[tullnd]

Argh, I literally ordered a Magni 2 Uber on August 14th. Received it like 4 days later I think. I love the unit...and I really don't mind that I paid more than $99 for it, but I do prefer the looks of the new model due to the volume knob. Ugh...just my luck.

 

[decodm]

Argh, I literally ordered a Magni 2 Uber on August 14th. Received it like 4 days later I think. I love the unit...and I really don't mind that I paid more than $99 for it, but I do prefer the looks of the new model due to the volume knob. Ugh...just my luck.

Same here - not only the looks of the new volume knob, but the pot is supposed to have a better ramp up.

 

[Zbell]

Wow, I just bought one and I'm so stoked for this. I currently own the Magni 2U, which was already the best deal on an affordable solid state amp at $149. The Magni 3 being released at $99 is absolutely amazing. Now I can bring my Magni 2U to work instead of using my LG V10 (which surprisingly, I find very shouty and a tad harsh amp-wise) or Fiio E17. I know Schiit is known for tearing down the price-to-performance barrier, but this is just ridiculous. Props fellas!

 

[CarlosUnchained]

I would love to read some first impressions guys! Let us know when they arrive.

 

[Matt*S.]

I have tracking information for mine. It will be delivered at work on Tuesday the 26th. I will give it the afternoon and report my findings.

 

[hifihead]

I just received the Magni 3. Here's my quick impressions after about 30 minutes of listening to DSD, CD, and internet radio. I used my Grado SR325e headphones to test. The amp is plenty powerful for me. The volume goes way higher than I listen to. Pretty revealing, the sound is definitely dependent on the source, which is a good thing. Plenty of bass for me, even using Grado headphones, which are known to not be bass monsters. Nice mids and highs. The pot is better than the one on the Magni 1. Better volume control and feel when turning the knob. The amp gets a little warm, but not hot at all. All around a nice little amp. I haven't tested the preamp outputs yet.

If you keep your expectations realistic, I think you will be happy with this $99 amp. I think it's a fantastic value. Can't expect much more for $99.

Well done, Schiit. Thanks for making great products at a great price!

 

[manukmanohar]

I just received the Magni 3. Here's my quick impressions after about 30 minutes of listening to DSD, CD, and internet radio. I used my Grado SR325e headphones to test. The amp is plenty powerful for me. The volume goes way higher than I listen to. Pretty revealing, the sound is definitely dependent on the source, which is a good thing. Plenty of bass for me, even using Grado headphones, which are known to not be bass monsters. Nice mids and highs. The pot is better than the one on the Magni 1. Better volume control and feel when turning the knob. The amp gets a little warm, but not hot at all. All around a nice little amp. I haven't tested the preamp outputs yet.

If you keep your expectations realistic, I think you will be happy with this $99 amp. I think it's a fantastic value. Can't expect much more for $99.

Well done, Schiit. Thanks for making great products at a great price!

Would be interested in hearing your impressions on comparing it with other amps, at higher price ranges, in case you have any. Ofc, once you are able to get more time listening.

 

[ColtMrFire]

I just received the Magni 3. Here's my quick impressions after about 30 minutes of listening to DSD, CD, and internet radio. I used my Grado SR325e headphones to test. The amp is plenty powerful for me. The volume goes way higher than I listen to. Pretty revealing, the sound is definitely dependent on the source, which is a good thing. Plenty of bass for me, even using Grado headphones, which are known to not be bass monsters. Nice mids and highs. The pot is better than the one on the Magni 1. Better volume control and feel when turning the knob. The amp gets a little warm, but not hot at all. All around a nice little amp. I haven't tested the preamp outputs yet.

If you keep your expectations realistic, I think you will be happy with this $99 amp. I think it's a fantastic value. Can't expect much more for $99.

Well done, Schiit. Thanks for making great products at a great price!

How would you characterize the sound? Warm, neutral, bright? The soundstage? Wide, deep, narrow? What about transparency, instrument timbre, etc? More details would be helpful.

 

[hifihead]

Sound is neutral, not tube warm and definitely not bright. Grado SR325e are already bright enough and if it was a bright amp it would probably make the SR325e even brighter. Soundstage is average width. In my experience, soundstage is more affected by the headphone than the amp. It has good clarity. Instruments sound like they should and don't sound artificial.

