I have owned a used pair of the vs3 (I think) Kennerton Magni closed back headphone for a short while now. In that short while I have put more hours on it than anything else I own, I enjoy it THAT much. Problem is that it does 1 damn thing that has driven me crazy trying to figure out and i need anyone with any experience at all with these to chime in because me and the Russians have no answers and I don’t feel like sending these all the way back to St. Petersburg just to be told there is NOTHING wrong with them.
Go to Tidal and find the Album; The Bounty, Music from the motion picture
Artist; Dominik Hauser
Song; Bligh to Boat
Play THIS song on the Kennerton Magni and tell me if the lowest octaves sound like they are bottoming out the driver or are you hearing what the lowest octaves of the bass are supposed to sound like? I have no idea and it’s driving me nuts? I can’t get ANY other headphone to reproduce this bottoming out sound and it ONLY happens at very specific points on a handful of songs.
If this is truly the case then these are the MOST detailed HP’s I own and they reproduce things in the music that no other piece can, especially in the lower octaves. If not then they actually do require a trip back to St. Petersburg for replacement drivers. I fricken can’t tell and it’s driving me nuts.
They sound absolutely great to me 99% of the time except on certain songs when the extreme low end, like sub 25hz, hits and i get this weird bottoming out but ONLY on some tracks and ONLY in the exact same spots.
FML
EDIT: here are three exact examples and instances I am talking about, if ANYBODY can reproduce this I want to know please.
1-Using Quoboz; Billie Eilish, song; ilomilo from 00:01-01:18 it sounds terrible the entire time and you can clearly hear the right driver breaking up.
2-Using Quoboz; Madonna, Song; Medellin, Madame X (deluxe album); from 00:32 - 00:39 nowhere else on the song just those 7 seconds, the break-up on the right driver is distinct and makes NO sense.
3- Using Tidal, Dominik Hauser; Song; Bligh to Boat Album; The Bounty; From 00:01- 02:25 on all the bass drops there is a pronounced “bottoming-out/crackling” on the right driver.
(also you can hear it clearly on “The Bounty, Main title song”) i simply chose the above 3 as perfect examples.
Hello,
I do not have the handsets.
But I personally don’t like the streaming provider that much.
Especially with the two you have partly bad recordings.
I would try Deezer which has by far the quietest music in the playback process without being amplified with any additional stuff.
Amazon likes to amplify its music to make it sound louder.
I would try this and check your chain to see if there’s anything cabled or not.
If there is nothing and others who have it confirm that it is normal then you can rest assured.
It is really not bad and above all it is underestimated. believe almost that the Hifiman can pack in direct comparison.
It would be bitter if it has to be repaired.
I have blown the right driver on the Magni and I believe the left is on its way out. Despite this fact the headphone is still somewhat operational. I have been going back and forth with the good people at Kennerton for several weeks now trying to determine if the HP was blown or I had a wild imagination, I went ahead and finally ran the headphone for several hours and whatever was hanging on inside by a thread finally let loose and blew itself up so that It repeats its bottoming out now with most music. I will update the status on how many months and at what cost a replacement Kennerton Magni or something else form Kennerton comes in, I think that will go a long way in helping folks on the fence about purchasing these from all the way in Russia. My unit was 1 year old used and that should also play a role to see what kind of service they offer anyone other than the original owner.
Update; In my experience with Kennerton, it takes approximately 10 days to get a detailed email response back with verification on what current status is. We have gone back and forth a few times testing the headphones to verify that there was in fact a problem since initially i was unable to replicate the problem 100%.
Thorough and Professional response from the Kennerton team in Russia. Just yesterday we both agreed via email that the headphones need to be returned for repair. An address and POC info in St. Petersburg Russia were provided and i will be shipping headphones back to them sometime this week on my dime for further evaluation and hopefully driver repair/replacement.
I am pleased with all interactions and service thus far. Patience on both our parts has been necessary while we keep dialogue going to properly diagnose the issue.
Ok, here we go…UPS and $64 dollars later on the slow boat back to Saint-Petersburg Russia direct to Fischer LLC aka. Kennerton. 10/15/20 and the wait begins
Two weeks later UPS tracking shows the headphones somewhere in England, YAY they have made is across the Atlantic ocean. Patience, so much patience needed…
Yeah, I could have had them in Russia within a week but shipping would have been $375, way too much…
Kennerton did NOT cover the return shipping charges, that was on me. Fair enough since the headphones were purchased used and I am the second owner. I can’t honestly speak to what they offer original owners but their policy did not mention paid return shipping as far as i could tell, this is an added expense buyers should be aware of, assume almost $100 US depending on how you package them for return and from where your location is. Also, they day I shipped them I sent an e-mail reply with my UPS tracking info, as of today I have not had a reply back e-mail to verify but that does not much concern me. There is an actual Russian engineer answering e-mails and doing his daily duties so the fact that he has to take time out of his day to clear out his e-mail box buys MUCH forgiveness and patience for him on my end. He has answered all relevant and more important emails with a regular 12 +/- day average.
