[Rensek]

My magni 3 has been flawless, no scratchy pot, no imbalance. To the guy who said he sold his, I'm sure hoping you tried to get a hold of schiit first. These things have two year warranties, Schiit stands by their product. Obviously we don't know what percentage of Magnis get bad pots, but it sure seems to be their most common warranty issue. Also keep in mind they have sold thousands upon thousands of these, and the number of people who complained on this thread are relatively small. Mine was purchased last December and it's serial number is high 6 thousands.

 

[ckvp]

I think it's peculiar how many of you complain about contact noise. I didn't even imagine that people are so anal that they expect to turn the volume knob, and hear nothing but a change in volume. But the solution is usually, just a small value capacitor to bleed off the contact noise.

How exactly would this work? Where would I place the capacitor?

 

[KaiFi]

I don't think it's being anal at all. I've tried several other amps, including ones by Schiit, that don't have any noise other than a change in volume. The only time I ever heard noise when adjusting the volume was with vintage equipment from the 70s and 80s. I expect it on that. I don't expect it on a brand new modern amp. If that makes me a spoiled brat, so be it. I think in a hobby where we're willing to spend hundreds or thousands for marginal improvements in sound that many people wouldn't even notice, it's not unreasonable to think a noisy pot is unacceptable.

 

[echoplex]

Hmmm . . . that AC to AC power supply may have some particular vulnerabilities. Of course you’re correct, buying a conditioner to keep a $99 amp is nuts, given the alternatives.

My Magni is working just fine, but I have to crank it almost to the max on high gain (often around 4 o’clock on good recordings/masters) to drive my 600 Ohm Beyerdynamic DT880s and AKG K240DFs to a reasonable reference volume.

I’m very intrigued by the JDS Atom and even more by the Monoprice Liquid Spark. But it’s not clear if they have power, or more accurately the voltage, to drive these 600 Ohm cans. Many people post that they are comparable in power to the Magni, but none I’ve found are using such hard to drive headphones—and neither company and no reviews I’ve found have spec’d either amp’s performance at r600.

I still may end up ordering one, or both, to compare them to the Magni.

 

[echoplex]

I don't think it's being anal at all. I've tried several other amps, including ones by Schiit, that don't have any noise other than a change in volume. The only time I ever heard noise when adjusting the volume was with vintage equipment from the 70s and 80s. I expect it on that. I don't expect it on a brand new modern amp. If that makes me a spoiled brat, so be it. I think in a hobby where we're willing to spend hundreds or thousands for marginal improvements in sound that many people wouldn't even notice, it's not unreasonable to think a noisy pot is unacceptable.

A noisy pot out of the box is unacceptable. Absolutely! It’s likely a bad part, since the pots aren’t old enough to oxidize as with vintage gear.

 

[BrotherKathos]

Hmmm . . . that AC to AC power supply may have some particular vulnerabilities. Of course you’re correct, buying a conditioner to keep a $99 amp is nuts, given the alternatives.

My Magni is working just fine, but I have to crank it almost to the max on high gain (often around 4 o’clock on good recordings/masters) to drive my 600 Ohm Beyerdynamic DT880s and AKG K240DFs to a reasonable reference volume.

I’m very intrigued by the JDS Atom and even more by the Monoprice Liquid Spark. But it’s not clear if they have power, or more accurately the voltage, to drive these 600 Ohm cans. Many people post that they are comparable in power to the Magni, but none I’ve found are using such hard to drive headphones—and neither company and no reviews I’ve found have spec’d either amp’s performance at r600.

I still may end up ordering one, or both, to compare them to the Magni.

Wow those are some really hard to drive headphones you have. I find it hard to keep the volume of the magni 3 anywhere past 11:00 on low gain with my 300 ohm Senn HD6XX. Although I did let an older gentleman demo the modi 3 magni 3 stack with the hd6xx and he would crank them up to 1:00 on high gain. I was like omg you are either almost deaf or you will be soon. Was like i was hearing a concert sprout from his ears. Almost cringed when I thought of what was happening to his eardrums.

