[hikaru12]

So I just got my Mimby in today and paired with the Magni 3 it definitely sounds warm and smooth even on V shaped headphones like my V-Modas. Definitely a pleasing sound and not harsh at all.

 

[DJ The Rocket]

So I just got my Mimby in today and paired with the Magni 3 it definitely sounds warm and smooth even on V shaped headphones like my V-Modas. Definitely a pleasing sound and not harsh at all.

Nice, the Momby/Magni stack is high quality, I use the same one. You'll be able to upgrade to significantly better headphones (if you so desire) and not have to worry about your source gear for a long time.

The M100s are nice, but they aren't close to being able to transmit all of that quality to your ears. Although your headphones are probably your system's "weakest link," that's still a pretty respectable "weak kink"

 

[DavidA]

The Magni 3 is a no brainer for my HD 650 but do I want the standard Modi or the Modi multi-bit?
How much difference will I hear?
I'm new to the HD 650 and have been using Grado PS500e's.

You might hear a big difference, a little difference, or none at all. While I don't have a Mimby I have a Modi2uber and Bimby and to me there is a noticeable difference but most of my friends can't hear any difference so that's why I say you may or may not hear any difference. Another factor in noticing differences is the headphone used, genre of music choice, how loud you listen at and your own hearing ability.

Having had a PS500e for a short time and the HD650 these are two very different sounding headphones but I think make great complimentary headphones.

 

[DarwinOSX]

Thanks. Interesting. The Grados get uncomfortable after awhile because of the ear pads plus I think I want a warmer sound hence the 650’s.

 

[DavidA]

Thanks. Interesting. The Grados get uncomfortable after awhile because of the ear pads plus I think I want a warmer sound hence the 650’s.

Change the stock OEM L-pad to generic G-pads ($4-6 from ebay) if you want comfort, its the only pad that I can use for more than 6-8 hours and as a bonus they will bump the bass a few dB while slightly reducing the highs since the driver will be further from your ears.

 

[ofilippov]

You might hear a big difference, a little difference, or none at all. While I don't have a Mimby I have a Modi2uber and Bimby and to me there is a noticeable difference but most of my friends can't hear any difference so that's why I say you may or may not hear any difference. Another factor in noticing differences is the headphone used, genre of music choice, how loud you listen at and your own hearing ability.

Having had a PS500e for a short time and the HD650 these are two very different sounding headphones but I think make great complimentary headphones.

Well, I had the same question you were answering. I got Magni 3 lately. And after a lot of reading, I was totally sure that Modi Multibit will make a huge sound difference to me comparing to Arcam rPac, which I'm currently using as a DAC. And, to my surprise, I've heard only slitest hints of a difference. So little difference that I decided to keep $300 for now. I was more like feeling different than hearing the difference.

I'm used to Senns HD598 (have them for a long while) and about a week of listening to Magni 3. Still waiting for HD6XX to come. So I used both my 598s, and 650s that I borrowed from my local distributor, where I was considering buying Mimby. I shared my thoughts with the guys in the shop. They suggested that I'll need to have a better amp to hear the difference in DACs. Fortunately they've had a lot of stuff to listen to so I decided to give it a try.

So I tried different combinations with Jotunheim for a while. And I changed the headphones to Fostex TX-610 that give slightly more detail then HD650. And I didn't hear much difference in sound of Jot Single Ended/MMB vs Magni 3/MMB either. Just slight increase in "boom-boom" and different treble that Jot has. Still wondering which sound to consider better. I liked Jot better first but now I have some doubts.

The situation changed when I tried balanced output of the Jot. Comparing to Magni 3 the difference was more apparent. Like stereo imaging changed and the scene changed. Take my words with a grain of salt here, because I don't have enough experience with any set-up except of my rPAC>Magni 3>598s though. But I enjoyed balanced Jot much more than Magni 3 for some reason. At this point I already gave up volume matching with the pink noise. Just listened at comforable listening levels, trying to match them by ear. I tried to make Modi 3 louder, however. Still couldn't tell much difference with DACs.

And now I have more questions then answers. It seems that I'm keeping Magni 3 for now because I still enjoy it at home even with Arcam rPAC as a DAC. But what buggying me most is that I can't substantially hear the difference between DACs (rPAC, Mimby, Bifrost 4490, Gumby through RCAs). I just hear (or, more likely, think I do) a hint of smoothness from Schiit dacs. It's like paying tonns of money for the milligramm difference. Any ideas on how to evaluate this, guys?

 

[Jimster480]

Well, I had the same question you were answering. I got Magni 3 lately. And after a lot of reading, I was totally sure that Modi Multibit will make a huge sound difference to me comparing to Arcam rPac, which I'm currently using as a DAC. And, to my surprise, I've heard only slitest hints of a difference. So little difference that I decided to keep $300 for now. I was more like a feeling different than hearing the difference.

I'm used to Senns HD598 (have them for a long while) and about a week of listening to Magni 3. Still waiting for HD6XX to come. So I used both my 598s, and 650s that I borrowed from my local distributor, where I was considering buying Mimby. I shared my thoughts with the guys in the shop. They suggested that I'll need to have a better amp. Fortunately they've had a lot of stuff to listen to so I decided to give it a try.

