[12many]

So I have started thinking about dacs/amps to connect my iphone 6 listening to itunes music (256 kbps) to my new he-400i. My new headphones just showed up in a brown box and are telepathically telling me to leave work early to try them out at home   I may upgrade my source and music quality in the future but , I might not. 
 
Does anyone have any thoughts regarding these two devices?   There is a $ 250 price difference (Magni Uber / Modi).  I am not sure it makes sense to spend more on the amp/dac than the headphones.   
 
Do you think average ears could tell a difference between the two from the digital out of an iphone on HE-400i's? 
 
As they say, "you don't know what you don't know" so I expect the Grace to be a great unit but could anyone comment on what the extra $250 buys?  It see it has some effects options which might be fun, and it looks amazing.  Grace is also highly regarded. 
 
I am still leaning toward the Schiit stack (feels odd to even type that !!) so that is the price to value to quality point I am at right now. 

 

[Gonuso]

I was faced with the same decision, and I went with the Schiit Stack. My reasoning was that I eventually would upgrade and having a separate amp and dac would let me do it piecemeal...probably getting myself a bifrost for my birthday next year, so I also felt that the modi would give me a good feel for whether I really liked the Schiit product/build.

 

[fjrabon]

The Grace DAC is equivalent to the Schiit bitfrost. The amp in the Grace is more or less equivalent to the Magni. The Grace has a few extra, nice features (filters and cross feed) and takes up less space. The Grace can be used as a mobile amp, whereas the Schiit is strictly desktop.

Sound wise the Grace is a tiny bit more detailed and spacious because of the better DAC unit. It's not a huge difference. The HE400i are good enough headphones to notice the difference, but it's subtle (as differences in DACs always are). The Grace is a tiny bit quieter.

Is it worth the price difference to get the Grace? I thought so, but it's not clear cut either way. To me the biggest advantage for the grace is the form factor, portability and ease of use. And having cross feed is really nice when needed.

 

[Me x3]

I've also read that the Schiit Modi2Uber/Magni2Uber is superior to the M9XX in terms of soundstage.
 
I think both should be comparable.

 

[fjrabon]

I've also read that the Schiit Modi2Uber/Magni2Uber is superior to the M9XX in terms of soundstage.

I think both should be comparable.

No. The Grace uses the same DAC chip from the bitfrost. So unless the modi has a better soundstage than Schiit's much superior bitfrost, that's not true. I had the modi briefly and thought the bitfrost was better. The Magni is great unless you have hard to drive headphones. The grace's amp portion is basically the same as the Magni.

 

[Me x3]

No. The Grace uses the same DAC chip from the bitfrost. So unless the modi has a better soundstage than Schiit's much superior bitfrost, that's not true. I had the modi briefly and thought the bitfrost was better. The Magni is great unless you have hard to drive headphones. The grace's amp portion is basically the same as the Magni.

The implementation is much more important than the chip itself.
You can get a flagship chip, hook it up with a few components and there you go...
 
You can find Sabre ES9018K2M into chinese smartphones.
You can find Wolfson WM8740 chips into a 60 dollar Fiio E10s, and also into much more expensive gear.
 
Are you talking about the original Modi or the newer (not USB powered) Modi 2 Uber?

 

[fjrabon]

The implementation is much more important than the chip itself.
You can get a flagship chip, hook it up with a few components and there you go...

You can find Sabre ES9018K2M into chinese smartphones.
You can find Wolfson WM8740 chips into a 60 dollar Fiio E10s, and also into much more expensive gear.

Are you talking about the original Modi or the newer (not USB powered) Modi 2 Uber?

I had the uber and then upgraded to the regular bitfrost. I still have the bitfrost: a sale just fell through so I'll probably put it up soon for sale here. Purely as a DAC I think the Grace is indistinguishable from the bitfrost. They're both top notch builds by class leading companies.

 

[Me x3]

I had the uber and then upgraded to the regular bitfrost. I still have the bitfrost: a sale just fell through so I'll probably put it up soon for sale here. Purely as a DAC I think the Grace is indistinguishable from the bitfrost. They're both top notch builds by class leading companies.

It's not my intention to discredit you. Sorry if my post was taken that way.
 
What I'm saying here is that I've also read (from other experienced listener) that the Modi2Uber/Magni2Uber surpasses the M9XX in terms of soundstage especially with regards to frontality.
 
I'm just pointing that what's better for person A might not be better for person B, and there's not a general consensus about which one is better here.
 
I respect your opinion as much as the opinions of those saying the opossite, but I don't think the superior chip can be used to put your opinion on top of the others'

 

[fjrabon]

  It's not my intention to discredit you. Sorry if my post was taken that way.
 
