Schiit Magni Heresy

[Grattle]

Units are on their way. More than likely get there Monday. Since I am new to the forum, I am unsure how quickly Amir churns out a review.

Send me one. I'll anazyze it straight away with my ears.

 

[JohnYang1997]

THX789
HP-1
HPA-4

These would be more suited for $3k headphones

May I ask a question? Is there any benefit from output relay over power supply shut down except for turn on delay?

 

[JohnYang1997]

If the heat problem could be solved:
Easycargo 100pcs Heatsink Kit Small Cooler Heat Sink Set for Cooling Development Board Laptop CPU GPU VGA RAM VRAM VRM IC Chips LED MOSFET Transistor SCR Southbridge Northbridge Voltage Regulator https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078KB7V5J/

any guesses as to performance, say against other $100 choices:

Yamaha R-S202BL Stereo Receiver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EMQI2CU/

My thinking is as follows: I have basically switched from room speakers to HP system with LG V20, Liquid Spark, and HE400i. No more 'Turn down that noise!' from wife.

But in my home office I could likely get away with a relatively modest volume desktop setup. It would be nice to use, say, my V20 with an amp that gives great HP performance, but could also be switched over to very efficient small desktop speakers when I'm moving around and the HPs wires would be a nuisance..

Just thinking.. Any comments suggestions appreciated.. But wallet is pretty thin, and the Heresy/Klipsch setup would fly - anything much more $ than that - probably not...

Thanks!

No these would never work. The amplifier is not designed to have highest output for long period of time. The heat transfer from the package is weak. You need properly designed power amplifier for that.

 

[restorer-john]

May I ask a question? Is there any benefit from output relay over power supply shut down except for turn on delay?

If you really want to go crazy, you can protect against anything. Excess LF, DC, HF, turn on/off delay, mute on plug insertion and removal, excess current draw and voltage swings. But all of that comes at a cost and a $99 headphone amplifier is not the platform to go overboard.

Personally, I like relays because I deal with real amplifiers, ones that can weld the relay contacts together when they fail. Many high powered amplifiers will use the relays with 4 sets of contacts in parallel per channel and short the output to ground as well as disconnect the load, in order to quench the spark in a DC event.

These are just little baby amplifiers and a uPC1237HA and a relay is your solution in one go. DC, overpower/current, turn on/off delay and with a bit of ingenuity, could also trigger on plug insertion/removal.

 

[Cahudson42]

No these would never work. The amplifier is not designed to have highest output for long period of time. The heat transfer from the package is weak. You need properly designed power amplifier for that

May I be 'devil's advocate' for a minute? I would be listening to Classical music, not sine waves. High output shouldn't be continuous. Just need enough 'oomph' so bass isn't too anemic on the Klipsches..Worst case might be a Beethoven 7th. Best case, Segovia guitar, maybe female vocalists too..

It's interesting to me Amir tests power amps at 5w. Most perform terrible vs. our HP amps. The Heresy claims 2.8w.. so say 3db down. Could Nelson Pass be right: 'the 1st Watt is the most important'? Could the Heresy be a breakthru performer at 1+ Watt continuous?

 

[makmeksam]

If you check the circuit boards of JDS Labs Atom and the Schiit Heresy, there is a difference in the type of capacitors used.

Is there a difference between these two types of capacitors in the context of audio applications?

Here is the Heresy board:

Heresy capacitor type:

Here is the Atom board:

Atom capacitor type:

 

[JohnYang1997]

If you check the circuit boards of JDS Labs Atom and the Schiit Heresy, there is a difference in the type of capacitors used.

Is there a difference between these two types of capacitors in the context of audio applications?

Here is the Heresy board:
View attachment 41574

Heresy capacitor type:
View attachment 41577

Here is the Atom board:
View attachment 41575

Atom capacitor type:
View attachment 41576

One is through hole radial, one is smd. No real meaningful difference except for the capacitor values.

 

[JohnYang1997]

May I be 'devil's advocate' for a minute? I would be listening to Classical music, not sine waves. High output shouldn't be continuous. Just need enough 'oomph' so bass isn't too anemic on the Klipsches..Worst case might be a Beethoven 7th. Best case, Segovia guitar, maybe female vocalists too..

It's interesting to me Amir tests power amps at 5w. Most perform terrible vs. our HP amps. The Heresy claims 2.8w.. so say 3db down. Could Nelson Pass be right: 'the 1st Watt is the most important'? Could the Heresy could be a breakthru performer at 1+ Watt continuous?

You at least need amplifiers that can output 10W or more and can dissipate the heat efficiently.

