[warsfanbb8]

There is also FiiO Taishan in that price range, but unless your PC has a optical or a coax out you cannot use that.

So what's the difference between the cheap ones from Amazon and the $99 Modi 2? Don't they do the same job.

 

[Jimster480]

Its not about the same job, technically every DAC does the same job.
its about the quality of the sound that is produced.
How resolving they are, etc.

if you are new to audio with only cheap headphones you won't notice as much of a difference, or you might not notice one.
But there are different pieces of gear with different characteristics and different resolving abilities and different interfaces too.

 

[alpovs]

They do exactly the same job but differently quality-wise.

 

[bilboda]

Thanks for all the input! So, to summarize:

1. Pot imbalance at low levels is a defect, but sort of common among cheaper volume knobs.
,,,
4. Dead zone on volume pot is a proper defect as well.

Thanks for all the input. Again, will have to think about my next steps.. It does kind of bother me how much of the low end is completely mismatched, and dead zone on the pot is bearable, but somewhat annoying.

I kind of hoped the pot would not be a problem. From Schitt Happened: "We also re-curved the custom Alps potentiometer for better tracking at low levels..."
This makes me think it's not working as designed and should be replaced.... So report back with how it works out, this fence is getting uncomfortable.

 

[VinylDan1]

I just upgraded to a Magni3/Modi Multibit stack from a Fulla2 since my HD6XX should be here sooner than later. In the meantime I am using it with my Grado SR80e and AT ATH-M50x headphones. I love the design and the sound, but the volume control is lacking on the Magni3, especially compared to the Fulla2. My Magni3 has a knob with a lot of resistance (in my opinion), and the close placement to the jack makes it difficult to make fine adjustments. The knob on my Fulla2 was smooth as glass with the perfect amount of a smidge of resistance. The knob on my Magni3 also has a bit of wobble but I doubt that is related.

 

[SomeTechNoob]

I just upgraded to a Magni3/Modi Multibit stack from a Fulla2 since my HD6XX should be here sooner than later. In the meantime I am using it with my Grado SR80e and AT ATH-M50x headphones. I love the design and the sound, but the volume control is lacking on the Magni3, especially compared to the Fulla2. My Magni3 has a knob with a lot of resistance (in my opinion), and the close placement to the jack makes it difficult to make fine adjustments. The knob on my Fulla2 was smooth as glass with the perfect amount of a smidge of resistance. The knob on my Magni3 also has a bit of wobble but I doubt that is related.

Fulla 2's knob is much larger in diameter, resulting in easier control. Electronically they both use the ALPS RK09 pot. You can imagine how much harder the Magni 2's volume knob was, since it's considerably smaller than the Magni 3's.

 

[dukeReinhardt]

I'm trying to figure out how clipping works, and I think I get the idea, but there's some parts which I'm not sure about. In fact I only feel moderately confident in any part of the following..

So clipping from source -> pre-amp -> power amp -> speakers/headphones can occur in the following ways:

1. digital clipping from a bad song at the source
2. hot input into the pre-amp which can cause pre-amp to run out of power before reaching full volume
3. hot input into the power amp "
4. speaker/headphone distortion/blowout due to loading them past their power rating.

The Magni 3's maximum output voltage according to specs should be at least 11.7V, considering this is what it would take for 230mW into 600ohms which is the maximum capability of the headphone amp section. Working back from this by dividing this max voltage by the max gain setting (11.7/7), the input sensitivity of the pre-amp is exactly/higher (lower voltage) than ~1.68V. If I feed a line level 2V signal, the headphone amp (and possibly the pre-amp) will eventually clip on the high gain setting, but neither will ever clip on low gain, despite the "hot" line in, since the maximum output of 2V line in multiplied by low gain setting (2x2) is 4V, much lower than the pre-amp's maximum voltage. Is this about right?

