[qtiefi]

how is the magni with hd800s?

 

[tamleo]

Hello guys,
i have been listening to the Magni 3 for a week. It is the most detailed sounding amplifier from Schiit i have heard. It sounds much better than the Asgard1, Asgard 2, Magni 2, Vali 2 and the Mjolnir 1. But just a little better than the Magni2u. The treble on the M3 is somewhat thick and lacks of the metalic spark from Chimes and Triangles instrument. So i like the treble on the M2u more.
However the M3 has the powerful sub-bass and low mids that the M2u somewhat lacks.
Because of this kind of treble and bass, the M3 sounded very warm at the first listening.
The mids on the M2u and M3 makes the Asgard2's mids dull, simple and undetailed.
They make the bass on the Mjolnir 1 sounds soft.
I don't know if there is a better p/p amp than the M3..

 

[BrotherKathos]

how is the magni with hd800s?[/QU

Hello guys,
i have been listening to the Magni 3 for a week. It is the most detailed sounding amplifier from Schiit i have heard. It sounds much better than the Asgard1, Asgard 2, Magni 2, Vali 2 and the Mjolnir 1. But just a little better than the Magni2u. The treble on the M3 is somewhat thick and lacks of the metalic spark from Chimes and Triangles instrument. So i like the treble on the M2u more.
However the M3 has the powerful sub-bass and low mids that the M2u somewhat lacks.
Because of this kind of treble and bass, the M3 sounds very warm at the first listening.
The mids on the M2u and M3 makes the Asgard2's mids dull, simple and undetailed.
They make the bass on the Mjolnir 1 sounds soft.
I don't know if there is a better p/p amp than the M3..

What source and headphones are you listening too? Your results are very different from my own. One of the things I absolutely can not call the magni 3 is warm. Its significantly brighter than both my audioengine D1 and JDS Labs El amp as well as the internal hp out on my marantz sr7009 reciever. The bass is weaker, but there is more detail in the upper midrange, most likely due to the bumped treble. I've tried it with two different sabre dacs and also the rca outs from my D1, all with the same resulting brightness. This is the same with all my headphones except for my Sennheiser hd598 cs which are darker and bassier than all other of my phones.

 

[tamleo]

What source and headphones are you listening too? Your results are very different from my own. One of the things I absolutely can not call the magni 3 is warm. Its significantly brighter than both my audioengine D1 and JDS Labs El amp as well as the internal hp out on my marantz sr7009 reciever. The bass is weaker, but there is more detail in the upper midrange, most likely due to the bumped treble. I've tried it with two different sabre dacs and also the rca outs from my D1, all with the same resulting brightness. This is the same with all my headphones except for my Sennheiser hd598 cs which are darker and bassier than all other of my phones.

Hi,
Sorry for my English. I meant I thought the M3 sounded very warm at first because its treble was thick and had no metallic-cold. After spending enough time with the amp and comparing it to other amps, M3 to my ear, is a mild-v-shaped sounding amp. But the mids range is super detailed and rich. My headphones are: LCD-2 r2 prefaz, dba02. My Micca speakers are lined-in from the M3. My dac is Mimby

 

[Topmounter]

I just received a Magni 3 today and after reading most of this thread before purchasing, I see now why there were / are so many complaints regarding its output levels. I'm feeding the Magni 3 with a Meridian Explorer 2 DAC using the line level out (Fixed 2V RMS). On both my HD 650 and HE4xx headphones, I'm running the volume knob up quite a bit further than I would expect for 'comfortable' listening levels. Maybe 2 o'clock for louder songs and 4 o'clock for quieter songs (with 5 o'clock being 100%).

Music so far has been either FLAC CD rips or HiFi streams from Tidal both via Roon w/ volume set to 'Fixed' on an iMac. During the initial setup and test, I was playing a video clip in VLC whose audio levels were a bit low and I was very concerned since I had the Magni 3 cranked all the way up and the low output had me concerned. I also have a pair of AE2 powered speakers connected to the pre-amp output and I had to turn those down quite a bit to get rid of any low level hiss, but it is rare than I listen to those loud so it shouldn't be an issue. I suppose the net is that low source levels can be problematic for the Magni 3.

