Schiit Magnius Headphone Amp

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by Vtory, Aug 11, 2020.

  1. Yethal

    Yethal Facebook Friend

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2018
    Likes Received:
    230
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Poland
    I realize I might be in the minority here but I'd gladly pay extra for a switch. Lack of switchable preouts is literally the reason I bought a 1st gen rag instead of jot a few years back.
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Yes. That kind of gear could have existed, granted that some of these opamps are still fairly new, there were always others with high performance, and the TPA6120, which has been around for a while, can pull out great specs, especially in an NCFA or SNORE* architecture, which again is nothing new.

    The only reason such gear exists today is because of Audio Science Review with their purity tests and their charts which pushes ever increasing levels of purity. This in essence created a new market which Schiit obliged. People who follow rigid dogma are very easy to sell to.

    If Chu Moy, Tangent, Morsel, and others wanted to do this with the META, PIMETA, etc. they could have easily done so. However, their science was to explore and encourage understanding of how circuits work, going from all opamp designs to an all discrete buffer. Audio Science Review is the nutty-variety of zealots who say "Jesus forgives" while holding up "God hates fags" signs. Science my ass.

    *I realized the S or Super in SNORE could have be referring to the "Super-Symmetry" of the differential opamp piece. So there we go, we have feed forward, super symmetry, and NCFA. Blah, blah, blah. Whatever.
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2020
  3. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 9, 2015
    Likes Received:
    6,838
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    Home Page:
    I apologize if this has been answered already, but will this handle balanced headphones in as well as unblanced headphones plugged in?

    Will the unbalanced plug disconnect the balanced headphones output as well as the line output on the back?
     
  4. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 9, 2015
    Likes Received:
    6,838
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    Home Page:
    From Schiit:

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

    And I am guessing it will also drive the unbalanced and balanced out at the same time out of the headphone output.
     
  5. schiit

    schiit SchiitHead

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    9,937
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Texas and California
    Home Page:
    Yep, everything's on all the time, balanced and SE, headphone and preamp outs.
     
  6. Hrodulf

    Hrodulf Prohibited from acting as an MOT until year 2050

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    4,276
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Yeah this stuff has been around since OPA134 met BUF634. Back in 2013 I bought Currawong's Parasound DAC-1600 and replaced the output stage with a OPA134/BUF634 composite. It sounded nice, but as I found out, point to point wiring isn't the best approach for super fast circuits. I even made the BUF634 in high BW mode... Long story short, the DAC died. Pulled the PCM63K and PMD100 chips out and binned the rest.

    @schiit what's the effect of pot taper mismatch on positive and negative phase lines on a channel? I'm guessing CMMR should suffer.
     
  7. schiit

    schiit SchiitHead

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    9,937
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Texas and California
    Home Page:
    Actually, I don't know what the effect is on CMRR. I'll take a look at that someday when I have the time. If it does affect CMRR, then you'd want relay attenuation with 0.1% or tighter resistors in a cost-no-object design. Or sum before single-ended processing with an integrated line receiver if you want best CMRR specs.
     
  8. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Maybe when my Magnius gets delivered today or tomorrow, I can find the shittiest spot on the potentiometer and measure against another spot with less +/- imbalance.

    .

    Nope, waste of time. Time can be spent on more important science.
     
  9. Ruined

    Ruined HD700 ruined my ear holes

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2020
    Likes Received:
    234
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Parts Unknown
    This amp looks like a fantastic value for the money. At the minimum it is great to see Schitt put out some quality stuff that will undercut the junk "but measurements" gear market. Maybe will give people a look at some of the other stuff Schitt offers, too.

    But can it run HD800?
     
  10. Grattle

    Grattle Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2017
    Likes Received:
    1,004
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    USA
    Agree! Anybody who complains about an rk27 is way too entitled. Hard to beat them without resorting to exotics (stepped, etc).
     
  11. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,408
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Holly Springs, NC
    First impression: What the f**k? Full volume loud pop when you switch the power on and have it connected to speakers. f**k. My ears.

    IMG_20200812_160302.jpg
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Isn’t normal preamp procedure to turn on preamp first, and then power amp? Someone did similar at work, turned on mixing console while amps were on. Resulted in exploded tweeters, even on Cinema JBLs. It happens.
     
