[Dubstep Girl]

awesome review! short and simple.

 

[peter123]

Great review!

Enough information for me to order the Magni

 

[compoopers]

CHEERS MATE!

 

[adydula]

Good read....I have had several Schiit Amps, the Asgard and the Lyr...and now have 2 O2's and 2 Odacs...Built one of the o2's . One of the O2's is a battery/AC adapter with an external enclosed Odac which i packaged with RCA and the mini USB jack for input and can use the RCA for the 2 ch speaker setup for use.
 
I was waiting on the first impressions to see if the new Schiit stuff was going to be any better than the O2, so far it seems most think that they are very similiar except for the cosmetics etc...to some the cosmetics mean alot, to others not.
 
After hearing the O2 amp with a HRT Music Streamer ii DAC, I didnt hesitate to sell the Asgard and the Lyr...so I dont think this new stuff would be that awesome to me.
 
I will wait for some like Tyll to run some objective measurements to see what the specs look like.
 
That said its good to see some nice looking low end stuff out there, and its maded in the USA!!!
 
Go Team!
 
Alex

 

[RollTide09]

That is what i'm wondering. Well I have the audinst, I just want to know whether the magni will do a better job than the built in amp of the audinst.

 
I currently have the Audinst and ordered the Schiit stack which should be coming in soon. I'll try to remember to share my thoughts. I'll be using the HD 650's and HE-400's.

 

[MrMateoHead]

Quote:

I hate to say it again but there downfalls (bass distortion) with the ODAC and O2 when using high impedance phones (HD600) on high gains. In response to my question, John from JDS Labs said: "This occurs with O2 when using a strong source/DAC with some headphones. You simply need a higher voltage AC adapter to use high gain. More information can be found on the instructions guide." On the other hand, you can't ever make the Magni portable!

I've not heard of this problem before. Having just got teh ODAC, I notice that the strength of the output makes cruising up to 12 O'Clock or more quite loud. At stock 2.5x gain, you can clip on battery (I think), but not on AC. What gain/volume settings are you talking about? It would seem like you would have to be really cranking the crap out of the phones. Just curious.

 

[imackler]

Quote:

I've not heard of this problem before. Having just got teh ODAC, I notice that the strength of the output makes cruising up to 12 O'Clock or more quite loud. At stock 2.5x gain, you can clip on battery (I think), but not on AC. What gain/volume settings are you talking about? It would seem like you would have to be really cranking the crap out of the phones. Just curious.

 
Nope. Just your normal 9-10 pm. I really thought it was the headphones falling apart (HD650), but it was the ODAC/O2 combo. I felt better when JDS Labs confirmed it was a known issue. For me, I felt the HD650 needs the dynamics of high gain; low gain is fine, and I was perfectly happy with low gain with the HD600. But if you use an Ipod line out as source, you don't have the issue becaues of output impedance of ODAC... or something like that. 

 

[MrMateoHead]

Quote:

 
Nope. Just your normal 9-10 pm. I really thought it was the headphones falling apart (HD650), but it was the ODAC/O2 combo. I felt better when JDS Labs confirmed it was a known issue. For me, I felt the HD650 needs the dynamics of high gain; low gain is fine, and I was perfectly happy with low gain with the HD600. But if you use an Ipod line out as source, you don't have the issue becaues of output impedance of ODAC... or something like that. 

Interesting. Yes, now that you mention it, @ 6.5X with relatively normal music playing, I can make the signal sound distorted without pushing into high volume. This was not an issue with a 1V or weaker signal source - I could make it to max volume under some conditions without getting distorted seeming to. Given the 2V output of the ODAC, chances are, a 1X or 2.5X gain are the most you really would ever need.

 

[miceblue]

Nice review....
 
HOWEVER, you can't use the Magni as a transportable amp, so therefore if you need a semi-portable amp, go for the O2 since it can run on batteries.
 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Just got my Yuin G1A clip ons in.... sounds absolutely amazing off the Modi/Magni. I'm SO happy with these headphones on the Schiit Stack.

 

[autoteleology]

Something about the stack and aesthetics that makes it more worthwhile to me. The ODAC is so discreet, and the O2 has a mess of cables in the front. I'd rather hide those away, while the Schiit stack is something I'm proud to have displayed.

 
Not all O2s and ODACs are created equal. My custom O2 and ODAC look pretty darn fine, and my O2's volume knob doesn't need a Viagra to boot. 

 
Then again, I'd suppose getting better casing for the chipsets would probably mess up the price/performance ratio even more. Still totally worth it IMO.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Oh yeah, wanted to say mine looks that way too.

 

[TMRaven]

I figured it might be like that.  I saw someone else's pic and their magni volume pot was slightly askew as well.  It's not something that really bothers me, and I actually prefer the style of the magni's volume pot (long, gap between pot and casing) compared to the rest of schiit's amps.

 

[euterpe]

Hello I'm a complete newbie to this audio system area..
I decided for a change and looked toward more dedicated sound setup for my PC
I will be gaming a lot so I won't be getting a DAC, but getting a sound card(Ti-HD)...
I have firmly decided that I will be getting Q701 and Ti-HD, but still haven't decided on an amp.
Magni is quite new so I haven't seen any specific indepth review other than this thread.
To the question.... Is O2 better or Magni better to drive the Q701s?

I appreciate your answers! And I apologize to drop a question on a review...

 

[Uberbob102000]

Quote:

Hello I'm a complete newbie to this audio system area..
I decided for a change and looked toward more dedicated sound setup for my PC
I will be gaming a lot so I won't be getting a DAC, but getting a sound card(Ti-HD)...
I have firmly decided that I will be getting Q701 and Ti-HD, but still haven't decided on an amp.
Magni is quite new so I haven't seen any specific indepth review other than this thread.
To the question.... Is O2 better or Magni better to drive the Q701s?

I appreciate your answers! And I apologize to drop a question on a review...

 
Either or should be fine, I'd personally say go with the Magni because it's cheaper and you can have it looks slick with power and input at the back.