[Tuneslover]

With Magni 3 on low gain, Spotify max volume, and CPU volume at 80/100, I generally listen at around 9-10 o' clock. I'm not sure about the older Magni, but the volume pot starts at around 6:30-7:00 o' clock on the Magni 3. If I really want to jam out, I can listen at 12 o' clock. Anything past that is near ear splitting for me.

I did listen at 1 o' clock for a bit just to give you guys some impressions. I noticed no distortion, the bass continued to stay nice and controlled. The treble is nice and smooth and wasn't shouty at the higher volume.

So realistically, with IEMs, you can use anything on the volume knob from 7 o' clock to 1 o' clock (I'm sure there are those of you who listen much louder than me).

How is the sensitivity of the Magni 3 volume knob? My original Magni and Magni 2U was kind of rinkidink...channel imbalance at low volume, very tight knob that was difficult to turn smoothly, difficult to tell where on the volume knob is set due to the dim little dot. The Jot volume knob is fantastic.

 

[yangian]

Why Magni 3, with power consumption of only 6w, is more powerful than Asgard 2, with power consumption of 30w?!

 

[AudioBear]

Power consumption is certainly something we think about these days but quality of sound output takes precedence. I am very curious to hear how a pure Class A amp like the Asgard 2 sounds compared to Magni 3. My first impression of the Magni 3 is that it is very good, but I have nothing like it to compare with, another reason for interest in Asgard 2. Class A amps do have the disadvantage or running at full power 100% of the time so they will never be as efficient as other designs. I run my HT set-up on Class D amps (heresy to Jason and Mike but hey, it's HT!). The amps run very cool and use almost no power.

 

[luso721]

I wonder if the Magni 3 could handle the HE6

 

[Nick-s-f]

Why Magni 3, with power consumption of only 6w, is more powerful than Asgard 2, with power consumption of 30w?!

Different amp designs, the A2 is one of Schiits oldest amps and inefficient Class A. It has giant capacitors and what appears to be a transformer on it's board. It was one of the more powerful headphone amps to come along back in it's day.

When they designed the original Magni, it was quite a leap in efficiency. I'm still impressed how powerful their original fulla was for its size being an amp/dac.

 

[Jimster480]

With Magni 3 on low gain, Spotify max volume, and CPU volume at 80/100, I generally listen at around 9-10 o' clock. I'm not sure about the older Magni, but the volume pot starts at around 6:30-7:00 o' clock on the Magni 3. If I really want to jam out, I can listen at 12 o' clock. Anything past that is near ear splitting for me.

I did listen at 1 o' clock for a bit just to give you guys some impressions. I noticed no distortion, the bass continued to stay nice and controlled. The treble is nice and smooth and wasn't shouty at the higher volume.

So realistically, with IEMs, you can use anything on the volume knob from 7 o' clock to 1 o' clock (I'm sure there are those of you who listen much louder than me).

What IEM's are these? Because you are suggesting you can use 50% volume on an Amp that has 2W RMS using IEMs?
That just doesn't make much sense

 

[Jimster480]

Different amp designs, the A2 is one of Schiits oldest amps and inefficient Class A. It has giant capacitors and what appears to be a transformer on it's board. It was one of the more powerful headphone amps to come along back in it's day.

When they designed the original Magni, it was quite a leap in efficiency. I'm still impressed how powerful their original fulla was for its size being an amp/dac.

Fulla 2 is very powerful for its size especially!

 

[DavidA]

What IEM's are these? Because you are suggesting you can use 50% volume on an Amp that has 2W RMS using IEMs?
That just doesn't make much sense

You are thinking that at 50% volume (based on position of the knob) the amp is putting out 1W which is not what is happening since most volume pots are not linear so it might only be putting out 10-25mW at the 50% position

 

[ToddAr1]

I received my Magni 3 yesterday and did some early comparisons before letting it run overnight and doing some more listening this morning. I did some A/Bs with the Jotunheim, using the Yggy as the DAC for both. Headphones used were Beyer T1s (original), Beyer DT880s (600 Ohm), Focal Elear, and Audeze LCD 2.2.

At this point, the Jotunheim still sounds better overall. It sounds slightly cleaner, with slightly clearer treble. I’ve seen the Magni 3 described as warmer, but it can also be characterized as slightly darker. I want to emphasize the differences are minor, and it is easy enough to just listen with the Magni 3 and not really miss anything.

