An affordable and serious competitor - Schiit Midgard Review
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- Опубліковано 24 чер 2024
- GoldenSound takes a look at the Midgard and explains what makes it different to most other amps on the market.
Schiit Midgard: www.schiit.com/products/midgard
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0:00 - Intro
00:35 - Discrete vs Opamp
01:16 - Measurements
01:53 - Build & Tech Talk
03:28 - HALO Feedback
05:40 - Subjective Impressions
08:50 - Conclusion - Розваги
I've been waiting for mine to arrive, very excited.
Finally a good, thorough review of this amp!
Thank you for your review, much appreciated! If there is a possibility, I would love to see more reviews of "lower" priced AMPs and DACs (let's say under 1000USD), I think many of us would love to see more content like this! :)
That view is supported.
Ehhhh. I think other channels do that quite well
I remember your interview with him, I wasn't expecting the halo to do much but I'm very excited to hear that as an amp it's great.
Thanks for the video. Was interested in the part you said not really relevant for iems. So could you guys possibly do a video of best or appropriate dacs/amps in different price ranges or different levels of features for iem users.
I've been using one for a couple of months and absolutely love it. I have it hooked up to an ADI-2 DAC via XLR and HD800S. It sounds fantastic, especially compared to the Topping A30 Pro I tried before it. For the price it feels like a no-brainer!
You should know, Schiit has a quality control issue with their volume knobs. I replaced my Magni with an updated version recently, and the volume knob was super scratchy (in a nails on a chalkboard kind of way). I pulled off the knob from my old Magni and put it on the new one, and it was smooth again. I noticed the plastic case inside the knob was offset on the new one, so the metal was rubbing against metal. Anyway, great review!
Love those white DW6’s in the background
YES, those Zu Audio speakers and in-house drivers are just BADASS 🔊
No and No. I had 'em. I broke them in. Then I sold them or would have returned. I had high hopes and they were dashed in about the first couple minutes. Nice look, but see.... I just can't say anything else nice about them. I really did try.
@@NightFlight1973 I also own a pair and I think they’re outstanding. My entire household loves them, even my notoriously picky partner. There’s just nothing wrong with the sound, to me. Not saying your opinion is invalid, everyone has a different preference and HRTF
At time of this amp's release, the Schiit CEO acknowledged that they couldn't measure any value to the Halo feedback process. But, some of the gear's users still claimed that they could hear and liked the results. So the Midland was put on sale at a very attractive price for an outstanding headphone amp / preamp and asked their users to provide feedback. I have been using a Midland as a preamp to a monobloc pair of Gjallarhorns and have been very happy with the results.
What are you using for DAC and what do you have for speakers? I used the midgard as a preamp as well with a schiit modi multibit as dac and only one ghorn amp. I have Kef Q150s for speakers. Overall for some reason the midgard made my kefs sound kinda lean, dynamics was there but it didn't have as much imaging as before and also for some reason the midgard made my sennheiser 660s sound a little harsh on the treble. But once I switched my dac to my emotiva stealth dc-1. It was a whole different ball game. Midgard seemed more full and punchy. Imaging was better too.
@@gabrielgarza863 I am using a Geshelli J2 DAC (fully loaded with the AK4499 chip set. For speakers I have Klipsch RP600m speakers. I did not like these speakers when used midfield, but near field and obviously run at lower output they sound terrific. The impact of DAC choice never fails to amaze me.
I have the Bifrost 2/64 and THX 887. I'm looking for a new amp as I find the 887 too sterile. This was one of the amps I was considering. I have the LCDX. I'm glad you touched on planer-style headphones as that was a concern, as well as if Halo even actually does anything and I lose my balanced hookup. But if it sounds great it may be worth it anyhow.
I have the Modius>Midgard stack and it powers the hd6xx's to the best I've ever heard them. Looking forward to hearing the Midgard as preamp to either the Adcom 555 or NAD 208thx.
Went to see Emotional Oranges the other night Cameron. In Glasgow, was pretty excellent, had a conversation with the sound engineer about how they are massive in the Hi-Fi community, and he said he would feed that back to their management. Found them because of you.
I see someone got some shiny new Zu speakers...welcome to the club GS! You will not be disappointed!
Great and clearly explained video as always! I have one question though. I've been slowly upgrading my main IEM collectionto the point I'm currently rocking a pair of Monarch Mk 3's for my mains. I have been using the same amazing Magni and Modi stack for the last couple of years. Considering my most power hungry headphones are a pair of Sundara's, is it worth upgrading to a more expensive DAC and AMP combo whether it be Topping or another Schitt stack or is the difference going to be negligible?
