[drichardjackson]

I would love to hear everyone's impressions of the newest little amps from the company with an unmentionable name 

.

 

[lekoross]

I ordered both of them along with the Vali and will do a comparison once I receive them and have an opportunity to spend some time with them.

 

[lekoross]

I appreciate all the feedback from those who have posted on this site. As one who is just getting into HiFi, the threads have been educational an invaluable to me. As such, I wanted to offer a contribution as well.
 
I auditioned a new Vali, Magni 2 uber, and used Valhalla 1 (which I recently picked up privately) running from my MacBook (USB) through a Modi 2 uber, wired with Blue Jean Cables LC-1, and listening on a pair of Senn HD600’s. I don’t have an A/B switch so I had to unfortunately go back and forth between the components. This is not at all ideal since I believe you lose something in the comparison even in the few seconds of the back and forth. Even so, I got pretty quick at it and did my best to isolate difference aspects of sound for comparison (voice, lows, cymbals, various instruments, etc.) I spent a few hours going back and forth while listening to several genres of music: jazz, classical, pop, and rock, sourced from different modalities: studio produced CD’s (DDD), homemade CD’s, and YouTube.
 
Here is my general impression:
 
To my ears, there is very little difference between the amps, and the perceived differences were very subtle. The source was the most important as all three amps simply magnified what was already there (i.e., bad recordings increased in harshness and good recordings sounded better).
 
Here are my more specific impressions:
 
The Vali and Magni 2 uber sounded very similar to one another – virtually indistinguishable, although I thought the Magni 2 uber sounded ever so slightly better overall (this is where the A/B switch would have really come in handy). I didn’t notice any more smoothness or enhanced lows with the tubed Vali than the solid state Magni 2, or any real difference in soundstage. If I had to zoom in on the difference, at first it seemed as if the Vali had a little bit more cohesiveness between the instruments while the Magni 2 provided greater overall detail, but I really couldn’t sustain that impression as the listening time progressed. It didn’t seem any “warmer” than the Magni 2. I somehow kept giving the edge to the Magni 2 as I went back and forth – which just sounded slightly better overall to my ears. As for the gain switch on the Magni 2 uber, after comparing the high and low setting I ended up just leaving it on low. The high setting seemed to exacerbate the treble to the point of harshness on most recordings I listened to – at least for my HD600’s.  
 
I did notice more of a difference between both the Vali/Magni 2 and the Valhalla, but even that difference was very subtle and not at all dramatic. One major difference between the amps was that I needed to turn the Vali & Magni 2 volume control up to around 2 o’clock (max is about 4 or 5 o’clock) when listening to several songs, compared to the 11 o’clock or so for the Valhalla to get the same output. After the 2 o’clock point the smaller amps became too harsh (probably better for my ears to keep the volume down anyway).
 
In terms of sound, I did think that the Valhalla had a slightly larger soundstage, slightly enhanced lows, and a relatively smoother presentation. As such, there is a reason why it is $350 compared to the Vali’s $119 and the Magni 2 uber’s $149. With that said, do I think the Valhalla is almost 3x “better” than the Vali or over 2x “better” than the Magni 2 uber to coincide with their price points? No way. The price point/sound quality ratios do not fall on an even continuum at all. That is perhaps why Schiit calls the Magni 2 uber “The best bang for your buck.” So, in the end, it all depends on how much you want to spend for those subtle enhancements and whether you feel it is worth it to you. For example, I have not compared these units through the Bifrost uber and so don’t know what kind of difference that would make. I imagine that difference would be subtle as well, but I just cannot say since I have never auditioned it.
 
In the end, I sent the Vali and Magni 2 uber back to Schiit and upgraded to the Valhalla 2 (since I got a good deal on it privately). I am also staying with the Modi 2 uber and not upgrading to the Bifrost uber. While I would love the look of the same-sized Bifrost and Valhalla together, and perhaps the soun d would be slightly enhanced, the $519 for the Bifrost uber compared to the $149 for the “mini-bifrost” was just too steep for me at this time (again the Bifrost uber would not be 3.5x better than the Modi 2 uber with regard to the price point/sound ratio). Perhaps if I get a chance to audition the Bifrost uber and hear a noticeable enough difference I may change my mind. Until then, it will be the Valhalla 2, Modi 2 uber, and Senn HD650’s (yes, I did decide to upgrade my headphones!).
 
Feel free to write me if you have any additional questions.  

 

[NCSUZoSo]

Is there no Magni 2/Magni 2 Uber dedicated thread?
 
Or are we just ramming all the Schiit together is the original Magni thread? 

 
 
 
Also did you do any Magni 2 vs. Magni 2 Uber comparison?  IMO, paying the extra $50 for pre-amp outputs, 24VA transformer and aluminum chassis is not worth it if your headphones are not hard to drive and you have no use for pre-amp outputs.

 

[Willy 2 Streams]

I think the little Magni 2 is quite the overachiever. The low gain switch has made it FAR more useful; you get an inky black background with NO hiss. It's still plenty enough to drive my Senn HD 580's and 650's with authority. 12 o clock is pretty loud, and 2 o' clock is pretty much the end of the road. Any more gain would be silly. Playing the same LP (House of the Holy) into my Valhalla (original) and the Magni 2 simultaneously (matching the outputs to the same subjective level-12 o'clock on the Valhalla =2 o' clock on the Magni), I was pretty impressed how closely the Magni 2 kept up with the Valhalla. Yes, I did prefer the Valhalla by a slight margin, but the difference wasn't THAT great.
Plus, you can actually drive IEM's with the Magni 2 in low gain mode. So if you're in an office cubicle where others can hear you, this is a good option. I would happily write a full review on this gem, but they've got it locked down so tight here at work that I can't make the star rating work, so it won't take my review.

 

[PWGuy]

This thread has really helped me in my decision - thank you! What would you say the differences are in mid-bass and bass frequencies between Vahalla 2 and Magni 2U/Vali for HD600/HD650? That's my last bit of research to gather before I pull the trigger. I'm a guitarist and love tube amps, plus want impactful bass, so am leaning V2 for my HD600s (listening to primarily pop, rock, and related genre music).