To some of the listening I performed, noting that I listen extensively to classical music:

1. Lana Del Rey, Lust for Life: the Magni presents the singers’ voices extremely well, and is just as satisfying as the Jotunheim. Bass is basically the same, and fine details are present.
   
   
2. Air, Moon Safari: the warmer presentation of the Magni works fantastically well here, making it even more of an electronic dream, with Beth Hirsch’s voice as seductive as ever.
   
   
3. Róisín Murphy, Overpowered: Murphy’s voice sounds splendid, and the Magni generates headphone equivalents of thumping bass quite well. Again, some fine detail seems slightly less clear here than through the Jotunheim, and the Magni sounds slightly less spacious with some of the spatial and phase effects used in the recording.
   
   
4. Led Zeppelin III (newest remastering): I’ve listened to this in various forms (LP, cassette, CDs) hundreds of times for decades, and everything sounds just fine. Everything sounds just right, everything in the mix is there, and the vocals and instruments sound as natural as the new remastering allows.
   
   
5. Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonatas Opp 90, 101, 106 played by Steven Osborne on Hyperion: I selected this and the next recording to hear how well the Magni resolves fine details that are not musical in nature. Specifically, in this recording, the damper mechanism is audible throughout, as a soft ‘swish’ sound, and the Magni presents it just fine, if not quite as cleanly as the Jotunheim. This doesn’t lead directly to musical satisfaction, but it does render the upper registers of the piano a bit less crystalline, and slightly warmer sounding. I can envision some people preferring this type of sound. Dynamic range is superb and on par with the Jotunheim.
   
   
6. Gustave Samazeuilh, Piano Music played by Olivier Chauzu on Grand Piano: pretty much the same as above, but here, Chauzu’s pedal stomps might actually be slightly more prominent through the Magni.
   
   
7. Johannes Brahms, Piano Music played by Arcadi Volodos on Sony: this recording, one of the greatest recordings ever of any of Brahms’ piano music, sounds rich and dark and full, and the Magni slightly magnifies the richer and darker sound. The sound of Volodos’ fingernails hitting the keys is audible, demonstrating the fine detail is there. The Magni works exceedingly well here.
   
   
8. Richard Strauss, Don Quixote conducted by Lorin Maazel with Steven Isserlis playing cello on RCA. The slight diminution of clarity with the Magni is obvious here in the slightly less clear orchestral sections and slightly less distinctive wind trills. The sound is less spacious than the Jotunheim, as well. Again, the differences are minor, but they are there.
   
   Here I ran into a volume limitation using the DT 880s. The recording is low level, requiring near unity gain through a conventional stereo, and I actually maxxed out the volume control. It was loud, to be sure, with big dynamic swings and forte tuttis slightly louder than comfortable (which is what I was shooting for), but I have some recordings even lower in level than this, and they might not be able to be played at a satisfying volume with the 600 Ohm DT 880s. There is no such limitation with the other headphones mentioned

The Magni works well with all the headphones listed. I’m a big fan of the Beyer sound, which I know not everyone is, and I must say that when paired with the DT 880, the result is especially good. The T1s and LCD 2.2s benefit from the greater refinement of the Jotunheim, while the Elears sound best, to my taste, when paired with the original Asgard. (I did not do any A/Bs with my other headphone amps yet.) Overall, for a hundred bucks, the Magni 3 is the Schiit.

 

[luso721]

I received my Magni 3 yesterday and did some early comparisons before letting it run overnight and doing some more listening this morning. I did some A/Bs with the Jotunheim, using the Yggy as the DAC for both. Headphones used were Beyer T1s (original), Beyer DT880s (600 Ohm), Focal Elear, and Audeze LCD 2.2.

At this point, the Jotunheim still sounds better overall. It sounds slightly cleaner, with slightly clearer treble. I’ve seen the Magni 3 described as warmer, but it can also be characterized as slightly darker. I want to emphasize the differences are minor, and it is easy enough to just listen with the Magni 3 and not really miss anything.

To some of the listening I performed, noting that I listen extensively to classical music:

1. Lana Del Rey, Lust for Life: the Magni presents the singers’ voices extremely well, and is just as satisfying as the Jotunheim. Bass is basically the same, and fine details are present.
   
   
2. Air, Moon Safari: the warmer presentation of the Magni works fantastically well here, making it even more of an electronic dream, with Beth Hirsch’s voice as seductive as ever.
   
   
3. Róisín Murphy, Overpowered: Murphy’s voice sounds splendid, and the Magni generates headphone equivalents of thumping bass quite well. Again, some fine detail seems slightly less clear here than through the Jotunheim, and the Magni sounds slightly less spacious with some of the spatial and phase effects used in the recording.
   