So I tried different combinations with Jotunheim for a while. And I changed the headphones to Fostex TX-610 that give slightly more detail then HD650. And I didn't hear much difference in sound of Jot Single Ended/MMB vs Magni 3/MMB either. Just slight increase in "boom-boom" and different treble that Jot has. Still wondering which sound to consider better. I liked Jot better first but now I have some doubts.

The situation changed when I tried balanced output of the Jot. Comparing to Magni 3 the difference was more apparent. Like stereo imaging changed and the scene changed. Take my words with a grain of salt here, because I don't have enough experience with any set-up except of my rPAC>Magni 3>598s though. But I enjoyed balanced Jot much more than Magni 3 for some reason. At this point I already gave up volume matching with the pink noise. Just listened at comforable listening levels, trying to match them by ear. I tried to make Modi 3 louder, however.

And now I have more questions then answers. It seems that I'm keeping Magni 3 for now because I still enjoy it at home even with Arcam rPAC as a DAC. But what buggying me most is that I can't substantially hear the difference between DACs (rPAC, Mimby, Bifrost 4490). I just hear (or, more likely, think I do) a hint of smoothness from Schiit dacs. It's like paying tonns of money for the milligramm difference. Any ideas on how to evaluate this, guys?

Your experiences are pretty much in line with the world of DACs.
Once you have a good one, the differences to other ones are pretty minute.
You also need better headphones to take advantage of better DAC's.
My Mrspeakers Aeon definitely opens up a new world of detail compared to my old headphones and even my 1More Quad drivers.
Part of it is also you training your ears to hear details better.

 

[DJ The Rocket]

I love that you tried to play the Magni louder as an attempt to account for that particular bias! That isn't really a scientifically valid way to do that, but it's a clever idea and it does seem like it probably should help

One popular approach is to pick one DAC and listen to it exclusively for a week or two, then switch.

I did this to pick between a GOV2+ and an ODAC/e11 stack. They sounded very similar when I A/B'ed them, but after a week with the stack, going back to the GO was such a step backwards, I could tell easily then. I tried the other way after that; after getting used to the GO (and really enjoying it honestly), switching to the stack was like a breath of fresh air. After that, I actually could A/B them and hear the differences easily.

 

[ofilippov]

Thanks @DJ The Rocket ! It makes some sense to me. I've also heard that DAC differences can be better heard on a system with speakers. So, I'll probably make another try, like you suggested, after buying proper speakers.

Also wanted to say that I immediately heard the difference between Gumby>Mjolnir 2 SE>HD650 and Bifrost 4490>Magni>HD650. It was like "****" I want this! But I guess HD650s not worth it. But Gumby with speakers...will see. Sorry for a bit of offtop.

And now I'm starting to realize where "audio enthusiast" term is coming from

 

[yangian]

Well, I had the same question you were answering. I got Magni 3 lately. And after a lot of reading, I was totally sure that Modi Multibit will make a huge sound difference to me comparing to Arcam rPac, which I'm currently using as a DAC. And, to my surprise, I've heard only slitest hints of a difference. So little difference that I decided to keep $300 for now. I was more like feeling different than hearing the difference.

I'm used to Senns HD598 (have them for a long while) and about a week of listening to Magni 3. Still waiting for HD6XX to come. So I used both my 598s, and 650s that I borrowed from my local distributor, where I was considering buying Mimby. I shared my thoughts with the guys in the shop. They suggested that I'll need to have a better amp to hear the difference in DACs. Fortunately they've had a lot of stuff to listen to so I decided to give it a try.

So I tried different combinations with Jotunheim for a while. And I changed the headphones to Fostex TX-610 that give slightly more detail then HD650. And I didn't hear much difference in sound of Jot Single Ended/MMB vs Magni 3/MMB either. Just slight increase in "boom-boom" and different treble that Jot has. Still wondering which sound to consider better. I liked Jot better first but now I have some doubts.

The situation changed when I tried balanced output of the Jot. Comparing to Magni 3 the difference was more apparent. Like stereo imaging changed and the scene changed. Take my words with a grain of salt here, because I don't have enough experience with any set-up except of my rPAC>Magni 3>598s though. But I enjoyed balanced Jot much more than Magni 3 for some reason. At this point I already gave up volume matching with the pink noise. Just listened at comforable listening levels, trying to match them by ear. I tried to make Modi 3 louder, however. Still couldn't tell much difference with DACs.

And now I have more questions then answers. It seems that I'm keeping Magni 3 for now because I still enjoy it at home even with Arcam rPAC as a DAC. But what buggying me most is that I can't substantially hear the difference between DACs (rPAC, Mimby, Bifrost 4490, Gumby through RCAs). I just hear (or, more likely, think I do) a hint of smoothness from Schiit dacs. It's like paying tonns of money for the milligramm difference. Any ideas on how to evaluate this, guys?

Why do you think Modi Multibit will make a huge sound difference comparing to Arcam rPac while they have the same price range?