Assuming the above is correct, I now want to look at what happens when the pre-out goes into my Nad C340. This is a stereo amp with a maximum capability of 50Wpc at 8ohms, so this means the maximum output voltage is at least 20V. I found online specs that state the unit's input sensitivity is 0.165V, and I assume this isn't massively different to that of the power amp section. This is where it gets especially confusing to me. Does this seriously mean that the gain on the amp is something like 121 (42dB), calculated by dividing apparent maximum output voltage by the required input voltage (20/0.165)? And if I feed the 4V of the pre-amp into it, clipping would happen near the bottom of the volume control, as the maximum volume on the amp would theoretically require 484V or 29kW?!

I'm clearly wrong on certain assumptions because on actually trying this setup, I didn't even encounter audible clipping up to the halfway point on the volume control, and it wasn't deafeningly loud either. Can anyone please set me straight?

 

[Cer3lakIller]

I'm trying to figure out how clipping works, and I think I get the idea, but there's some parts which I'm not sure about. In fact I only feel moderately confident in any part of the following..

So clipping from source -> pre-amp -> power amp -> speakers/headphones can occur in the following ways:

1. digital clipping from a bad song at the source
2. hot input into the pre-amp which can cause pre-amp to run out of power before reaching full volume
3. hot input into the power amp "
4. speaker/headphone distortion/blowout due to loading them past their power rating.

The Magni 3's maximum output voltage according to specs should be at least 11.7V, considering this is what it would take for 230mW into 600ohms which is the maximum capability of the headphone amp section. Working back from this by dividing this max voltage by the max gain setting (11.7/7), the input sensitivity of the pre-amp is exactly/higher (lower voltage) than ~1.68V. If I feed a line level 2V signal, the headphone amp (and possibly the pre-amp) will eventually clip on the high gain setting, but neither will ever clip on low gain, despite the "hot" line in, since the maximum output of 2V line in multiplied by low gain setting (2x2) is 4V, much lower than the pre-amp's maximum voltage. Is this about right?

Assuming the above is correct, I now want to look at what happens when the pre-out goes into my Nad C340. This is a stereo amp with a maximum capability of 50Wpc at 8ohms, so this means the maximum output voltage is at least 20V. I found online specs that state the unit's input sensitivity is 0.165V, and I assume this isn't massively different to that of the power amp section. This is where it gets especially confusing to me. Does this seriously mean that the gain on the amp is something like 121 (42dB), calculated by dividing apparent maximum output voltage by the required input voltage (20/0.165)? And if I feed the 4V of the pre-amp into it, clipping would happen near the bottom of the volume control, as the maximum volume on the amp would theoretically require 484V or 29kW?!

I'm clearly wrong on certain assumptions because on actually trying this setup, I didn't even encounter audible clipping up to the halfway point on the volume control, and it wasn't deafeningly loud either. Can anyone please set me straight?

Your amps input sensitivity is most likely to be the lowest signal the amp can take, not the maximum input level, Wich is likely to be somewhat around 2volts. Besides an amp Wich max input signal can only be .16volts will clip at all times

Edit: magni 3 pre out may or may not have a gain stage, it means it may just be a pass through with an atenuator for level control or it may amp the input signal a little bit, someone will have to measure and confirm this, but it is not likely to be a 4v output because that will definitely excede any other gear input voltage, only (some) car stereos have 4v outputs to compensate for long cable runs and electric noise and car amps have do have input controls to works that out

 

[dukeReinhardt]

Your amps input sensitivity is most likely to be the lowest signal the amp can take, not the maximum input level, Wich is likely to be somewhat around 2volts. Besides an amp Wich max input signal can only be .16volts will clip at all times

Edit: magni 3 pre out may or may not have a gain stage, it means it may just be a pass through with an atenuator for level control or it may amp the input signal a little bit, someone will have to measure and confirm this, but it is not likely to be a 4v output because that will definitely excede any other gear input voltage, only (some) car stereos have 4v outputs to compensate for long cable runs and electric noise and car amps have do have input controls to works that out

Thanks for indulging me ^^"

I thought the point of "input sensitivity" is that it's a set measurement of the voltage required at input for an amp to reach its maximum rated power. I've read various sources have varying output voltages from phono (200mV) to CD (2V), and certainly from reading about it there are some NAD amps out there with 40x gain.