Negligible for sure! I have the Monarch MkIIIs as well, and a pair of Arya Stealths with your same setup and upgraded to the magnius and modius and the only difference I noticed was the balance output upgrade. Picked up less interference.
@@mitchy5994 Thanks for sharing your experience! I just keep seeing all these new Dac's and Amp's coming out and I was wondering if my overall Audio experience was being hampered by not upgrading my current stack as well. 🤜🤛
Thanks for the review, can you compare midgard with Topping A90 Discrete please? Thanks fir answer.
still very happy with my modius + asgard 3 stack (i use the balanced outputs for my iLoud MTM speakers)
With Focal Clears or Senn HD600's, I notice no difference between the two outputs. This replaces a THX 789 amp, and it's much more pleasant to listen to for long sessions.
When I come to look for evidence that I can trust a Schiit amp, the fact that one of your sample copies died is pretty discouraging.
Right? Doesn’t do anything to dispel the narrative their QC is awful. Would love to try it but don’t feel like I can trust Schitt.
The Midgard may have only 4w but its a legit 4w @ 2v's, unlike the bullshit 6w power ratings on S.M.S.L and Topping's amps. That's reason enough to buy the Midgard over the competition.
Schiit never has impress me as I was looking at AEGIR 2 but noticed a number of posts on distortion issues, the FREYA+ looks interesting, but as a tube guy, I am using Real Tube gear. Thanks for the review.
Would love to see Smirnoff's DF metric for that.
I replaced a Magni+ with the Midguard. It was well worth it. Plenty of power, but totally silent when nothing is playing.
Do i still need DAC? What about vs magni unity?
@The Headphone Show If you pull the nobs off slightly so there is a slight gap between the case and the knob the scratchy feel goes away. My Magni does the same thing.
What dac would you pair with the midgard?
Ordered mine a week ago. I am anxious to see how they sound with my ETA O2. I would like to see more reviews on anything discrete, R2R, multibit.
I wonder how it would stack up against my Schiit Asgard 3? I pair it with the bitfrost 2 and it was not cheap.
Same
This review is a Schiit Show. In a good way!
what are those white speakers behind you?
Anyone know which eartips are on the moondrops?
This might sound...silly...but could something like the Midgard plug into a Motu M2 Audio Interface? I use XLR microphones daily for content creation. Or, would the Midgard just be able to do everything with it's XLR inputs?
There's a headphone jack on the Motu. Do you mean to use the RCA outs of the Motu into the back of the Midgard?
The M2 can certainly act as a DAC for the Midgard, if that’s what you’re asking. It has a very good DAC as interfaces go. You’ll get the best performance using the M2’s balanced outputs, for which you’d need a pair of 6.35 mm TRS to 3-pin XLR male cables.
@@radioactivehalfrhyme I've been using the XLR inputs on the Motu for my 2 microphones and the headphone in when I need to use it. I guess I could also use the motu for a set of near field speakers too.
@@ScreaminpirateEDC Sorry for the slow reply! So to be clear, I’m referring to the TRS outputs on the back of the unit (where it says “Monitor,” to the right of the red and white RCA ports). Those are the balanced outputs, and they take 6.35 mm TRS instead of 3-pin XLR. The XLR ports on the front are input only.
If you get a Midgard, you could use it as a pre-amp for your speakers using the analogue output. That’s what I do with my Singxer SA-1.
Your chain would be: Microphones connect to the front of the M2; audio signal goes USB -> M2 TRS output -> 6.35 mm TRS to XLR male cables -> XLR input to Midgard. Speakers connect to the back of the Midgard (XLR or RCA, it probably doesn’t matter if you’re using powered speakers), headphones connect to the front. I hope that makes sense-I know it can be confusing!
This vs the Atom stack?
does harmonic distortion above 10khz even matter at all?
If you have a Sennheiser HD800 I would put that on the head, very detailed dynamic arguably the best of all time. If Halo does ANYTHING the HD800 should show it.
Interesting to see, but I'm not a fan of the CS when it comes to Quality Control issues.
I returned mine. With my 6xx's and my LCD-2's. I used balanced and unbalanced and they did not have enough of improvement for the purchase, albeit pretty cheap, also same sound as the Magni+. There was circular feedback noise at certain levels and the soundstage is average. A good amp, but not a nutter.
