Schiit Magni Headphone Amplifier - Page 74

Quote:

Originally Posted by stv014 

 

More SPL = more perceived bass, though, which is an important source of these misconceptions. When comparing amplifiers without accurate level matching, the setting of volume controls is likely to be biased towards equal volume control position, therefore the more powerful amp with (typically) higher gain will be louder and sound "better".

Ummmmmm No.

More SPL = More SPL. It doesn't = More or Less Bass. I get the "perception" notion, but you would seriously have to be a bit of a dummy not to notice that loudness was different and assume it had nothing to do with the volume knob!

Level matching amps for comparison sake is good practice. But if a "more powerful amp" with a "higher gain" sounds "louder", well then, guess what? You apparently haven't level matched! If you had, Amp A and AMP B would be producing the same SPL on the same Speaker, and the user could decide if there was a difference in the sound. Then they would feel stupid for buying the amp that had a wicked High Gain and clipped at home, or which, driven hard, produced enough "power" but was also distorting.

More Power = More SPL.

If the speaker can take it, and the user wants it, more power = good. But Amps serve a utilitarian purpose FIRST and foremost. More Power does not = more bass. Most people don't realize that they probably only use a fraction of an Amps rated power at any given time. Volume is lower, but "bass" is exactly as it should be.

Has there been any feedback from Schiit (Jason) regarding the amps with crooked volume controls?

Is it just a matter of the knob being put on incorrectly or is the pot itself soldered to the board misaligned?

Is the Magni knob simply pressed on?  It must be, I don't see any tightening screw? 

Has anyone pulled the knob off to verify the pot shaft itself is misaligned?

This thread is quite long and I'm just looking for a quick answer. How well does the M/M stack power LCD2 rev2s? I currently have HE400s and was entertaining the idea of grabbing some LCD2's... Any input would be awesome!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TooPoor 

This thread is quite long and I'm just looking for a quick answer. How well does the M/M stack power LCD2 rev2s? I currently have HE400s and was entertaining the idea of grabbing some LCD2's... Any input would be awesome!

More than enough power and sounds quite good. Other, more expensive equipment quite possibly drives them even better, but the M&M certainly aren't a bad starting point with the LCD-2s.

False. Check the equal-loudness contours. The louder the sound we hear is, the flatter our hearing frequency response gets, especially in the bass. This is why all of Headroom's lab measurements are done at 80dB and then equalized to compensate for curves at that volume.

It has nothing to do with power, it has to do with our ear canal resonances.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrMateoHead 

More SPL = More SPL. It doesn't = More or Less Bass. I get the "perception" notion, but you would seriously have to be a bit of a dummy not to notice that loudness was different and assume it had nothing to do with the volume knob!

Most people do not have built-in SPL meters, and the subjective perception of loudness is not accurate at all, especially without very fast switching between sources, and it can easily be biased as well. It may sound stupid, but loudness and sound quality are indeed often confused, and the "volume knob bias" does exist; why do you think so many people hear higher gain - even higher digital gain that would give exactly the same sound with the volume control adjusted to match the level - as "better" sound ?

That would happen in an ideal world. In reality, audiophiles rarely match volume for the purpose of subjective comparisons by measurements, typically only by ear, and the levels can therefore be "off" by several dB. If you tried to compare it yourself, you would find that reducing the volume by even 3 dB is not that much of a loudness difference, if there is a few seconds of silence while switching, but it does sound "thinner" and "flatter".

You might be surprised at how many newbies use the O2 at high gain because it sounds "better", and then complain about the clipping.

Ear Sensitivity Chart:

http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/ear_sensitivity.htm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barry S 

Yes, the M&M will power the LCD2s, but will limit the quality of the sound. The LCDs deserve a better source.

What are you basing that on? Better as in more expensive? Price has not much to do with audio performance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stv014 

You might be surprised at how many newbies use the O2 at high gain because it sounds "better", and then complain about the clipping.

Not just the O2. I'm surprised at just how consistently I can fool myself with this, using any amp.

The Magni seems to be the cleanest of that bunch and has more than enough power. There's also the O2, which is even cleaner.

No, I don't believe in "synergy". Use signal processing to shape the sound the way you like, not DACs/amps.

My Schiit Modi and Magni arrived.

Cabled them up to a Mac Mini using Amarra as a player.

Audeze LCD2 with a stock cable.

I used my Furman AC-215a for power conditioning.

Coming from a Lyr / Bifrost this pair is very impressive.

They have all the power I need. 8 o'clock on the knob.

As expected they aren't nearly as dynamic as the Lyr, but sound damn good to me.