[hiImGrant]

Early reports corroborated on various other forums is this is very much an introductory amp, which is obvious, but Schiit has made a reputation of punching way above their weight and price point. Magnius, however, very much shows its introductory flavor. It lacks harmonics and liquidity, and can be dry and cutting at times.

Buy this amp if you want to explore the ground floor level of balanced amps, but don't be tricked into thinking it can compete with bigger boys, which Schiit has previously made a living doing before. Don't get caught in the mid-fi side grade loop as it's different, but probably not better. A few people have said Magni 3+ and Heresy are better than this when using SE. If you have them, you're already better off. If you have Jot, you're also better off.

For reference, I'm a huge Schiit fanboy and own a bunch of their gear. I recently acquired Modius, and it punches way above its weight, and it's uncomfortably close to Gumby. However, I'll be sitting this round out with Magnius.

Hm. I disagree. This holds up for me.

Also only balanced.

 

[Randolf711]

I got my Magnius a couple days ago and spent most of yesterday listening to it and comparing it to the Asgard 2 (using Senn HD650s). Unfortunately, I do not have the ability to use the balanced inputs but a balanced output (head amp cable) is on its way. So I made my comparisons with the unbalanced part of the amp. For me and in this configuration, the Asgard 2 sounded better in every way. The Asgard sounds natural and pleasing to listen to. It was a draw in terms of resolution and clarity. The bass had better tone quality in the Asgard. The Magnius was artificial sounding in the lower range. At this point, I think I will return it. I think the Asgard’s ability to make instruments sound realistic makes it a much better choice for me.

The only thing I am unsure about is if I will get a better sound using SE inputs and the XLR output to the headphones. Would this provide me with the benefits in terms of the measurements (that are reportedly so good)? I was very excited to get this amp, even though my I don’t spend a ton of time listening through headphones. I am a musician and trust my ears over numbers. The Asgard made me love it even more after having the Magnius as a comparison.

 

[Rattle]

@hodgjy @Randolf711

I feel the same way. I don't want to schiit on schiit but Asgard 3 blows this amp out of the water in everyway. And no balanced won't help, I fed it with Bifrost 2 and used balanced out. It's very much a chip sounding amp. It's nicely built has a sick pot and all the balanced connections are great. It's definitely worth $200 if you like "that sound" but does not punch way above it's asking price like most other schiit amps/dacs do.

 

[Randolf711]

Thanks for sharing. I appreciate hearing others feel the same because I enjoy all of their other stuff a ton. By chance did you go from Asgard 2 to 3? I’m considering that as my upgrade instead. However, I really love the Asgard 2- even though it’s 105 outside and I do not need any more heat here! I think the Class A just provides the most realistic sound and the Asgard is perfect for me.

@hodgjy @Randolf711

I feel the same way. I don't want to schiit on schiit but Asgard 3 blows this amp out of the water in everyway. And no balanced won't help, I fed it with Bifrost 2 and used balanced out. It's very much a chip sounding amp. It's nicely built has a sick pot and all the balanced connections are great. It's definitely worth $200 if you like "that sound" but does not punch way above it's asking price like most other schiit amps/dacs do.

 

[Rattle]

Thanks for sharing. I appreciate hearing others feel the same because I enjoy all of their other stuff a ton. By chance did you go from Asgard 2 to 3? I’m considering that as my upgrade instead. However, I really love the Asgard 2- even though it’s 105 outside and I do not need any more heat here! I think the Class A just provides the most realistic sound and the Asgard is perfect for me.

I've never heard Asgard 2, not sure how different it is to the 3. For the asking price Asgard 3 is insane IMO. I have a liquid platinum and a SET tube amp that's $400 and I love those both. Asgard 3 sits comfortably in the mix and is solid state without that solid state chip sound. It would be impressive @ $349 don't tell schiit that though

 

[hiImGrant]

I got my Magnius a couple days ago and spent most of yesterday listening to it and comparing it to the Asgard 2 (using Senn HD650s). Unfortunately, I do not have the ability to use the balanced inputs but a balanced output (head amp cable) is on its way. So I made my comparisons with the unbalanced part of the amp. For me and in this configuration, the Asgard 2 sounded better in every way. The Asgard sounds natural and pleasing to listen to. It was a draw in terms of resolution and clarity. The bass had better tone quality in the Asgard. The Magnius was artificial sounding in the lower range. At this point, I think I will return it. I think the Asgard’s ability to make instruments sound realistic makes it a much better choice for me.

