🔷 Schiit Magnius

[lost33]

Real Class A ? Seriously.

A Class A power amplifier is one in which the output current flows for the entire cycle of the AC input supply.

Its as simple as this.

The real or preceivd differences are usually tied to whether the amp is direct coupled or not and selected values of components that might influence the amp,

[Eric_Rosenfield]

@LeDechaine

As far as I know, nothing is “real class A” anyway

This is such a weird thing to say. The Asgard 2 is actual class A. So is the RebelAmp, the RNHP, and lots of other amps.

[mochimashu]

@Eric_Rosenfield

RNHP

RNHP is class A/B biased to class A

[Eric_Rosenfield]

Fair catch. The point remains it’s not actually hard to find class A amps if you look for them.

[Bmn1251]

There certainly class (A)ssholes on this forum, that’s fo sho

[lost33]

Amazing that the laws of physics can be miss-represented by so many what I call “appliance” operators.

Sad but true…quite evident here…

[Eric_Rosenfield]

Are you saying the people who are claiming their amps are class A are lying? That’s fascinating. What evidence do you have?

[mochimashu]

I thought @lost33 's point was class A or not it doesn’t matter as it’s only a design choice, and has no indication as to what an amp might sound like, but that’s only my understanding

[lost33]

There is a technical definition of what a Class A amp is…period. End of Story.

You experts can delve into claims etc…

Class A is what it is.

Period.

[LeDechaine]

@Eric_Rosenfield

it’s not actually hard to find class A amps if you look for them.

Until you realize you’re wrong and the RNHP isn’t Class A (lol) or other amps that are advertised as Class A but aren’t, lol.

@Eric_Rosenfield

This is such a weird thing to say. The Asgard 2 is actual class A. So is the RebelAmp

What I meant is, at this price point (300$ for the Asgard 3?), most, if not all, the “Class A” things aren’t actually Class A. They’re “Class A/B” or whatever, say they’re “Class A” but don’t even get hot (like the 90$ SMSL sAp-1 – even if it plugs straight into the wall and someone told me 80% of what’s inside is for power), etc. The Asgard 2 was Class A, but probably not worth it, because a lot of people are hyping the Asgard 3 as “too good for the price” – for the same price. It’s like they started at 3: I never heard about the Asgard 2 here in more than one year.

RebelAmp is (apparently?) 100% Class A, but is 500$. GSX Mini is also Class A, but almost 2000$. Singxer SA-1 appears to be Class A but also 600$. We’re on the Schiit Magnius thread. Magnius is 199$.

[mochimashu]

At Magnius’ price point, is some of the Aune’s offerings or the iFi ZEN CAN truly class A? Also Yulong Canary II I think

[LeDechaine]

Y’all might find more info about inexpensive Class A headphone amps here – or even revive the thread – if interested.

A Class-A headphone amp for 500$ or less

Hello, I am searching for a Class-A heaphone amp for under 500$ / 500€. The thing is that the reviews for both the Aune X7s (259€) and the RebelAmp (499$) are very positive, but I still can’t tell which one would serve my purposes better. My least demanding headphone is a Shure Se215 and my most demanding currently is a Beyerdynamic DT990 (250 Ohms) and all heaphones I own are unbalanced rn. I was wondering if it would be worth to wait untill I can afford the RebelAmp or if the X7s would be pe…

[lost33]

Some amps are Class A “all the time” some are not.
The amps that are not all the time are still Class A amps in the area that they are operating in “Class A”.

This may or may not be important to you or not.

Only your ears can decide this for you.

[MazeFrame]

@Eric_Rosenfield

The Asgard 2 is actual class A. So is the RebelAmp, the RNHP,

The RNHP is based on the TI TPA6120A2, an integrated class AB amp.

@LeDechaine

say they’re “Class A” but don’t even get hot (like the 90$ SMSL sAp-1 – even if it plugs straight into the wall and someone told me 80% of what’s inside is for power)

IIRC, like the RNHP, it is based on the same TPA6120A2 chip, so also Class AB.

[WaveTheory]

Schiit Magnius Headphone Amp Review

[lost33]

The RHNP is a class AB design but it is biased into Class A for all intensive purposes its a Class A op for most listening…just because a certain chip or transistor is used makes it automatically be a certain class of amp by definition.

[MazeFrame]

@lost33

just because a certain chip or transistor is used makes it automatically be a certain class of amp by definition.

Well, in case of an integrated Class AB amplifier chip, it is a little difficult to change much of its behaviour unless you have the manufacturer customize them for you.

If you had a look into the datasheet for the TPA6120A2, you would see it does not offer more customization options than your average 8-pin Dual-Op-Amp.

---

To be clear: It is possible to bias Class-AB into Class-A, looking at the PCB shots available on the internet, unless there is some circuitry on the back of the PCB, there is no biasing happening.

[lost33]

Totally understand and agree…I sent a note to Neve and have asked them the question directly. Nothing like asking the “source” vs us guessing out here…

If I get a response I will post.

I also will pop mine open and take a look at the bottom side of the pcb…do you have a schematic of this amp?

tpa6120a2.pdf

https://tangentsoft.net/audio/opamp-bias.html

[lost33]

Tried sending u a message…

[lost33]

I received a nice response from Neve:

"The amplifiers are biased for operation between a 0V and 24V rail (The input is biased to +12V). That may be where the confusion lies? But the RNHP is a class AB design, and does not have a transistor biased output stage like many of our other designs. The headphone amp in the RNDAC has a mostly class A signal path, but the output amplifier is still a class AB design. "

FYI
Alex