Schiit Magni 3+ and Heresy Headphone Amp Reviews

[Cahudson42]

@amirm ,

I believe @T.M.Noble gave the OK to look inside. Let's do that so we can get the issue of past loose solder blobs and bits out of the way..

Also, with 2+ watts of undistorted output, there is a possibility of thermal/cooking problems with either Magni under a 2w continuous load.. Thermal profiling under 2w load would also be nice while the covers are off..

I'm sure more than me will be tempted to use this into a pair of efficient bookshelf speakers, 8ohms be d****d...

 

[Anonimar]

@amirm ,

I believe @T.M.Noble gave the OK to look inside. Let's do that so we can get the issue of past loose solder blobs and bits out of the way..

Also, with 2+ watts of undistorted output, there is a possibility of thermal/cooking problems with either Magni under a 2w continuous load.. Thermal profiling under 2w load would also be nice while the covers are off..

I'm sure more than me will be tempted to use this into a pair of efficient bookshelf speakers, 8ohms be d****d...

Jason straight up said it doesn't have enough heatsinking to power a speaker load in his 'Schiit Happened' forum thread over at head-fi

 

[Cahudson42]

Jason straight up said it doesn't have enough heatsinking to power a speaker load in his 'Schiit Happened' forum thread over at head-fi

The spec at Schiit says 2+watts 'Max' for both at 32 ohms. I would think it fair to run a thermal profile at that. Is it 2+w for 10 seconds? 1 minute? Continuous?

 

[gvl]

No Schiit!

 

[VintageFlanker]

Schiit Magni 3+ and Heresy Headphone Amplifiers. It was kindly sent to me by the company.

I needed to read that twice.

Nice to know your reconcilation with the company, anyway. And kudos to Schiit for this SOTA performance!

 

[makmeksam]

I needed to read that twice.

It shows the manufacturer confidence!

 

[amirm]

I needed to read that twice.

They actually joined the forum and made the offer in another thread. Both them and us have come a long way!

 

[JohnYang1997]

Is there any distortion rise with 32 load at low and high frequency?

 

[solderdude]

The spec at Schiit says 2+watts 'Max' for both at 32 ohms. I would think it fair to run a thermal profile at that. Is it 2+w for 10 seconds? 1 minute? Continuous?

Music rarely is 2W continuous.
Even when pumping out 2W peaks in music the average would be 0.2W or even lower.
Spread this over multiple output devices and the heat won't be a problem.
Only with testing it is.

I would not use it with speakers or run it at full power for long at 16 Ohm because the opamps will be current limiting and there will still be a lot of voltage (with high current) across the opamps which will heat up quite quickly being SMD.
Not suited to drive small speakers.

Devices like this should be used what they are designed for.... Headphones.

 

[Cahudson42]

there will still be a lot of voltage (with high current) across the opamps which will heat up quite quickly being SMD.

Hmmm.. So is it likely the discrete Magni 3+ would test out with a higher continuous power - even though both Magni are Max rated the same?

Still, I think running a thermal profile on both would be nice to know. We are about measurements after all. Remember Amir's 'informal' thermal Sony AVR test... discovered a design fault..Let's similarly test these. Do they shut down, or what? At rated 2w...

Edit:

..and should they fail with a short to rail, given their lack of DC output protection, what happens to our expensive headphones?

 

[TomJ]

"much better rejection of 60 Hz hum... a benefit of using IC opamps in Heresy versus discrete circuit in Magni 3+"

very interesting, thank you for this information

 

[solderdude]

Of course one can run thermal tests but would do so with the top of (measuring the PCB not the casing).
I don't think there will be much difference between the 2 Magni's as both run on the same rail voltage and have about similar current limiting.
The Magni3+ output devices are (2) single devices and need to dissipate the same heat as the 4 SO-8 opamps so heat is spread out over 4 devices instead of 2.

I don't think any owner using it as a headphone amp will ever pump out 2W continuous ... ever.
Peaks I am sure some will and maybe drive it into clipping.

Speaking about clipping... how would both devices react to a clipping sinewave.
We rarely see measurements of this yet there certainly are differences in clipping behaviour.
I have measured clipping behaviour in C'Moy type amps and that's where differences are found.
I really don't want to know how many folks clip their low output power devices.

 

[renaudrenaud]

I am not too much interested by the amps but would like to know the price for the roll...

 

[Daverz]

Oh look schiit taking measurements seriously, good to see improvements from their side. Now i wonder how the subjectivist people would perceive this performance change in their listening

"Amir ruined Schiit! Now their gear sounds clinical, lacking bop factor and emotion!"

 

[daftcombo]

Does those units function as pre-amps with the RCA out and volume control?

 

[KxDx]

"Amir ruined Schiit! Now their gear sounds clinical, lacking bop factor and emotion!"

It sounds digital! AIEEEEEEEEE

 

[Shadrach]

Thanks for the review @amirm.
I was wrong. It looks like your site does have an impact on manufacturers.
Quite a transformation in Shiit products obviously due to your efforts.
I may well buy the Heresy amp despite having the Atom.

 

[makmeksam]

Does those units function as pre-amps with the RCA out and volume control?

Works as a pre amp. Volume control affects RCA out. https://www.schiit.com/public/upload/PDF/magni 3plus and heresy manual.pdf

 

[Robin L]

Weird that the 3+ doesn't have a power LED, my older 3 does.

 

[solderdude]

The + means - indication LED... ?
very Wyrd indeed as on the picture of the 3+ board there is an LED.. they forgot to punch the hole for it ?