Schiit Midgard Balanced Headphone Amp Review

[solderdude]

It could depend on what you consider end game and how loud you want to go with either of these headphones... ear damaging loud (occasionally) or just 'loud' every now and then ?

 

[Ahmonge]

and how loud you want to go with either of these headphones

I am surprised that in this type of recommendation, the petitioner never indicates his or her maximum listening level. Without this information, any recommendation runs the risk of being irrelevant.

 

[Svperstar]

It could depend on what you consider end game and how loud you want to go with either of these headphones... ear damaging loud (occasionally) or just 'loud' every now and then ?

Not interested in a speaker amp, more interested in having a little wiggle room and not having to max out the knob.

 

[majingotan]

What balanced solid state amp do you recommend as "end game"? Something that could easily power an HE6 or Susvara?

My RME is a great DAC so I am fine there but been on the fence what amp to get for ages.

Topping A70. Case closed

Topping A70 Pro HP & Preamp Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Topping A70 Pro balanced headphone amplifier and preamplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $499. Like its companion DAC, the D70 Pro Sabre, the A70 Pro sports the gorgeous and highly responsive display (which can be set to...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[solderdude]

Not interested in a speaker amp, more interested in having a little wiggle room and not having to max out the knob

You are maxing out the volume control on your SP200 with the RME ADI-2 DAC and still can't play loud enough ?
Also when setting the DAC output to +19dBU and setting the gain on the SP200 to high ?

I saw you had the LCD2 Classic... if you like that one the Avantone Pro Planar is tonally very similar at half the price.

The A70 Pro seems to fit the bill at a good price.

Ifi Pro iCAN is also a true power house but ... a bit expensive (costs 4x the A70 Pro).
You also get bass boost, spatializer and can add some 'tube flavour' if you want by the flip of a switch.

 

[Svperstar]

You are maxing out the volume control on your SP200 with the RME ADI-2 DAC and still can't play loud enough ?
Also when setting the DAC output to +19dBU and setting the gain on the SP200 to high ?

The gain was high but I'm not sure if the RME was at +19, I no longer have access to the HE-6 it was at a meetup.

It got loud butb everything was maxed out with no wiggle room.

I've been debating getting the iCan Phantom and just calling it a day on ever getting another amp. Amir hasn't measured it tho, not sure if it lives up to the hype. I'm also not sure if you can run the Koss elecrostat off that.

Also those Violectric amps appear to give a lot of power.

 

[solderdude]

The HPA V222 is double the price of the A70 and has lesser signal fidelity.
Pricewise it is between ifi and Topping.

 

[dzerig]

I thought I mentioned it earlier in this thread but not sure. I was at a meetup and got to hear the legendary HE-6, I'm not sure what specific revision. I had my SP200 set to hi gain and the volume maxed. The HE-6 had good bass and was loud but no wiggle room. The DAC was my RME ADI-2, I'm not sure I had the output volume high enough on that because I don't recall the gain setting. I assume it was locked at 7, which might not have been enough gain to get the HE-6 loud enough.

Either way, the Midgard is waaay cheaper then a Violectric amp, which is something else i was thinking of picking up.

Try a Schiit Gjallarhorn $300 using bananas to XLR from the speaker outputs. 10 wpc of very excellent sound. Need a preamp though.

 

[solderdude]

Don't use the Gjallarhorn as it can only deliver 9V = 1.6W (109dB peak) in HE-6 and 1.3W (111dB peak) in Susvara.

 

[Svperstar]

Well I used an app to notify my when the words Midgard appeared on Schiit's b-stock page. This morning one finally showed up so I snatched it for $199. Nice. I have an XLR switcher and XLR cables for pretty much all of my headphones besides the HD590.

Looking forward to messing with it.

 

[solderdude]

That's only $20 below new price though, still for a returned copy.
Yep, the HD590 needs modifications to turn it into a 4-wire headphone.

The Midgard is not a balanced amplifier though. It is single ended but with low impedance headphones at least you get the potential benefit of 4-wire operation.

 

[rocksteady]

Them having a sister company is news to me.

Their sister company is actually their Parent company, where it all started...

 

[Andysu]

i keep these headphones

 

[rocksteady]

Probably an adaption of the classic Kenwood Sigma-Drive or the Yamaha 'negative impedance drive' circuit used in their AST amplifiers.

Due to headphone drivers presenting a benign and relatively flat load, putting them in a feedback loop isn't too problematic IMO. The next logical step is fully automated headphone characteristic measurements and the driver amplifier adapting to that, essentially self correcting for each new pair of cans. Technics have a integrated amplifier that is already doing that I believe.

It's doing that for Speakers, correct?

 

[Andysu]

in the THX cinema lab

 

[rocksteady]

I know- but I do want to try this. Just interested.

Its a reasonable price and suspect I can offload it to a UK customer in short order if I'm not flawed by the Halo tech*

*Yes, they are massively playing the consumer, but hey its a decent amp.

You mean you're not FLOORED by the Halo tech?

 

[Andysu]

 

[Svperstar]

The post office dropped off my Midgard at 9:30 am. No waiting game for me. Knew I should have recabled my cans last night.

I've been running my Sennheiser HD800 right out of my RME ADI-2.

Supposedly dynamic drivers benefit the most from "Halo". I'm using my HD800 and HD580, the 580 was my first "real" audiophile headphones so I know how they sound.

Now do I go to the gym first and test later....

 

[majingotan]

To answer the question whether the Midgard is adequate enough to power the Susvara, it does indeed power it with excellent dynamics and plenty of volume. I'm pushing close to roughly 100 dB SPL at 3pm with the Midgard

 

[pritster5]

To answer the question whether the Midgard is adequate enough to power the Susvara, it does indeed power it with excellent dynamics and plenty of volume. I'm pushing close to roughly 100 dB SPL at 3pm with the Midgard

View attachment 327668

Is that on low gain or high gain mode?