[merkil]

I've been doing some critical listening with a pair of HD650's tonight running the Magni and Modi, and also feeding the Magni, Lyr, and Mjolnir out of the Gungnir as a reference. This all gets a little complicated, but let me start to tease out the good stuff.
The Magni fed by the Gungnir sounds great. Powerful, good dynamics, nice resolution, slightly (but not overly) bright. Lots of air and space around the instruments. The Modi is pretty good, but doesn't have the air and resolution during complex passages that the Gungnir presents. Bottom line--the Magni scales up with a better dac.
The Lyr sounds better than the Magni, but at $550 with a good pair of tubes vs. $100--the Magni is a tremendous value. The Lyr is warmer and has more air and dynamics than the Magni, but it's a difference of refinement.
Feeding the Lyr with the Modi reduces some of that air and dynamics, but it still sounds great. You could start with the Magni and Modi and upgrade either side and get a nice step up, but if I had to choose, I'd lean towards upgrading the dac first. If only I had a Bifrost handy.
The HD650 is very enjoyable with the M&M. I spent most of the day listening to this combination at work and it delivers a high end listening experience. More to come....

So which combo do you believe would be better sounding Asgard/Modi or Magni/Bitfrost?

 

[Barry S]

So which combo do you believe would be better sounding Asgard/Modi or Magni/Bitfrost?

I don't have the Asgard or the Bifrost, so it's tough to say. I did listen to a comparison of the Modi feeding the Mjolnir and the Gungnir feeding the Magni with my LCD-2s this morning. Both combinations sound good, but overall, I'd choose the Gugnir with the Magni. It sounded like the higher resolution of the better dac had more of an effect than than any limitation of the less expensive Magni. The differences are more subtle than stark, and other people may have different preferences.

If I had to place a bet, I'd put my money on the dac upgrade first, especially since the Asgard and Magni are both solid state amps. If you were looking for the warmer smoother sound of the Lyr, I'd say the amp upgrade would get you closer to your goal.

 

[TMRaven]

Does "very near in performance" mean measured performance, or "ear" performance?

I would assume that the Objective equipment would measure better, overall, but if switching back and forth reveals no obvious problems (high noise, missing treble, bass roll off, channel balance, whatever), the Schiit is probably "good nuff".

Can you qualify your impressions in any more detail?

Subjective performance, of course. I'm a very firm believer in objective measurements for headphones, but I'll be the first to tell you they correlate almost nothing for amp measurements, because they all measure very good.

 

[merkil]

I don't have the Asgard or the Bifrost, so it's tough to say. I did listen to a comparison of the Modi feeding the Mjolnir and the Gungnir feeding the Magni with my LCD-2s this morning. Both combinations sound good, but overall, I'd choose the Gugnir with the Magni. It sounded like the higher resolution of the better dac had more of an effect than than any limitation of the less expensive Magni. The differences are more subtle than stark, and other people may have different preferences.
If I had to place a bet, I'd put my money on the dac upgrade first, especially since the Asgard and Magni are both solid state amps. If you were looking for the warmer smoother sound of the Lyr, I'd say the amp upgrade would get you closer to your goal.

Thanks for the reply Barry. I was looking to get a Magni/Modi combo but then I thought Asgard/Modi might be a little more future proof with driving variety of headphones and still keep the costs down. Then after reading your post I thought about the Magni/Bifrost combo. Always good to hear other people's opinions.

 

[imackler]

Quote:

Thanks for the reply Barry. I was looking to get a Magni/Modi combo but then I thought Asgard/Modi might be a little more future proof with driving variety of headphones and still keep the costs down. Then after reading your post I thought about the Magni/Bifrost combo. Always good to hear other people's opinions.

 
I haven't had the Asgard in a while but from first impressions of the Magni, I'd personally choose the Magni as the more versatile amp. 

 

[Barry S]

I'm back to comparing the HD-650 and LCD-2 on the Magni And Modi stack. The HD-650 really sounds good with the M&M. I like the way the Magni brightens up the HD-650. The Modi doesn't resolve as cleanly as the Gungnir, and that takes away some of the air and space around instruments, but the Magni gives some of that back--so the combination works with the HD-650.

Something about the synergy between the LCD-2 and the M&M is really bugging me. Normally, I think the LCD-2 beats the HD-650 in every aspect, but the HD-650 seems like a better match with the M&M. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it may be that the M&M doesn't do a good job focusing the bass extension on The LCD-2, letting it muddy the upper bass and lower mids. I have more listening to do, but the lower end of the HD-650 sounds cleaner to me.

 

[mnarwold]

Quote:

I'm back to comparing the HD-650 and LCD-2 on the Magni And Modi stack. The HD-650 really sounds good with the M&M. I like the way the Magni brightens up the HD-650. The Modi doesn't resolve as cleanly as the Gungnir, and that takes away some of the air and space around instruments, but the Magni gives some of that back--so the combination works with the HD-650.
Something about the synergy between the LCD-2 and the M&M is really bugging me. Normally, I think the LCD-2 beats the HD-650 in every aspect, but the HD-650 seems like a better match with the M&M. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it may be that the M&M doesn't do a good job focusing the bass extension on The LCD-2, letting it muddy the upper bass and lower mids. I have more listening to do, but the lower end of the HD-650 sounds cleaner to me.

