Schiit Audio Asgard 3 Review

Schiit Audio Asgard 3

Packaging and presentation

 

[responsivevoice_button]

 

To keep prices as low as they have, something has to ‘give’ somewhere…right? Schiit, being a pragmatic and no-nonsense company eschews any sort of frills in their approach to aesthetics, and this includes their packaging. And they’ll get no complaints from me whatsoever – after all, you only generally tend to interact with the packaging when you first open it, and perhaps later if you move house (or when it eventually comes time to say “goodbye” to it). The Asgard 3 arrived in a low-key Schiit-branded cardboard box securely suspended between foam inserts, and wrapped in plastic. Included inside along with the amp itself is the short, dryly-written manual and an IEC ‘kettle cord’ power cable – the Asgard 3 has an on-board power supply which does contribute to its weight, but it does mean you won’t need to stuff a wall-wart behind your furniture. 

Build and design

The Asgard 3 will be immediately recognisable as belonging to the Schiit family of products to someone who’s seen anything made by them in the past. It features the same thick, folded aluminium chassis as the Lyr and the Jotunheim, finished with a high-quality brushed sheen. And when you pick up the Asgard 3, you’re immediately struck with the sense that you’ve picked-up something substantial. Its 2.26kg heft feels incredibly well constructed and gives you the reassurance that when placed on its four rubber feet on your desktop that it won’t be going anywhere in a hurry. It makes its diminutive brother, the well-built Magni, feel like a flimsy toy in comparison.  

Schiit’s recalcitrance when it comes to putting a power switch on the front of one of their products is well-known, and it seems like it’s not likely to happen anytime soon. The classically Schiit power toggle sits on the rear of the amp, but thankfully there’s a couple of small concessions when it comes to ergonomics this time around. The gain switch (up = high; down = low) now lives on the front panel alongside the input switch that allows the owner to toggle between the line-level RCA inputs on the rear, or the USB DAC module (if installed). Unlike other budget Schiit products, the Asgard 3 has thankfully forgone a bright LED light on the front of the unit to avoid searing a tiny dot onto your retina whilst it’s switched on. Instead, an LED glows from within the unit, subtly lighting-up the amp’s interior as visible via the Asgard 3’s ventilation holes on its top panel. 

The Asgard 3 is a single-ended design, and the sole headphone connection is a 6.3mm jack on the front of the unit. While some users might begrudge not having the ability to use other types of connection including XLR or Pentaconn, the Asgard 3 has more than enough power to make the additional power of a balanced connection somewhat irrelevant. Of course,  different connector types can be as much about convenience-factor as they are about having access to additional power, but the Asgard very much adopts a philosophy of ‘brutal simplicity’ across the board: this is a big, burly, no-fuss desktop amplifier. Accompanying the analogue inputs on the rear are RCA pre-out connections, which are only functional if headphones are not plugged into the Asgard 3 – plugging in headphones mutes the pre-amp circuit. 

Like the Lyr and Jotunheim, Schiit refers to the Asgard 3 as a modular headphone amp & preamp. The Asgard’s ‘modularity’ is by virtue of the removable panel on the rear of the amp that allows for the inclusion of one of the DAC cards available for selection at the time of purchase. Both the AK4490 and multibit DAC options are USB only – there is no switch,  additional power supply, or other input options (such as optical or coaxial) to access the DAC card. It’s not apparent on the website whether it’s an option or not, but it’d be interesting to know whether the Asgard can accept the phono-stage card that Schiit sells as an upgrade option on other products. As a vinyl-lover, this could make the Asgard 3 a compelling phono pre-amp, complete with integrated headphone stage and pre-out volume control. 

And for my last comment on the Asgard 3’s design, I’d like to commend Schiit for implementing a great volume pot – I understand that they’ve used the ALPS RK27 potentiometer. The large, tactile knob feels substantially more premium than the small, pokey dial on the Magni. It’s precise and allows for accurate volume attenuation whilst being easy to grasp at arm’s length on your desktop. If you’re tasking an amp with performing as the hub of your desktop audio chain, whether in headphone amp or pre-amp duties, you’re likely to be interacting with it all day. And if it’s pleasing to use from both an ergonomic and functional standpoint, then it’s an overall improvement to your listening experience. 

