First steps into head-fi: Grado & Schiit

[gerzom]

Just took the plunge into head-fi (well I dipped my toe in the water ) I bought a used Grado SR-325is and a Schiit Asgard 2.


Very curious to hear what that will bring to my ears.

Does anybody here has any experience with this combo (Grado and Schiit)?

[doggiehowser]

I had the Asgard (first gen one) which I traded it for the Valhalla which I then traded for the Lyr. Got the Mjolnir recently.

I didn't use them with Grados but have to say the Asgard has a clean solid state sound. I preferred the Asgard to the Valhalla with the HD800s which were harder to drive. I preferred the Lyr to both the Asgard and the Valhalla.

[essjay]

I am currently using rs1i's with a woo6 , with very good results and I had a Lyr paired with AKG701' and DT880's with the later been a fabulous combo.

I did not have the grado's at the same time as the Lyr so I can only wonder but keep in mind the grado's tend to be pretty low impedance so match accordingly.

[G8YU]

Congrats on what will probably be many hours of music enjoyment. I don't have experience with Grado but I really like my Asgard II. It seems very neutral with no roll-off of either end of the frequency range; and I don't wish for any more detail resolution. I'm sure there are amps that would be even better but they probably cost much more.
The Asgard II is even a convenient pre-amp since the RCA outs go through the volume control. The high/low gain switch is nice too because on high gain (which is the default position, low gain adds 12db global feedback) I hear the static hiss noise through all my headphones except the Beyer 600ohm DT880. I mostly listen at low volumes so I usually set it to low gain even though I notice some slight sonic differences. If the 325is aren't the sonic bliss you hoped for there are some guides online for modifying them.

[HiFiGuy528]

very nice!

[gerzom]

Originally Posted by HiFiGuy528

very nice!

Thanks! Still waiting for my Asgard, but the Grado on it's own is already really nice!

[Stereo-head]

Congrats on the new purchase!
I just bought the the Grado's SR-325is too and am very curious how it will sound with the Schiit, so please keep us posted. As for the Grado's, I'm driving them with a cheap Nuforce MDac, and I really like the sound. At first the Grado sounded a little bright and with skinny bass. Within a couple of days of the sound has opened up nicely. The treble is less aggressive, and the bass has bloomed just right. I'd still say that it's not a headphone for the bass heavy lovers. This phones, while having a neutral balance, tends to tip more towards the bright side. But it's a clean, detailed treble that lets one see more into the music. and combined with fabulous mids and bloomy bass, it's audio bliss. So yes I like them a lot. Please keep us posted on the Schiit combo.

Happy listening

[gerzom]

I've spent my first evening listing to my Grado-Asgard 2 combo and all I can say, wow, what a great sound this is!!!!
Sofar I've listened to iPad direct, but the Asgard 2 makes it sound soo much better, sweet, completer, warmer, more detailed, ect. It is hard for me to compare it to any other headphone-amp combo as this is the first time I'm using headphones, but I really love what I'm hearing tonight. Went through all 3 Gregory Porter cd's, Agnes Obels new cd and some bits of Miles Davis and Jamie Woon and it all sounded real good. I think I'm going to listen to these cans a lot
My Asgard is hooked up to my Gungnir as both my sources (cd-player and Spotify) run through my DAC.

For me this is yet another great piece of Schiit!!

[gerzom]

Little update, i've sold my Grado's and am now looking at the Audeze LCD-2's.
My plan is to hook them up to my Asgard 2 and later on move from Asgard to Mjolnir. I really like this head-fi stuff

[Cucumber_Jones]

I listened to the audeze LCD 2 the other day. They are very very good. With all the great comments about these and all the comments that headphones can be better then speakers I was half expecting these to best my system. I was pleased that they are not as good as my garrard, shindo and devore system. That being said they are good.