[bob2299]

Hi folks,

I have a Schiit Magnius which is rated 1 watt into 300 ohms. Besides Schiit's own offerings (Jotunheim 2, Ragnarock 2) are there other amps with more power around $500?

 

[Monsterzero]

What 300 ohm headphones are you using?

 

[bob2299]

hd8xx, and 6xx.

 

[tomb]

He's asked a good question. You don't really need that much power. You need clean power.

As for the Magnus, here's what you don't know about Schiit's specs:

Frequency Response: 20Hz - 20kHz, +/- 0/01dB

At what power, at what load impedance? What happens to the response at different loads?

Power: Maximum Power 300 ohms: 1000mW RMS per channel (note: balanced only)

At what frequency? At what distortion level?

If the frequency for an amplifier power measurement is not specified, I can guarantee you that it was taken at 1kHz. There's no guarantee at all that the amp will produce that at 20Hz or 20kHz and in-between.

What distortion level? Schiit themselves state this below the power specs:

Note: Maximum power rated at 1% THD, high gain.

I can also guarantee you that you don't want to listen for extended periods to a 1% distorted signal. Schiit does a better job quoting specs for THD+N, IMD, and SNR. For instance:

THD+N:
High Gain, Balanced Output: Less that 0.0003% at 4V RMS into 32ohms

A quick calculation shows you that 4V RMS into 32 ohms is 500 mW ((P=V^2)/R). That's 1/2 the maximum power quote. Note also that they quote that THD+N at 32 ohms, NOT 300 ohms. So, we really don't know what the ideal performance and power curve looks like at 300 ohms.

Just food for thought. Your assumption that you need to be looking at other amplifiers that are capable of 1000mW is not really valid.

 

[Monsterzero]

I know you're looking for a solid state amp, but an OTL amp would be the way to go here. The 6xx and 8xx are very different sounding headphones, with one being bright and spacious while the other is warm, thumpy and immediate sounding. Buy a warm amp for the 8xx and it will be too warm for the 6xx. Buy a neutral/bright-ish amp for the 6xx and it will be quite sibilant for the 8xx.

With an OTL amp get some Mullards and RCAs for the 8xx, and some Sylvanias and Telefunkens for the 6xx, then you have the best sound for both.

 

[Monsterzero]

building off of what @tomb said, if you're dead set on a solid state amp, I would nudge you in the direction of one of Violectric's amps, namely the v202 which is a bit above your budget. If the budget is set in stone then look into one of Lake People's amps, both of which are made by the same company. They pump a lot of volts, making them very nice for high impedance headphones.
I have the v550, which is the TOTL Violectric amp and it puts out 1.4 watts into a 300 ohm load and 6.4 watts into 50 ohms, making it a very versatile amp for high and low impedance dynamic driver headphones as well as current hungry planars.

I use my v550 for all of my ZMF headphones, which have similar specs to your HD6xx and HD8xx and it's more power than you'll ever need. FWIW Violectric amps tend to lean warm sounding.

 

[bob2299]

Thanks, for the information. Will look into these amps.

 

[jonathan c]

@bob2299, insofar as current offerings, definitely Violectric HPA V202 (single-end) / HPA V222 (balanced). For older vintages, if you can find them, Violectric HPA V280 / HPA V281.