Thomann covered my shipping back but the headphones were only two months old. And the 'phones didn’t even have 20 hours on them since I rotate heavily.
I am hoping not to get stuck with any border fees on their return.
I got a reply last week that they had forwarded them to their “service partner” and that I should expect a 3-4 week wait to get them back.
So, buying from Europe means just about a two month wait for servicing/replacement. Not something I will do again.
On the upside, this is my first “broken” headphone and I have gone through lots in the last six years.
December and still in shipping Limbo…they are floating around somewhere in Europe with no update for a month now. I’m starting to sweat it just a bit and the realization that I may have to write these off is tickling the back of my mind…I’ve put in more effort though into things that cost me less so The wait game will continue till I hear something from USPS one way or another
January 21, 2021, update from Russia, my headphones arrived at Russian post office A few weeks ago, for some reason they never made it to Kennerton though… Someone at the Russian post office decided they would instead ship them BACK to me here to the good old USA, maybe after having a vodka or 2 While celebrating the new year…The boys at Kennerton who had to look into the situation on their end and question the local post office workers just let me know this via e-mail. I appreciate their efforts very much.
I asked the nice Kennerton folks if they would sell me an older version or some B-stock at a slight discount, otherwise i have basically written off Repairing my used Magni’s. A second trip back to Russia plus the months involved in wait time will basically make the investment in them silly. I could have bought them full price brand new for less than what i will have invested in them in time and money.
The folks at Kennerton have been lovely to deal w/ but purchasing product that cannot be serviced in your home country is a risk you should weigh and be prepared for the consequences… I’m done with this adventure.
Headphones have made the trip from USA to Russia and back home to me without ever actually making it to Kennerton. I am working w/ Kennerton to ship them back a second time w/ a promise that one way or another they will get a replacement headphone to me within a couple of weeks. I can’t complain, they have been easy to deal with it’s been the shipping that has been a bit of a pain. Looking forward to having these replaced at some point soon, they really are enjoyable!
My Magni’s are back in hand, fully replaced drivers, these are now the newest version 3 model.
The drivers had been “dimpled”, this was a known but RARE problem that would happen once in a while when the shipping carrier mishandled the load during air shipments and pressure inside the shipping compartment was not what it was supposed to be. Talk about having miserable luck…
I kept my patience throughout the whole ordeal and was rewarded with an individual at Kennerton, Ivan, who doggedly kept working on trying to help me. I can fully support such a company and say nothing but good things about Kennerton, their warranty and their products! I own 3 different headphones made by them and would not have a problem adding a fourth to the collection some day.
Fischer audio, Kennerton of Saint Petersburg Russia, good stuff!
So I’ve had the Sundara’s for nearly 2 months and love the sound and comfort. However, there is one issue which i should have really thought about before i bought them and that is sound leakage.
Now I know this not a revelation but I was compelled to buy them because of their affordability. But the problem is that when i am using them the whole house can hear what i am listening to and hence i get chastised for listening to music at high volumes and ends up spoiling my audio experience (mainly because I then don’t feel comfortable listening to them because of the sound leak).
Therefore, i am looking for a closed-back equivalent (or as near as) to the Sundara. I’ve read a lot of reviews about the Kennerton Magni and that looks promising but costs twice as much so I will need to sell my Sundaras to finance my next purchase (BTW, I already own the Meze 99 Classics, Nad Viso HP50 and Sivga SV006 but looking for next level upgrade to those).
I am looking at these with genuine interest and heard a lot of great things about the Magni’s.
Can anyone provide me with any advice or guidance in terms of whether the Magni’s are a worthy substitute to the Sundara’s and provide a comparison between the two headphones?
If you’re looking at the Magni, then it may be worth looking at LSA stuff, as they are pretty much the same as some of the Kennerton headphones for quite a bit cheaper
I’m starting to sweat it just a bit and the realization that I may have to write these off is tickling the back of my mind…I’ve put in more effort though into things that cost me less so The wait game will continue till I hear something from USPS one way or another 
I appreciate their efforts very much.
Talk about having miserable luck…