Schiit Modi and Magni comparison to Bifrost and Asgard

[Defiant00]

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what mod are you thinking of if you are going have it modded?

 
I'd probably just experiment with it myself.

 

[reddragon]

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I'd probably just experiment with it myself.

 
 
I see, you have experience in diy?

 

[Defiant00]

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I see, you have experience in diy?

 
Not much, but since I'd still have my HD600s there'd be no real urgency to quickly get them right, so I could just take my time and experiment.
 
With that said, with how hectic my life has been recently I doubt I'll be doing this any time soon

 

[reddragon]

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Not much, but since I'd still have my HD600s there'd be no real urgency to quickly get them right, so I could just take my time and experiment.
 
With that said, with how hectic my life has been recently I doubt I'll be doing this any time soon

 
 
I see... not going to just save time and the trouble of modding and go straight to a turnkey mod?

 

[Parallax982]

I just want to say that after about six months, I'm really happy with my Modi. I've not compared it to a Bifrost or anything else and I run it through powered speakers so there's no need for an amp. But in terms of bang for the buck, the Modi is great. I picked up a second one used for $70. That's great value.
 
I'm not super picky. My speakers (Audioengine A5+) sound great running MOG through my Macbook with the Modi. I'm sure there are some who would not be satisfied with such a basic setup. But it seems a matter of diminishing returns. To improve the sound, one has to invest a lot of money for small, incremental improvements. A Bifrost might improve the sound quality a bit. I don't know how to quantify such things but let's say 5 percent. To get that small improvement, I'd have to pay four times as much for my DAC. Thus, I just put such things out of my mind and enjoy what I've got.
 
Before long, the Modi will be surpassed by better products that cost even less. That's inevitable. So I'll wait to upgrade until I can do so at a cost that doesn't break the bank.

 

[reddragon]

Quote:

I just want to say that after about six months, I'm really happy with my Modi. I've not compared it to a Bifrost or anything else and I run it through powered speakers so there's no need for an amp. But in terms of bang for the buck, the Modi is great. I picked up a second one used for $70. That's great value.
 
I'm not super picky. My speakers (Audioengine A5+) sound great running MOG through my Macbook with the Modi. I'm sure there are some who would not be satisfied with such a basic setup. But it seems a matter of diminishing returns. To improve the sound, one has to invest a lot of money for small, incremental improvements. A Bifrost might improve the sound quality a bit. I don't know how to quantify such things but let's say 5 percent. To get that small improvement, I'd have to pay four times as much for my DAC. Thus, I just put such things out of my mind and enjoy what I've got.
 
Before long, the Modi will be surpassed by better products that cost even less. That's inevitable. So I'll wait to upgrade until I can do so at a cost that doesn't break the bank.

 
 
that's smart and rational thinking

 which is not head-fi approved

 

[Defiant00]

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I see... not going to just save time and the trouble of modding and go straight to a turnkey mod?

 
Nope, if/when I get a pair it's with the intent to have fun modding and trying things, not necessarily worrying about having a good sounding set of cans (at least initially).
 
But this is all eventual plans, there's still no telling when I might get around to it really.

 

[reddragon]

Nope, if/when I get a pair it's with the intent to have fun modding and trying things, not necessarily worrying about having a good sounding set of cans (at least initially).

But this is all eventual plans, there's still no telling when I might get around to it really.

I see, I'm the opposite, I don't diy and I just want a good sounding can. I'm lazy

 

[pdrm360]

Great review Defiant00, thanks!
 
How are Modi/Asgard 2 in compare with Modi/Magni?

 

[Defiant00]

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Great review Defiant00, thanks!
 
How are Modi/Asgard 2 in compare with Modi/Magni?

 
Thanks!
 
Unfortunately, I can't give you any useful comparison between Magni and Asgard 2 since I didn't have them both at the same time.

 

[markm1]

Yeah That is something a lot of folks want to know. Best bet is to go to a meet & ask people ahead of time to bring the gear you R interested in My first meet I left my A2 @ home. There was a m/m there not no Asg. I should have brought it but incorrectly assumed it would be too pedestrian.

 

[peepr]

Anyone directly compare magni to lyr with orthos?

 

[Barry S]

Anyone directly compare magni to lyr with orthos?

I don't think you can generalize with orthos--better to ask about the orthos you have or are interested in. I've compared my LCD2.2 with the Magni, Lyr, and Mjolnir. It sounds fantastic with the Mjolnir, with the forward character of the amp pushing the LCD2 into more neutral territory from warm and dark. The LCD2 sounds good with the Lyr, but I feel like some resolution and imaging is lost compared to the Mjolnir. The LCD2 sounds noticeably worse with the Magni--the synergy between the two seems poor.

I think the HE-500s sound pretty good with the Lyr. Not a big fan of the HE-400s or Mad Dogs--but they seem fine with the Lyr.

 

[peepr]

Gotcha. I get the sense that the OP did not find much difference between the two stacks with the LCD2 because the asgard just isnt enough for the LCD's. Maybe with some D2000's he would hear more difference. Orthos are so damn power hungry people seem to underestimate it.

 

[Defiant00]

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Gotcha. I get the sense that the OP did not find much difference between the two stacks with the LCD2 because the asgard just isnt enough for the LCD's. Maybe with some D2000's he would hear more difference. Orthos are so damn power hungry people seem to underestimate it.

 
Thanks to a fellow head-fier I had the opportunity to try out the Lyr for a number of hours with a variety of tubes and compare it to the Asgard that I had at the time.
 
For my listening levels (and that's the big qualifier here, as I don't listen very loudly), I actually prefer the Asgard over the Lyr with the LCD-2s. Having gone to meets I've also tried them with a variety of other amps, so I've got a decent handle on how the Asgard works with them and how the LCD-2s scale. So with that said, I strongly disagree that the Asgard isn't enough for the LCD-2s. As with anything, sure, there are even better amps out there; but the Asgard sounds great to me with the LCD-2s, and is even more remarkable considering the price.
 
 
And in a general sense, while orthos can handle lots of power, I actually think most people overestimate how much they 'need.' As a fun experiment at the last meet I tried HE-6 and K1000s (yeah, not orthos, I know) with the M&M stack and even those went surprisingly well. Obviously not an ideal pairing, but I was expecting them to sound bad and they really didn't.