The only thing I am unsure about is if I will get a better sound using SE inputs and the XLR output to the headphones. Would this provide me with the benefits in terms of the measurements (that are reportedly so good)? I was very excited to get this amp, even though my I don’t spend a ton of time listening through headphones. I am a musician and trust my ears over numbers. The Asgard made me love it even more after having the Magnius as a comparison.

That’s interesting. I have an Asgard 2. I found that it wasn’t really capable of rendering detail. It always sounded muddy to me. I would describe it as flaccid. I hear the asgard3 is a huge improvement though and people seem to love it!

maybe I just got a bad Asgard 2, and a great Magnius? I doubt the QC would allow for that much variance honestly.

seems people here have been hearing things I just don’t. I mean to be honest I’ve been a/b testing this against my Violectric v280 and I really can’t tell much of a difference if any. Maybe it’s just that it pairs well with the modius and the v280 doesn’t but it certainly doesn’t have any problems to my ears. It’s thumpy, drives some needy headphones (dianav2) and has some reasonably good aesthetics and touch points. I prefer switches but the push buttons work fine and don’t feel like a decision to engineer to a dollar.

maybe my ears are broken, but this paired with a modius is really good for my tastes. Granted my BF2 and GS-X mini are better, but they should be.

 

[Runrunsmithfly]

That’s interesting. I have an Asgard 2. I found that it wasn’t really capable of rendering detail. It always sounded muddy to me. I would describe it as flaccid. I hear the asgard3 is a huge improvement though and people seem to love it!

maybe I just got a bad Asgard 2, and a great Magnius? I doubt the QC would allow for that much variance honestly.

seems people here have been hearing things I just don’t. I mean to be honest I’ve been a/b testing this against my Violectric v280 and I really can’t tell much of a difference if any. Maybe it’s just that it pairs well with the modius and the v280 doesn’t but it certainly doesn’t have any problems to my ears. It’s thumpy, drives some needy headphones (dianav2) and has some reasonably good aesthetics and touch points. I prefer switches but the push buttons work fine and don’t feel like a decision to engineer to a dollar.

maybe my ears are broken, but this paired with a modius is really good for my tastes. Granted my BF2 and GS-X mini are better, but they should be.

I flip headphone amps and like to try new ones. Just sold a Neve RNHP, maybe a mistake. Anyway, I'm not sure which direction to go. I've owned a Modi multibit, Bifrost 4490, modi 3, and Bifrost multibit when it comes to Schiit DACs and I think the Modius is my favorite out of those now. With the Modius I've used the Magni 3+ as far a Schiit amps. Do I go Asgard or Magnius? I did the balanced with the Neve but I thought that the Magni 3+ SE sounded great. Another Magni 3+?

 

[hiImGrant]

I flip headphone amps and like to try new ones. Just sold a Neve RNHP, maybe a mistake. Anyway, I'm not sure which direction to go. I've owned a Modi multibit, Bifrost 4490, modi 3, and Bifrost multibit when it comes to Schiit DACs and I think the Modius is my favorite out of those now. With the Modius I've used the Magni 3+ as far a Schiit amps. Do I go Asgard or Magnius? I did the balanced with the Neve but I thought that the Magni 3+ SE sounded great. Another Magni 3+?

Maybe give magnius a shot, though the Asgard 3 is from all reports amazing. If you have balanced cans and want a balanced amp, the magnius is solid imo. Otherwise for mixed SE and balanced use it’s not as simple a choice.

edit: I’ve had a couple RNHP, they’re great, but I feel like the balanced in with SE out along with the blinding green lights just never fit my use case. It sounded better than my THX789 which was my main amp at the time I got the rnhp. That’s not a hard bar to beat for me though. The magnius sounds better to my ear than I remember the 789. It doesn’t create a sharp or thin high end like I remember the 789 doing.

