Got it. And thanks for your impressions!
I heard this one sounds chocolatey. 
sorry
Npā¦some love it some dontā¦but unless I hear it I wouldnt rely on anothers opinion or even a review for that matter.
We all hear differently and have our bias etcā¦
Allās goodā¦
Alex
Rightā¦ I didnāt say a thing about how it sounds either way; or even predictions about how it might sound. There was early anticipation of this unit, there was an ASR review the day of release, and I was reporting what it said about measurements, largely in comportment with M0Nās predictions.
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I spent yesterday listening to the SE output on my focal clears. Sounds great to me. I set it up with the modius feeding both balanced and RCA inputs, so I had this highly variable output gain because I could switch from the louder xlr to rca, as well as hit the gain switch. It provides tons of control and I think it might be a nice way to find what input/output/gain level works for you.
I think itās really cool that our experiences are so different with this amp @M0N. I feel like this is a really great little stack that can drive all of my cans to a satisfactory level. It does not blow me away. However itās a nice listen and the layout is, by comparison to my BF2/gs-x mini stack, quite minimal.
I see some talk of RNHP above and I donāt think this really does what that amp does. That said Iāve had two, one was great, perfect, sounded noticeably warm and had smoothish highs, the other had a weird channel imbalance and didnāt sound great. I would say the magnius is a neutral amp that was clearly designed to sound good with the modius, in that it renders detail without being fatiguing unlike a lot of THX amps and the like. Itās got plenty of thump and bass detail for me. I donāt think the RNHP provided much ātextureā down low but itās hard to say just from memory.
Some of my impression could be due to my primary music genre of electronic and hip hop. I have been dabbling more into some Radiohead, nine inch nails, and tool (so glad theyāre on Spotify now). But I havenāt noticed anything abhorrent in the way anything is rendered with this stack. I do from time to time spend a day with Dave Brubeck and Thelonius Monk, or an afternoon with string quartets but itās rare so I donāt listen for that.
This amp is also clearly capable of great power, I almost never go to 12 oāclock. On low gain Iām typically around 10, high gain often 8/9. I find this is the case with me on most amps though. Maybe Iām just a quiet listener but Iād rather be able to hear well into my 80s than push it too hard.
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Easily agree, would rate this higher than thx for sure, it has the benefits of thx without the downsides
Honestly I think that is coming down to amp manufactures getting obsessed with power output, you really shouldnāt use most of that power at all lol. Agree on wanting to continue having hearing when I get older lol
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I will tell you Thursdayā¦
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Always interesting to hear others thoughts and point of view. Very much appreciate it.
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Will do as I as wellā¦we all have opinions and biasās and hear differently ā¦and like different musicā¦
Its all good!!
Enjoy the music, while you can!
Alex
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Ok, so, bottom line seems to be that if Iām sticking with SE, I should stick with Asgard 3 or Heresy to save some money.
Right?
Ps. Iāve never tried any of the THX stuff, but I remember the fuss people made over it when it came out, and now it seems that everyoneās done with it. I expect to see more and more Drop THX items on the secondary market. Makes me think we should be leery the next time everyone gets all excited about some new bright and shiny thing.
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Imo stick to the asgard 3 if you want a higher quality amp, but yes if you have single ended go asgard 3 as well lol
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Lol. Got it.
Josh Valor Magnius Review:
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i mean he is basically right because its just a magni heresy with a balanced outputā¦
but im still buying the cheaper 3+ because it works well with a schiit stack
Was considering pairing this with my Modius/Asgard 3. But Iām not so sure anymore considering mixed early opinions.
I like that it has a neutral sound. This would complement the colored sound of the Asgard 3. That way switching from a SE cable to a balanced cable would have more purpose. Though, it doesnāt seem to match up to the performance of the Asgard 3.
Ok here is my experience with the Schiit Modius and Magniusā¦I was surprised.
Hello, after having the package from Schiit via Fedex becoming lost for a few days the new Schitt Modius and Magnius have arrived a few days late but intact, no damage and looking very nice.
After a few hints of an upcoming amp to match Modius I had to try this stack out and see what Schiit magic was cooking at the Schittr āplantā. My main gear I use daily are the Schiit Bifrost 2 (after years with Bifrost 1) and a Schiit Lyr 3 and Schiit Jotenheim. I also have many other amps in house about half retail and half DIY experiments.
The Modius and Magnius are a great looking pair. Black, stark looking IMOā¦some have complained that they would like silver hereā¦understand and Schiits comments were ānope, in keeping costs down this was their decisionāā¦doesnt affect the sound at allā¦One thing I do miss is some indication of it being onā¦no more front panel led etcā¦if its in a stack with something on itā¦its hard to tell if its on or not. There is a nice red led on the pcb that you can see thru the vents on the topā¦but if you put your Lyr 3 on top of itā¦
The Magnius is a wonderful amp. It shines. Whether is was being used in low or high gain it provided more than enough power to make the headphones I used play to very, very high levels. The volume knob is great, long enough to grasp nicely, firm, velvety smoothā¦and finally Schiit got this right!! They have a nice āvisableā dot on the volume knob!! It appears to me a machine milled or drilled ādotā into the aluminum volume knobā¦ah its the small things!! Schiit has made a ābigā thing about the pot in the Magnius, well its a really good Alps RK 27114 27mm Blue Velvet balanced potentiometer! Smooth and I had no low level tracking issues. Well done Schiit. Technologyā¦sureā¦fully differential op-amps, current feedback, THD down to very, very low levels, and its Schiits best measuring amp if your into measurements. Its powered by the usual Schiit wall wort. But how does it sound or ānotā soundā¦after all shouldnt an amp be a straight wire with gain and nothing more or less??
