[AxelCloris]

This may be my future desktop combo. Subscribing!

 

[kstuart]

Quote:

The modi is; "USB Powered, No Drivers Modi plugs into virtually any computer—Windows or Mac—and requires no drivers to deliver great sound, up to 24/96 sampling rates. It features asynchronous transfer with individual crystal oscillators for the 44.1 and 48k sampling rates, and uses the USB Audio 1.0 standard over USB 2.0, and is powered by the USB port."
 
Sub optimal in my opinion. PC power is flaky and dirty and better results are usually obtained by a dac that has it's own power supply. If you use this I would at least use an external powered USB hub instead of plugging it straight into a computer. That makes a night and day difference for my HRT MSII.

As someone who has both the MS2 and the MS2Plus, I would say that a hub is only necessary if your PC does not have a good USB port.   Of course, that is certainly a possibility, and I have had PCs and laptops with sub-optimal USB ports.
Otherwise, it doesn't matter whether the PC power is "dirty" because the HRT Music Streamers have their own internal regulatted power supply, that only relies on the USB power as a raw source of power.
 
PS   Magni ordered and tracking number received, I'll post comments when I receive it.

 

[MartyMcFly]

Quote:

If I already owned an O2/ODAC  and was happy with it, I don't think I'd be rushing to sell it, unless it was for a significant upgrade.  I think we'll have 5-10 comparisons posted in the next couple of weeks, so we'll see if there's a consensus.  The Magni isn't a Class A amp, so it should be (a lot) cooler than the Asgard.  As for driving headphones, Jason has tested a bunch and you can email him to ask, but he's been nothing but truthful in my experience.

 
I'm interested to see what amp classification the Magni falls under...which would give me a better indication of the sound signature (or sound distortion) it would produce. I'm thinking it might be class AB, since it probably runs more efficiently than the Asgard and produces the "colder" sound. 

 

[swmtnbiker]

I'm interested to see what amp classification the Magni falls under...which would give me a better indication of the sound signature (or sound distortion) it would produce. I'm thinking it might be class AB, since it probably runs more efficiently than the Asgard and produces the "colder" sound. 

From Schiit's website: DISCRETE HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER | CLASS AB | HIGH OUTPUT

 

[Barry S]

I believe the USB input with the native driver is only limited to 24/96. Gungnir and Bifrost kick that up to 24/192 with the Schiit driver. I don't think that's much of a limitation for the Modi.

...The question is now, I've seen and used some 24 bit DAC's before and when running it out by USB it is limited to 16bit while a digital out will offer true 24bit, will this limitation appear on the Modi given that it's using a 24bit dac chip.

 

[MartyMcFly]

Quote:

Quote:

I'm interested to see what amp classification the Magni falls under...which would give me a better indication of the sound signature (or sound distortion) it would produce. I'm thinking it might be class AB, since it probably runs more efficiently than the Asgard and produces the "colder" sound. 

From Schiit's website: DISCRETE HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER | CLASS AB | HIGH OUTPUT

Ha, thanks for that. I must have looked over that useful bit of information. I'm kind of  glad they came out with a class AB design. I assume class AB amps nowadays eliminate a lot of the crossover distortion that give the advantages of class A linearity? It should sound a little more dynamic than the Asgard and accurately scale sound into higher volumes with that small amount of bias current. I'm really looking forward to this Schiit!

 

[swmtnbiker]

Hello?!?! McFly!!!!

My Schiit has been ordered.

 

[paradoxper]

Quote:

Had a look at the specs, shame theres no digital/toslink out for the DAC, interesting use of DC servo on the Magni to eliminate use of coupling caps in the signal paths for power section, it run's off a wall-wart but I'm having some idea's already with getting some near identical case's milled to match the Schiit have it house a regulated Sigma11 PSU for power feed to both amp/dac. Interesting.
 
The question is now, I've seen and used some 24 bit DAC's before and when running it out by USB it is limited to 16bit while a digital out will offer true 24bit, will this limitation appear on the Modi given that it's using a 24bit dac chip.