 

[Randolf711]

Nothing wrong with you at all! I think I’m in the minority. I had a friend listen with the Magnius fully balanced and he loved it. I could only compare it using SE. Set ups and sources create all kinds of variables. I’m using my Yggy as the source and HD 650s for the cans. The Asgard and HD 650 get along perfectly for my ears.

My buddy also brought over a THX 888 with some Focal Elex’s... Jesus. Those sound unbelievable together. However, I really believe those headphones are doing much of the heavy lifting. I think the Asgard is good at what it does and the Magnius should be used fully balanced. It seems that is how people like it but I didn’t. I’m also a novice when it comes to headphones. 95% of my listening is through speakers.

I've never heard Asgard 2, not sure how different it is to the 3. For the asking price Asgard 3 is insane IMO. I have a liquid platinum and a SET tube amp that's $400 and I love those both. Asgard 3 sits comfortably in the mix and is solid state without that solid state chip sound. It would be impressive @ $349 don't tell schiit that though

That’s interesting. I have an Asgard 2. I found that it wasn’t really capable of rendering detail. It always sounded muddy to me. I would describe it as flaccid. I hear the asgard3 is a huge improvement though and people seem to love it!

maybe I just got a bad Asgard 2, and a great Magnius? I doubt the QC would allow for that much variance honestly.

seems people here have been hearing things I just don’t. I mean to be honest I’ve been a/b testing this against my Violectric v280 and I really can’t tell much of a difference if any. Maybe it’s just that it pairs well with the modius and the v280 doesn’t but it certainly doesn’t have any problems to my ears. It’s thumpy, drives some needy headphones (dianav2) and has some reasonably good aesthetics and touch points. I prefer switches but the push buttons work fine and don’t feel like a decision to engineer to a dollar.

maybe my ears are broken, but this paired with a modius is really good for my tastes. Granted my BF2 and GS-X mini are better, but they should be.

 

[XERO1]

Sadly, I must agree with all the other less-than-great initial impressions (both here and elsewhere) about the Magnius' SQ. After letting it warm up for over 24 hours (although it runs completely cool to the touch), I gave it a serious listen, and I have to say I wasn't very impressed by what I heard. It has a flat, two-dimensional presentation that always seemed to keep me at arms lenght from the emotion in the music, regardless of which combination of inputs and outputs I used.

This is a real head-scratcher because Jason is clearly capable of designing some amazingly good sounding amps at all different pricepoints. Even his Magni Heresy is compelling to listen to. Although the Heresy is by no means reference quality, it proved that it was even possible for him to squeeze some soul out of an inexpensive op-amp based design. But the Magnius just lacks any of that compelling quality, instead offering a technially proficient but relatively lifeless and colorless presentaion.

In his Schiit Happens post about the Magnius, he mentioned that he had 3 different designs he was persuing. The one he was most interested in, a kind of discrete component/op-amp hybrid, he couldn't get to work, which is a shame because that sounds like a fantastic idea for an amp. The other two were both purely op-amp based. Now here is where the story gets weird, because instead of going with the one he thought sounded the best, he ultimately decided to go with the other one, because everyone else who listened to both couldn't reliably tell them apart in listening tests. Why would he do that? It's his ear for what sounds good (among a lot of other things, of course) that has helped Schiit Audio get as far as it has come, so why now start letting someone else tell you what sounds good and what doesn't? While there have been a few Schiit amps that I haven't liked the SQ of, I could always at least see what Jason was going for with them, and how they might be appealing to someone who was looking for that particular kind of sound signature. But with the Magnius, I can't help but think that this amp was a big misstep in the wrong direction, but hopefully one that can be learned from.