What I'm saying here is that I've also read (from other experienced listener) that the Modi2Uber/Magni2Uber surpasses the M9XX in terms of soundstage especially with regards to frontality.
 
I'm just pointing that what's better for person A might not be better for person B, and there's not a general consensus about which one is better here.
 
I respect your opinion as much as the opinions of those saying the opossite, but I don't think the superior chip can be used to put your opinion on top of the others'

eh, I just get very slightly annoyed when people who haven't heard the equipment in question make statements about it, especially when on objective merits alone, one product is clearly superior to the other.  It'd be one thing if you had heard both, decided you liked the Modi.  I'd disagree, but we might just hear differently.  But this was a "well, I think I remember somebody saying this, who maybe heard both."  Saying you read somewhere that somebody said the Modi was more spacious is worse than useless, because we have no idea what he was using it with, what he meant by "better in soundstage" or even, really, what he actually said.
 
I have owned both products the guy was asking about and the exact headphones he is using.  
 
I love Schiit products.  But the Modi uber simply isn't a match for the Grace's M9XX's DAC section, like all DACs it's a very subtle difference, but I just don't think the Magni competes, at all.  The Modi is incredible for it's price.  It's not as good as the bitfrost or the M9XX.  The M9XX and bitfrost both sound virtually identical to me, which I think is not all that surprising considering the same chip and similar quality builds.  

 

[Gonuso]

 The M9XX and bitfrost both sound virtually identical to me, which I think is not all that surprising considering the same chip and similar quality builds.  

 
Which version of the bifrost? I've been assuming the current iteration of the non-multibit one because you've mentioned the Grace having the same chipset....
 
I had intended for my upgrade path next year (from the modi 2U - which as you say, has been amazing for its price and an excellent starter DAC for me) to be to the Bifrost multibit....but i have yet to find any good comparisons of the multibit to other DACs in the same price class...

 

[fjrabon]

   
Which version of the bifrost? I've been assuming the current iteration of the non-multibit one because you've mentioned the Grace having the same chipset....
 
I had intended for my upgrade path next year (from the modi 2U - which as you say, has been amazing for its price and an excellent starter DAC for me) to be to the Bifrost multibit....but i have yet to find any good comparisons of the multibit to other DACs in the same price class...

I've never heard the multibit, can't help you there.  I owned the regular bitfrost (it and the Lyr was my go-to rig for the HD650, sold the whole rig off not long ago).

 

[Rhamnetin]

   
Do you think average ears could tell a difference between the two from the digital out of an iphone on HE-400i's? 

 
I believe so.  I've listened to the HE-400i out of an iPhone 5, and also with the HiFiMan HM-901S + EF100.  Very obvious difference to my ears even in a situation not ideal for critical listening.  
 
You might want to consider the Parasound ZDac v.2, which is in the m9xx price range.  The build quality and design of its DAC is rarely seen in sub $1000 DACs (jitter reduction for all inputs, reclocking and upsampling design, linear power supply with toroidal transformer, XLR outputs if you ever want to use a separate amp).  I can't speak for its headphone amp although it was received very well in reviews such as this one:
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/parasound-zdac-v2-and-headphone-amp#jqA3jqkBKchbSLtl.97
 
I think it's a neat bonus that you can have two headphones plugged in simultaneously.

 

[thejammonster]

How important is the difference in cost to you? One person in this thread has owned both and has said that the difference is slight (as differences between quality products tend to be). So how much will that extra money hurt your finances? If it's not a big deal then go for it! If it is a serious consideration then save the extra money; maybe even buy some other gear. I have the Schiit Magni 2 Uber/Modi 2 Uber stack on my desk at work for IEMs (Aurisonics ASG-2.5) and the Schiit Lyr 2/Bifrost Multibit stack on my desk at home for headphones (Fostex TH-600). The Magni/Modi sounds a little leaner when using the same headphones between the two, but it is 1/4 of the price and extremely competent for my needs. It has a good amount of power for the HE-400i but planar magnetic headphones can handle a ton of juice. One last advantage to Schiit is that the separate DAC and amp allows you to mix and match and upgrade whenever you'd like. That extra cash I mentioned could go into a Lyr 2 instead of the Magni 2U...possibilities

 

[Magick Man]

I've also read that the Schiit Modi2Uber/Magni2Uber is superior to the M9XX in terms of soundstage.

I think both should be comparable.

Not really, the Grace is in a class above the Schiit Uber stack. (I've listened to both for a decent amount of time.)

 

[mysticstryk]

Not really, the Grace is in a class above the Schiit Uber stack. (I've listened to both for a decent amount of time.)

Some prefer the Uber stack over the m9xx. I don't think you can objectively pick a winner between the two. A bold claim stating it is in a higher class is very subjective.