I put in a few more bucks and got a HIFIMAN EF400 which is phenomenal.
how much is the EF400
@@RatchetRorschach $600 shipped. Quite a bit more but it serves as my DAC as well so I sold my old DAC, the Modius to help costs.
I am interested in whether you do speaker reviews as I have seen them in the background a few times. Sorry if you have covered this.
I think they did say though that it ‘May’ reduce distortion. Not claiming that it would. We need to read through these claims as consumers.
Thank you for sanity checking subjectivists. Even if measurements aren't everything, the least people can do is blind AB or ABX.
holy schiit!
Good Schiit
5:08 QC issues? So soon? 😒
Were they ever gone?
Exactly. Wondered the same thing.
Now if only Schiit would make a discreet-based Magnius 2, (so it's fully-balanced again) and finally give it to us in brushed aluminum.
Why do you feel that fully balanced matters for an amp like this? This amp produces just as much power as the magnius did while being single ended. At normalize power output, balanced and single ended make no sonic difference
So Golden much respect... but kinda cold water on all those Head-Fi guys reporting easy heard differences with the outputs. Due to impedance differences? Even on planners? Riddle me this though: how can the power output be identical on both 1/4" & 4-pin out puts with different impedances (.1 vs 2) per Schitt? New physics or it's outta my amateur understanding...
Why does headfi have any credibility here? Why are you even suggesting that? Lmao
I have had two schitt products die on me which is two too many.
Anyone paired these with Susvaras?
Professor Einstein the volume knob it is adjustable so pull back on it a little bit and it won't be scratchy Einstein
Why is there a need for more and more colourless amps?
Why is there a need for coloured amps?
how does this compare to the asgard 3?
I'm curious about this too. By the given the sound signature description, it really seems like Asgard 3's sound signature if I had to describe it.
@@elwis74id agree, but id wonder how they differ specifically
Pentaconn would have been nice if they have a feature that asks for balanced headphone connection.
I wonder ..what you would pair with an HD800s as an amp / dac with E.Q.
They should name their next product “Fucki”.
This changes everything accorrding to DMS. Why not let him review it. He was really, really excited about it.
And say the same thing? The feature didnt do anything.
@@enjoshi-godrez8775I was being sarcastic. DMS slapped a clickbait "this changes everything" on an earlier video about this and when the community challenged him, he shot back that we must just not be as excited about audio as he was. Everyone saw it from a mile away that this was nothing, he chose to clickbait and double down on it.
@@thelastrhino2581 its a youtube analytics thing. Yea, it should be made fun of, but you shouldn't believe that he genuinely thought that. He didn't
Gm ☕️
Great review, thank you.
Not for me , I’m done with looking for a new headphone amplifier…and the only Schitt prod I have is the lokius ..that i rarely use…
Take care 🍻
"wiggly air enthusiast" XD
Jotunheim 2 or Midgard?
Jotunheim is better in terms of Schiit's in-house sound. It's also more truly balanced.
Schiit just got real!
Take a shot each time he says Schiit.
power switch on the back noooooo
Das good schiit
Oh Schiii...
Had a Modi and Jotunheim die on me shortly after purchase. Never buying Schiit again.
Yup, my Magni started humming a year after purchase
Good name choice. Midgard, or Midgård (midgawrd) in one of the original Nordic languages (Swedish), or Middle Earth, tells me that Schiit is saying “we’re not totally into op-amps so we’ll meet you halfway”. Ergo, Midgard.
hiloe
Why are op-amps not cool? I don't get it? It's a hardware implementation to somehow lower noise (have no idea about electronics just stating what I observe), it works as intended. I don't understand the hate for op amps and products that use them.
Opamps aren't bad. They're great tools and plenty of fantastic products using them. I've just found that products designed pretty much solely around the use of immense amounts of feedback (often with opamps inside the feedback loops of other opamps) don't sound great subjectively.
Schitt just got real.
Now do some objective FR measurements and blind A/B/X test between different amps. All the subjective points in this video sound like complete hog wash until you can prove there are audible differences.
Or even simpler, do an amp null test comparing the Midgard to the Magnius.
Now if only Schiit could start putting the on and off switch in the front and not in the back.
I really don't understand why they can't put a smooth feeling/sounding volume knob on these things.
Promo'SM 🌈
Some Shitt marketing there with the Halo feedback.
The Midgard is just that… mid… like everything else from schiit and that isn’t a bad thing based upon their pricing.
no shit ?
Looks mid
No shiit
No more schiit, tired of schiit.