It's very early, but listening impressions so far have been positive. I've been using a Fulla 2 on this machine, which seemed to get to 'comfortable' listening levels sooner on its volume knob and to 'too loud' easily (albeit probably overdriving its amplifier, which does not appear to be the case w/ the Magni 3). I'm using a Mytek Brooklyn in my 2ch speaker rig, so I'll be curious to compare it with the Explorer2 / Magni 3 combo, but I expect I'll replace the Explorer2 in the near future for my desktop setup.

 

[BrotherKathos]

I just got the Massdrop Desktop O2 amp and am now able to compare it to the magni 3. I had the magni 3 on constantly playing music for almost 2 weeks. I only turned it off maybe 4 times in that time period to just let it heat cycle. I had it on today right when I got back from picking up the O2 amp and wanted to listen to it for a bit to get a baseline for the comparison. After listening for about 10 mins I tuned it off and hooked up the O2 amp. Immediately I noticed that the O2 amp has a much more open sound. I'm listening on a pair of Sennhesier HD 598 Cs and to make them sound more open is an achievement.

The O2 amp is much less tin can in your ear sounding than the magni 3. Vocals are a huge improvement as well. Background echos are also more pronounced. There is a tiny bit more bass, but much less of the piercing treble peaks with S sounds and other bad harmonics the magni 3 has. Its also odd that I'm listening to the O2 amp at the same volume position as the Magni 3. I would have thought I'd need to turn it up more to get the same volume since its supposedly much less powerfull than the magni 3 and the version I ordered is the 1.0x and 3.3x gain model. I'm listening to it at 1.0x gain and its plenty of volume for me even as low as 8:45. The background is also much more black and silent compared to the magni 3. All in all the O2 is leagues ahead in musicality than the magni 3 I own. I so much wanted to like the magni 3, but I think its time for me to just sell it to a friend and recoup my money since I'm most likely out of the 15 day trial period.

 

[BrotherKathos]

I finally found a dac that sounds good with the magni 3. My Sennheiser HD 598 cs were the only cans i liked previously, and now my iphone 6s is the only source that makes the magni 3 sound decent. It tames the overabundant grainy treble and finally gives the music a smoothness that was lacking before. I can only guess that since the iphone dac is much less pronounced in the higher frequencies it balances the sound out. Sabre dacs are much too neutral and precise for the magni 3 i guess and with them the magni 3 adds too much of its own schiit sound and does not mix well. I recommend the warmest dacs possible with this amp. It actually sounds pretty nice with my iphone. Its the longest listening session i’ve had while being satisfied with the music on a wide range of tracks.

 

[sennsay]

