Considering purchasing the Magni3+/Heresey/IEMagni (Some queries)

[michty_me]

Hello everyone,

I've mainly directed my audio queries over on reddit but recently, A member on one of the Subreddits I had joined recommended that I sign up here as they stated its a good place to learn. So here I am.

I was originally set on purchasing an Asgard 3 but said member said I would be better off with the Magni 3+/Heresy or JDS Atom+

After reading the reviews on here and some pointers elsewhere, I was going to purchase the Heresy but I recently noticed more people recommending the IEMagni due to the added DC protection which I would happily do.
I've also seen comments on this thread stating the IEMagni has serious flaws of driving low impedance headphone on high gain with rising distortion? I've tried to understand the graphs and what these comments mean in Amirs reviews but I'm a little unsure then reading comments that it has a serious flaw makes me second guess my choice.
I won't be using it for IEM's, Just regular headphones (DT990 250ohms, AKG K702, HD58X etc) but looking at upgrading headphones soon that may require further power than what I currently have.

What is the general consensus with distortion and imbalance in the IEMagni?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Why not L30? It has both DC protection and extremely low distortion with low impedance load

 

[michty_me]

Why not L30? It has both DC protection and extremely low distortion with low impedance load

To be honest, I hadn't even looked at that but I shall do now! I noticed in the review it had a similar issue with blowing headphones but has since been resolved. Any way to tell if an old or revised unit was received?

 

[JohnYang1997]

To be honest, I hadn't even looked at that but I shall do now! I noticed in the review it had a similar issue with blowing headphones but has since been resolved. Any way to tell if an old or revised unit was received?

All units past SN 2012 has no issue, eg 2101 2102. All units sold new are good ones.

 

[michty_me]

All units past SN 2012 has no issue, eg 2101 2102. All units sold new are good ones.

Ok thanks, I'll take a look into it too. A quick glimpse and it does indeed look very good.
I would still like to hear about the quoted flaws on the IEMagni from someone that can explain it to someone out the loop if possible.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Distortion doesn't actually look to be much worse than the Magni Heresy (maybe 2 dB for a 33 ohm load), Amir's testing methodology has just improved. Still doesn't look awfully concerning down to 50 or 32 ohms, and in return maximum power output into 32 ohms is substantially higher than the other two (almost double / +3 dB). Both Atom Amp+ and L30 are measurably less bothered by low-impedance loads though. In return, the IEMagni and L30 have extremely low noise if required, the Atom is a bit less superb. I don't like the pot in Amir's IEMagni test sample much, but those are subject to variation anyway.

Noise level lowest gain, 20 mV (1.26 µW/300 ohm), IEMagni / Atom Amp+ / L30: -86 / -81 / -87 dB
Max output 300 ohm: 352 / 248 / 117 mW
Max output 33 ohm: 2.6 / 1.13 / 1.04 W

On the whole, all 3 cover a wide range of cans and should be just fine for everything but some edge cases, those varying by model. We are so spoilt for choice these days. Not a bad thing though, you can't always get all of them everywhere.

 

[michty_me]

Distortion doesn't actually look to be much worse than the Magni Heresy (maybe 2 dB for a 33 ohm load), Amir's testing methodology has just improved. Still doesn't look awfully concerning down to 50 or 32 ohms, and in return maximum power output into 32 ohms is substantially higher than the other two (almost double / +3 dB). Both Atom Amp+ and L30 are measurably less bothered by low-impedance loads though. In return, the IEMagni and L30 have extremely low noise if required, the Atom is a bit less superb. I don't like the pot in Amir's IEMagni test sample much, but those are subject to variation anyway.

Noise level lowest gain, 20 mV (1.26 µW/300 ohm), IEMagni / Atom Amp+ / L30: -86 / -81 / -87 dB
Max output 300 ohm: 352 / 248 / 117 mW
Max output 33 ohm: 2.6 / 1.13 / 1.04 W

On the whole, all 3 cover a wide range of cans and should be just fine for everything but some edge cases, those varying by model. We are so spoilt for choice these days. Not a bad thing though, you can't always get all of them everywhere.

I see, I wasn't too sure on exactly what it all meant or on what sort of level it may be noticeable. It sort of goes a bit over the head.
So all in, Any of the three versions are a good choice.
My first initial choice was the Asgard 3 but was advised it was just an extra expense with wasted power if not being used properly. I had also been eye balling the L30 or JDS atom+ too but as you say, Spoilt for choice and a bit baffled with all the ins and outs.

I currently own and use a Sound blaster G6 so was looking at changing out the amp and using the G6 as a DAC only for now.