Schiit IEMagni Review (Headphone Amplifier)

[rymnd6c28]

Im going to have my Aeolus soon, and I've been split between this and IEMagni. IEMagni have more power, enough to maxed out the Aeolus (300mW), but if I have to use high gain on it, there's a chance I'm going to have more channel imbalance and distortion. Since both Atom+ and IEMagni will be enough to power Aeolus, is there any reason I should pick the IEMagni over Atom+?

 

[Veri]

Since both Atom+ and IEMagni will be enough to power Aeolus, is there any reason I should pick the IEMagni over Atom+?

Atom has a more carefully selected volume pot. They(JDS) have been improving on that binning process for a while now.

 

[rymnd6c28]

Atom has a more carefully selected volume pot. They(JDS) have been improving on that binning process for a while now.

So you're saying there's almost no reason I should pick the IEMagni beside from the power?

 

[Veri]

So you're saying there's almost no reason I should pick the IEMagni beside from the power?

Umm yeah I guess. IEMagni will stack nicer with a modi DAC if you have that.

 

[michty_me]

I was initially set on getting a heresy but noticed some saying on this forum to get the IEMagni over the heresy due to the DC protection. I've also noticed someone state it has serious flaws of driving low impedance headphone on high gain with rising distortion?
As being fairly new to this, it's confused me somewhat and made me question the purchase.

 

[Jimbob54]

I was initially set on getting a heresy but noticed some saying on this forum to get the IEMagni over the heresy due to the DC protection. I've also noticed someone state it has serious flaws of driving low impedance headphone on high gain with rising distortion?
As being fairly new to this, it's confused me somewhat and made me question the purchase.

Then you need to question will you be using high gain with low impedance cans? What will you be using?

 

[michty_me]

Then you need to question will you be using high gain with low impedance cans? What will you be using?

Well at the minute I suppose not but unsure what options I'll be going with soon.
At the minute I have HD58X, K702, DT990 250ohm, SHP9500 and X2HR. I'm selling on the X2HR and bought the DT990 to try. Will likely sell something else on to try others.

 

[Jimbob54]

Well at the minute I suppose not but unsure what options I'll be going with soon.
At the minute I have HD58X, K702, DT990 250ohm, SHP9500 and X2HR. I'm selling on the X2HR and bought the DT990 to try. Will likely sell something else on to try others.

I'd be amazed if you need high gain at all tbh. Then there is the issue of whether any such distortion is audible even if occurs.

 

[michty_me]

I'd be amazed if you need high gain at all tbh. Then there is the issue of whether any such distortion is audible even if occurs.

Well this was going to be my next question, I'm not too versed in reading the data with being fairly new so I wasn't sure if this was even audible at listening levels or not if it were to occur.

Any examples of a high gain low impedance requirement headphone?
I've also considered just getting the Asgard 3.

I currently own a soundblaster G6 also.

 

[The_Fourth_Doctor]

So the IEMagni is no longer listed for sale on the Schiit website. (Still available on Amazon, though.) Some redditors are saying Schiit told them it's been discontinued. Anybody have any insight? I just bought one and wonder if I should have gone with the 3+ instead.

 

[Veri]

So the IEMagni is no longer listed for sale on the Schiit website. (Still available on Amazon, though.) Some redditors are saying Schiit told them it's been discontinued. Anybody have any insight? I just bought one and wonder if I should have gone with the 3+ instead.

IEMagni is definitely very good and versatile. Don't see much point in 3+, also saw many more reports of 3+'s failing. So I'd say you did good, enjoy the amp.

 

[The_Fourth_Doctor]

IEMagni is definitely very good and versatile. Don't see much point in 3+, also saw many more reports of 3+'s failing. So I'd say you did good, enjoy the amp.

Thanks. I haven't had any issues with it so far, but I'm also using it with headphones that don't absolutely need this kind of amp, and I don't have anything to compare it to except the sound I get from my iPhone dongle.

I just wanted the versatility. Some online video reviewers said they could tell the difference between the 3+ and heresy, while others said they couldn't, but at least one said the difference was negligible, though. And another reviewer said they could tell the difference between the heresy and IEMagni, which doesn't seem like it should be the case.

 

[dkinric]

Some online video reviewers said they could tell the difference between the 3+ and heresy, while others said they couldn't, but at least one said the difference was negligible, though. And another reviewer said they could tell the difference between the heresy and IEMagni, which doesn't seem like it should be the case.

This is exactly why online subjective reviewers are useless. The reader is at the mercy of all their cognitive bias, mood at the time, and language skills. The experience of some stranger on the internet has almost nothing to do with your experience. Measurements puts us all at the same starting point.

 

[Helicopter]

Jason confirmed its discontinued on his HeadFi thread, but there are still some on Amazon. Seemed like they cut it because of the struggle to get popular products manufactured with shortages etc. rather than a classic thunderdome failure... well, at least Freya S is still back from discontinuation.

 

[Firefly00]

I was initially set on getting a heresy but noticed some saying on this forum to get the IEMagni over the heresy due to the DC protection. I've also noticed someone state it has serious flaws of driving low impedance headphone on high gain with rising distortion?
As being fairly new to this, it's confused me somewhat and made me question the purchase.

I was in the same boat. I’ve been running my Aeon RT off an IEMagni without any issues. upper end of low gain, highest I’ll go is about 1’o clock on high gain for quiet classical