Schiit Stack (Magni + Modi) Headphone Amp and PC DAC
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2014-05-07
·
1,188 words · ~5 min read
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the cooler master glacier 240l CPU cooler delivers the convenience of an
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all-in-one and the performance of a custom water cooler click now to learn
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more dear support is your company's name
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really pronounced [ __ ] is there a backstory or was it just
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because it was funny i got a reply from [ __ ] audio co-founder
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jason stoddard personally who happens to be in the process of chronicling their
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journey as a tiny startup over on headphy which i'll link in the video
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description if you're interested and he took a moment to share a very relatable
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moment with me where early in the process of product development on the
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asgard his wife got so tired of hearing
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him say no i can't do that i have [ __ ] to do
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that one day she said why don't you just call the new company [ __ ] since that's
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what you're always doing and that's the back story as a fellow small startup i
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definitely loved my wife definitely didn't anyway from a grab your attention
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standpoint i can see why they did it it makes you go
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did i just read that and the slogans that they can make up to
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market their amp and dac products which range from hundred dollars each all the
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way up to units that are highly upgradable and cost 750 dollars each are
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pretty much endless all right so with that out of the way what do i actually
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think of their entry level amp and dac offering the industrial design is
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something that you're going to love or hate it's a clean and utilitarian steel
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box with a curved front and some ventilation holes applied as needed if i
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had to complain i guess i wish that they stacked a little more gracefully rather
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than just having one sit on top of the other with little rubber feet on the
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bottom but the subdued white led illumination that they've got is a nice
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touch the units each come packed in environmentally responsible boxes that
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are pretty much all cardboard that include just rubber feet a little
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pamphlet and in the case of the magne and ac power adapter that's it i would
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have liked a usb cable with the modi and maybe a short rca cable with the magni
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but i understand that to hit these prices with almost all manufacturing
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including the pcb and production in the us they needed to
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keep costs down besides while i don't care many audio snobs will prefer to buy
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their own fancy cables anyway so when it came to listening tests the main
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competitor i compared to was an objective 2 and odac combo unit from
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mayflower electronics a more compact but
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slightly more expensive solution to the combined stack on paper their specs are
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i mean pretty similar at least they look like it to me and while i threw pretty
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much everything in my arsenal at them from my hd 600s which i happen to have
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handy right here all the way down to random gaming headphones and my ie80
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in-ears when i was done there wasn't much to say they both sound great to me
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so great that i just couldn't tell the difference with my wife switching them
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back and forth on me while i wasn't looking i don't have any orthodynamic
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headphones yet so i wasn't really pushing either of them to their limits
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and my conclusion is just going to have to come down to features
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both solutions are entirely driverless on your pc and tick all the right boxes
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in terms of specs with their low output impedance making them suitable for
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everything from very difficult to drive 300 plus ohm headphones down to iems the
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o2 standalone can be run off of 9 volt batteries but is more expensive than the
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magni the o2 has a gain switch to toggle
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between quieter and louder output while [ __ ] basically says
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i don't know use pc volume control or exercise caution with the volume dial
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when you use your iems the wall wart for the price equivalent o2 from mayflower
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at least plugs into the front of the unit which is kind of unsightly but [ __ ]
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uses an unusual ac wall warts so it actually goes from 120
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volt to 16 volt ac so you can't easily replace it so they
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both kind of have some trade-offs with the only simple solution to get more
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features or not deal with the trade-offs being pay more
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this is a value solution that sounds great let's love it for what it is and
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quit complaining all right i get that speaking of paying more i really like
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the style of the [ __ ] guys they've got expensive stuff but with all the usual
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nonsense in the audio world they take a surprisingly down to earth no [ __ ]
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approach to their marketing for example right on the hundred dollar magnes
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product page it says it may be the only amp you'll ever need and their 350
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valhalla tube amp product page doesn't wax philosophical about the superiority
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of tubes it just says and i'm paraphrasing a bit here it's a tube amp
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if you like tubes you might like this and if you don't like it then you can
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swap the tubes out for something else enjoy love it love that approach another thing
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i liked about them is something i usually can't test but i bought the
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stack so i was just another customer to them i emailed in about an issue with my
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hd 280s that was causing some interference in the left channel
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whenever i adjusted volume on the magni they promptly replied and offered to
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cover shipping for me to send the unit back gave me some sensible
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troubleshooting steps and explained that some headphones can act as an rf antenna
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in certain cases it was isolated to my hd 280s out of 10 plus pairs and only
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while turning the volume knob so i didn't bother exchanging it overall
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solid product solid folks over there making it and highly recommended if you
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like their particular flavor of trade-offs versus the objective 2 and
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odac guys like and share this video if
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you liked it dislike it if you disliked it and leave a comment on the Linus tech
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tips forum linked in the video description if you want to discuss this product or you have any constructive
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criticism for me and my team also linked in the video description is our support
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