Schiit IEMagni Review (Headphone Amplifier)

[BeerBear]

I guess that channel imbalance is slightly overrated.

I don't think it is. Nowadays you can easily find sub $200 devices with "digital pots" that have perfect channel balance. The Motu M2, for example, is around $180 and does many things in addition to driving headphones.
People should expect more from such a simple audio device that costs $100+. I get that it's a niche market, so things tend to be more expensive, but still.

 

[YSC]

I don't think it is. Nowadays you can easily find sub $200 devices with "digital pots" that have perfect channel balance. The Motu M2, for example, is around $180 and does many things in addition to driving headphones.
People should expect more from such a simple audio device that costs $100+. I get that it's a niche market, so things tend to be more expensive, but still.

same, and I know that most "purists" prefer the analog pot to the digital volume control and don't know or aware of the imbalance, so in business point, yes I think the pot is a better option to generate sales and revenue, but if proper marketing and logically/technically speaking, at this price point using a chip volume control just like how burson did seems better option for fine and perfect channel balance amp and not costing a ton. I bet the SINAD won't suffer too much from that to be audible either

 

[amirm]

you can just make the attenuation the x axis and the imbalance the y. more clear.

That's not how the measurement works. It is a real-time recorder of a value so time is always on x axis. Data could be exported to plot what you say but that is work.

 

[MCH]

Discrete measurements, 10 would suffice. And you can give it a scale that people find intuitive like the "clock hours" or "Lemmy sleeping" to "Motorhead playing in your room"

 

[JohnYang1997]

Discrete measurements, 10 would suffice. And you can give it a scale that people find intuitive like the "clock hours" or "Lemmy sleeping" to "Motorhead playing in your room"

Totally not practical.

 

[amirm]

Discrete measurements, 10 would suffice. And you can give it a scale that people find intuitive like the "clock hours" or "Lemmy sleeping" to "Motorhead playing in your room"

The problem area could be anywhere in the range. Learn to read the current graph and you have full information.

 

[daftcombo]

Last but not least, we hear music and don't compare stuff all day (at least so I hope). And with music, does it really matter if an instrument is "virtually" 5cm one side or the other? Not for me.

When the voice is mixed to be in the center (that is: most of the time), it is annoying to have it on the right or on the left. At least, it annoys me a lot with speakers which are more than 2m from each other.

You are right sometimes: with classical music, I don't bother much.

 

[MCH]

I understand the graph, the problem with it is that it contains a bunch of information that is irrelevant (the time it takes you to turn the knob) that might make it confusing.
Was just a suggestion chief

 

[sarumbear]

I can hear an imbalance of 0.8 dB more than -90dB H2 distortion. So according to you we can close the website.

I have not said that, nor implied. I simply translated that level difference to a typical listening environment.

Please do not try to read my mind. You don’t have telepathic powers.

 

[JIW]

What is new is addition of a third gain settings of -10 dB (company spec -- forgot to measure it).

You measure it indirectly in the power sweeps. It is the ratio in maximum power between low and medium, since there is little to no saturation or even clipping of both even at full input signal level. Since there is no correct readout for both, it can be approximated by looking at how far from next lowest order of magnitude, i.e. 10^n Watt, e.g. 1 mW, the power curves ends.

For 300 Ohm, the curves both end a little less than halfway between the next lowest order of magnitude and twice that and the medium curve ends at one order of magnitude greater. For 32 Ohm, the curves both end at about a quarter between next lowest order of magnitude and twice that and the medium curve again ends at one order of magnitude greater. Thus, the low gain is indeed around 10 dB below medium gain, which being 0 dB means that low gain is indeed around -10 dB.

 

[daftcombo]

I have not said that, nor implied. I simply translated that level difference to a typical listening environment.

Please do not try to read my mind. You don’t have telepathic powers.

Ok, but I have had an annoying problem of channel imbalance with my speakers (Aria 906). Of course, the Arias weren't the cause. After thinking about the room, the turntable, the phono-preamp, the pre-amp, the amp, bad cable contacts, even my ears (are they clean enough, do I suffer from non-balanced hearing loss) etc. I finally identified the culprit: my Scarlett 2i4 when the analog pot is too far from 12 o'clock.