 

[Tks]

I like to encourage the membership to take it easy on TK. I remember the first time I met with Philips to get our audio format into their products. They spent an hour screaming in my ears about what other bad deals the rest of Microsoft had done as if I was representing them. Let's use this as a fresh start with respect to our combined relationship with Schiit and see where it takes us....

My relationship with Schiit instantly changed the day I learned they made use of an AP555(decisions like that have more to do with mindset than the effort of actually doing such). Even better now considering they're actually putting out a product with express intent to address a segment of criticism they faced in the past. AND on top of that we have TK here openly talking, and taking initiative to bridge more ties in good faith. He behaves like the refreshing marketing they have on their site - that is to say - like a normal human being, and not like some mouthpiece robot.

Going by TK Noble's presence here and his outlook. Only an insane person wouldn't give him due respect.

 

[MRC01]

If you check the circuit boards of JDS Labs Atom and the Schiit Heresy, there is a difference in the type of capacitors used. ... Is there a difference between these two types of capacitors in the context of audio applications?

I think it depends on whether they're in the signal path. If they're power supply caps, it probably doesn't matter. I think this is the case, since the external wall-wart power supplies do not give DC input - they are are AC-AC adapters.

 

[BostonJack]

My relationship with Schiit instantly changed the day I learned they made use of an AP555(decisions like that have more to do with mindset than the effort of actually doing such). Even better now considering they're actually putting out a product with express intent to address a segment of criticism they faced in the past. AND on top of that we have TK here openly talking, and taking initiative to bridge more ties in good faith. He behaves like the refreshing marketing they have on their site - that is to say - like a normal human being, and not like some mouthpiece robot.

Going by TK Noble's presence here and his outlook. Only an insane person wouldn't give him due respect.

Amen to that. I've always enjoyed the Schiit marketing schtick. It's fun and audio is supposed to be fun. I think the updated Magni and the Heresy are both on my list, should the need arise. The Saga+ looks attractive too, as are any of their products that measure well and are priced at sane levels.

 

[makmeksam]

Amen to that. I've always enjoyed the Schiit marketing schtick. It's fun and audio is supposed to be fun. I think the updated Magni and the Heresy are both on my list, should the need arise. The Saga+ looks attractive too, as are any of their products that measure well and are priced at sane levels.

Please make sure to check soldering quality etc too

 

[trl]

Do you know any other amps with this good measured performance and DC protection?

Matrix M-Stage HPA-3B has output DC protection done with upc1237ha chip. Not sure how reliable is, because can't test the max. admissible DC level until the protection will trigger, but at least the protection should work pretty quick if one power rail will fail. Also, BURSON headamps are are using all the same chip too.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Matrix M-Stage HPA-3B has output DC protection done with upc1237ha chip. Not sure how reliable is, because can't test the max. admissible DC level until the protection will trigger, but at least the protection should work pretty quick if one power rail will fail. Also, BURSON headamps are are using all the same chip too.

Do you have a source to purchase upc1237? I can't find any.

 

[deafenears]

Do you have a source to purchase upc1237? I can't find any.

eBay? https://www.ebay.com/i/222229400067

 

[trl]

Do you have a source to purchase upc1237? I can't find any.

Well, besides the possible fakes from eBay, no. You can use the newer P/N: NTE7100, also hard to find as well.

However, a nice thread here: https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/headphone-systems/266206-dc-protection-headphones.html and here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/a-m...n-circuit-from-amb.117113/page-5#post-1477983.

 

[Cahudson42]

Has anyone mentioned, or knows, if the Heresy or other Schiit HP amps, suffers any DC offset problems?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Has anyone mentioned, or knows, if the Heresy or other Schiit HP amps, suffers any DC offset problems?

It's rare to have dc offset issues with opamp ICs.

 

[solderdude]

Gains in headphone amps are usually quite low and using high quality opamps like the ones used in the amps will ensure very low offset voltages somewhere in a few mV max. This is not going to harm even the most sensitive IEMs. A non-issue.

 

[trl]

Has anyone mentioned, or knows, if the Heresy or other Schiit HP amps, suffers any DC offset problems?

The first ASRer who will purchase this amp will need to measure the DC output, but I bet it will be at most 3mV RMS.

I personally swapped NJM4652 opamps with MUSES8920 inside Objective2 because of the initial 3.5mV DC on outputs (although this was not an issue, just my OCD). After the swap, the DC got lower than 0.5mV, so my O2 can now be safely used with sensitive 8-16 Ohms IEMs that only need 5-10mW (0.1-0.2 V) of power to reach 100dB SPL.