A great amp is only as good as its inputs? In this case it became very clear that the Magnius is a great amp. With inputs from Modius and Bifrost 2 the differences were stark IMOā¦very noticeable.
Which leads to the Modius connection.
Which can be had in either silver or black! It has the AKM 4493 d/a convertor and has both SE and fully balanced outputs to feed the Magnius or any other amp. DC coupled outputā¦to some this is important. Very versatile with optical, coax, usb (Unison) and even AES sources. It pairs nicely with the Magnius physically. The analog stage is based on LME 49724 for the balanced outputs, an OPA 1662 for the SE outputs. Both are independent. So you can use the SE outs to a Lyr 3 and balanced to a Magnius or Jotenheimā¦nice. Unlike the Magnius power can come from a simple USB cable if your using Modius only as a dac. If you use the other digital inputs and NOT using USB then you need to use the included USB wall wart. The cosmetics of the Modius are simple elegance. A single push button to rotate thru the various inputs. Again no visable front panel led to indicate its powered up. The nice thing using the Unison UBS interface is it comes on when you turn on your PC. Simple. Nice.
Going back and forth with SE and balanced (both from the Bifrost 2) there is no audible difference in the overall sound quality and what I was hearing. The only thing that changes is the volume level in your headphones. Some reviews state the SE part of the Magnius measures not as well as the balanced sectionā¦for me this is not an issue and your not going to have any real sonic degradation at all. When I compared the Magnius I compared it with the Schiit Lyr 3 and Jotenheim and it compares nicelyā¦not going to try to explain with glittering generalities the āminuteā differences. When level matched and doing fair AB testing its difficult to state in objective terms the differences, subjectively they are there. But realistically this amp provides more than enough power, is clean, open and transparent under varying loads. For me to keep an amp it has to perform and make my listening experience āreally goodā and this amp does that very well. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Now for the surprising āto meā part:
Headphones that I used in this āexperienceā were Focal Clears, relatively easy āloadā for most amps and the newer HEDD headphones a bit less efficient to drive. I listened via the Magnius with first the Modius for several sessions and then Bifrost 2. It was an immediate difference for me with both headphones.
One was more clear, less veiled and less closed in than the otherā¦being a critical listener, I checked and rechecked cabling and tried several sets of xlr interconnects as well. I was not expecting the difference to be this well ādifferentā. I abandoned DS dacs years ago, so my Multibit dac ears are attuned to that r2r sound, especially from Schiits Bifrost 2. Modius has 4.0V RMS balanced and 2.0V single ended, and as does the Bifrost 2. So the Magnius was being driven with pretty much with the same voltages.
What I was hearing IMO was the difference between a āds dac and a MB dacā. Schitts implementaion of the AKM chip is a very good one. Some reviews have stated that the S/N ratio exceeds the actual chip spec sheetā¦some reference to Schiit has some secret sauce here. I did not come to the following conclusions after reading other peoples reviews or experiencesā¦and mine do differ.
So what did I experienceā¦with my demo list of tunes, ripped 44.1/16 bit stuff playing with Foobar 2000 and Jriver MC 24ā¦I went back and forth between the Modius and Bifrost 2. In all cases the Bifrost 2 was cleaner, crisper, more open, more transparent, less veiled in sound. Amazingly so.
Regardless of SE or balanced or gain setting. I found myself cranking up the volume on the Magnius when connected to the Modius to get the Bifrost2 multi-bit sound. It just didnt happen for me. I used my trusty ole Radio Shack SPL meter to level set as wellā¦same resultsā¦my brain kept telling me āhey the Modius is great, but the Bifrost 2 is like the ākingā hereāā¦
So thats in a nutshell here. If I hadnt have had a multibit dac for years my experience might have been different. If I used headphones that are less resolving my experience might have been different. It is what it is.
I would recommend the Modius/Magnius to someone that wants a fully balanced setup stack and is on a budgetā¦for the $398 combination price this is a great deal. Schitt has many good choices in its products. As always YMMV and your experience may very well be different from mine.
All the best!!
Alex
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Thatās alotta Schiit
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Look at that pile of schiit
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A person made this observation on another site:
Surely, as with the Bifrost 2, the source selection leds serve as a visible front panel indication that the Modius is powered up. No source selection led, no power; source selection led on, powered up.
Its a good one an one I totally missed!!
Alex
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How many Schiit products must be stacked before said stack is simply called a ādumpā?
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