[BIOHazard87]

Hi,

I just got my Magni the other day. I tried powering my DT880 32ohm's (Seller sent me wrong pair, I ordered 600ohm, going to exchange)

It sounds very bright and seems to have killed off all the bass but possibly extended the treble some but to the point of being harsh. I'm using a Creative X-Fi Titanium to output sound to the Magni through a mini-jack > RCA cable.

Using the rear headphone output on the X-Fi sounds much better than the Magni. The X-Fi is warmer, more bass, and warmer less exaggerated highs. I've been having trouble finding anyone using a X-Fi Titanium (Non-HD) with the Magni.

I suppose I will wait until I receive my 600ohm DT880's before I make a decision to return the Magni or not.

Does anyone have a suggestion/comment? Thanks

 

[av2606]

Quote:

Hi,

I just got my Magni the other day. I tried powering my DT880 32ohm's (Seller sent me wrong pair, I ordered 600ohm, going to exchange)

It sounds very bright and seems to have killed off all the bass but possibly extended the treble some but to the point of being harsh. I'm using a Creative X-Fi Titanium to output sound to the Magni through a mini-jack > RCA cable.

Using the rear headphone output on the X-Fi sounds much better than the Magni. The X-Fi is warmer, more bass, and warmer less exaggerated highs. I've been having trouble finding anyone using a X-Fi Titanium (Non-HD) with the Magni.

I suppose I will wait until I receive my 600ohm DT880's before I make a decision to return the Magni or not.

Does anyone have a suggestion/comment? Thanks

Which exact card are you using? Can you show us a pic? What connections are you using from your soundcard to connect to the amp? If you're using the headphone connection on your soundcard which is already amplified and then connecting it to the Magni, this may be an explanation as to why it doesn't sound right. You should be connecting your soundcard's RCA outputs (red and white) to the Magni. If your soundcard doesn't have RCA outputs, you should get a soundcard that has them or get an external DAC (which is generally recommended over internal soundcards)

 

[Skolar311]

This is very strange, I'm with AV2606, please include some pictures of how you have everything connected. The amplifier should not be altering the sound signal at all....just simply amplifying it.
 
I'm also curious to see if the 600 Ohm DT880's have the same problem. You can also e-mail schiit directly ( check their site for contact info ) and I'm sure you would get a helpful response in no time. Nobody better to ask then the engineers behind the hardware.

 

[BIOHazard87]

Which exact card are you using? Can you show us a pic? What connections are you using from your soundcard to connect to the amp? If you're using the headphone connection on your soundcard which is already amplified and then connecting it to the Magni, this may be an explanation as to why it doesn't sound right. You should be connecting your soundcard's RCA outputs (red and white) to the Magni. If your soundcard doesn't have RCA outputs, you should get a soundcard that has them or get an external DAC (which is generally recommended over internal soundcards)

This may be it. The X-Fi Titanium (non-HD) does not have RCA outputs, only minijack connectors. Only the Titanium HD has the RCA outputs.

So the reason for the change in sound is because the rear headphone jack is amplified? I thought the Titanium non-HD's headphone jack was not amplified.

 

[BIOHazard87]

Sorry I dont think I'm allowed to edit posts so I have to double post.


Here is a link to my sound card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102024

I'm running the minijack to RCA from the sound card's rear headphone jack.

 

[Skolar311]

Quote:

Sorry I dont think I'm allowed to edit posts so I have to double post.


Here is a link to my sound card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102024

I'm running the minijack to RCA from the sound card's rear headphone jack.

 
I use an AudioQuest Evergreen RCA-to-3.5mm from the Magni to the IDT HD Audio from my laptop and it honestly sounds great even without the Modi. Do you have a laptop or other computer you can test it on? As you can guess my laptop doesn't have RCA outs either. But what you're describing is not happening on my end at all.
 
Try different sources to narrow down the issue.

 

[BIOHazard87]

I use an AudioQuest Evergreen RCA-to-3.5mm from the Magni to the IDT HD Audio from my laptop and it honestly sounds great even without the Modi. Do you have a laptop or other computer you can test it on? As you can guess my laptop doesn't have RCA outs either. But what you're describing is not happening on my end at all.

Try different sources to narrow down the issue.