Sorry guys, but an overabundant grainy treble is NOT native to the Magni 3. I don't deny you are hearing something like that, but I have used my M3 both with the R2R-11 and Modi Multibit DACs as well as straight into the amp with my QP1R and with the output of a DVD and CD players and I get no grainy treble at all unless the recording is grainy or coarse in itself. This is whether I use the HE400S, my favourite HD540 Ref1s, Sony MDR-1Rs, Senn HD250 Linear, or the slightly elevated treble of the Senn HD430s. Clean as. The output of some sources can be a little grainier than others though, the QP1R (my usual HQ source) via optical out, is as clean as they come. Pure, clean treble, revealing only recordings that are less so for what they are.
The Magni 3 might be classed by some as being a little 'brighter' than the smoothest amps out there, and indeed compared to the R2R-11 it is more transparent, open and a little more brightly lit, but naturally grainy it is not. Or, conversely, the R2R is certainly darker and less neutral than the M3. I sold my Valhalla 2 for a Mimby and am better off for that. The V2 was grainy! Even with better tubes. The Magni 3 was purer, cleaner, far less coarse and more extended.
What is probably far more important to recreating a musical event is not really the constant relative brightness/darkness/right/wrong endless left-brained discussion, it's how does an assembled pairing of electronics make you FEEL! Does it connect you with the emotional communication and expression of the music? Does it portray the immediate sense of rhythmic integrity and the timing of the way the notes connect and flow that makes your heart sing? You sing, you dance, or at least tap your feet and toes, nod your head. It doesn't take any thinking about it to do that, it happens intuitively within the body and before you even realise it your body is singing and moving. All else vanishes if you are in the moment.
My QP1R/Mimby/M3/HD540 Ref1 set up makes the gear vanish. There is only music. I never think about the technicalities because the sheer level of communication skills and human expression over-rides everything, in fact it IS everything in this system for me. Effortlessly. Maybe not for you.
My HD430s are far more brightly lit than the M3, yet with the R2R are so incredibly clean and transparent the results can be spectacular, with fabulous insight. Not such a good match with the M3, yet there is still no grain, just an imbalance issue.
It's easy to get lost in mere technicalities and constant comparisons and lose sight of why you wanted to get some head gear in the first place. Presumably to listen to music, hearing is only done with the ears, the rest is all heart. Do we forget that we're talking just $99 here? On several levels that's astonishing!
The match-up I use for most off my listening (as described above) takes me into the music on levels that vastly more expensive kit I've had over the years has not done to the degree of the vanishing act that I experience now. Not in 45 years. Yes, I'm aware that the system has some limitations technically, even ultimately sonically, but what it does do it shares so brilliantly and with such a cohesive wholeness of human expression that it totally belies the price and much I've heard far beyond it. The sum of the parts is outrageously bigger than the two small boxes connected with some silver and a pair of improved 29 year old headphones.
The stock cable with the HD6xx was edgier, pinched in the soundstage and a tad coarse until replaced with the Mogami cable. As is the stock cable that came with the Senn HD540s! Replace them and all grain goes, consequently allowing a better disappearing act to follow. I suspect excessive brightness and certainly any 'grain' comes from whatever comes before the Magni 3. For example, my own Audioquest Evergreen cable that I occasionally use from the line out of the QP1R to the M3, or another amp, is good yet definitely less refined than the silver cables I use between the Mimby and M3, or the QP1R using optical out.
It takes time to assemble a really good system that truly sings, more often than not. Fine tuning can take weeks and sometimes months.
If your Magni 3 is only hours or days old, give it some time. It is capable ... despite it's budget pricing .... of a quite remarkable 3D soundstage ( Ricki Lee Jones' Naked Songs live album literally brings her incredible voice intimately right to me, yet the audience is all around and in front of me, in depth and height to just behind my ears, voices, claps, gasps and coughs suspended in space, often seeming to be metres away with just clean air between them and me. I'm sometimes shocked at what I can pick up at very low levels. It takes a really pure source and good electronics to do that and not for one second am I drawn to any overriding 'brightness' coming from the electronics. Sure, there are brighter recordings, easily portrayed and very easy to hear that it was done so in the recording studio, yet the flesh and blood warmth of the human voice is still there behind it.
Chameleon-like, the sheer weight and chewy warmth of the bass on the Random Access Memories album shows the ability of the Mimby/M3 to switch to dance mode, away from the hypnotic focus of Ricki's vocal dynamics and express with alacrity what a fabulous recording RAM really is. I use Giorgio Moroder's voice here as a reference for all other gear to match and it often doesn't to some degree, only the QP1R as a DAP with the HifiMAN HE400S (Focus A pads) is 'better' and by the slimmest of margins. The M3 has it untainted with any of the excessive warm colouration I've heard elsewhere, never coloured by any of the solid synth bass around it, separated in space and sounding more real and human as I've heard on anything else. The electronically manipulated vocals on other tracks are a joy to follow, diction is explicit without any form of brightness or edge to highlight it.
Always, the gear, my head and the headphones dissolve away to leave only a musical event, stepping into the musicians' space amongst them, instead of viewing them from the other side of the studio window.
My Magni 3 is definitely a keeper, even if and when I create a larger system with an Yggy, for the reasons expressed above. It is capable of far more than I often see from the experience of other Head-Fiers here. Each to their own though, and folks will just do what they want to do, I just chose to get everything I could out of my system and the results have been and are a continuing musical joy
I almost forgot to add something I have mentioned some time ago, in my experience the optical input of the Mimby (used as a pair with the M3) gives purer and slightly smoother results than via USB, the opposite when using the R2R, which had the excellent Amanero combo USB input. I haven't heard if anyone else has experienced this yet. Just a thought.

 

[BrotherKathos]