Considering in practical application that everything seems ok at half volume on my setup, I assume the amp isn't in fact taking the 4V signal and multiplying it 121 times. Or the signal isn't in fact 4V. Either or both....

Edit: I've now realized power and active pre-amp sections on an integrated amp, being separate sections, tend to have their own input sensitivity and thus their own maximum output (I guess this makes sense..). So another NAD integrated for example seems to have input sensitivity of 1V on the power amp but 250mV on the pre-amp, so I suppose the pre in this situation is adding 4x gain, and the power amp adds the rest of the gain. I'm guessing it's a similar situation for the Magni 3 and the NAD C340 both? I mean if the preamp itself is driving 14V then I guess the headphone amp would be doing nothing. If for example the Magni 3's amp gain is 2x, then the pre-amp gain would actually be 1x and 3.5x.

In other words the only way for me to find out what's going on is to either make measurements myself or ask the manufacturers the maximum output on the Magni 3 pre-amp, as well as the input sensitivity of the C340's power amp, am I right?

 

[ofilippov]

Received my Magni 3 today, but my impressions are not so good as yours. Currently i have setup pc->wyrd->modi 2->magni2uber->DT 770 pro 80 and HD600, im sad to say but sound of magni 3 i can describe as downgrade compared to magni2U, yes magni 3 a little bit more transparent and a little different soundstage, but magni2u have more evolving and fuller sound, bass is more defined with 2U, treble sounds more natural, vocals are more livlier . Magni3 as for me have sterile sounding, some kind of synthetic maybe, not interesting to listen - at all. Maybe modi 2 dac is not so good for this amp, i don't know. Actually i didn't understand all that hype around that amplifier... volume knob feels much cheaper compared to magni2uber, its not about visual, it's about feeling when regulating it, i didn't expected so cheap feelings about that. I'm not disappointed, i think that 50$ less - is quite reasonable for this unit.

p.s. i decided to stay with Magni2U at this moment, and sell magni 3 in my country. Don't know in which side to think for the system upgrade...

Little update: currently i listen to my xonar stx with dt 770 at home after work, and i found that sound of magni 3 brings schiit stack closer to xonar stx sound, but from that point of view and sound reproduction STX is better, but i don't prefer this sound, i find stx sounding... don't know how to describe this, too digital and harsh maybe... For gaming and cinema STX is ok, but not for music listening.

From what I've personally heard you might want to check Jotunheim. Especially balanced. Mjolnir 2 is great but it's way more expansive and balanced output even more preferred here because of the cyclotron design. I would love to hear Asgard 2 and Cayin IHA-6 some day.

 

[0pethian]

So Magni 3 is an ideal entry level Amp, when shiit will make an similar entry level Multibit DAC for this amp ...
Modi Mbit should be cheaper to make a perfect under $200 or exactly $200 stack ...

 

[Jimster480]

So Magni 3 is an ideal entry level Amp, when shiit will make an similar entry level Multibit DAC for this amp ...
Modi Mbit should be cheaper to make a perfect under $200 or exactly $200 stack ...

The cost of the chips themselves are a bit too high to be able to make it for $100 in order to make it a $200 stack.
I think the very best they could do would be around $150 but that leaves very little to no profit at all for them.
I think as it stands right now just guessing their costs they might be at $135 per unit, but thats not including investment for R&D or day to day operating costs or supplier costs.

 

[squee116]

So Magni 3 is an ideal entry level Amp, when shiit will make an similar entry level Multibit DAC for this amp ...
Modi Mbit should be cheaper to make a perfect under $200 or exactly $200 stack ...

Considering the nearest multibit competitor pricing, I think Schiit managed a miracle.

 

[Jerda]

So Magni 3 is an ideal entry level Amp, when shiit will make an similar entry level Multibit DAC for this amp ...
Modi Mbit should be cheaper to make a perfect under $200 or exactly $200 stack ...

You can also buy an used mimby eh

 

[VinylDan1]

I’m plenty satisfied with the Magni3/Modi Multibit stack at the price, although $200 flat for the Modi Multibit would be cool.