It is possible your laptop's sound card headphone jack may not be as highly powered as the Creative X-Fi Titanium. It is claimed that (at least with the HD version) the rear jack supports up to 330 ohm.



I tried swapping computers to my other setup that has a Titanium HD card with the RCA jacks. It does sound a bit different but I may compare again. It still feels like the bass is underwhelming compared with no amp. With the Magni there seems to be much bigger separation in frequencies. The lows and highs are further apart which should be good but it seems to overexagerate the highs to the point of being harsh.

I also tested the Magni with my 50ohm Sennheiser HD595 with similar results. Hopefully when I get my 600ohm DT880 it will be better.

 

[dtmhtk]

I'm selling my Magni if anyone is interested!

 

[Skooks]

A suggestion... run it in for 100 hours with good music going thru it around the clock. Then see how it sounds. I hope you don't judge anything in the first few hours. They can change a whole lot with break-in.

 

[Skolar311]

Quote:

A suggestion... run it in for 100 hours with good music going thru it around the clock. Then see how it sounds. I hope you don't judge anything in the first few hours. They can change a whole lot with break-in.

 
A good suggestion, but the problems he's having are not normal with the Magni at any stage of usage. I have over 200 hours on mine now and it sounds right about the same as it did out of the box. There's no reason why it should sound worse on the Magni rather than right off the headphone jack of his sound-card.
 
Something is not right.

 

[MrMateoHead]

The choice of output on the X-Fi doesn't necessarily matter all that much - my computer sounds the same through the O2 amp I use whether I use the low-impedance headphone jack or the higher impedance line out on my computer.
 
One think I would do, is adjust the soundcard settings while plugged into the Magni to see if you can get a better sound. The X-Fi I used to use had EQ features, 'surround' emulation, and 'crystallizer' effects which ultimately all sounded terrible to my ears (when listening to music anyway. Turn all that S*** off and give the amp another listen.

 

[Skolar311]

Quote:

The choice of output on the X-Fi doesn't necessarily matter all that much - my computer sounds the same through the O2 amp I use whether I use the low-impedance headphone jack or the higher impedance line out on my computer.
 
One think I would do, is adjust the soundcard settings while plugged into the Magni to see if you can get a better sound. The X-Fi I used to use had EQ features, 'surround' emulation, and 'crystallizer' effects which ultimately all sounded terrible to my ears (when listening to music anyway. Turn all that S*** off and give the amp another listen.

 
I also owned the X-Fi and I really did not like it.... I was very disappointed since I spent over $100 on it, and you're right about the crystalizer effects and whatnot. They're just awful.
 
I'd go with this also, you may just need to tweak the crap out of your X-Fi settings. I always found the sound from the X-Fi to be way too shrill for my tastes, so I gave it to a friend.

 

[MrMateoHead]

Quote:

 
I also owned the X-Fi and I really did not like it.... I was very disappointed since I spent over $100 on it, and you're right about the crystalizer effects and whatnot. They're just awful.
 
I'd go with this also, you may just need to tweak the crap out of your X-Fi settings. I always found the sound from the X-Fi to be way too shrill for my tastes, so I gave it to a friend.

My thoughts exactly. To hear someone describe the sound of X-Fi as 'warm' really surprises me. I was using an extreme music version, so maybe the others are different. Personally, I think it sounds best with no DSP features enabled. I also stopped using the mode switcher, since that seemed mostly like a bloated gimmick. I would try uninstalling the drivers entirely, and just go barebone driver + EAX enabled (cause hey, gaming!).
 
The Realtek chipsets have sounded way better to me since those days - not as shrill, and overall really excellent quality. Soundcards are basically obsolete IMHO.

 

[Muzika]

This question may have been covered previously but I couldn't find any mention of it...
 
Do you guys turn off the Magni when it's not in use? I typically turn things off if I'm not using them but, with lifetime and potential degradation in mind, I'm concerned about the type of switch the Magni uses, and perhaps also heat generation, I suppose.

 

[kimvictor]

This question may have been covered previously but I couldn't find any mention of it...

Do you guys turn off the Magni when it's not in use? I typically turn things off if I'm not using them but, with lifetime and potential degradation in mind, I'm concerned about the type of switch the Magni uses, and perhaps also heat generation, I suppose.

You will be fine, as long as you don't keep it on for a week or something.