 

[Magic77]

Sound is neutral, not tube warm and definitely not bright. Grado SR325e are already bright enough and if it was a bright amp it would probably make the SR325e even brighter. Soundstage is average width. In my experience, soundstage is more affected by the headphone than the amp. It has good clarity. Instruments sound like they should and don't sound artificial.

Sounds very good. Just ordered one too. Looking forward to comparing to other amps, such as my Burson Soloist MKII, which is also a discrete amp. Yes, the Burson costs 4 times the Magni 3, but you never know. I'm impressed by the specs for the Magni 3.

 

[Uri Cohen]

I ordered mine today with the Modi 2 Uber (for casual listening on my laptop I didn't want to get the Multibit, plus on my main setup I do use the Bifrost Multibit). I will get mine next week. I'm curious how good a $100 amp can be.

 

[RiflemanFirst]

Hmmmm... Deciding whether to go for the Magni 3 or splurge on a Jotunheim. I've been wanting to get a Jotunheim to use with my Mimby for a while, but the Magni 3 seems to be such a good value! It really just comes down to staying single ended or going balanced for me at this point.

 

[Marlowe]

Hmmmm... Deciding whether to go for the Magni 3 or splurge on a Jotunheim. I've been wanting to get a Jotunheim to use with my Mimby for a while, but the Magni 3 seems to be such a good value! It really just comes down to staying single ended or going balanced for me at this point.

But if you want to use the unbalanced Mimby, you probably can't take advantage of the Jot's balanced output. I was trying to decide between the Jotunheim and Valhalla 2 for an amp upgrade and asked Schiit if I could get the benefit of the increased power of the Jotunheim's balanced outputs if I continued to use Mimby as my DAC. Their response: "If you go with Mimby as your DAC, you won't get a truly balanced configuration." (I did ask Schiit to clarify whether or not I would be able to use the more powerful balanced outputs of the Jotunheim even if, as I already knew, the setup was not truly balanced, but surprisingly got no response.) I bought the Vahalla 2, which should be delivered tomorrow.

BTW, if you really want to go balanced, you might want to consider the Cavalli Liquid Carbon X, which is available now on Massdrop. It has a very different topology than the Jotunheim, using phase splitters on its single ended inputs to create a balanced signal through the amp. According to Cavalli and Massdrop, you can connect an unbalanced DAC to the RCA inputs and still get a balanced output. I seriously considered this, but aside from leaning to tubes for my HD700 and incoming 6XX, the LCX is not estimated to ship until February 28, 2018, in the end a deal breaker.

 

[JoeKickass]

Both S.E. and balanced outputs on the Jotunheim are active with either input; single ended in and balanced out sounds great and has immense power!

But I'm looking forward to see how the Magni 3 pairs with the HD 600/650/800

Lots of people think the Jot pairs great with the 600/650 but is a bit too bright for the 800, it would be funny if the $100 Magni 3 is a good pair with the $1,000 HD 800!

 

[DavidA]

But if you want to use the unbalanced Mimby, you probably can't take advantage of the Jot's balanced output. I was trying to decide between the Jotunheim and Valhalla 2 for an amp upgrade and asked Schiit if I could get the benefit of the increased power of the Jotunheim's balanced outputs if I continued to use Mimby as my DAC. Their response: "If you go with Mimby as your DAC, you won't get a truly balanced configuration." (I did ask Schiit to clarify whether or not I would be able to use the more powerful balanced outputs of the Jotunheim even if, as I already knew, the setup was not truly balanced, but surprisingly got no response.) I bought the Vahalla 2, which should be delivered tomorrow.

BTW, if you really want to go balanced, you might want to consider the Cavalli Liquid Carbon X, which is available now on Massdrop. It has a very different topology than the Jotunheim, using phase splitters on its single ended inputs to create a balanced signal through the amp. According to Cavalli and Massdrop, you can connect an unbalanced DAC to the RCA inputs and still get a balanced output. I seriously considered this, but aside from leaning to tubes for my HD700 and incoming 6XX, the LCX is not estimated to ship until February 28, 2018, in the end a deal breaker.

The balanced output of the Jot is not dependent on using the balanced or SE inputs, so you can use the Mimby while using the balanced output of the Jot as many have done. The Vahalla2 while a decent match for the HD700 and HD650/6XX is not an amp that many would suggest for the HE400i or X2.

Agree that the wait until Dec (CTH) or Feb (LCX) is way too long but its a great deal for the price.

I'm hoping some that have order the Magni3 will compare it to the Polaris and Ember since I'm quite familiar with them and am looking for a small compact amp for my lanai system