 

[ofilippov]

@yangian , that's another bright idea. But I also tried Magni 3 with Bifrost and for a minute with Gumby. I can understand Bifrost, but Gumby... maybe I didn't spend enough time with it, or it's where Magni holds it back. Can't tell, wasn't serious about this combo. You are right, the general idea is the more money you put the better result you get. But it's like with bicycles: at some point you are paying hundreds of bucks for getting rid of extra 10 gramm of weight (and not thinking of extra 2 kg at your belly ). Didn't figure out where this point is for audio though.

 

[yangian]

@yangian , that's another bright idea. But I also tried Magni 3 with Bifrost and for a minute with Gumby. I can understand Bifrost, but Gumby... maybe I didn't spend enough time with it, or it's where Magni holds it back. Can't tell, wasn't serious about this combo. You are right, the general idea is the more money you put the better result you get. But it's like with bicycles: at some point you are paying hundreds of bucks for getting rid of extra 10 gramm of weight (and not thinking of extra 2 kg at your belly ). Didn't figure out where this point is for audio though.

Exactly. The more so called highend, the less cost-effedtive, especially for DACs. For audio gears, the relevance of SQ is increasing from back to front. Headphones is the first important gear for SQ. Then amplifiers, then DACs. But the most important is the music files.

 

[FrivolsListener]

Well, I had the same question you were answering. I got Magni 3 lately. And after a lot of reading, I was totally sure that Modi Multibit will make a huge sound difference to me comparing to Arcam rPac, which I'm currently using as a DAC. And, to my surprise, I've heard only slitest hints of a difference. So little difference that I decided to keep $300 for now. I was more like feeling different than hearing the difference.

I'm used to Senns HD598 (have them for a long while) and about a week of listening to Magni 3. Still waiting for HD6XX to come. So I used both my 598s, and 650s that I borrowed from my local distributor, where I was considering buying Mimby. I shared my thoughts with the guys in the shop. They suggested that I'll need to have a better amp to hear the difference in DACs. Fortunately they've had a lot of stuff to listen to so I decided to give it a try.

So I tried different combinations with Jotunheim for a while. And I changed the headphones to Fostex TX-610 that give slightly more detail then HD650. And I didn't hear much difference in sound of Jot Single Ended/MMB vs Magni 3/MMB either. Just slight increase in "boom-boom" and different treble that Jot has. Still wondering which sound to consider better. I liked Jot better first but now I have some doubts.

The situation changed when I tried balanced output of the Jot. Comparing to Magni 3 the difference was more apparent. Like stereo imaging changed and the scene changed. Take my words with a grain of salt here, because I don't have enough experience with any set-up except of my rPAC>Magni 3>598s though. But I enjoyed balanced Jot much more than Magni 3 for some reason. At this point I already gave up volume matching with the pink noise. Just listened at comforable listening levels, trying to match them by ear. I tried to make Modi 3 louder, however. Still couldn't tell much difference with DACs.

And now I have more questions then answers. It seems that I'm keeping Magni 3 for now because I still enjoy it at home even with Arcam rPAC as a DAC. But what buggying me most is that I can't substantially hear the difference between DACs (rPAC, Mimby, Bifrost 4490, Gumby through RCAs). I just hear (or, more likely, think I do) a hint of smoothness from Schiit dacs. It's like paying tonns of money for the milligramm difference. Any ideas on how to evaluate this, guys?

I wish that I could legally share the tracks I've found where the difference jumped out and threatened to beat me over the head with a clue bat. They are very specific tracks on very specific releases of certain albums. I haven't yet put in the time to figure out how to losslessly cut out a 30 second segment from one of those songs on linux.

 

[FrivolsListener]

Since this is the Magni 3 thread, I should probably state my opinion on it, now that I've listened to it.

My prior amp was a Magni (no suffix) and before that a "Brand X" Chinese made tube amp. Going from Brand X to Magni was a quantum leap. Non-critical listening in noisy environments improved substantially with the Magni.

So I got the Magni 3. Upstream is a Gungnir Multibit; downstream is HD-800 headphones. My laptop, normally the source of music to the Gumby, decided to die the day that the Magni 3 arrived, so my first tests were with Youtube videos that were better than most, fed from a Chromebook. With them, I noticed no differences.

Once the laptop was up and running again, I played some of the tracks that stand out. Magni 3 was a real improvement, and, just as I did with Gumby, I'm relearning things about recordings I've had for a while.

At $99, the Magni 3 is a giant killer. You really can't go wrong with it.

 

[hikaru12]

Nice, the Momby/Magni stack is high quality, I use the same one. You'll be able to upgrade to significantly better headphones (if you so desire) and not have to worry about your source gear for a long time.

The M100s are nice, but they aren't close to being able to transmit all of that quality to your ears. Although your headphones are probably your system's "weakest link," that's still a pretty respectable "weak kink"

Yea I plan on getting some HD700's soon myself. I currently have the 400i's atm. I just tried ithe Moda's since I'd like to see if the warm sound of the Mimby/Modi 3 combo would take out some of the V shape of these cans while still making them fun to listen to.