I also tried moving my head from the ideal centered position but it was not satisfying.

The imbalance was a mere 1 dB difference. Which makes me want to purchase a DAC/ADC which has less problems in that regard next time.

 

[Labjr]

Is the plastic headphone jack made by Cliff or generic?

 

[T.M.Noble]

I meant that I would pay more for that amp topology with a Blue Velvet, size of the case be damned.

The ONLY gear I have had that developed that level of noise in a matter of weeks are the Schiit amps. I owned several small iBasso DAC/amps when I traveled frequently on business some years ago, no issue, ever. Do you really think it's acceptable that one should have to take the cover off a desktop amp to clean a brand new pot in a matter of a couple of months? I don't think you really do.

YOU may very well indeed pay for that product. Tricky part about creating and marketing products is finding a balance between performance, price and aesthetics. Each customer values these metrics differently and thus arrives at a multiplicity of differing conclusions.

What I can tell you is we use an Alps RK09 pot in our small units which, at that price point, is the best one we can get our hands on. We are continuously trying to improve and give customers what they want. IEMagni is another example of that mindset. I still argue we are the best bang for your buck in this industry. I am proud of what we produce.

 

[Francis Vaughan]

Alps RK09 pot

Yeah, this pot seems to be generally accepted as a nice unit, and one that generally works better than most. A lot of manufactures use them.
Alps specify a 3dB maximum gang error on this unit. Which is neither good nor bad I guess. It isn't as if there is anything peculiar about it.

I wonder, is there value is looking at the use of a linear pot with log faking resistor as an alternative? There is no intrinsic value in using a log/audio taper, it isn't as if the control even has any markings. Careful choice of values could yield both more stable gang matching and possibly a more useful range of knob positions.

 

[solderdude]

Using resistors to kind of making it a bit like a log type has the disadvantage of the input R changing depending on setting.
With a log taper this is always the same (unless the load resistance is unusually high).

One can mitigate by using an input buffer but it's load also means different distortion depending on volpot position. Most opamps don't like low resistance loads.

 

[MRC01]

... Let's test for noise: ... [94 dB SNR at 50 mV] ... So the claim of ultra low noise for IEMs is proven.
...

It looks like you tested this at unity gain -- not at -10 dB? Can you confirm? If so it's even better!

 

[amirm]

It looks like you tested this at unity gain -- not at -10 dB? Can you confirm? If so it's even better!

These are actually two different tests, patched together inside photoshop. The left one is at unity gain. The right one is always with lowest gain setting (and with manual volume adjustment to get 50 mv). FYI all of these measurements were reviewed by Schiit and they signed off on them.

 

[temps]

Going to pick one of these up - any suggestions for very short TS to RCA cables so I can feed it from my RME's line outputs?

I'm browsing through on Amazon and am not finding any good selections. There are some 6" RCA to RCA cables out there I could run with TS to RCA adapters, but they're exorbitantly priced.

edit: well turns out Schiit has some. I didn't see the collapsed Accessories option on the left bar. Link for anybody else Schiit Audio: Audio Products Designed and Built in California Same cable on Amazon is 3x the price so buying direct is the way to go.

 

[MRC01]

I see, so that excellent SNR at 50 mV is the best case scenario using low (-10 dB) gain.
FWIW, calculating from the power charts, I estimate max clean voltage output (knee of distortion curve) at (300 / 33 ohms):
low gain: .63 / .63
med gain: 2.0 / 2.0
high gain: 10.26 / 6.8
Those max voltages come from eyeballing the chart, so they are approximate. It shows that this amp is not current limited at low & med gain, but is current limited at high gain.

 

[amirm]

Those max voltages come from eyeballing the chart, so they are approximate. It shows that this amp is not current limited at low & med gain, but is current limited at high gain.

I think so. The limit is likely the external AC transformer which they use for many of their small desktop products.