[flyingmonkee]

All of these posts saying how the M/M stack compare favorably to higher-priced options are making me excited 

 

[jonyet]

Quote:

I got my M&M stack this week.  I have a pair of HD650s and the last few days have been a "I don't know why I even bothered listening to music before" kind of experience.  I've been hearing all kinds of things in my music I've never heard before.  To keep it in perspective my previous dac/amps have been a Fiio E10, Headroom Total Bithead, and IBasso DB1/PB1.

I got just the magni (no modi) for my AKG 701s, which i understand are only 60ohms vs your 650s of around 300 i believe...you are getting that good of an experience?? i feel like i'm just not getting any punch out of these. i feel like i had better power coming out from my stereo receiver..the modi isn't going to make any difference to this is it it? maybe my ****ty cable from the magni to the computer is just..****ty?
 
all in all i'm either needing to try an amp i know will provide the 'designed' sound for the 701s or i'm just not as big of a fan of the 701s as i thought..

 

[Barry S]

Quote:

I got just the magni (no modi) for my AKG 701s, which i understand are only 60ohms vs your 650s of around 300 i believe...you are getting that good of an experience?? i feel like i'm just not getting any punch out of these. i feel like i had better power coming out from my stereo receiver..the modi isn't going to make any difference to this is it it? maybe my ****ty cable from the magni to the computer is just..****ty?
 
all in all i'm either needing to try an amp i know will provide the 'designed' sound for the 701s or i'm just not as big of a fan of the 701s as i thought..

I'm listening to the Magni and Modi with my HD650s right now--there's no shortage of power--this setup kicks hard.  Your computer may have a crappy DAC feeding your Magni garbage.  A cable isn't going to help, so you might want to try Modi or other DAC--or the HD650s. 

 

[jonyet]

Quote:

I'm listening to the Magni and Modi with my HD650s right now--there's no shortage of power--this setup kicks hard.  Your computer may have a crappy DAC feeding your Magni garbage.  A cable isn't going to help, so you might want to try Modi or other DAC--or the HD650s. 

i appreciate the response! i left my mac in houston and i know the onboard DAC on that is far better than the built in **** on my pc mobo..so i hopefully i will see SOME improvement there that will push me into the modi. i just wasn't aware of a DAC supplying any extra 'kick,' i assumed (obviously, i chose poorly) that was entirely controlled by the amp.
 
thanks again!

 

[tootallmoose]

Quote:

I got just the magni (no modi) for my AKG 701s, which i understand are only 60ohms vs your 650s of around 300 i believe...you are getting that good of an experience?? i feel like i'm just not getting any punch out of these. i feel like i had better power coming out from my stereo receiver..the modi isn't going to make any difference to this is it it? maybe my ****ty cable from the magni to the computer is just..****ty?
 
all in all i'm either needing to try an amp i know will provide the 'designed' sound for the 701s or i'm just not as big of a fan of the 701s as i thought..

 
I actually borrowed a pair of the 701's while using the IBasso stack and noticed I had to crank the volume up way past where I would on the 650's to get anything out of them.  I'm just a noob but maybe there's just something special about the 701's?

 

[Barry S]

Quote:

i appreciate the response! i left my mac in houston and i know the onboard DAC on that is far better than the built in **** on my pc mobo..so i hopefully i will see SOME improvement there that will push me into the modi. i just wasn't aware of a DAC supplying any extra 'kick,' i assumed (obviously, i chose poorly) that was entirely controlled by the amp.
 
thanks again!

Happy to help.  The DAC/amplifier in some (most?) pc's is terrible, so there are limits to what an external amp can do.  Unless you have a soundcard, you can't even get a line level signal out, so you're getting a crappy feed from the DAC, amplified by a poor amp circuit feeding into your external amp.

 

[TMRaven]

Quote:

I got just the magni (no modi) for my AKG 701s, which i understand are only 60ohms vs your 650s of around 300 i believe...you are getting that good of an experience?? i feel like i'm just not getting any punch out of these. i feel like i had better power coming out from my stereo receiver..the modi isn't going to make any difference to this is it it? maybe my ****ty cable from the magni to the computer is just..****ty?
 
all in all i'm either needing to try an amp i know will provide the 'designed' sound for the 701s or i'm just not as big of a fan of the 701s as i thought..

 
What is this 'designed' sound for the 701?  Do you even know what that is?
 
I see it that you just want a warmer sound, and the sound signature of the Magni or 701 isn't providing that.  You're pairing a neutral to brightish amp with a neutral to brightish headphone.

