Schiit Asgard 2

I've had FX Audio DAC-X6, then moved on to Little Dot MKII and upgraded the tubes. I've used couple of more headphone amplifiers and finally I managed to get my hands on a ASGARD 2. I was simply blown away by the sound of it. my HD-6XX never sounded better than this. It simply put my previous LD MKII with upgraded tubes to shame. I have this paired with SMSL M100 MK2 Dac.

Recently I came across a Magni 3 and I really thought Solid State amps (specially from the same company) should sound same, at least similar. Well I was so wrong. I found Magni 3 to be piercing and fatiguing, I couldn't' listen to it for more than a hour. Vocals are shouty and It's a pain in the ears. The difference of sound with Magni 3 and Asgard 2 on my setup is like night and day.

Final verdict ~ Probably the best sounding headphone amplifier I heard so far (to my ears).

however there is something I must mention in this review someone who stumble upon this might find this useful. If you're one of those folks who are running 115VAC Asgard 2 on a 230V or 220V Power grid with a stepdown transfer and experience a kind of HISS ( like SSSSSS ) in the background. Check your power out from the stepdown transformer. If its below 110V, around 105 or 102 or lesser it happens. Same thing applies to Magni 3 with 120V wall wart on a stepdown transformer.

 

I own 3 High-end headphones ( HD 600, HD-650s, and HE 500s) and this amplifier does everything I want it to do. The headphones have been driven with authority, speed and transparency. The sound is relatively flat and the voices are smooth yet detailed. This is some truly remarkable schiit regardless of what some people have said here. I have an ODAC + o2 and I quickly noticed the difference In all areas of the sound. This includes separation, dynamics, and warmness with a remarkable mid-range presentation. The o2+oDAC combo now sounds somewhat "Dry" in comparison but I still recommend it to those on a tight budget.
 
The service provided by schiit was truly remarkable. Legendary, actually. I had contacted them about some minor problems I had with static when touching the knobs and sides and they helped me out with everything until the problems ceased to exist. After over 40 messages and hours of trouble-shooting, we came to the conclusion that what was causing the static  between the Asgard+Bifrost was my computer's PC power cord. Never In my life have I experienced such professionalism from such a small company. Outstanding service.