 

[riffrafff]

"Made loud to be played loud." -- Back of the original James Gang Rides Again LP jacket.

 

[echoplex]

Wow those are some really hard to drive headphones you have. I find it hard to keep the volume of the magni 3 anywhere past 11:00 on low gain with my 300 ohm Senn HD6XX. Although I did let an older gentleman demo the modi 3 magni 3 stack with the hd6xx and he would crank them up to 1:00 on high gain. I was like omg you are either almost deaf or you will be soon. Was like i was hearing a concert sprout from his ears. Almost cringed when I thought of what was happening to his eardrums.

Cranking it that high with my 250 Ohm Beyer DT880s would blow out my eardrums. The 600 Ohm model is a very different beast. The AKGs are just brutal to drive, more so than the Beyers.

Part of the reason I have to crank it up so high may have to do with increments on the pot. There is a steep volume increase at first, but somewhere between 11 and 12 o’clock the increment rapidly diminish and the volume almost plateaus through approximately 4 o’cLock. This makes perfect sense for most cans and owners: get the general volume level most people want then fine tune it.

At the very end of the pot’s rotation, the increments grow larger again and the volume increase is steeper. The somewhat disconcerting result is that I think the amp will just run out of gas and clip, but then it doesn’t. But this does make the volume hard to fine tune on these phones.

I’m curious if others have had this experience.

 

[BrotherKathos]

Cranking it that high with my 250 Ohm Beyer DT880s would blow out my eardrums. The 600 Ohm model is a very different beast. The AKGs are just brutal to drive, more so than the Beyers.

Part of the reason I have to crank it up so high may have to do with increments on the pot. There is a steep volume increase at first, but somewhere between 11 and 12 o’clock the increment rapidly diminish and the volume almost plateaus through approximately 4 o’cLock. This makes perfect sense for most cans and owners: get the general volume level most people want then fine tune it.

At the very end of the pot’s rotation, the increments grow larger again and the volume increase is steeper. The somewhat disconcerting result is that I think the amp will just run out of gas and clip, but then it doesn’t. But this does make the volume hard to fine tune on these phones.

I’m curious if others have had this experience.

That makes sense about the volume tuning. I kind of wish it was the other way round though, since pots as far as I know usually sound better when cranked higher, but I never am able to get any of my amps past 12 even on the lowest of gain settings before I hit my threshold of discomfort. I've done tests with sound meters with floor speakers and my typical listening volume is around 80db, I can handle a bit higher for dynamic peaks with some classical, but definitely not for a sustained period. Is getting a higher turn on the pot still a thing or has that variable been engineered out of new pots?

 

[Luxed]

I’m curious if others have had this experience

Yup that's how it works for me too.

And for the volume, my computer is at 100% for the Modi but my music player is at around 20 to 30% with my know never getting past 12 on high gain with my 250ohm DT990. If I put everything to max I would guess that high gain would be impossible and IEMs would be unlistenable.

 

[echoplex]

That makes sense about the volume tuning. I kind of wish it was the other way round though, since pots as far as I know usually sound better when cranked higher, but I never am able to get any of my amps past 12 even on the lowest of gain settings before I hit my threshold of discomfort. I've done tests with sound meters with floor speakers and my typical listening volume is around 80db, I can handle a bit higher for dynamic peaks with some classical, but definitely not for a sustained period. Is getting a higher turn on the pot still a thing or has that variable been engineered out of new pots?

I’m with ya, wishing the typical scale was reversed. I think there may be some sly marketing going on. With the rapid and steep volume increase early on, most people with more typical impedance headphones will never turn the volume knob much more than a quarter of the way up. This creates the illusion of a massively powerful amp. I suspect the same thing happens with full sized amps and speakers.

I’ve measured my typical listening levels too and they tend to be between 80 and 85 dB. The source recording matters a great deal. Brick-walled masters have to be turned down because they’re mastered to be LOUD. Better mastering, especially in high res that exploit the greater dynamic range need turning up—and the peaks really jolt you, as they’re supposed to. -)

 

[Rensek]

Cranking it that high with my 250 Ohm Beyer DT880s would blow out my eardrums. The 600 Ohm model is a very different beast. The AKGs are just brutal to drive, more so than the Beyers.