 

[Defiant00]

Quote:

I got just the magni (no modi) for my AKG 701s, which i understand are only 60ohms vs your 650s of around 300 i believe...you are getting that good of an experience?? i feel like i'm just not getting any punch out of these. i feel like i had better power coming out from my stereo receiver..the modi isn't going to make any difference to this is it it? maybe my ****ty cable from the magni to the computer is just..****ty?
 
all in all i'm either needing to try an amp i know will provide the 'designed' sound for the 701s or i'm just not as big of a fan of the 701s as i thought..

 
From my experience the 701s require significantly more power than the HD650s or even my LCD-2s. Also, the only time I've enjoyed the 701s was on a Lyr with purposefully bassy tubes; on my Asgard I found them much too treble happy and with no real kick.

 

[Defiant00]

Quote:

Any huge noticeable difference between Magni and Asgard?

 
After a few hours of burn in I actually think they sound very close. I'll have a more detailed comparison in the next couple days, but so far I'm very impressed with the M&M.

 

[jonyet]

Quote:

 
What is this 'designed' sound for the 701?  Do you even know what that is?
 
I see it that you just want a warmer sound, and the sound signature of the Magni or 701 isn't providing that.  You're pairing a neutral to brightish amp with a neutral to brightish headphone.

my experience is limited, but i've got a pretty decent range of ideas (of the 'designed' sound) so far. I currently own ad700's, the 701's, m50's, and have spent a fair amount of hours with HD600's and SR225's. the main thing i've been able to distinguish (this was through an old sony receiver, as my control) was that the 701's had a highly detailed output: things i couldn't pick out before..and very clean around the edges (mainly comparing to AD700's with a soft/dampish quality). What i do know is that using that receiver, i was getting decent power but to get what i wanted i had to crank it too high and got feedback (which was for mere seconds..didn't want to damage the headphones), so i was hoping this amp would bring about what i sought.
 
in short, no, i dont know exactly what the designed sound is because i've never heard it for sure. i would love to know what a professional has to say about it, but that's awfully hard to transmit over text obviously. I am not looking for heavy d00dy bass by any means, and i like to hear music the way it was produced rather than doctored. All in all, i'm trying to evaluate if i am getting what the 701's have to offer already, and not loving it, or if it's just going to cost more time/money/research. it's looking like i may end up defaulting back to some SR225s, at this rate..but i suppose i'll find out soon enough.
 
do you have suggestions for an amp, otherwise? amp/dac experience for me is very limited.

 

[jonyet]

Quote:

 
From my experience the 701s require significantly more power than the HD650s or even my LCD-2s. Also, the only time I've enjoyed the 701s was on a Lyr with purposefully bassy tubes; on my Asgard I found them much too treble happy and with no real kick.

thanks for that. this frightens me, but if i'm gonna know if these are the headphones for me, i need to hear things that aren't "these are overrated cans" or "d00d best headphones ever!"

 

[Defiant00]

Quote:

thanks for that. this frightens me, but if i'm gonna know if these are the headphones for me, i need to hear things that aren't "these are overrated cans" or "d00d best headphones ever!"

 
Haha no problem. I can certainly understand why people like them, but for me I could only see owning them if I had a good tube amp to pair them with; bright hyper-detail just isn't my thing.

 

[YGuyG]

This will probably be the first stack I purchase. I think they are a perfect fit for my HE-400s. Wish shipping was cheaper to Canada. Might ship to the states and drive over. (Live right across the border)

 

[USAudio]

My current headphones are the reasonably efficient Audio Technica ATH-M50's (99db at 1 mW) and the volume control offered by the Magni seems a bit aggressive. 
Just a tiny adjustment results in a larger increase/decrease of volume than desired. 
It's hard to get it right where I want it. 
I'd prefer to avoid digital attenuation on my laptop to compensate.
I understand at this price point a gain switch would not be possible.
The DAC is a Modi.
 
Anyone else having the same experience?

 

[Defiant00]

Quote:

My current headphones are the reasonably efficient Audio Technica ATH-M50's (99db at 1 mW) and the volume control offered by the Magni seems a bit aggressive. 
Just a tiny adjustment results in a larger increase/decrease of volume than desired. 
It's hard to get it right where I want it. 
I'd prefer to avoid digital attenuation on my laptop to compensate.
I understand at this price point a gain switch would not be possible.
The DAC is a Modi.
 
Anyone else having the same experience?

 
Yes, absolutely, the gain on the Magni is pretty ridiculous even with the LCD-2s. However, if you're using the Modi in 24 bit mode then digital attenuation is fine with 16 bit music since you've got the bits to spare. I can appreciate not wanting to have to bother with it, but you won't actually lose any sound quality doing so.
 
Edit: I've posted my initial comparison here, more to follow: http://www.head-fi.org/t/643368/schiit-modi-and-magni-comparison-to-bifrost-and-asgard