[flyinion]

Looking for some quick advice here hopefully.  I got really intrigued after reading a post where someone recommended the magni/modi combo to someone and now I'm seriously considering asking my wife for them for an upcoming birthday present.  I'm not so sure the modi is something I need though, at least not right now.  For now, until I finally get the money to upgrade my PC with some new parts, I'm using an HT Omega Claro Halo soundcard which I originally bought because I wanted the built in headphone amp to drive the Sennheiser PC-350's I got for gaming (150ohm).  
 
Now I'm looking at getting a nice set of dedicated headphones for home listening and was thinking about getting a dedicated headphone amp for them too.  Originally I thought about getting both the magni and modi but then I thought why not just get the magni and connect it up with the RCA L/R outputs on the HT omega card.  I'll eventually need either a new card or a DAC down the road though when I do the PC upgrade since the current HT Omega card will not work in the new motherboards I'm looking at for my next PC build.  Anyone have some input here that might steer me in the direction of a decision?  I'm pretty new to the whole concept of DACs and heaphone amps like this other than knowing my soundcard has a built in headphone amp.

 

[billybob_jcv]

If you have stereo line-level outputs on the soundcard that can be connected to an external headphone amp, then I think that's a fine way to start out. You can always add a DAC later if you want to - but it's certainly not required.

HOWEVER - I took a look at your current soundcard. To me, it looks like a pretty reasonable unit. Have you considered that you might not really notice much difference by adding the Magni, or even the Modi +Magni? Your soundcard already does 24/192K and has a TPA6120 opamp in the headphone amp. That's really not bad...

 

[flyinion]

If you have stereo line-level outputs on the soundcard that can be connected to an external headphone amp, then I think that's a fine way to start out. You can always add a DAC later if you want to - but it's certainly not required.

HOWEVER - I took a look at your current soundcard. To me, it looks like a pretty reasonable unit. Have you considered that you might not really notice much difference by adding the Magni, or even the Modi +Magni? Your soundcard already does 24/192K and has a TPA6120 opamp in the headphone amp. That's really not bad...

 
Yeah I wasn't sure about how much/any difference I'd see.  I think I was partly looking to the future when I upgrade my PC and am no longer able to run that soundcard in it.  Maybe I'll just run off the soundcard until that point and who knows then I might have money to do something a little higher end too.

 

[billybob_jcv]

A good guideline (not a rule) is to never buy for the future when talking about electronics. They are almost always cheaper and better next year...