[simonpking]

Quote:

Review on Headfonia:
http://www.headfonia.com/schitty-magni-and-modi/2/

 
[size=10pt]Interestingly that the Headfonia review makes the following statement "the Magni does not have the low end to do justice with the Ortho headphones or anything bassy"[/size]
 
[size=10pt][size=10pt][size=10pt]Any ortho Magni owners care to comment on this?[/size][/size][/size]

 

[officerdoofy]

Anyone using these with sensitive IEMs? I'm considering the stack to drive my JH-16s in the office, but I'm worried about there being background hiss.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

MICRO-REVIEW - MODI/MAGNI COMBO:
 
I gave my son his Modi/Magni combo for his 15th birthday this Monday, and we've put only about 12 hours on the rig so far.  When I offered to let him return it for something better he declined.
 
The sound with his HD25-1 II and his HD600 + APS V3 cable, paired with a Macbook Pro and lossless music is wonderful for the price.  The combo outperforms my $169 Audioengine D1 DAC/amp and $249 Nuforce Icon that he's been using, and comes in closer to the performance of my $449 Nuforce HDP.  Not bad for $215 shipped. 
 
I'd say the HDP has a slightly better (more detailed) USB DAC, but the Magni amp beats the HDP amp in refinement and spaciousness, and seems to present a little extra micro-detail when paired with the HDP DAC rather than the Modi.  Basically, when I fed the HDP DAC RCA output into the Magni the soundstage size opened up a little with better ambience, the sound was slightly more transparent, and it was a little more refined than the slightly aggressive sounding HDP amp.  
 
All these "slight" improvements added up to a more believable performance overall.  It was a good match for both headphones, and effortlessly drives the 300 ohm HD600 (as does the HDP).  It drove the HD600 better than other comparably priced rigs like the D1, Icon, or uDAC-2, although the $169 HiFIMan EF2 does a very respectable job although it's DAC is fairly behind the Modi.
 
I imagine that this combo could improve a bit more after putting a couple hundred hours on the gear.  Bravo Schiit !!

 

[breadvan]

Quote:

I gave my son his Modi/Magni combo for his 15th birthday this Monday ...

 
Very cool Dad ! Like.

 

[peter123]

Quote:

Anyone using these with sensitive IEMs? I'm considering the stack to drive my JH-16s in the office, but I'm worried about there being background hiss.

My Magni will probably arrive today (tomorrow the latest). I've got a lot of IEM's to test it with. I'll post my findings as soon as I've had time to check it.

 

[Defiant00]

Quote:

 
[size=10pt]Interestingly that the Headfonia review makes the following statement "the Magni does not have the low end to do justice with the Ortho headphones or anything bassy"[/size]
 
[size=10pt][size=10pt][size=10pt]Any ortho Magni owners care to comment on this?[/size][/size][/size]

 
Perhaps they meant to say that the Magni doesn't work like some amps with bass boost? M&M definitely goes low and hits hard with the LCD-2s when it's called for.
 
Quote:

Anyone using these with sensitive IEMs? I'm considering the stack to drive my JH-16s in the office, but I'm worried about there being background hiss.

 
Haven't tried them with IEMs specifically, but even with my Grados I can't hear any hiss at all even if I turn the Magni all the way up (music off obviously, it would immediately blow the headphones and/or my ears otherwise).

 

[wcgryphon]

Quote:

 
[size=10pt]Interestingly that the Headfonia review makes the following statement "the Magni does not have the low end to do justice with the Ortho headphones or anything bassy"[/size]
 
[size=10pt][size=10pt][size=10pt]Any ortho Magni owners care to comment on this?[/size][/size][/size]

I questioned the same after I read that review, and I thought maybe the Schiits really didn't provide the bass my HE-400s could deliver. It did seem that way to me on some of my files. But then I put on some electronic and dubstep genres, and man, I could not want "more bass".... I think it was just a matter of not playing music that actually had hard bass to begin with. The Magni/Modi did not lack for bass when I actually played files that had it and did plenty justice to the music. The Fiio E10 I replaced does have a louder bass if I turn on the bass boost, but it's definitely muddled and undefined in comparison.

 

[emperorpwl]

Quote:

 
[size=10pt]Interestingly that the Headfonia review makes the following statement "the Magni does not have the low end to do justice with the Ortho headphones or anything bassy"[/size]
 
[size=10pt][size=10pt][size=10pt]Any ortho Magni owners care to comment on this?[/size][/size][/size]

 
The review also seems to suggest there's a big difference in SQ using different RCA cables, what's everyone's experience on this?

 

[TheGame21x]

Well...this was...unexpected.
 
Less than one full day has passed since I received my Magni/Modi stack and now, the Magni won't turn on. I turned it off last night before I went to bed and this morning, I flipped the switch and...nothing.
 
Very disappointed. I guess I'll have to start the return process...

 

[Defiant00]

Quote:

 
The review also seems to suggest there's a big difference in SQ using different RCA cables, what's everyone's experience on this?

 
We probably shouldn't start a cable discussion.
 
But I did giggle a bit at the idea that Monoprice cables sound horrible.

 

[HolyCheese]

Sounds like there are alot of problems with failing devices and drivers that don't work.

 

[Defiant00]

Quote:

Sounds like there are alot of problems with failing devices and drivers that don't work.

 
Well, we've heard of how many that have failed, maybe 3 or 4? Just going off of the serial numbers I've got they've sold at least a few hundred of each so sounds like (at most) maybe a 1% fail rate, and it's probably a lot lower than that.

 

[imackler]

Quote:

MICRO-REVIEW - MODI/MAGNI COMBO:
 
I gave my son his Modi/Magni combo for his 15th birthday this Monday, and we've put only about 12 hours on the rig so far.  When I offered to let him return it for something better he declined.

 
Thanks for the story and the impressions!
 
Personally, I can't help thinking that the Magni sounds a little tinny w/ the HD600. I'm not sure its the best combo, but I'll keep trying it. 

 

[slantedview]

Quote:

Anyone using these with sensitive IEMs? I'm considering the stack to drive my JH-16s in the office, but I'm worried about there being background hiss.

I don't get any hiss with my UE triple fi 10s, but the gain is a bit much for them (IMO). Sometimes I like to listen to music at a medium or low volume while I'm working, and that's not really an option since anything below 7 o'clock on the dial hits the channel imbalance on the pot, and above that it gets loud really quick with the IEMs (and my other HPs, actually).

 

[USAudio]

Quote:

I don't get any hiss with my UE triple fi 10s, but the gain is a bit much for them (IMO). Sometimes I like to listen to music at a medium or low volume while I'm working, and that's not really an option since anything below 7 o'clock on the dial hits the channel imbalance on the pot, and above that it gets loud really quick with the IEMs (and my other HPs, actually).

Yep, Schiit should really do something to address this.  In the meantime, just ensure you are feeding the Modi a 24-bit stream and adjust the volume down digitally on your computer.  Then you have more room to adjust the volume on the Magni to a more suitable place.