[Jimster480]

Just got my Magni 3. I have some issues, none of which is particularly big, but wanted to ask whether it seems normal.

1. RCA connectors seem relatively loose compared to the death-grip on my speaker amp and source.
2. Volume pot has a few degrees of dead zone - as in, when changing direction, it's loose for a few degrees before it physically engages.
3. Something inside the unit slightly rattles when it's gently shook.

The pot is also unbalanced at low levels (one side actually goes silent), but I see other people fairly commonly have this issue, so I guess it's not a concern?

I assume it's just kind of unavoidable little things at this price range?

The Pot problem where its mismatched might be an issue of the price of the unit overall.
Really well matched POTs cost alot of money. But it shouldn't have play or have loose connectors, I would contact them for a replacement.

 

[UNOE]

The unbalanced pot seems to be the norm though correct. BA IEM I have can't really use Magni 3 with them because unbalanced at normal listening volume. Wish Magni 3 had lower negative gain setting.

 

[Merkurio]

Just got my Magni 3. I have some issues, none of which is particularly big, but wanted to ask whether it seems normal.

1. RCA connectors seem relatively loose compared to the death-grip on my speaker amp and source.
2. Volume pot has a few degrees of dead zone - as in, when changing direction, it's loose for a few degrees before it physically engages.
3. Something inside the unit slightly rattles when it's gently shook.

The pot is also unbalanced at low levels (one side actually goes silent), but I see other people fairly commonly have this issue, so I guess it's not a concern?

I assume it's just kind of unavoidable little things at this price range?

Have the same subtle rattle issue when I shake my unit, but I can safetly say there's nothing to be worry about.

I opened the Magni a few moments ago and the rattle seems to come from one of the rear switches' cases:

I haven't seen any loose piece, the design indeed looks very sturdy and the components are nicely weld.

 

[Jimster480]

The unbalanced pot seems to be the norm though correct. BA IEM I have can't really use Magni 3 with them because unbalanced at normal listening volume. Wish Magni 3 had lower negative gain setting.

Yes I had the same issue and this is why I sold my Magni3.
The thing is that my headphones are all sensitive and therefore I have no volume control and channel imbalance (on some).

 

[dukeReinhardt]

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.
2. Rattle seems to be from a manufacturing tolerance issue on switch casing, not a huge problem.
3. RCA connections being loose is in fact a serious defect. Thing is I think I may have misrepresented the issue - the jacks do not wobble at all, they're solid against the Magni case. I just meant that RCA cables seem to fit more easily onto the jacks than the way they normally do. They just slide on and off with moderate force instead of the absolute death-grip force it takes to put them on and off the jacks on my source and speaker amp.
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.

 

[warsfanbb8]

I am very new to this. So I had joined the massdrop for the Sennheiser 650s. Haven't got them yet, but should be any day now.

I also ordered the Magni 3.

My plan is to listen to music from either my portable sony CD player, or my Samsung S6 phone.

Will this work? Just plug my Magni into the outlet, connect my music device onto it, and the headphones on the Magni?

And do I really need a DAC for anything?

Again, very new to all of this.

 

[Jimster480]

I am very new to this. So I had joined the massdrop for the Sennheiser 650s. Haven't got them yet, but should be any day now.

I also ordered the Magni 3.

My plan is to listen to music from either my portable sony CD player, or my Samsung S6 phone.

Will this work? Just plug my Magni into the outlet, connect my music device onto it, and the headphones on the Magni?

And do I really need a DAC for anything?

Again, very new to all of this.

That would be double amping your music.
Most portable CD players do not have a line out.

 

[SomeTechNoob]

You'll need a 3.5mm TRS cable to dual RCA to hook it up your phone directly to the magni. Your quality will be limited to the output of both your phone and that sony CD player. A dedicated DAC therefore will generally result in better audio performance than simply hooking up your phone, but you may have to look into what kind of connections are available on your source devices and go from there.

 

[Cer3lakIller]

Will the pre out work when the amp is off powered? like a pasive sys for example? Im planning on getting an M3 to control my powered monitors and and to drive headphones, but because I mostly do my listening throu the speakers it woould be really nice if the amp cand do the pre out controling without beeing on all the time, thus increasing the universe entrophy.

 

[warsfanbb8]

Are those cheap DACs on Amazon any good, especially considering I'll have a good amp (Magni 3)?

I always just thought DACs were just for listening music from your computer and whatnot.

 

[dukeReinhardt]

Is there any way to know the maximum capabilities of the Magni 3's preamp? For example if you feed a typical 2V line in, I think the headphone amp runs out of power at the far end of the HI gain (obviously not before you've died). But is the preamp also clipping? Presumably it clips at some point after the headphone amp clips. Is this information available? If not, is it likely that the Magni 3 clips in this scenario?

Edit: Nvm.. speakers get insanely too loud on 2x gain hah.

 

[Jimster480]

Are those cheap DACs on Amazon any good, especially considering I'll have a good amp (Magni 3)?

I always just thought DACs were just for listening music from your computer and whatnot.

This depends on what you consider cheap.
There are alot of cheap and "good" DAC's.

 

[DavidA]

Are those cheap DACs on Amazon any good, especially considering I'll have a good amp (Magni 3)?

I always just thought DACs were just for listening music from your computer and whatnot.

Most of the cheaper DACs are so-so IMO but most are also part of a DAC/amp combo. If your CD player has a line out then going straight to the Magni3 should be okay but as the poster above mentioned you will be double amping and the quality of the signal will be based on the DAC section of your CD player and phone which may or may not be good.

DACs are not just for listening to music from a computer since there are stand alone CD/DVD players that will output a digital signal for those that want to use a specific DAC to do the analog to digital conversion versus the internal DAC of the device. Remember GIGO, garbage in - garbage out, so if your CD player or phone outputs a bad signal the Magni3 will only amplify the bad signal.

 

[warsfanbb8]

Most of the cheaper DACs are so-so IMO but most are also part of a DAC/amp combo. If your CD player has a line out then going straight to the Magni3 should be okay but as the poster above mentioned you will be double amping and the quality of the signal will be based on the DAC section of your CD player and phone which may or may not be good.

DACs are not just for listening to music from a computer since there are stand alone CD/DVD players that will output a digital signal for those that want to use a specific DAC to do the analog to digital conversion versus the internal DAC of the device. Remember GIGO, garbage in - garbage out, so if your CD player or phone outputs a bad signal the Magni3 will only amplify the bad signal.

I see, so maybe I should've gotten the Modi 2 too

What about this cheap one from Amazon? https://www.amazon.com/PROZOR-Digit...pID=41LGG8dggIL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Its really cheap but also gets great reviews.

 

[Jimster480]

I see, so maybe I should've gotten the Modi 2 too

What about this cheap one from Amazon? https://www.amazon.com/PROZOR-Digit...pID=41LGG8dggIL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Its really cheap but also gets great reviews.

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