Thanks for keeping us updated Barry. I just bought the ODAC and O2, but I'm still intrigued by these new products and interested in their performance even though I will probably never own them

  

 

[FraGGleR]

Quote:

I'm back to comparing the HD-650 and LCD-2 on the Magni And Modi stack. The HD-650 really sounds good with the M&M. I like the way the Magni brightens up the HD-650. The Modi doesn't resolve as cleanly as the Gungnir, and that takes away some of the air and space around instruments, but the Magni gives some of that back--so the combination works with the HD-650.
Something about the synergy between the LCD-2 and the M&M is really bugging me. Normally, I think the LCD-2 beats the HD-650 in every aspect, but the HD-650 seems like a better match with the M&M. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it may be that the M&M doesn't do a good job focusing the bass extension on The LCD-2, letting it muddy the upper bass and lower mids. I have more listening to do, but the lower end of the HD-650 sounds cleaner to me.

Fantastic work, Barry.  Thanks for your impressions.  

 

[imackler]

Hope this isn't a dumb question: I don't leave my headphones plugged in but plug them in after the amp is on each day and unplug them before I turn the amp off. I believe this is the proper sequence with solid state amps. And now for the questions: Since my HD600 has a 1/8" jack, I need to use the 1/4" plug. But is there any downside to leaving the 1/4" plug in the amp and just inserting/taking out the 1/8" headphone cable jack from the 1/4" plug (thus leaving the 1/4" to 1/8" converter plugged into the amp?  Is there any disadvantage to using the "plug" at as a jack converter instead of a cable converter? I can't think of any... 

 

[MrViolin]

Quote:

Hope this isn't a dumb question: I don't leave my headphones plugged in but plug them in after the amp is on each day and unplug them before I turn the amp off. I believe this is the proper sequence with solid state amps. And now for the questions: Since my HD600 has a 1/8" jack, I need to use the 1/4" plug. But is there any downside to leaving the 1/4" plug in the amp and just inserting/taking out the 1/8" headphone cable jack from the 1/4" plug (thus leaving the 1/4" to 1/8" converter plugged into the amp?  Is there any disadvantage to using the "plug" at as a jack converter instead of a cable converter? I can't think of any... 

There are no dumb questions 

 It was actually a good question IMO. I think it'd just be the same, the current/shock would go to the plug first, so nbd. It's a problem if that extra voltage goes to the drivers and washaws them. But I don't see the real difference in time of taking out the 1/4. If you have to screw it out/in I'd just take out/plug in the jack. 

 

[TMRaven]

Ya I don't see why not. The magni has protective relay when turning it on, so you could leave anything plugged into it. I even left cans plugged into my other amps, but I always lowered the volume pot before turning on and off.

 

[Parallax982]

Does anyone have any sense of whether the Modi would work well with Audioengine A5+ speakers? I love them but have been running them through the sound card on my Macbook Pro. I was going to get an Audioengine D1 but the reviews are mixed. I was thinking Bifrost, but that might be overkill given that I'm streaming MOG and Pandora; not really listening to anything else. I'm wondering if anyone has tried the Modi with Audioengine speakers and how it sounded. Would the D1 be the best choice because it's well matched? Would the Bifost be the best choice because it's the highest quality? Is it worth the extra $ over the Modi? Is this all just totally subjective and there's no way to answer these questions without listening for myself?

 

[ninjames]

So it is considered most safe to insert and remove headphones when the amp is on?

 

[MrViolin]

Does anyone know how these do with the k70X series, and how does the audioquest dragonfly compare with the modi (does anyone know of a mini to RCA splitter that's cheap? think I saw one earlier in this or another mod/magni thread that was white on amazon) along with being hooked up to the magni?

 

[mnarwold]

Quote:

Does anyone have any sense of whether the Modi would work well with Audioengine A5+ speakers? I love them but have been running them through the sound card on my Macbook Pro. I was going to get an Audioengine D1 but the reviews are mixed. I was thinking Bifrost, but that might be overkill given that I'm streaming MOG and Pandora; not really listening to anything else. I'm wondering if anyone has tried the Modi with Audioengine speakers and how it sounded. Would the D1 be the best choice because it's well matched? Would the Bifost be the best choice because it's the highest quality? Is it worth the extra $ over the Modi? Is this all just totally subjective and there's no way to answer these questions without listening for myself?

I'm not speaking from experience with the Modi, since I don't have one, but I would think it would work fine with the A5s. From the reviews so far (there aren't many since it is so new) it seems like the Modi is pretty transparent and doesn't really change the sound signature much (please correct me if I'm wrong). The difference between the Modi and Bitfrost isn't going to be huge and IMOH wouldn't be worth the extra money for your setup. I guess it partly depends on the style of your listening. If you have music on in the background while you're doing other things than Modi will plenty good. If you sit back and just listen to music and really focus on all the detail and nuance in the music, then Bitfrost might serve you better over the long haul, especially if you are wanting to build your system up.
 
Note: This is just my opinion which has only been made through experience with other budget dacs and reviews I've read for the bitfrost and modi. I've never heard the modi or bitfrost, so take this with a grain of salt.