mortcola
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2013
- Posts
- 142
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- 239
Fine amp. One of several which would be a good match with Grado. For many, as an alternative, Schiit is pretty much universally recognized as the best bang for buck in the audio world.....things at each price point, all of which have a certain panache and neutrality equalling items farmer expensive (find any review at random, including "Product of the Year" at The Absolute Sound, for their top of the line DAC.
And here's for DACs/Amps in your budget.....or below:
$99 Gizmo Kicks Up Your Headphones Sound
Steve Guttenberg, CNET Audiophiliac
"...if you've already invested in a nice set of headphones and never tried them with an amp you don't know how good your headphones really are. You're missing out.
To test that assertion I auditioned a set of Beyerdynamic T 51p on-ear headphones plugged into my Mac Mini's headphone jack, and then with the Magni 3. The Mac Mini's sound was a tad dull and bland, while the Magni 3 had more kick and energy, so it was more fun to listen to. These headphones really shone with the Magni 3.
I also listened to the Magni 3 with a set of Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 over-the-ear headphones. The sound was crisp and clean, a big step up from what I got with listening to my iPhone 6S, which was dynamically crushed and lifeless by comparison. It wasn't even close."
Read Full Review -> (see the Schiit.com reviews page, and take a look at the products list and budget ranges. I have used nothing else since owning higher end Fiio, Woo Audio, and a loaded Chord Dave, which had a bit more subtle than the $99 Schiit Magni (at 0.12% the price), and a clear second in clarity, bass control, and dynamics to the Schiit Mjolnir2 at 10% the Chord Dave price. Plus.....Grado now sells Schiit and has used them in design of the headphones, and vice versa (I'm just an (experienced) customer - no gains to touting their products.). Each is a bargain with NO audio compromises. Check the consensus across the audio review world.
There is no euphony to compromise your love to neutrality. Their tube or hybrid gear is CLEAN, solid state hits every criteriorn....and several model not only allow a wide range of tubes to roll, but are either Solid State, OR accommodate either tubes or (for real) solid state tubes, Schiit inventions which fit the 9-pin tube sockets, allowing a unique versatility.
They make end-game speaker amps at similar price points (made entirely in the USA, except for the plug-in power transformers). The designs are all innovations by high-end pioneers who tired of exponential markups of audio jewelry with microscopically diminishing returns.
Cheap enough to buy for variety and fun....but like many of us, your electronics are taken care of for the foreseeable future. Oh yeah, nearly everything is upgradeable affordably by the factory for as long as forever means anything in the audio world.
They are very funny, they answer all customer requests same day (sometimes in minutes), and they've written delightful book on creating an audio electronics start-up, "Schiit Happens".
I bought the Modi/Magni stamp (would have been $200 but for the DAC processor upgrade I requested, so the combo was $350 - with full, backa nd orth advice on matching, processor choices, and cables. They recommended a LESS expensive combo for synergy with the HF3 - which is on my head for too much for my family's preference (I'm temporarily separated from my high-end (at mod-line prices) and GS3000e. The little guys have a seductive, details an impactful magic, and the amps look like cute, like audiophile paperweights. And then they bench press more than you can.
No buyer remorse intended. The Hafler is a fine unit and you may never care. Just some of us feel we've won something since we discovered Schiit. That's how I put it. I can't find a discernible flaw across the product line (I've got three tiers of DAC/AMP combos, and certainly none meaningful or diverging from neutrality in any audible way.
Excerpts.
One of the best amps we've ever tested.
The Master Switch, Rob Boffard
"And when it comes down to it, what the Magni 3 offers is so compelling that we genuinely can’t think of another competitor in this particular price range. Up until about $300 – more than three times its cost – there’s simply nothing else like it. It takes all the 2-Uber-Multibit nonsense of the previous Magni generation, and simplifies it. It offers terrific sound, wonderful design, splendid ease-of-use, the ability to power just about any pair of headphones, and – as we keep harping on about – an attractive price. And even if it didn’t, it still has the greatest on-switch noise of any amp out there.
So yes: fight us in the comments. Go ahead. We love this amp, and think you will, too."
Read Full Review ->
Schiit Audio Magni 3
The Absolute Sound, Editor's Choice
"The Magni3 offers excellent bass and sub-bass control, pitch definition, and drive, as well as a very dynamic upper midrange...a simple and cost-effective way to drive a wide variety of headphones at or near their optimum potential.
What HiFi?
What HiFi?
"Want a simple, affordable, great-sounding headphone amp? This is it."
Read Full Review ->
Schiit Magni 3 & Vali 2 Amps (Solid State vs. Tube-Hybrid): Review & Comparison
Ian Dunmore, Headphone.com
"Magni 3’s combination of traits yields the best overall delivery I’ve heard among its segment of affordable solid-state amplifiers (and several rather less-affordable models), which often lean towards being bright, or hard sounding - or sometimes “clinical” - not something one could accuse Magni 3 of. This is not an amp you buy to fix tonality problems elsewhere in your chain but nor will it add any new ones, and while not necessarily state-of-the-art in any one area (except, perhaps, in overall value), is unfailingly enjoyable and musically convincing."
"Magni 3 performs so well, in fact, that you can go a long way up the headphone ladder before it will become the limiting factor in your listening, particularly on a technical level. For example, this little unit is sufficiently resolving as to be capable of exposing the small and subtle differences in detail resolution that exist between say the Massdrop x Focal Elex and the Focal Clear."
"It is easy to recommend Magni 3 not just as a “$100 headphone amp” or an entry-level unit, but on a general basis and as something that many people will never feel the need to upgrade beyond."
Read Full Review ->