   
4. Led Zeppelin III (newest remastering): I’ve listened to this in various forms (LP, cassette, CDs) hundreds of times for decades, and everything sounds just fine. Everything sounds just right, everything in the mix is there, and the vocals and instruments sound as natural as the new remastering allows.
   
   
5. Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonatas Opp 90, 101, 106 played by Steven Osborne on Hyperion: I selected this and the next recording to hear how well the Magni resolves fine details that are not musical in nature. Specifically, in this recording, the damper mechanism is audible throughout, as a soft ‘swish’ sound, and the Magni presents it just fine, if not quite as cleanly as the Jotunheim. This doesn’t lead directly to musical satisfaction, but it does render the upper registers of the piano a bit less crystalline, and slightly warmer sounding. I can envision some people preferring this type of sound. Dynamic range is superb and on par with the Jotunheim.
   
   
6. Gustave Samazeuilh, Piano Music played by Olivier Chauzu on Grand Piano: pretty much the same as above, but here, Chauzu’s pedal stomps might actually be slightly more prominent through the Magni.
   
   
7. Johannes Brahms, Piano Music played by Arcadi Volodos on Sony: this recording, one of the greatest recordings ever of any of Brahms’ piano music, sounds rich and dark and full, and the Magni slightly magnifies the richer and darker sound. The sound of Volodos’ fingernails hitting the keys is audible, demonstrating the fine detail is there. The Magni works exceedingly well here.
   
   
8. Richard Strauss, Don Quixote conducted by Lorin Maazel with Steven Isserlis playing cello on RCA. The slight diminution of clarity with the Magni is obvious here in the slightly less clear orchestral sections and slightly less distinctive wind trills. The sound is less spacious than the Jotunheim, as well. Again, the differences are minor, but they are there.
   
   Here I ran into a volume limitation using the DT 880s. The recording is low level, requiring near unity gain through a conventional stereo, and I actually maxxed out the volume control. It was loud, to be sure, with big dynamic swings and forte tuttis slightly louder than comfortable (which is what I was shooting for), but I have some recordings even lower in level than this, and they might not be able to be played at a satisfying volume with the 600 Ohm DT 880s. There is no such limitation with the other headphones mentioned

The Magni works well with all the headphones listed. I’m a big fan of the Beyer sound, which I know not everyone is, and I must say that when paired with the DT 880, the result is especially good. The T1s and LCD 2.2s benefit from the greater refinement of the Jotunheim, while the Elears sound best, to my taste, when paired with the original Asgard. (I did not do any A/Bs with my other headphone amps yet.) Overall, for a hundred bucks, the Magni 3 is the Schiit.

If it's warmer/darker, it might be able to tame the treble on my 400i. Looks pretty promising. Thanks!

 

[AudioBear]

@ToddAr1

Thanks for the impressions of Magni 3. It almost sounds like it's a toss-up with the Jot which is quite amazing at $99. If we put a pair of headphones on your head and turned on Led Zepelin or Don Quixote could you tell us which of the two were playing?

 

[ToddAr1]

@ToddAr1 If we put a pair of headphones on your head and turned on Led Zepelin or Don Quixote could you tell us which of the two were playing?

Yes, especially with the classical selections.

 

[Jimster480]

You are thinking that at 50% volume (based on position of the knob) the amp is putting out 1W which is not what is happening since most volume pots are not linear so it might only be putting out 10-25mW at the 50% position

Well it could be not linear but even if it was making 500ma that would be WAYYYY too much for IEM's.
Even at 250 it would nearly blow your ears out with almost any IEM possible.
I mean even something like the 1More Quad is rated at 5mw, the highest draw IEM I've personally seen (in terms of spec) is 30mw.
So this is why it seems unreal to be able to use it at half volume, unless Schiit engineered the first like 50mw to be in half of the Pot and somehow the rest past the halfway mark? But that would cause a seriously insane increase in volume past 50% so its highly unlikely, especially considering that they use all analog components I don't actually think its possible with a standard Alps POT.

 

[nicoch46]

Gain: 2 (6db) or 7 (17db), selectable via rear switch is for IEM , case close!

 

[Jimster480]

Gain: 2 (6db) or 7 (17db), selectable via rear switch is for IEM , case close!

6db gain is already like 2x? Thats already way too high. But I suppose that the 2x gain would reduce the power of the Magni considerably.
I would love if someone from Schiit would chime in as to the power outputs being in favor of IEMs or not.