Sorry guys, but an overabundant grainy treble is NOT native to the Magni 3. I don't deny you are hearing something like that, but I have used my M3 both with the R2R-11 and Modi Multibit DACs as well as straight into the amp with my QP1R and with the output of a DVD and CD players and I get no grainy treble at all unless the recording is grainy or coarse in itself. This is whether I use the HE400S, my favourite HD540 Ref1s, Sony MDR-1Rs, Senn HD250 Linear, or the slightly elevated treble of the Senn HD430s. Clean as. The output of some sources can be a little grainier than others though, the QP1R (my usual HQ source) via optical out, is as clean as they come. Pure, clean treble, revealing only recordings that are less so for what they are.
The Magni 3 might be classed by some as being a little 'brighter' than the smoothest amps out there, and indeed compared to the R2R-11 it is more transparent, open and a little more brightly lit, but naturally grainy it is not. Or, conversely, the R2R is certainly darker and less neutral than the M3. I sold my Valhalla 2 for a Mimby and am better off for that. The V2 was grainy! Even with better tubes. The Magni 3 was purer, cleaner, far less coarse and more extended.
What is probably far more important to recreating a musical event is not really the constant relative brightness/darkness/right/wrong endless left-brained discussion, it's how does an assembled pairing of electronics make you FEEL! Does it connect you with the emotional communication and expression of the music? Does it portray the immediate sense of rhythmic integrity and the timing of the way the notes connect and flow that makes your heart sing? You sing, you dance, or at least tap your feet and toes, nod your head. It doesn't take any thinking about it to do that, it happens intuitively within the body and before you even realise it your body is singing and moving. All else vanishes if you are in the moment.
My QP1R/Mimby/M3/HD540 Ref1 set up makes the gear vanish. There is only music. I never think about the technicalities because the sheer level of communication skills and human expression over-rides everything, in fact it IS everything in this system for me. Effortlessly. Maybe not for you.
My HD430s are far more brightly lit than the M3, yet with the R2R are so incredibly clean and transparent the results can be spectacular, with fabulous insight. Not such a good match with the M3, yet there is still no grain, just an imbalance issue.
It's easy to get lost in mere technicalities and constant comparisons and lose sight of why you wanted to get some head gear in the first place. Presumably to listen to music, hearing is only done with the ears, the rest is all heart. Do we forget that we're talking just $99 here? On several levels that's astonishing!
The match-up I use for most off my listening (as described above) takes me into the music on levels that vastly more expensive kit I've had over the years has not done to the degree of the vanishing act that I experience now. Not in 45 years. Yes, I'm aware that the system has some limitations technically, even ultimately sonically, but what it does do it shares so brilliantly and with such a cohesive wholeness of human expression that it totally belies the price and much I've heard far beyond it. The sum of the parts is outrageously bigger than the two small boxes connected with some silver and a pair of improved 29 year old headphones.
The stock cable with the HD6xx was edgier, pinched in the soundstage and a tad coarse until replaced with the Mogami cable. As is the stock cable that came with the Senn HD540s! Replace them and all grain goes, consequently allowing a better disappearing act to follow. I suspect excessive brightness and certainly any 'grain' comes from whatever comes before the Magni 3. For example, my own Audioquest Evergreen cable that I occasionally use from the line out of the QP1R to the M3, or another amp, is good yet definitely less refined than the silver cables I use between the Mimby and M3, or the QP1R using optical out.
It takes time to assemble a really good system that truly sings, more often than not. Fine tuning can take weeks and sometimes months.
If your Magni 3 is only hours or days old, give it some time. It is capable ... despite it's budget pricing .... of a quite remarkable 3D soundstage ( Ricki Lee Jones' Naked Songs live album literally brings her incredible voice intimately right to me, yet the audience is all around and in front of me, in depth and height to just behind my ears, voices, claps, gasps and coughs suspended in space, often seeming to be metres away with just clean air between them and me. I'm sometimes shocked at what I can pick up at very low levels. It takes a really pure source and good electronics to do that and not for one second am I drawn to any overriding 'brightness' coming from the electronics. Sure, there are brighter recordings, easily portrayed and very easy to hear that it was done so in the recording studio, yet the flesh and blood warmth of the human voice is still there behind it.
Chameleon-like, the sheer weight and chewy warmth of the bass on the Random Access Memories album shows the ability of the Mimby/M3 to switch to dance mode, away from the hypnotic focus of Ricki's vocal dynamics and express with alacrity what a fabulous recording RAM really is. I use Giorgio Moroder's voice here as a reference for all other gear to match and it often doesn't to some degree, only the QP1R as a DAP with the HifiMAN HE400S (Focus A pads) is 'better' and by the slimmest of margins. The M3 has it untainted with any of the excessive warm colouration I've heard elsewhere, never coloured by any of the solid synth bass around it, separated in space and sounding more real and human as I've heard on anything else. The electronically manipulated vocals on other tracks are a joy to follow, diction is explicit without any form of brightness or edge to highlight it.
Always, the gear, my head and the headphones dissolve away to leave only a musical event, stepping into the musicians' space amongst them, instead of viewing them from the other side of the studio window.
My Magni 3 is definitely a keeper, even if and when I create a larger system with an Yggy, for the reasons expressed above. It is capable of far more than I often see from the experience of other Head-Fiers here. Each to their own though, and folks will just do what they want to do, I just chose to get everything I could out of my system and the results have been and are a continuing musical joy
I almost forgot to add something I have mentioned some time ago, in my experience the optical input of the Mimby (used as a pair with the M3) gives purer and slightly smoother results than via USB, the opposite when using the R2R, which had the excellent Amanero combo USB input. I haven't heard if anyone else has experienced this yet. Just a thought.