You do realize it's $99. So no, it's not a shame,it would drive up the costs. C'mon man.

 

[SurfWax]

Principal: No McFly has ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley
McFly: Yea...well, histories gonna change!

Haha, couldn't resist, my fav line from the 1st movie

 

[Hooster]

Quote:

I see, very interesting. My question is, why would they design an amp/dac that works through USB power if it wasn't assured to get full quality power/signal?

Because it is cheaper. If you want to be assured of full quality I suggest you buy something like this
 
http://www.whathifi.com/review/dcs-debussy
 
Using usb power is cost effective. You get a good result for the money you spend. Don't dream that you will get anything approaching "full quality" though. That would make dacs that cost thousands of $ look pretty stupid.

 

[Hooster]

Quote:

As someone who has both the MS2 and the MS2Plus, I would say that a hub is only necessary if your PC does not have a good USB port.   Of course, that is certainly a possibility, and I have had PCs and laptops with sub-optimal USB ports.
Otherwise, it doesn't matter whether the PC power is "dirty" because the HRT Music Streamers have their own internal regulatted power supply, that only relies on the USB power as a raw source of power.
 
PS   Magni ordered and tracking number received, I'll post comments when I receive it.

 
Did you ever TRY a powered USB hub vs plugging the MS2 straight into your computer? What makes a "good" USB hub and how can you tell the difference between it and a bad one? Does it have a label on it that says good?
 
"Otherwise, it doesn't matter whether the PC power is "dirty" because the HRT Music Streamers have their own internal regulatted power supply, that only relies on the USB power as a raw source of power."
 
That is what HRT says in their blurb. In my experience this is not true. It matters in my system and I could never go back to not using externally powered USB.

 

[swmtnbiker]

Using usb power is cost effective. You get a good result for the money you spend. Don't dream that you will get anything approaching "full quality" though. That would make dacs that cost thousands of $ look pretty stupid.

I don't think they need an assist from Schiit...

 

[mikeaj]

You are one of those guys who lurks around here just to tell people they are wrong? 700mW of the O2 vs. the 1.2W of the schiit into 32 ohms is near double. How's that? You are right. I am wrong.
Don't really know or care how you came up with your 1.2db but I don't think it really matters as the O2 can power the Beyers and power wise so should the Schiit based on specs. I don't have one so I don't know and neither do the rest of us.

Regardless of who is right or wrong (who cares?), it's better to have the facts straight, especially when quoting numbers. Quoting numbers carries some responsibility to get things right (and for others to correct any mistakes), because often times people assume numbers to be factual, particularly when they don't come from some flaky product advertisement page.

First of all, Levener was asking about 600 ohms Beyerdynamics, so the only logical thing to do would be to compare power output into 600 ohms, right? That's 88 mW quoted vs. 130 mW. Whatever the amps are capable of into 32 ohms is irrelevant. For the record, into 33 ohms the measured result of the O2 was 613 mW @ 1% THD, so it's less than even the 700 mW you said. Not sure where you got that figure from, but it sure is about double at 32 ohms. At 600 ohms, not so much.

Also, I clearly typed 1.7 dB because 10 * log10 (130 / 88) = 1.7 dB, not 1.2 dB. If these figures are wrong, then it'd be good if I or somebody else could correct them. Reporting the wrong thing is not some kind of mortal sin. Let's move on.

 

[DigitalFreak]

Ho hum, can we all please stop slamming the Magni or arguing about whatever under the sun until some people on here get their units in and start posting impressions. Personally I'm quite interested in this new Schiit (couldn't resist) as a possible entry level home rig. If it can match the O2/ODAC combo in transparency for 200 bones NwAvGuy followers be damned I'm all in for the latest greatest new Schiit on the market

 

[Defiant00]

Well I'll be comparing this new stack to my Bifrost/Asgard when it comes in; looking forward to seeing how it does with my LCD-2s.