This Schiit is Bananas! $99 Schiit Magni Amp and $99 Modi DAC - Page 54

Quote:

Originally Posted by YGuyG 

Rather buy a more expensive headphone than a lesser headphone with a cable. 99% of the time the more expensive headphone will sound better with its stock cable than the less expensive one even if you bought the best cable ever made for it.

Sounding better is a personal thing. I found the hd600 to sound better then the hd700's. (Not in sound quality) So the only reason to buy a cable would be when you have your personal ultimate headphone and there is nothing comparable to upgrade to.

But that is only if cables would make even the slightest bit of difference (which i'm not convinced of)

I'm in the same boat here. People would probably think I'm crazy if I would match a 300 dollar headphones with a 2500 dollar setup. I don't have this yet but after a lot of listening I came to the conclusion that I really liked the sound of the hd600/hd650, so I bought a fidelio x1 (haven't received it yet). But I don't know of any headphone I could upgrade to which have the same warm sound. Alot of heaphones have too harsh treble/are too bright/boring/analytical.

Quote:

Originally Posted by YGuyG 

Rather buy a more expensive headphone than a lesser headphone with a cable. 99% of the time the more expensive headphone will sound better with its stock cable than the less expensive one even if you bought the best cable ever made for it.

I used to have the same opinion as you until I had a chance to demo some crazy expensive cables at a headfi meet.  Depending on the cable, it can make your headphones sound like an entirely different set of cans.  I tried cables that costed 2x the amount of my AKG K702 as well as those for the Sennheiser HD600.  It was mighty impressive.  I would however, still hold off premium headphone cables until the very end of the upgrade supply chain.

For cables connecting sources, I don't think the differences are that profound but I could change my mind if someone shows me something good someday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nam3less 

I must preface that my computer isn't a slouch and the i5-3570k should have no issues with foobar using too much CPU or other applications using too much CPU. Process priority was set to high and affinity was set to a single core just so windows didn't get the bright idea of sending the application to a different core mid play if something started running in the foreground or background.

 

Using foobar i noticed the following with my M/M.

 

When playing flac through WASAPI (Event or Push, didn't matter), my music would stop every 30-45 seconds and buffer, almost as though the USB 1.0 didn't have enough throughput (it does) for flac. Then I tried MP3 at various bitrates (down to 192k) and it did the same thing.

 

Direct Sound was completely fine, with no stutters; DS is not bit perfect, although there is minimal at best noticeable change in sound quality (I can't reliably tell, but others might). So windows processing and buffering then sending to the Modi worked but foobar (which has had issues with wasapi before) wasn't having any of it.

 

I tried all sorts of buffer options including putting the songs in RAM and maximizing hardware as well as software buffer. Make sure the software buffer in foobar (file > preferences > playback > output) is at 1000ms or longer or else stuttering has a high likelihood of occurring, more so with the Modi because it's asynchronous which could cause issues with low buffer size in foobar from what I read (search the internet for a solid hour trying to fix my problem). 

 

Then I tried JRiver as a last resort. Zero Issues. No pauses in WASAPI Event. Try JRiver (Free 30 day trial). See if it fixes your issues.

 

Just a thought.

Thanks for the info. i was beginning to think I was the only one with this issue, no one else was complaining. I will look into JRiver. But. I'm still having the same issues playing mp3's in Windows Media Player?

Quote:

Originally Posted by John D. 

Thanks for the info. i was beginning to think I was the only one with this issue, no one else was complaining. I will look into JRiver. But. I'm still having the same issues playing mp3's in Windows Media Player?

Maybe its the ASIO driver that isnt working correctly. Probably check if its there or not.

Every review thread for this combo, no matter which forum, turns into cable debate... 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armaegis 

I believe JRiver Jukebox is the free version with no trial limit. 

It is, but it only has directsound.

I spoke with Jason from Schiit and he said that it is OK to place the Modi on top of the Asgard for those wondering, I know that Magni and Modi stacking has been discussed here but I bought a Modi as a dac because I didn't  have the flow to support the Bifrost and needed a dac to run to my Asgard.

Is there a well confirmed consensus on what would be a 230V converter for the Magni, that can be shipped to any part of the EU?

There's pretty much nothing available with the correct 16V 500mA output.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HolyCheese 

Sounding better is a personal thing. I found the hd600 to sound better then the hd700's. (Not in sound quality) So the only reason to buy a cable would be when you have your personal ultimate headphone and there is nothing comparable to upgrade to.

But that is only if cables would make even the slightest bit of difference (which i'm not convinced of)

 

I'm in the same boat here. People would probably think I'm crazy if I would match a 300 dollar headphones with a 2500 dollar setup. I don't have this yet but after a lot of listening I came to the conclusion that I really liked the sound of the hd600/hd650, so I bought a fidelio x1 (haven't received it yet). But I don't know of any headphone I could upgrade to which have the same warm sound. Alot of heaphones have too harsh treble/are too bright/boring/analytical.

Don't listen to the LCD-2s then.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HolyCheese 

You can get a 1000 mA too. As long as it is 16 V and not less than 500.

I sent Jason a pm about wallwarts/power supplies as I am trying to source one for Australia, but I have not had a response. The issue with AC output ones are they are unregulated, hence a 16v 1000mA would supply more than 16v with a 500mA load.   I can source a 16vac 1500mA version locally, but it tests at 18vac with a load which would be similar to the Magni (16v 8w, or 32ohm).  I think this should be within a tolerable voltage swing for the unit, but would like Jason to confirm before purchasing it.   Otherwise I need to wait for a stepdown transformer to get here, but it looks like it will be another week before I can try out the Magni/Modi stack as there is a delay in shipping the transformer.  Long term I would prefer not to have to use a strepdown transformer and the oem wall wart, and just go for a wall wart that can do the job.

Jason, if you cold verify the use of these wall warts that would be much appreciated.

edit: Just to clarify, remember these are AC output wall warts, not DC

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Stoddard 

I think we're pretty clear that we can't recommend any wall-wart we haven't qualified--which means the one we supply with it. Proceed at your own risk.

Since units are being supplied into countries that do run from power sources that are compatible with the oem wall-wart, will a wall-wart be qualified to suit Australian power source?  Or have I been supplied a very expensive paper weight?