Head over to Page Three for more, just CLICK HERE.

4.2/5 - (98 votes)
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedin

Hailing from Sydney's eastern beaches, Matty runs his own beer business, 'Bowlo Draught', as well as working in creative advertising. When he's not enjoying his hifi and vinyl collection at home, he can probably be found rolling-up on the green at his beloved Bondi Bowling Club.

29 Comments

  • Reply May 11, 2020

    McLambo

    Great review
    Now; how to get one in Europe (NL) curreny???

    • Reply May 11, 2020

      Hermanni

      I think there is a website ( schiit audio europe.com ) or something if I remember correctly. There you can buy Schiit stuff if you live in EU.

      • Reply May 11, 2020

        McLambo

        Thanks for the tip Hermanni. I’ve been eyeballing this site for weeks on end, but they have no stock whatsoever due to the coronavirus outbreak I suspect.

        Guess I’ll just have to be patient…. :X

  • Reply May 11, 2020

    MhtLion

    Great review. I agree the value is higher as AMP only.

  • Reply May 11, 2020

    Pal

    What a pity no planar pairing in the review 🙁

    • Reply May 12, 2020

      Matty Graham

      Hi Pal, I have my Aeon Flows back in the house now – I’ll add some impressions after a listen.

      • Reply May 12, 2020

        Pal

        Super. I enjoyed reading your review. Thanks.

        • Reply September 20, 2020

          Alan Kirschbaum

          Isn’t the Final a planar?

      • Reply May 22, 2020

        Jakob Kloppenborg

        Looking forward to it.

  • Reply May 13, 2020

    Bencomo

    Good morning ,
    thanks for the post, good job

    I am a producer of electronic music
    work at home with Akg 702 62 ohm,
    Beyerdinamic Dt 880 250 ohm
    and, an Apollo Twin as a
    sound.

    What would be the ideal complement:
    A20, Crack, Valhalla 2 …?

    Greetings .

    • Reply May 22, 2020

      Matty Graham

      Hello mate, the amp mentioned in this article would be a pretty solid starting place for the headphones you’ve mentioned.

      • Reply June 7, 2020

        Bencomo

        Thank you very much MATTY for answering a greeting.

  • Reply May 13, 2020

    Bencomo

    Good morning ,
    thanks for the post, good job

    I am a producer of electronic music
    work at home with Akg 702 62 ohm,
    Beyerdinamic Dt 880 250 ohm
    and, an Apollo Twin as a
    sound.

    What would be the ideal complement:
    A20, Crack, Valhalla 2 , Asgard 3 …?

    Greetings .

  • Reply May 13, 2020

    Jim

    Excellent review! Have been using my Asgard 3 for the past 4 months and continue to be amazed at how well it performs. The A3 may well be the best bargain in headphone amplifiers presently available.

    How does Schiit do it?

  • Reply May 20, 2020

    hole io

    Great post! I didn’t knowral of these resources and I’m going to go check them out now!

  • Reply May 20, 2020

    Joe@Thailand

    Thank you very much for a great review. I love it that you always mention volume pot when you review headphone amp. I love amp with good volume pot.

    I have watched your interview on the headphone show. It seems like you like and enjoy listening to Sennheiser HD 600 very much.

    Could you please tell me why you like this headphone so much? I am thinking about buying this headphone as well.

    Thank you very much for your answer 🙂

    • Reply June 25, 2020

      Matty Graham

      Hey mate, the HD600 is a very easy headphone to love. Firstly, because it’s comfortable and fits like a glove. Secondly, because it sound so incredibly natural – voices and instruments sound wonderful and it pairs so well with many genres. Being a 300 ohm headphone it also works nicely with OTL tube amps, which adds another element to its performance.

  • Reply June 17, 2020

    Jakob S: Kloppenborg

    Has anyone tried Planar with this?

