Schiit headphone amp thread, Asgard / Jotunheim / Lyr / Magni / Mjolnir

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This little piece of Schiit scales pretty wellā€¦ Currently rockā€™n:

Chord Hugo2 ā†’ Magni Piety ā†’ LCD-24

The clarity / incisiveness of the H2 helps the Piety. Itā€™s tuning is very Schiit, reminds me a lot of the A3/Yot2 sound. I would put detail retrieval at about the same level.

MM2 + Piety was a little too thick / warm for my taste. But very chill/fun sound. To me itā€™s a fine pairing, but leans warmer of neutral than I typically care for. With the H2 as DAC it gets closer to my ideal warmth when I want to just chill and listen.

At $150, itā€™s a solid performer. I might even take it over an A3. If this was general market available, it would be a killer starter amp before jumping to the $500 tier.

P.S.

Just tried with M5 IEMs. Definitely not an amp for sensitive IEMs. Low gain, could barely turn the dial at all before too loud.

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So you can feel the power. Literally. When I turn on the amp you can feel the vibration. Is this normal with some more powerful Schiit products (speaker amps)?

Initial listen with HD800S is pretty good. Obviously need more time and for it to warm up but itā€™s not terrible. I think I prefer class A push-pull off the bat. And no feedback. Very analog feeling and actually pulling some good micro detail.


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Got my answer as I read along. Donā€™t just pluck it and file it, read it haha!:joy:

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Looks great, will be curious on your thoughts on it for sure

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Mine came in today and vibrates as well. It also hums a bit :person_shrugging: . Not ideal but I canā€™t tell when Iā€™m listening.

My Tyrs also hum but donā€™t vibrate.

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Let those things settle and burn in for quite a bit. Transformers should not hum and vibrate to where theyā€™re noticeable from a couple of feet away.

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Ok yeah the Mj3 is obviously very new so has basically no time on it. The Tyrs are not new but discovered the bolts on the transformer were a little loose and tightening those helped. Found that suggestion in a thread on SBAF

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Interesting. I donā€™t have a hum, just a mild vibration. I can turn the vol all the way up too and itā€™s quiet.

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Yeah I canā€™t hear anything or notice anything from a few feet away or at all for that matter. I only feel it when I touch the amp.

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From my quick listen earlier it seemed like the output from amp was quiet and hum free, it was just a mechanical sound from the amp itself. But as @dB_Cooper suggested, Iā€™ll let the transformers settle in for awhile before I judge the hum

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Schiit really should make the knob black :sunglasses:

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A vibrating amp is a questionable design choice from Schiit, yes? They may pawn it off as simply being due to POWER, in their typical marketing speak. I do wonder if within the realm of audiophilia, where vibration control has a certain primacy, if this is not a flaw.

However, Schiit has a certain market reach and target audience so this may be of no real consequence and may still be of good value.

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Yeah, straight from the ownerā€™s manual it states itā€™s the two large transformers and chokes doing their job so Iā€™m not worried. Canā€™t hear it.

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Youā€™d need to hear a non vibrating version to be sure though, right?

Designers take great pains to eliminate vibration in audio gear, we can spend thousands as audiophiles on isolation products and Schiit dismisses it off hand with a comment that doesnt address the core issue.

This is not a comment directed at you for buying the product, and Im glad you enjoy it, itā€™s focused at Schiit for their explanation.

I guess it is what it is.

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Yeah thatā€™s true. I just meant I canā€™t hear anything at all when itā€™s on and nothing playing. I can crank the vol up and itā€™s dead silent. I would expect a slight hum or some type of noise floor.

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Any early impressions @Rhodey ?

I was doing a bit of back and forth between the Tyrs and MJ3 yesterday. They definitely have the same house sound and the Tyrs are better but not by a huge amount. I found the MJ3 to sound slightly warmer / thicker with good stage depth. The low end has a bit of bloom to it but itā€™s very pleasing. The Tyrs sound more open and images seem larger (like how big a voice or instrument sounds). The Tyrs were also faster and more detailed. Iā€™m impressed by the MJ3 and looking forward to trying more headphones on it. Iā€™ve really only used the ZMF VC and Atticus on it so far.

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Transformers (and inductors/coils) saturating the core will vibrate
(this is normal!).
Coil-Whine is probably more known as coil-whine in computer parts (AMD Fury-series was infamous for it) and from large substation transformers.

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Overall I think its a solid amp, especially for the money. The build is Schiitā€™s typical build so you know youā€™re not paying for that, but sound wise, I think itā€™s pretty good so far. I like the options of push-pull class A or single ended class A and the feedback option. Feedback is a nice option to change the output impedance. Sometimes the output impedance option makes sense and other times it doesnā€™t, meaning itā€™s more about using your ears and choose your preference. For example, I like having it on to lower the impedance for the D8KP LE and I prefer it off when using the V2.
On high gain I donā€™t go past 9:00 on the vol. This has plenty of juice for most headphones. Thatā€™s using the D8KP, V2, HD800S. Obviously the Utopia doesnā€™t even get close, actually use it only on low gain. Utopia isnā€™t terrible off the Mjolnir but I think thereā€™s better options here to use. Iā€™ll go back to the bliss a little more but I think from memory the Utopia is better off the Mjolnir. Oh and I wish the pot was betterā€¦ having the vol right is so important and with the power available and with the headphones I use it would be a solid improvement.

Majority of my listening has been with the D8KP LE and HD800S. Then the V2 (more today though), and very little with Utopia.

The MJ3 has this raw signature to it. Hard to put into words, but seems more analog than the bliss. The bliss is nice and I think itā€™s probably more refined than the MJ3, but sometimes I think itā€™s a little too refined? Meaning things can be a bit smoothed over? If that makes senseā€¦ This is also nitpicking because I donā€™t mind the blissā€™ signature. Bliss definitely has more of a mid bass bump to my ears, off my chain. I think this is to help the Sus out (it was basically designed with it in mind from what I hear?). Maybe the mid bass bump on the bliss causes the smoothness in the mids at times? IDK? not terrible tho just trying to describe some differences on the two. And the bliss may have better clarity (this is very small to my ears) and layering but itā€™s not killing the MJ3 IMO.
Back to the MJ3, guitar strings sound nice and crisp. Lower guitar notes have a nice weight and body to it. Snares smack hard. Kick drums sound accurate to me. I feel this has a really nice impact to it. I donā€™t find the low end too bloated, especially into the mids. I think the low end is done nicely. Nice punch and solid weight to it. Reverb is pretty great to my ears. The way it travels into the distance is pretty cool. Itā€™s like you can get a sense of the room/area theyā€™re playing in. I donā€™t have any complaints about the stage, I think itā€™s pretty good. Bliss may be a touch better at depth but this could be on the recording too. Still itā€™s not bad at all on the MJ3. As far as the size of the image ( I saw where you mentioned this earlier) I donā€™t think itā€™s too small. Iā€™ll have to listen to the bliss and compare, but from memory and compared to the EC, I donā€™t think its bad. Clarity is pretty good too. I find this picks up some really subtle mirco details as well (shuffling, people moving on stage/in room before the music starts, crowds, etc). I was surprised by this. I wasnā€™t expecting the clarity and mirco details to be that good (I understand these are two separate things but I feel itā€™s easier for me to put them in or around the same category) :slight_smile:

Edit: Want to add that I find the background to be very quiet (very black). Seems to have a very low noise floor on my chain.

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So I have to ask because on a discord the other night somebody brought up how well or would it even, work a Susvara? Do you still have yours, (Sus) and have you connected it to the MJ3 - for science?

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