Have you tried the magni 3 with any sabre dacs? The multibit ones are known for being on the dimmer side in the highs right? I did get a decent 3d soundstage as you mentioned with the magni 3, but the Massdrop O2 amp I just got right out of the box sounded better in every way. Sound stage, bass, treble, and smoothness etc. Maybe I just got a bad magni, or my personal preferences just don't mesh well with the schiit sound of the magni 3? I do like it with the iphone though. Its much smoother up top with the phone as a source. I've never really liked any kind of brightness in my music. One of the reasons i've always hated b&w, bose and klipsch.

 

[lantian]

Sorry guys, but an overabundant grainy treble is NOT native to the Magni 3. I don't deny you are hearing something like that, but I have used my M3 both with the R2R-11 and Modi Multibit DACs as well as straight into the amp with my QP1R and with the output of a DVD and CD players and I get no grainy treble at all unless the recording is grainy or coarse in itself. This is whether I use the HE400S, my favourite HD540 Ref1s, Sony MDR-1Rs, Senn HD250 Linear, or the slightly elevated treble of the Senn HD430s. Clean as. The output of some sources can be a little grainier than others though, the QP1R (my usual HQ source) via optical out, is as clean as they come. Pure, clean treble, revealing only recordings that are less so for what they are.
The Magni 3 might be classed by some as being a little 'brighter' than the smoothest amps out there, and indeed compared to the R2R-11 it is more transparent, open and a little more brightly lit, but naturally grainy it is not. Or, conversely, the R2R is certainly darker and less neutral than the M3. I sold my Valhalla 2 for a Mimby and am better off for that. The V2 was grainy! Even with better tubes. The Magni 3 was purer, cleaner, far less coarse and more extended.
What is probably far more important to recreating a musical event is not really the constant relative brightness/darkness/right/wrong endless left-brained discussion, it's how does an assembled pairing of electronics make you FEEL! Does it connect you with the emotional communication and expression of the music? Does it portray the immediate sense of rhythmic integrity and the timing of the way the notes connect and flow that makes your heart sing? You sing, you dance, or at least tap your feet and toes, nod your head. It doesn't take any thinking about it to do that, it happens intuitively within the body and before you even realise it your body is singing and moving. All else vanishes if you are in the moment.
My QP1R/Mimby/M3/HD540 Ref1 set up makes the gear vanish. There is only music. I never think about the technicalities because the sheer level of communication skills and human expression over-rides everything, in fact it IS everything in this system for me. Effortlessly. Maybe not for you.
My HD430s are far more brightly lit than the M3, yet with the R2R are so incredibly clean and transparent the results can be spectacular, with fabulous insight. Not such a good match with the M3, yet there is still no grain, just an imbalance issue.
It's easy to get lost in mere technicalities and constant comparisons and lose sight of why you wanted to get some head gear in the first place. Presumably to listen to music, hearing is only done with the ears, the rest is all heart. Do we forget that we're talking just $99 here? On several levels that's astonishing!
The match-up I use for most off my listening (as described above) takes me into the music on levels that vastly more expensive kit I've had over the years has not done to the degree of the vanishing act that I experience now. Not in 45 years. Yes, I'm aware that the system has some limitations technically, even ultimately sonically, but what it does do it shares so brilliantly and with such a cohesive wholeness of human expression that it totally belies the price and much I've heard far beyond it. The sum of the parts is outrageously bigger than the two small boxes connected with some silver and a pair of improved 29 year old headphones.
The stock cable with the HD6xx was edgier, pinched in the soundstage and a tad coarse until replaced with the Mogami cable. As is the stock cable that came with the Senn HD540s! Replace them and all grain goes, consequently allowing a better disappearing act to follow. I suspect excessive brightness and certainly any 'grain' comes from whatever comes before the Magni 3. For example, my own Audioquest Evergreen cable that I occasionally use from the line out of the QP1R to the M3, or another amp, is good yet definitely less refined than the silver cables I use between the Mimby and M3, or the QP1R using optical out.
It takes time to assemble a really good system that truly sings, more often than not. Fine tuning can take weeks and sometimes months.
If your Magni 3 is only hours or days old, give it some time. It is capable ... despite it's budget pricing .... of a quite remarkable 3D soundstage ( Ricki Lee Jones' Naked Songs live album literally brings her incredible voice intimately right to me, yet the audience is all around and in front of me, in depth and height to just behind my ears, voices, claps, gasps and coughs suspended in space, often seeming to be metres away with just clean air between them and me. I'm sometimes shocked at what I can pick up at very low levels. It takes a really pure source and good electronics to do that and not for one second am I drawn to any overriding 'brightness' coming from the electronics. Sure, there are brighter recordings, easily portrayed and very easy to hear that it was done so in the recording studio, yet the flesh and blood warmth of the human voice is still there behind it.
Chameleon-like, the sheer weight and chewy warmth of the bass on the Random Access Memories album shows the ability of the Mimby/M3 to switch to dance mode, away from the hypnotic focus of Ricki's vocal dynamics and express with alacrity what a fabulous recording RAM really is. I use Giorgio Moroder's voice here as a reference for all other gear to match and it often doesn't to some degree, only the QP1R as a DAP with the HifiMAN HE400S (Focus A pads) is 'better' and by the slimmest of margins. The M3 has it untainted with any of the excessive warm colouration I've heard elsewhere, never coloured by any of the solid synth bass around it, separated in space and sounding more real and human as I've heard on anything else. The electronically manipulated vocals on other tracks are a joy to follow, diction is explicit without any form of brightness or edge to highlight it.
Always, the gear, my head and the headphones dissolve away to leave only a musical event, stepping into the musicians' space amongst them, instead of viewing them from the other side of the studio window.
My Magni 3 is definitely a keeper, even if and when I create a larger system with an Yggy, for the reasons expressed above. It is capable of far more than I often see from the experience of other Head-Fiers here. Each to their own though, and folks will just do what they want to do, I just chose to get everything I could out of my system and the results have been and are a continuing musical joy
I almost forgot to add something I have mentioned some time ago, in my experience the optical input of the Mimby (used as a pair with the M3) gives purer and slightly smoother results than via USB, the opposite when using the R2R, which had the excellent Amanero combo USB input. I haven't heard if anyone else has experienced this yet. Just a thought.