Part of the reason I have to crank it up so high may have to do with increments on the pot. There is a steep volume increase at first, but somewhere between 11 and 12 o’clock the increment rapidly diminish and the volume almost plateaus through approximately 4 o’cLock. This makes perfect sense for most cans and owners: get the general volume level most people want then fine tune it.

At the very end of the pot’s rotation, the increments grow larger again and the volume increase is steeper. The somewhat disconcerting result is that I think the amp will just run out of gas and clip, but then it doesn’t. But this does make the volume hard to fine tune on these phones.

I’m curious if others have had this experience.

How much of this is due to the power doubling requirements per 3db spl? I would imagine same physics law applies to HP and hp amps as speakers and speaker amps.

 

[Logistics]

How exactly would this work? Where would I place the capacitor?

Normally, you wouldn't; whoever designed the amp would.

I don't think it's being anal at all. I've tried several other amps, including ones by Schiit, that don't have any noise other than a change in volume. The only time I ever heard noise when adjusting the volume was with vintage equipment from the 70s and 80s. I expect it on that. I don't expect it on a brand new modern amp. If that makes me a spoiled brat, so be it. I think in a hobby where we're willing to spend hundreds or thousands for marginal improvements in sound that many people wouldn't even notice, it's not unreasonable to think a noisy pot is unacceptable.

Whoa, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm not saying you're spoiled, but I can't identify with essentially, having my listening experience ruined due to a little slider contact noise. Even old Soundblaster 16's, which used the TEA2025b, called for a minimum of a 0.22uF capacitor on the incoming line-level inputs to filter off any potential slider contact noise. And several had their own volume pots, which could have contact noise, regardless.

A noisy pot out of the box is unacceptable. Absolutely! It’s likely a bad part, since the pots aren’t old enough to oxidize as with vintage gear.

Same as above; I just don't see it as a determining factor when it comes to buying an amplifier. But then my rig doesn't suffer from much listening fatigue so I rarely, have to change volume unless it's some terrible transfer someone did onto YouTube, which ends up being inordinately loud.

Yup that's how it works for me too.

And for the volume, my computer is at 100% for the Modi but my music player is at around 20 to 30% with my know never getting past 12 on high gain with my 250ohm DT990. If I put everything to max I would guess that high gain would be impossible and IEMs would be unlistenable.

Can you clarify the way you are listening? Based on my own experience, I was under the impression you always want to max everything before the amplifier so that it has to do the least amount of work. Of course, this might be bad if you have a lower quality source. I haven't tried using the digital output of my motherboard to see how it stacks up against my Delta 410's coax so I can't speak on the difference, yet.

Happy listening, all!

 

[Keno18]

Whoa, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm not saying you're spoiled, but I can't identify with essentially, having my listening experience ruined due to a little slider contact noise. Even old Soundblaster 16's, which used the TEA2025b, called for a minimum of a 0.22uF capacitor on the incoming line-level inputs to filter off any potential slider contact noise. And several had their own volume pots, which could have contact noise, regardless.

Wouldn't that roll off high frequencies?

 

[Logistics]

Wouldn't that roll off high frequencies?

Pretty, sure you'd need to know the specifications for the capacitor in question. As to whether it begins to dip into the audible range, I'm not certain. But there's certainly, benefits to be seen. For instance, on a Sound Blaster Live! I replaced the 10uF electrolytics, which Creative had placed between the main DSP and the output OpAmps with something along the lines of a 0.1uF polyester or mylar, and the card was absolutely, transformed--suddently, the soundstage was amazing with good separation, the highs were very detailed, allowing me to hear sounds I had never heard before, and the card didn't cause all the listening fatigue that was present with the electrolytics. I did further modding to that card, but point being that in practice, the addition of small value films doesn't appear to diminish the listening experience... the benefits far out-weigh any potential losses.