  13. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,408
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Holly Springs, NC
    Indeed, but I read the manual and it told me this:

    Relay Mute: Magnius has a 5-second relay mute when first turned on. A delay in output is normal.

    Which I incorrectly assumed applied to the preamp outs in addition to the headphones.

    Second impression is much better so far.
     
  14. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    7,467
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Winnipeg
    Yep, in the pro world you turn things on starting at the source then follow the chain until you hit the transducers. Go backwards when turning off.
     
  15. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Relay probably still slams on the power. Would need a soft start circuit.
     
  16. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,408
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Holly Springs, NC
    • Quick first impressions from Schiit Modius balanced
    • Volume tracking is quite good. It doesn't lose balance until ~7:30 or slightly lower (most pots do around 9).
    • Blackground is good for my 32 Ohm IEMs. Gain is not an issue at Low (I'm above 9 o'clock)
    • Bass is hitting pretty hard. Slam? Could just be the music I'm listening to + transducers
    • Pretty dry sounding so far. I was half-expecting some wet tube qualities based on the harmonics but I'm not hearing it. Maybe they are there and it's just the top end? too early to judge.
    • Black knob is new for Schiit. I think I like it. Area these things going to be available in silver to stack with a silver Modius?
    • This seems to improve the focus of the Modius. The slight gradient and diffusion toward the edges feels like it's normalized a bit
    • Note: The gain button impacts the preamp outs
    • @schiit It would be a good idea to update your manual to let people know not to power the unit on when speakers are connected. It misled me enough with the note in two places that it would be muted for 5 seconds on start that I assumed it was safe (I was wrong).
     
  17. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,408
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Holly Springs, NC
    I'm going to be using the Magnius pretty extensively this evening.

    This is the first time I've used the Sennheiser HD650 with it. Fully balanced, Unison USB on the Modius to the Magnius.

    This is really, really good. That dry, super clean character is adding a chisel to the lines of the HD650. Not in an enhanced-treble glare way, mind you. I hate overemphasized treble. It's helping the Sennheisers to become more punchy and well-defined.

    Maybe my mind is going--or perhaps my ears--but this is the best I can remember the HD650s sounding from a solid state amp south of the price of Phonitor XE (the Phonitor being better). Wow... This is the first time of the day that the Magnius has given me a "wow" moment.
     
  18. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Just a quick note, a harmonic pattern like a SET doesn't mean it will sound wet. A wet (bloomy) or dry sound usually has nothing to do with the distortion pattern. What that SET triangular or curved triangular pattern tells us is that the sound won't be offensive, maybe at most having a warm tonality. Something with a lot of odd order may be prone to sounding screechy, glarey, strident, solid-state-ish, etc.

    I just got this in. It's not a tube sound (as would be expected), but the timbre is warm with crisp highs. The XLR output is similar, maybe a little less warm, but definitely cleaner. Tonally more V-shaped, if Heresy was more mid-centric (relative to each other). Reading Jason's article, I felt I would have preferred the prototype that Jason preferred - but I totally understand why folks would go for this sound.

    There are some hints of TPA6120 and that super LME differential opamp mixed in together. The sound is not sterile or cold like the THX AAA stuff. Strangely, I prefer low gain.
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2020
  19. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,408
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Holly Springs, NC
    I haven't yet decided how much I really like the Magnius. I had a "wow" moment listening to a few songs with the HD650, but was lukewarm much of the time otherwise.

    The bass is pretty slamming, but it also sounds a bit fart-like and flubby on some songs.

    The highs are not etched, but they are dry and crisp rather than my preferred "liquid."

    I actually went to sleep with a bit of a headache last night after listening for a few hours. I can't attribute that to the Magnius without having it happen a couple more times.

    It is definitely quite clean. The touted volume control is indeed nice and tight. I'm wondering if burn-in (brain or electronic) will smooth things out at all.

    It's better than the two THX amps I've heard (Drop and Monoprice).
     
  20. Ruined

    Ruined HD700 ruined my ear holes

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2020
    Likes Received:
    234
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Parts Unknown
    How does it compare to mono LP hybrid with stock tubes, I believe I read you tried that one?
     

Share This Page