I recently purchased a Magni 2 Uber and it arrived about 2 weeks ago. I've been using it with my Beyer DT250's Pro's and I really like this pairing. The 990's are bright and this can become unpleasant with some tracks. Through the Magni 2 I've not experienced this, even with tracks that I found unpleasant with the 990's through my JDS Objective 2 amp. In fact I like the way all of my headphones sound through the Schiit Magni 2.
Just a note I'm not a Headphone expert enthusiast like a lot of folks here but I like good clean sound ,lossless FLAC /WAV and Tidal Hi FI and I like Head Fi for all this stuff ofc.
I just today received a
Schiit Magni 2 from Amazon to use with my
Xonar DGX PCIe sound card as a source for now. ofc I play 24 and 16 bit lossless FLAC files and Tidal Hifi 16/44 FLAC steaming .
I mostly use basic 50 ohm entry level Senns HD 280 pros and very occasionally my 32 ohm KRK KNS 8400's. I like the Senns HD 280's better .
After some reading here I'm presuming the JDS Labs Objective 2 amp wouldn't be a worthwhile trade sound wise or provide significantly more bass over the Schiit Magni 2.
FWIW Some of the reviews here at
Head Fi steered me to the Schiit Magni 2 in that price range . OTOH I read the JDS Labs Objective 2 reviews after I ordered the
Schiit Modi 2 I have now .
I use the Windows 10 Groove music runtime app and libraries to play music from 16 and 24 bit FLAC files although I have WMP and Foobar2000 but they doesn't sound any better .
The free windows store included MS Windows 10 Groove music app has a lot of features a good GUI and ofc the cover art /metadata fetching from the web and different library views and sorting /display options by genre/album/song artist /date added etc. . You can also integrate it with the Windows store at will (or not at all ) I also use Tidal Hifi 16/44.
The
Xonar DGX PCIe d/sound card I'm using as a source for the
Magni 2 is decently clean through my phones with the internal headphone amp off using the frt panel jack in speaker mode on the W10 PC .
The frt panel (w/HP amp off)
Xonar DGX TDH+n and noise level specs (on paper) are real close to the
Schiit Modi 2 and Modi 2 Uber analog output and outside of the DAC should be inaudibly different at full scale voltage .
The
Xonar DGX PCIe card has an older 5.1 ch 24/192
Cirrus Logic CS4272 DAC with a -114 dB noise level although 24/96 is the top resolution supported by the inexpensive Xonar DGX and I suspect the DAC is rather unremarkable these days but would the difference *really be * be significantly audible with less distortion on 2 channels ?
I'm thinking of the matching
Modi 2 or Modi 2 Uber USB DAC to turn The
Magni 2 into a modest
Schiit stack * ONLY if the
Modi or Modi 2 uber are worthwhile additions sound wise from what I have now which on paper at least is open to discussion
at least aside from the DAC ASIC (and it's implementation ) anyway IMO but I'm also inclined to use a clean studio interface I'll be trying this amp on one of those here in another room here
I'll be trying this Magni 2 amp and HD HD280's on one of those pro interfaces here in another room and on some other phones in there .
I'm not immune to serial upgrading any of my pursuits like homes , PC's ,vehicles and 2.1 audio in a dedicated acoustically treated PC Game/Music studio to THX PM3 Certified reference levels currently ,3 TV's in this room in 4 yrs up to a new 2015 Sony XBR 4K WCG HDR TV set now ( it's da bomb) and an arguably very decent 64f8500 Samsung Plasma out frt and years of being a motorcycle /vehicle and salt water powerboat gear head ( and professional gear head ) and amatuer audio enthusiast for over 40 yrs .........Obviously I'm just starting on phones here so I know the upgrade drill
and the law of diminishing returns all to well ☻
The Schitt Magni output power is rated at ~ double the Maximum for the HD 280's 64 ohms so it's a good pairing IMO
and it compares well with the uber clean studio interfaces here in the other room up to a point where it starts distorting but it can go louder also ...a lotta bang for the $.
...for example by professional design my THX pm3 Certified reference 2.1 audio system power amp we chose is rated at 850 Wpc RMS to feed my THX pm3 certified professional large midfield 12" 3 way JBL's that probably can use half of that tops or much less usually but that combo can make a snob audiophile cry in a good room especially with the two powered reference subs in there but it was many $$$$ thousands with all the studio gear,Midi controllers a stout PC and d/GPU and production software and VST's and aside from the gear the dedicated construction for all that will buy a nice 3 bd house in some parts of the country . I'm a believer in amplifier headroom having been an expert enthusiast prosumer for over 40 yrs. and it compared well with the uber clean studio interfaces here .
