[StanD]

  More power will be able to give you more headroom. It can also help in the bass department. 

More power does not help in the bass department if the amp can deliver as much or more power than the headphone is rated for. The same can be said for headroom. For most people, they listen to popular or contemprary music which is limited or compressed (not mp3 data compression), so the need for large amounts of headroom are not there. In the case of such compressed music, should one listen at volumes so large as to push an Asgard 2 or Magni to their limits would most likely result in hearing damage. Surely something that none of us want. Not many headphones have the power demands of an HE-6 so gobs of power are not usually needed. Even if you're listening to classical music or acoustic jazz there's enough noise and incidental sound that affects the DR and that listening at a reasonably loud level should still fall within the power of such amps.
So rather than just shoot my mouth off, let's go through the numbers. An example is the HE-500 a headphone with more than average power demands.
 
1W will deliver 119 dB SPL, extremely loud and would lead to hearing damage if one is exposed to excessively.
90 dB SPL requires only 1.26 mW
 
Few people listen at 90dB SPL average.
 
If one is listening at 85 db SPL, they will need 39.8 mW
 
It is unlikely that one will need the 44 dB of headroom which would require 1W peak power.. The Asgard 2 can deliver 1W of continuous power, the Magni slightly more at 1.2W.

 

[mwillits]

Hey folks - what do you think might be the cause of a slight hum from only the right XLR pre-out on my Mjolnir amp? The left pre-out and the front ports are all dead silent. There's nothing else connected to the amp inputs, and I tried swapping the left and right cables to my powered Airmotiv Emotiva 4S speakers. As expected, the hum was evident in the left speaker now connected to the right XLR pre-out on the amp. So the problem isn't from the speakers, but seemingly the right pre-out on the amp. I tried cheater plugs on the amp power cord and both speaker power cords thinking it was a ground loop issue but still the hum remains. And if it were a ground loop problem why only the right side and not both?

If I missed anything let me know and I'll check it out.

 

[KLJTech]

If you switched out the cables and the problem stayed on the same side my "guess" would be that the connection for the XLR output may be shorting out (solder joint may have come loose). I'd contact Schiit Audio and see what they have to say...they're great with communication so you'll know pretty quickly. Good luck!  

 

[fenderf4i]

Are there any specs that show if an amp can maintain a certain amount of output power for a certain amount of time? What about amps that have a lot of standby capacitance for bursts of power/transients etc when needed? How do two amps that each put out 1 watt, but have different sizes of power supplies and standby capacitance differ?

 

[StanD]

Are there any specs that show if an amp can maintain a certain amount of output power for a certain amount of time? What about amps that have a lot of standby capacitance for bursts of power/transients etc when needed? How do two amps that each put out 1 watt, but have different sizes of power supplies and standby capacitance differ?

1W RMS means continuous. That's much better than 1W peak. I think RMS is what you are looking for. The boys at Schiit spec RMS, they don't Schiit around. Knowing them, their specs are probably conservative. See my previous post about how 1W peak would equat to 119 dB SPL on a HE-500. That should cover transients and a busted eardrum if one opts turning up the dial for too long.

 

[fenderf4i]

Oh yeah, of course. And that makes sense when Jason said the Magni hits 2 watts at clipping, but it's specs say it can do 1 watt continuous. Cool.

 

[StanD]

Oh yeah, of course. And that makes sense when Jason said the Magni hits 2 watts at clipping, but it's specs say it can do 1 watt continuous. Cool.

Even better the Magni is spec'd for 1.2W RMS at 32 Ohms. It's the Asgard 2 that's 1W RMS at 32 Ohms. It's all good Schiit.

 

[Rossliew]

I placed an order for the Magni and Bifrost uber to see how it pairs with the XC. As it is, the Modi/Vali/XC pairing sounds decent and wholesome.

 

[Xdaggersoul]

  More power does not help in the bass department if the amp can deliver as much or more power than the headphone is rated for. The same can be said for headroom. For most people, they listen to popular or contemprary music which is limited or compressed (not mp3 data compression), so the need for large amounts of headroom are not there. In the case of such compressed music, should one listen at volumes so large as to push an Asgard 2 or Magni to their limits would most likely result in hearing damage. Surely something that none of us want. Not many headphones have the power demands of an HE-6 so gobs of power are not usually needed. Even if you're listening to classical music or acoustic jazz there's enough noise and incidental sound that affects the DR and that listening at a reasonably loud level should still fall within the power of such amps.
So rather than just shoot my mouth off, let's go through the numbers. An example is the HE-500 a headphone with more than average power demands.
 
1W will deliver 119 dB SPL, extremely loud and would lead to hearing damage if one is exposed to excessively.
90 dB SPL requires only 1.26 mW
 
Few people listen at 90dB SPL average.
 
If one is listening at 85 db SPL, they will need 39.8 mW
 
It is unlikely that one will need the 44 dB of headroom which would require 1W peak power.. The Asgard 2 can deliver 1W of continuous power, the Magni slightly more at 1.2W.

If the amp can provide sufficient power to the intended headphones, the bass would be optimal. But in the case of the Magni paired with the HE-500, the Magni's 1W RMS is capable of driving the HE-500's to loud volume as the numbers also has shown that it can get loud with low power. But in the case of the Magni driving the HE-6, that is a totally different story as HE-6 is a very inefficient headphones that require high power for the headphone. But I do agree on your stand that the Magni and Asgard 2 will be able to drive the HE-500 to loud volumes. 

 

[Sasasd]

New happy Schiit Modi+Vali owner here. Sounds fantastic with my HE400s. I was wondering is my Modi detecting right in W7? With FiiO E10 I got to select which sampling rates are supported and there was no enchanments tab also...
 
 
 
 
 
.

 

[jaywillin]

  New happy Schiit Modi+Vali owner here. Sounds fantastic with my HE400s. I was wondering is my Modi detecting right in W7? With FiiO E10 I got to select which sampling rates are supported and there was no enchanments tab also...
 
 
 
 
 
.

its been a while since i had my modi, but that looks correct to me

 

[StanD]

  If the amp can provide sufficient power to the intended headphones, the bass would be optimal. But in the case of the Magni paired with the HE-500, the Magni's 1W RMS is capable of driving the HE-500's to loud volume as the numbers also has shown that it can get loud with low power. But in the case of the Magni driving the HE-6, that is a totally different story as HE-6 is a very inefficient headphones that require high power for the headphone. But I do agree on your stand that the Magni and Asgard 2 will be able to drive the HE-500 to loud volumes. 

I did bring up the point of the HE-6's power hungry character. I believe that few people in the general population of headphone owners require such wattage and would need an amp capable of dimming the lights sharing the same mains circuit. I would think that your Auralic is up to the job. 

 I believe that everyone should take a moment to listen to a pair of Orthodynamic cans, once done, I ordered a pair of HE-500's. They are excellent for developing one's neck muscles.

 

 

[madwolfa]

  New happy Schiit Modi+Vali owner here. Sounds fantastic with my HE400s. I was wondering is my Modi detecting right in W7? With FiiO E10 I got to select which sampling rates are supported and there was no enchanments tab also...

 
Have you installed C-Media USB driver from the Schiit website?

 

[StanD]

   
Have you installed C-Media USB driver from the Schiit website?

I don't think that the Modi requires any drivers when operating under Windoze. The drivers are required by the Bifrost and Gungnir.

 

[madwolfa]

  I don't think that the Modi requires any drivers when operating under Windoze. The drivers are required by the Bifrost and Gungner.

 
I see that it's using the same USB chip, but probably different firmware (USB Audio 1.0, hence no driver required).