    • Reply June 17, 2020

      Matty Graham

      I’m doing some follow-up listening now with the Final D8000, I’ll add some impressions to the comments. Short version: wow.

    • Reply June 28, 2020

      Jim

      Yes. I use my Asgard 3 with my Hifiman HE4XX and my Fostex T50RP MK3, and the A3 has
      plenty of power for both headphones. IMHO, both are excellent pairings for under $400 US.

  • Reply July 19, 2020

    David

    Great review. I own multiple Asgard 3s and use it for headphone and preamp duties. The reviewer has done a great job with regard to headphone use, but I want to comment on it with regard to preamp use. I have compared it with many preamps in my own system including Boulder Amplifier, Bryston, Classe, Pass, Soulution, Spectral, Threshold, etc. It has outperformed every preamp that I have put it up against up to $15K and it is better than some even more expensive. The pot is a good one, but many $5K to $15K preamps have stepped attenuators which are better in channel balance and separation. Since I have 40 years of electronic design background I modified a SAGA S and Asgard 3 so I could use the input switching, stepped attenuators, remote control of the Saga S in front of the Asgard 3 that I bypassed the input switch and the volume pot. The result is the best sounding preamp that I have ever tried in a very high quality system. My advice, consider this as the bargain of the decade as a preamp!

    • Reply July 20, 2020

      Matty Graham

      Hi David, thanks for stopping-by and taking the time to comment mate. I hear you regarding the pre-amp section on the Asgard 3 – in fact, it’s still the volume control on my desktop nearfield set-up a couple of months later. I’d love to see more about your ‘Franken-schiit’ arrangement, it sounds awesome!

  • Reply August 6, 2020

    Keith

    Another nice review Matty.

    On the strength of your Grado Hemphone review, I ordered one and wonder what you make of pairing the Hemphone with the Asgard 3? I know you mentioned the Asgard in your hempphone review, but is this a perfect match or should I consider something else?

    Keith

    • Reply August 19, 2020

      Matty

      Thanks Keith, appreciate your comment mate. I’ve been doing some Hemp + Asgard 3 listening this past week and I can safely say that for the money you won’t find much better by way of pairing.

  • Reply August 19, 2020

    Ishan Sood

    Any thoughts on how this would pair with the Meze Audio Empyreans?

    • Reply August 19, 2020

      Matty

      Probably very well – the Empyreans don’t need a lot of power to get them moving. Of course, you’d be limited to using single-ended only but that shouldn’t cause much by way of audible difference.

  • Reply January 10, 2021

    Perry

    Thank you for the in-depth review. I am considering an Asgard 3 to go with my AKG K240DF (2x600ohms) in a mixing/audio monitoring (home studio) use case. I want it to be as clear and uncolored as possible. Would you recommend the Asgard 3 for this? If so, would you say the AK4490 or Multibit DAC module options would be better for it? If not, what would you recommend for my use case?

    • Reply January 11, 2021

      Matty

      It ought to be fine for your use-cases Perry. As for the DAC, if you plan on only using USB as a source then one of the modules ought to be fine – I’d suggest the 4490 for out-and-out transparency.

  • Reply February 21, 2021

    Mike Knibbs

    I listened extensively to the FiiO K5 Pro before settling on the Asgard 3 with the lower priced DAC card. It was a tough call, as the FiiO is a bargain at its asking price and a fine performer at any price. But the A3 (for me,at least) has the edge I build, feel (lovely pot) and sound quality.
    I did all my listening with a Mac USB feeding both into a pair of Sennheiser HD600s – which need some juice. Both products had tons of power and that was not a deciding factor.
    The A3 had the FiiO beat for dynamics (with what felt like more immediate kick and ‘sizzle’ where expected. The surprise was the warmth in the midrange and more presence in the bass. Both amps felt restrained at the top – which may be the HD600s fault. But each brought these cans to life in a way that they have needed. The A3 seems like a product that has a build quality that might even outlive the HD600s – and that is saying something. Very pleased.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.