Have to agree with this. My own impressions are that it is a very transparent and crystal clear amp(had to get a power filter for it though). My fiio x7 mk2 loves that amp and so does my brothers x7 and my own lenovo vibe x3(only with sabre dac active, otherwise the wolofson dac is terrible),axon 7 mini with it's akm dac. Only devices that have issues are old samsung s7, htc m8, and my dads iphone x, neither of them have sound that could be described as good or even enjoyable. The way I see it finding a amp should not be problem as long as the source is clean.

 

[Topmounter]

Have you tried the magni 3 with any sabre dacs? The multibit ones are known for being on the dimmer side in the highs right? I did get a decent 3d soundstage as you mentioned with the magni 3, but the Massdrop O2 amp I just got right out of the box sounded better in every way. Sound stage, bass, treble, and smoothness etc. Maybe I just got a bad magni, or my personal preferences just don't mesh well with the schiit sound of the magni 3? I do like it with the iphone though. Its much smoother up top with the phone as a source. I've never really liked any kind of brightness in my music. One of the reasons i've always hated b&w, bose and klipsch.

Interesting. I can't say I'm noticing any particular trend towards 'brightness' with the Magni 3, but I don't have a standalone headphone amp to compare it with such as the O2. I do own a Mytek Brooklyn, but it's in my 2ch speaker system. I have yet to compare its headphone output with the Magni 3 / Explorer2 pairing (for which my only reference point currently is the Fulla 2).

