SPECS THAT MATTER

OTHER SPECS

Frequency Response: 20Hz-20Khz, +/-0.01dB

Wait a sec! Where’d this come from? What the heck is a Midgard? Is it like a middling Asgard? And where did Magnius go?
Wow, that’s a lot of questions. No problem, let’s just break it down:

• Where’d this come from? By “this,” we assume you mean Midgard, and not your cat or your car or the universe or anything like that. In that case, Midgard came from Schiit Audio in Texas, by way of our great production and QC staff there, after much angsty design stuff by Jason, which you can read about in the chapter here.
• What’s Midgard? In Norse mythology, Midgard is the earth, as in the place where we all live, this ball of rock with humans and stuff on it—as in, not the realm of the gods or any other grandiose things like that. We thought it was a good name for an amp that is really super capable, super solid, and super down to earth.
• Is it a middling Asgard? No, it’s it’s own thing. Midgard is fully discrete and current feedback like Asgard, but it runs off a wall-wart, costs less, has more power, doesn’t take internal DAC modules, measures better, and introduces our new thing: Halo™ topology mixed-mode feedback.
• Where did Magnius go? Out to pasture. It was a fine amp, but it used op-amps. And since we’re weird, we like discrete. Discrete lets us do cool stuff like super-linear open-loop stages that perform at pretty much state of the art levels without a ton of feedback. So Midgard, a unique thing with a unique topology, uniquely Schiit and uniquely weird, replaces Magnius.

So what is this new wacky Halo thing?
Halo is a mixed-mode feedback system that puts the driver into the feedback loop, a schema that some people think may enhance performance at the transducer, and some people think it may not, and our test results are mixed, and headphones don’t exhibit as much impedance variation and back EMF as big floppy speakers so the results may be harder to find. We figured we could spend 6 years testing it and maybe never release a product, or we could run with it, given that most people who’ve heard it think there’s an audible difference between Halo and non-Halo outputs.

How do you expect us to compare Halo and non-Halo?
Halo requires separate ground return paths for left and right channels, so it can only be implemented on a connector like the 4-pin XLR on the front of the Midgard. The ¼” TRS is a standard output. Plug into the ¼” TRS and see how you like it, then try the 4-pin and see how you like that. Simple as that.

Waaaaaait a second! You have something that might improve measurements at the transducer and you aren’t crowing about this until the end of time and space?
We have something that some implementations have claimed to improve results in particularly resonant systems, like ported loudspeakers. Headphones aren’t that floppy. And planars don’t really exhibit any impedance variation with frequency, so there’s no real reason this would change them much.

But…why just throw this out there without reams of data?
Because we have all the data we need: most people who’ve listened to Midgard perceive a difference between the standard and Halo outputs, and prefer Halo.

That’s, ah, very thin, isn’t it?
Yes. We know. But we also know we could spend the next half-decade getting studies from a half-dozen universities, and people would still think the experiments were flawed. We think it’s better to get this out there at a very affordable price and let you decide for yourself. In fact, we’ll go one better: if you have an acoustic measurement system and want to publish your results, contact us and we’ll get you a Midgard to test. We don’t care what your results are. Good, bad, indifferent—doesn’t matter.

Wow, that’s way different than most people do it!
Yeah, but we think it’s better than spending the 5 years and big dollars and then having to charge $3,000 for this thing at the end. Tamato, tomatoe.

Okay, moving on: full power on the single-ended headphone outs? How did you manage that miracle?
Simple: this is a single-ended amp. The 4-pin balanced connector on front is only to enable the Halo mixed-mode feedback.

Wait a sec, you have balanced in and out on the back as well. What gives? Is this a balanced amp?
Balanced inputs are converted to single-ended and single-ended outputs are converted to balanced, just like in most pro gear. The main gain stage—all the internal processing—of Midgard is done single-ended. Hence no difference in power between the TRS and XLR output.

Well, that’s cool!
Yeah, we think it is.

So does this Midgard use good parts?
Absolutely. It’s fully discrete, uses exotic film and silicon capacitors and MELF resistors in critical stages, and features real Neutrik connectors, Alps switches, and even the Alps RK27 “Blue Velvet” pot—one of the best potentiometers you can use in a piece of audio gear. Even without the Halo thing, Midgard is a screaming deal.

Why all the blather about a potentiometer? Why does this even matter?
We’re glad you asked. The potentiometer is what controls the volume. How well the channels track determine if the volume remains the same between channels at very low levels. How good the taper is determines whether it’s jumpy and hard to use, or gradual and precise. This makes it possibly the single most important component in the amplifier. And that’s why we chose to use the biggest, best potentiometer we could find (at a somewhat-sane price tag)—the 27mm diameter, Japanese-made Alps “Blue Velvet”. It’s the same potentiometer we use in Jotunheim 2 and Mjolnir 3.

Well, then the case has to be junk, or coming in from China right? Because there’s gotta be some reason this amp is so cheap!
Nope, it’s made in California in the same metal stamping partner who does most of our products. The board is made in Utah, Nevada, or California.

So, let me get this straight: if I get this thing, it’ll drive any headphone I have?
Pretty much. It has a ton of power. And it’s dead-silent with IEMs.

And it hooks up to powered monitors?
Yes, there are XLR and RCA preamp outputs on the back.

And I get two inputs?
Yes, XLR and RCA.

How do the preamp outputs work? Do they mute when you plug headphones in?
Nope. They're on all the time. 

And you can stack this with a Modius and be done for $450-ish?
Absolutely. 

So you probably left the protection off of this or cheaped out in some other invisible way, right?
Nope! In fact, Midgard uses our completely transparent current-sensing protection to ensure that it’s operating safely, and that your sensitive headphones are safe. It’s completely out of the signal path, for maximum fidelity.

Why do you make anything else?
Sometimes we wonder that ourselves. But some people like tube amps and some people want a single-box system and some people need to run speakers too and some people have ribbon headphones. So, you know, horses for courses. And for individual preferences. It would be a boring world if we all drove one single government-issued electric transport pod. Some people like Jeeps. Some people can afford Lamborghinis. Some want Teslas. And, in purely practical terms, Magni and Modi is a combo at about half the price that does virtually everything Midgard and Modius does, as long as you don't want or need balanced I/O.

Midgard Manual