The
Xonar DGX uses something like
Ti LM4972 op amps for the frt. panel PC speaker outs .
Lastly The Schiit Magni 2 is cleaner than the
Xonar DGX internal headphone amp at elevated levels ( but not at all immune from distortion ) that could also be partly the phones.
OTOH All the things like treble ,midrange extensions ,resolution,instrument separation ,impact ,clarity and perceived soundstage etc are a lot better then the
DGX d/sound card and it ads a little extra "pop" for vocals and percussion the the only caveat here is the low bass and impact bass are lower on the Magni 2 than the Xonar DGX but not a deal breaker at all so far .
The
Schiit Magni 2 is a lot more powerful than the
Xonar DGX HP amp at least x2 although I would like maybe a little more low and impact bass at times .
OTOH hand I can see upgrading from the
Magni 2 and my HD280's also if it wasn't a large expenditure although some of that legitimate upgrading business can be $$$$ for the aficionados here .
I'm also thinking of some
Senns HD650 or something else to use instead of my
HD280 Pros .
FWIW these are the front panel audio specs in the Asus DGX PCIe d/soundcard .
Setting the DAC's aside they aren't far off from the Schiit Modi 2 audio specs :
Asus DGX PCIe d/soundcard audio specs
Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) (Front-out) :
105 dB
Input Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) :
103 dB
Output THD+N at 1kHz (Front-out) :
<0.0025 %(-92 dB)
Input THD+N at 1kHz :
<0.0022 %(-93 dB)
Frequency Response (-3dB, 24bit/96KHz input) :
10 Hz to 48 KHz
Output/Input Full-Scale Voltage .
https://www.asus.com/us/Sound-Cards/Xonar_DGX/specifications/
Asus Xonar DGX Cirrus Logic CS4272 DAC ASIC specs
D/A Features ! High Performance – 114 dB Dynamic Range – -100 dB THD+N ! Up to 192 kHz Sampling Rates ! Differential Analog Architecture ! Volume Control with Soft Ramp – 1 dB Step Size – Zero Crossing Click-free Transitions ! Selectable Digital Filters – Fast and Slow Roll Off ! ATAPI Mixing Functions ! Selectable Serial Audio Interface Formats – Left Justified up to 24-bit – I2S up to 24-bit – Right Justified 16-, 18-, 20-, and 24-Bit ! Control Output for External Muting ! Selectable 50/15 µs De-emphasis A/D Features ! High Performance – 114 dB Dynamic Range – -100 dB THD+N ! Up to 192 kHz Sampling Rates ! Differential Analog Architecture !Multi-bit Delta Sigma Conversion ! High-pass Filter or DC Offset Calibration ! Low-Latency Digital Anti-alias Filtering ! Automatic Dithering of 16-bit Data ! Selectable Serial Audio Interface Formats – Left Justified up to 24-bit – I2S up to 24-bit System Features ! Direct Interface with 5V to 2.5V Logic Levels ! Internal Digital Loopback !On-chip Oscillator ! Stand-Alone or Control Port Functionality
https://www.cirrus.com/en/pubs/proDatasheet/CS4272_F1.pdf
Schiit Modi 2 audio specs :
D/A Conversion IC: AKM4396
Analog Summing, Active Filtering: Based on AD8616 with precision thin-film resistors and film capacitors.
Output: RCA (single-ended)
Output Impedance: 75 ohms
Frequency Response: 20Hz-20KHz, +/-0.1dB
Maximum Output: 1.5V RMS
THD: <0.002%, 20Hz-20KHz, at max output
IMD: <0.003%, CCIF, at max output
S/N: >104dB, referenced to 1.5VRMS, unweighted
Crosstalk: -80dB, 20-20kHz
http://schiit.com/
Schiit Modi 2 DAC specs
D/A Conversion IC: AKM4396
Analog Summing, Active Filtering: Based on AD8616 with precision thin-film resistors and film capacitors.
Output: RCA (single-ended)
Output Impedance: 75 ohms
Frequency Response: 20Hz-20KHz, +/-0.1dB
Maximum Output: 1.5V RMS
THD: <0.002%, 20Hz-20KHz, at max output
IMD: <0.003%, CCIF, at max output
S/N: >104dB, referenced to 1.5VRMS, unweighted
Crosstalk: -80dB, 20-20kHz
http://schiit.com/
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