say lean a specific way, so looking at the fr of an amp really won’t tell you anything regarding it’s potential characteristics (take the liquid spark for example which commonly is described as warmer thicker and more relaxed, and see how it measures flat fr wise)
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you’re right, I meant Lyr 3.
Maybe my ears just aren’t are good as everyone else’s but I don’t really notice anything different with various measurably clean amps/dacs I have tried and such despite subjective reviewers say x is “warm and musical” and y is “cold and clinical.” If anything, I find it hard to sift probably very miniscule differences between equipment when volume and time of day to affect how I perceive stuff (i.e. equal loudness contours and such) a lot as well.
Was just curious what “warm” even is supposed to mean, because, for all I can perceive, any reasonably transparent amp with low output impedance does me well.
I wouldn’t touch the Magnius for SE. And I would get a D10s instead of D50s, due to cost. IMO D10s + ATOM. ATOM has the preamp for your speakers, too.
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My speakers run off a PT-100 to A-300 by Emotiva so this is specifically for headphones
So would prefer the Asguard 3/Modius over miss matching the Modius and A50s as well?
Personally I would yes, generally I think the asgard 3 has better timbre, dynamics, and spatial recreation than the a50s. I also think the asgard has better control in general as well, this being said if you want something bright and analytical the asgard is not this, but if you are fine with a neutral smoother sound than I think it is pretty nice
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Thank you,
I think I’m going to go with the Asguard 3/Modius combo. I’ll come back and update once I get to try it out.
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Nice, will be curious to see what you think of it 
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Slightly off topic but after seeing some of the reviews of the new GL2000 double magnet headphones and wanting an updated planar for my set I am considering them. However they only come with a 4.4mm cable. Will a 6.3m(1/4) to 4.4mm adapter work well on the Asguard 3 or do you think I will lose some quality in the process? In terms of power I’m guessing it will do well considering it outputs the same power as some 4.4mm amps.
Will be just fine, no quality loss, the headphone doesn’t care if it’s being run balanced or not
Most likely, I have not heard the gl2000 so I can’t comment on synergy
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I understand that. One of the few reviews I saw (Zoes) said it did well with a warmer amp so that’s a positive for the Asguard but you never know how you like something until you try it as everyone has different tastes. Also, thanks for all the help M0N!!!
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How about mismatching D50S with asgard? Or it would be better to match Modius with Asgard. Stuff I will use is GL2000
Let me know how this goes. I have the GL2000 and the Modius, wanting to upgrade my Atom to an Asgard 3. I’m curious on your impressions.