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Zen Schiit headphone amp conundrum

Dave J

Dave J

Übermember
Wierdly, when I started writing Schiit, my autocorrect wanted to replace it with Schouvaloff, come in Alex if you’re there.

Anyways, I wanted to embrace some decent quality headphone listening, without spending a fortune. I’ve got a Headline/NAPSC, which I never totally got on with so will sell, and my Sennheiser 650 appear to have died, but as they were comfortable - an absolute priority - I’m planning on a new pair. I'd narrowed the amp selection down to an Asgard 3 but realise they haven’t been available for ages (they do have one with a Multibit DAC card but I don’t need a dac). So what are my options?

I would happily get a used one but they don’t crop up often so what about the Zen or anything else you might recommend.

Any advice?
 
I use an NJC Reference Headphone Amp with my hd600 and I think it's a fantastic combo and wouldn't think twice about recommending it. More expensive than the Asgard though
 
Great suggestion! Just checking the NJC now and it looks like a really good amp and, price-wise, it’s very reasonable. After looking through the details on their website, I was expecting something twice the price.

Like the fact that it’s a UK company, too, so don’t have to worry about servicing.
 
Dave J said:
Wierdly, when I started writing Schiit, my autocorrect wanted to replace it with Schouvaloff, come in Alex if you’re there.

Anyways, I wanted to embrace some decent quality headphone listening, without spending a fortune. I’ve got a Headline/NAPSC, which I never totally got on with so will sell, and my Sennheiser 650 appear to have died, but as they were comfortable - an absolute priority - I’m planning on a new pair. I'd narrowed the amp selection down to an Asgard 3 but realise they haven’t been available for ages (they do have one with a Multibit DAC card but I don’t need a dac). So what are my options?

I would happily get a used one but they don’t crop up often so what about the Zen or anything else you might recommend.

Any advice?
Click to expand...

Buy the Asgard 3 you want from Schiit.com not Schiit.co.uk.

Andrew
 
Thanks Andrew, I just had a look at their US site and, indeed, you can order UK spec.

Would love to have the opportunity to listen and compare, as the NJC Reference also looks fab, but at these prices, I think it’s worth a punt on my original choice.
 
I have a NJC headphone amplifier that I was seriously thinking of putting up for sale some time before Christmas.

I bought it from here and I am the second owner.

It's a great performer and made my HD650 headphones really sing.

PM me if you are interested.

Edit - I actually bought it on HiFi Wigwam, but it was also for sale here as well.
 
Dave J said:
Hi Adam, can I ask why you're selling them?
Click to expand...

Hi Dave,

I have two headphone amplifiers - this one and a Burson Soloist SL.

I bought the NJC last year when I had some Christmas money.

This year I actually sold the Burson on ebay, but the buyer said it was faulty because it couldn't drive some of his headphones. As a result I had to take it back.

Now, I don't actually need two headphone amplifiers and therefore I was going to sell one of them.

There wasn't much interest in the Burson on ebay and I knew that there would be more interest in the NJC, so that is why I am going to sell it.

When I sell it I am going to buy another set of headphones.

Cheers

Adam
 
Slee Solo is reasonably common and mine was £275 off here with the LPSU option. It gives an analogue edge to my digital sources and runs difficult loads. I’ve some Ether2’s that have a very low impedance and are generally regarded as needing a meaty headamp. It’s not much to look at and is not the latest to get all breathless about.
 
I have one Schiit product, am very happy with the performance and was a reasonable price for a niche product.

I would tend to suggest also buying direct from Schiit in the USA - just didn't get a warm feeling from the UK reseller.
 
I actually have an Asgard 3 and it sounds excellent. A very involving sound, great tonality and bags of power if you decide to use planar magnetic headphones.

Andrew
 
MarkW said:
I have one Schiit product, am very happy with the performance and was a reasonable price for a niche product.

I would tend to suggest also buying direct from Schiit in the USA - just didn't get a warm feeling from the UK reseller.
Click to expand...

The selection permutations to suit UK customers and the lack of stock suggest that Schiit USA may not be too confident about them either.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions so far, very much appreciated. With these in mind, I’ve been doing an inordinate amount of Googling and the consequent rabbit holes have lead me to a slightly different position.

Starting with the headphones, it occurred to me that I was being perhaps lazy in simply going for the same set of Sennheisers I’d had before when there are ‘phones available now that I’d never heard of before and had certainly never heard. One that kept cropping up and was described as being insane value at $349, was the Verum One, which on looks alone are something different, but, admittedly from online reviews, appear to offer a huge bang for the bucks and a far better sound than might be expected from the Senns at a similar price.

They do apparently need a head amp that can handle 8 Ohms and the Headline does that, as does the Slee, which I did actually hear before I got the Headline and preferred the Headline at the time (I was using a Naim 82), and also the NJC, which does look like a lovely bit of kit. So, I ended up placing an order for some Verum Ones, which itself was a bit daunting as the company only sell direct and are based in the Ukraine, and it may turn up in 5-6 weeks but will probably be longer.

Given the 8 Ohms requirement, I’ll wait and see how they get on with the Headline before deciding on the next step of replacing the amp (or not). I would prefer a single box design from a sheer convenience point of view and the Napsc needs to be placed away from everything else plus there’s no way I’d spend whatever it costs to get a Hicap, or find the rack space for it, so I suspect there’s more to follow. And, who knows, the Verum might turn out to be be crap… or might never turn up any all…
 
Hi,
How did it turn out with the Verum headphones? Just ordered a pair of the version 2 's recently....
 
Hi,

Well, the 5-6 weeks passed and then a further month, during which time the parcel tracing app simply indicated that they were "in transit" but still in the Ukraine, and then, in February, Putin invaded so naturally I thought that's that. So, I ordered a pair of Massdrop 6XX's from the States and they arrived within a few days and were very good, as expected, even better when I added some Custom Cans cables. All seemed well and given what was going on in the Ukraine I didn't feel inclined to complain about the missing Verum II's.

And then in March, they arrived. In a cardboard box, all pretty basic packaging but when I hooked them up to the Headline... wow! A huge leap over the 6XX's and an absolute steal at the price.

I managed to get through to Verum and let them/him know they'd arrived safely and we exchanged emails about how things were out there and it all seemed so much more personal. I now understand that after suspending production during the initial few weeks of the invasion, they are now back in business and are donating their profits to the Ukrainian defence effort (body armour) so your purchase will go to a good cause. Just be prepared for a wait!
 
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