I did buy a pair of Massdrop's Hifiman HE4xx planars that I received at the same time as the Magni 3. It's still early days, but I do seem to hear a bit of grain at times in some songs with those headphones that I don't hear with my HD650 headphones (I've been listening under the assumption that this is a characteristic of planar headphones though). I suppose I should identify a song where I hear grain consistently with the HE4xx's and then see if I still hear it with the Brooklyn (I need to be careful though since I don't really want to shell out the bucks for a second Brooklyn

 

[BrotherKathos]

Interesting. I can't say I'm noticing any particular trend towards 'brightness' with the Magni 3, but I don't have a standalone headphone amp to compare it with such as the O2. I do own a Mytek Brooklyn, but it's in my 2ch speaker system. I have yet to compare its headphone output with the Magni 3 / Explorer2 pairing.

My magni 3 is alot brighter and harsher as you raise the volume than both my O2 amp and JDS Labs EL Amp. Sounds much less refined by comparison. Its got this grating quality to it as you turn up the volume. I've looked around for a reason for why this might be and i found this on audiosciencereview in a comparison between the magni 3 and topping A30. "Turning up the level from medium to high, caused one of the units to get bright. Identifying that unit showed it was Magni 3. It is ever so slightly brighter which can indicate to some as more soundstage or detail -- none of which are true. The extra distortion generated by Magni 3 increases the high frequency content and hence that subjective impression. No real change was there in any other fidelity aspects no matter how much I concentrated." I'd have to agree with this as its exactly what I experience as I listen to the magni 3. It gets harsher as you raise the volume. If I'd seen this review before I'd most likely not have bought the magni 3 in the first place. Oh well, probably be easy to sell as lots of people seem to like it.

Link to forum:https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...g-a30-and-schiit-magni-3-headphone-amps.4024/

 

[Topmounter]

My magni 3 is alot brighter and harsher as you raise the volume than both my O2 amp and JDS Labs EL Amp. Sounds much less refined by comparison. Its got this grating quality to it as you turn up the volume. I've looked around for a reason for why this might be and i found this on audiosciencereview in a comparison between the magni 3 and topping A30. "Turning up the level from medium to high, caused one of the units to get bright. Identifying that unit showed it was Magni 3. It is ever so slightly brighter which can indicate to some as more soundstage or detail -- none of which are true. The extra distortion generated by Magni 3 increases the high frequency content and hence that subjective impression. No real change was there in any other fidelity aspects no matter how much I concentrated." I'd have to agree with this as its exactly what I experience as I listen to the magni 3. It gets harsher as you raise the volume. If I'd seen this review before I'd most likely not have bought the magni 3 in the first place. Oh well, probably be easy to sell as lots of people seem to like it.

Link to forum:https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...g-a30-and-schiit-magni-3-headphone-amps.4024/

Did the ASR post say whether they tried multiple devices to see if the effect was consistent? While the vast majority of Magni 3 posts here are positive, there does seem to be a certain percentage of people that report issues and I wonder if there is some inherent manufacturing variability that Schiit’s qc process missed or whether there is something about the Magni 3 that makes it more sensitive to DAC output voltage / impedance levels.

 

[sennsay]

Interesting. I can't say I'm noticing any particular trend towards 'brightness' with the Magni 3, but I don't have a standalone headphone amp to compare it with such as the O2. I do own a Mytek Brooklyn, but it's in my 2ch speaker system. I have yet to compare its headphone output with the Magni 3 / Explorer2 pairing (for which my only reference point currently is the Fulla 2).

I did buy a pair of Massdrop's Hifiman HE4xx planars that I received at the same time as the Magni 3. It's still early days, but I do seem to hear a bit of grain at times in some songs with those headphones that I don't hear with my HD650 headphones (I've been listening under the assumption that this is a characteristic of planar headphones though). I suppose I should identify a song where I hear grain consistently with the HE4xx's and then see if I still hear it with the Brooklyn (I need to be careful though since I don't really want to shell out the bucks for a second Brooklyn