 

[Rattle]

Sadly, I must agree with all of the other less-than-great initial opinions about the Magnius' SQ. After letting it warm up for around 24 hours (although it runs completely cool to the touch), I gave it a serious listen, and I have to say I wasn't very impressed by what I heard. It has a flat, two-dimensional presentation that always seemed to keep me at arms lenght from the emotion in the music, regardless of which combination of inputs and outputs I used.

This is a real head-scratcher because Jason is clearly capable of designing some amazingly good sounding amps at all different pricepoints. Even his Magni Heresy is compelling to listen to. Although the Heresy is by no means reference quality, it proved that it was even possible for him to squeeze some soul out of an inexpensive op-amp based design. But the Magnius just lacks any of that compelling quality, instead offering a technially proficient but relatively lifeless and colorless presentaion.

In his Schiit Happens post about the Magnius, he mentioned that he had 3 different designs he was persuing. The one he was most interested in, a kind of discrete component/op-amp hybrid, he couldn't get to work, which is a shame because that sounds like a fantastic idea for an amp. The other two were both purely op-amp based. Now here is where the story gets weird, because instead of going with the one he thought sounded the best, he ultimately decided to go with the other one, because everyone else who listened to both couldn't reliably tell them apart in listening tests. Why would he do that? It's his ear for what sounds good (among a lot of other things, of course) that has helped Schiit Audio get as far as it has come, so why now start letting someone else tell you what sounds good and what doesn't? While there have been many Schiit amps that I haven't liked the SQ of, I could always at least see what Jason was going for with them. But with the Magnius, I can't help but think that this amp was a misstep in the wrong direction, but hopefully one that can be learned from.

Good post.. agree 100% there's already so many amps that sound like this (crappy) I was sort of upset they'd actually bother. Mine arrived Friday and is boxed up and ready to go back. Sounds like 2d sandpaper compared to Asgard 3.

 

[XERO1]

Good post.. agree 100% there's already so many amps that sound like this (crappy) I was sort of upset they'd actually bother. Mine arrived Friday and is boxed up and ready to go back. Sounds like 2d sandpaper compared to Asgard 3.

Yeah. I think Jason got a little seduced by the Dork Side (measurement dork, that is).

Hopefully, he'll soon return back to The Light of not giving a SCHIIT about how amazing his amp may or may not measure, but instead focus on how amazing it actually SOUNDS!

 

[Rattle]

Bad side effect of trying to win over the idiot ASR crowd unfortunately.

 

[lord_tris]

I am interested in the play list or songs used by Rattle and XERO1 or anyone else in the thread really.

I just got my magnius, and I set up an ok playlist of songs that I know intimately.

All these songs were played in Foobar with waspi event

Using:
Grado Sr325 goldies SE
Beyerdynamic DT880 chrome 250ohm SE
Little Dot Dac_1 balanced out to the Magnius
Schiit Magnius se with the high gain on.

Dave Brubeck - Time out Flac 854
Pachelbel - Cannon in D Flac 782
Depache mode - Enjoy the Silence Flac 763
Imagine Dragons - Believer Flac 1704
Little Dragon - Twice MP3 181
Massive Attack - Teardrop MP3 320
Blue Suede - Hooked on a feeling Flac 918
Nine Inch Nails - Fragile Flac 943
Pink Floyd - Another brick in the wall part 1 Flac 612
The Prodigy - Mindfields MP3 320
ILL Gates - no song name PCM 1411
Mariko Sen Ju, Vivaldi - Spring 2nd movement Flac 655

 

[XERO1]

I am interested in the play list or songs used by Rattle and XERO1 or anyone else in the thread really.

Current Top 5 Demo Tracks:

Foy Vance - Coco
Brad Paisley (w/ Alison Krauss) - Whiskey Lullaby
Mindy Smith - Falling
Loreena McKennitt - Courtyard Lullaby - (From original 1991 CD, not the remastered version)
Bob Dylan - Man In The Long Black Coat - (From original 1989 CD or MFSL SACD, not the Sony remastered version)

Of course, I use a ton more than just these tracks, but they are a pretty good sampling of my type of prefered reference tracks.