Yes, I agree with the HE4xx comments for the most part, my HE400S (Focus A pads) sound good with the M3, but magnificent straight out of the QP1R. Go figure that 40mW of Class A is amazingly pure, yet that slight treble peak is more noticeable through the M3 with many times the output power, yet the M3 does not have a treble peak.
The cleaner your source, the better the Magni 3 will sound and this is fully confirmed by Steven Stone from the Absolute Sound magazine in his own tests with the M3. He too confirmed it's ability to self-upgrade with better sources, comparing it directly with the $2199 Sony TA-ZH1ES, with same source, DAC and matched volume settings, he could not reliably tell the difference between them. He also used it as a preamp into the Mytek Brooklyn and it offered comparable fidelity to listening directly through the Mytek, both sounding exceedingly clean with well defined inner detail. He also stated that it was in no way outclassed when used with very expensive transducers costing many times more than the M3. This is exactly my experience, down to using the $400+ Slinkylinks pure silver interconnects between the Mimby and M3.
Steven Stone's review is well worth seeking out, I've got it from the Absolute Sound Ultimate Headphone Guide, Summer 2018.
My HD540 Ref1s are utterly grainless and smooth through the Schiit stack and also as they are right at this very moment via USB out of the MacBook (24/96 output) into the A-gd R2R-11 as a DAC, silver cables into the Magni 3. Volume with the Ref1s is at 11PM on the M3, plenty loud enough! Punchy, tight, clean and alive. No 'brightness' at all, the R2R ripping out the rhythms on Sting's 57th & 9th album. Via the QP1R/Mimby I often have it set from 1 o'clock to 3:30, no problems and superb sound quality. Switching to the HE400S, I have to drop the volume a tad to 9:30/10pm. Great focus, detail, intimacy and communication. The Senn Ref1s have better depth between guitar and close miked vocals, as in two separate entities with their own ambient space, more real, both alive in their own way. Going back to the HE400S, some wispiness to the vocals come in and that blackness between the vocals and backing instruments becomes smeared, losing my ability to focus in on any instrument with effortless ease. They will be receiving their own Mogami cable shortly.
The Ref1s show the slight sibilance without smearing or highlighting it, the wispy 'sses' stay with Sting's lips and just become a natural part of the voice. They do this with all recordings, it's why I love them so much for listening to music, they just sound real and human without the hyper-detailing of so many modern bits of kit. You don't need ultra-detail to hear flesh and blood fingertips on a tabla (drum), they can sound utterly true to life without needing to do that. It's part of the reason why Schiit Audio do not particularly like the Sigma-Delta DACs, the multibit DACs (including the R2R I'm currently listening through) have a naturalness that evades so much of modern electronics. That's not to dis a lot of great gear as such, spectacular ultra-clarity is not what you hear from natural instruments and the human voice though. Once you've heard what this flesh and blood naturalness sounds like, anything unlike it really stands out. The Magni 3 will easily show up all before it, becoming the chameleon (or the octopus, if sea creatures are more to your liking) as different albums are directed to it's inputs.
I've moved to the excellent local Australian album, Milk & Honey by OKA (2011), all wispiness vanishes, to be replaced with warmth and weight, the vocals almost taking a back seat to the driving deep bass rhythms. I've seen these guys, they are a fabulous and very popular live dance act.
Both the R2R and the Mimby have a liquid rhythmic flow to all music put through them. The R2R darker and a little more bass-focused, with a wonderful natural flow. The Mimby neutral, more transparent and 3D, purer treble detail and focus, incredibly alive in my set-up with even greater living independence of each individual instrument and voice. Lorde's overdubbed vocals to the side of the soundstage are every bit as solid, warm and obviously female as the central voice, adding an astonishing realism to the music, they aren't thinned as happens so often with many other headphones and gear I've heard. I went back to the Ref1s for listening some time ago, I haven't gone back to the HE400S. The Magni 3 has vanished, I'm barely even aware that I'm wearing any headphones, the bones of my skull have seemingly disappeared. No hifi system, there is only music. Anything less is just gear in the way.

 

[BrotherKathos]

Did the ASR post say whether they tried multiple devices to see if the effect was consistent? While the vast majority of Magni 3 posts here are positive, there does seem to be a certain percentage of people that report issues and I wonder if there is some inherent manufacturing variability that Schiit’s qc process missed or whether there is something about the Magni 3 that makes it more sensitive to DAC output voltage / impedance levels.

I think the only unit that was tested was his personal one. I think alot of it comes down to personal preferences. the measurements clearly show that the magni 3 distorts much earlier than amps like the topping that are rated for less power. this makes the magni 3 seem brighter, but to more sensitive ears the distortion causes bad grainy harmonics. to less sensitive ears it gives the magni 3 that sparlke and faux clearness that many seem to like. this could be a design flaw, or somthing intentional to balance out the output of the multibit dacs. i would not rule out manufacturing varieties either bc well very cheap product. The o2 amp seems to suffer from this as well bc i’ve seen very different reviews from people that either built their own or gotten ones from massdrop or jds or mayflower etc. also cheap product. looks like these all might just be lottery products.