Schiit Magni Heretic Headphone Amp Review

[don'ttrustauthority]

is anyone interested in seeing the NITSCH x Schiit Magni Piety measured here?

Honestly, seeing as it's been measured, I don't need to see it unless Amir is going to do a blind listen test. We know he won't like it, but we also know he won't do a blind test.

You guys want subjectivists to believe in numbers, yet you won't put your philosophy to the test.

 

[Deleted member 21726]

If someone believe only in numbers and buy gears only by numbers, i feel pitty. So many good sounding gears are missed.
Very often that gear which has ”not so good” numbers makes a music alive.
That better measured gear has not always the best soundquality.

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

For amusement value maybe ...
The blurb on the product page certainly doesn't inspire confidence: "Solid state practicality, tube-like sound", "Measurements aren’t the whole story". We all know this is just code for 'this is a product for those who like to pretend they enjoy distortion'.

As opposed to those who pretend the prefer 120 db sinad to 90 db sinad, yet never put their ears to the test?

 

[solderdude]

If someone believe only in numbers and buy gears only by numbers, i feel pitty. So many good sounding gears are missed.
Very often that gear which has ”not so good” numbers makes a music alive.
That better measured gear has not always the best soundquality.

You are mixing preference with performance.

 

[Deleted member 21726]

You are mixing preference with performance.

No i'm not. I know what i am talking about.
Enough own experiences.
Measured performance often tells very little about real life soundquality.

Your own ears tells what is soundquality.
You listen music via them?

 

[solderdude]

Performance is measurable. Good technical performance is low distortion and 'flat' frequency response.
'Musicality' is something subjective and is a preference which always includes the eyes/knowing what one is listening to. That gear usually 'modifies' the signal in a way that is pleasant to the listener.

Perfectly O.K. to prefer something over something else.
Signal fidelity (technical performance) is not the same as 'preference' no matter how much experience you may have.

 

[oleg87]

No i'm not. I know what i am talking about.
Enough own experiences.
Measured performance often tells very little about real life soundquality.

Your own ears tells what is soundquality.
You listen music via them?

If your idea of sound quality is measurable transparency, then that is sound quality… At least if you believe an AP box captures all meaningful aspects of objective amplifier performance, which I’m agnostic on. Everything else is a reduction in fidelity, however enjoyable you find an objective distortion of the source signal.

I have no issue with either approach, as long as it’s not misrepresented by the manufacturer as something it isn’t.

 

[charleski]

As opposed to those who pretend the prefer 120 db sinad to 90 db sinad, yet never put their ears to the test?

I have a Heresy and a 25-year old headphone tube amp (60dB SINAD). Most of the time I can’t tell the difference between them. There are a few tracks of classical music where I think the increased distortion might be marginally audible, though I couldn’t swear to that. Certainly any attempt to describe one as ‘more musical’ than the other would be pure fantasy. But I know the Heresy is the better product.

Like many of those posting here on ASR, I’ve spent years going down the subjectivist rabbit hole. The difference is, we’ve come out the other end and realised it’s time to stop fooling ourselves.

An amp with 120dB SINAD is objectively better than one with 90dB, but it’s unlikely you’d hear a difference between them. It’s simple common sense to prefer the better-engineered product, especially since, in most cases, it will be cheaper than a boutique item relying on magical properties.

 

[Lupin]

Your own ears tells what is soundquality.
You listen music via them?

Your ears are just the receivers, your brain does the actual processing.
There are enough studies and papers out there that proof how unreliable (to put it nicely) your brain is in that department.

 

[solderdude]

But the brain does know if it likes something or not.
That may very well not be the system with the best technical performance.
You just cannot use it as a measurement device.

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

I have a Heresy .... It’s simple common sense to prefer the better-engineered product, especially since, in most cases, it will be cheaper than a boutique item relying on magical properties.

Your Schiit Heresy is audibly transparent, but it is still a boutique item that is cheaper than 'better-engineered' products with 'better' SINAD.

So your assertion doesn't ALWAYS hold true. In this case, common sense is to prefer the Heresy.

 

[solderdude]

The Heretic is the better engineered version of the Heresy.
Nothing boutique about all Magni's IMO.
I would say L30-II and Heretic are both more than good enough for all but a few headphones.
SINAD at these levels is irrelevant.... well anything above 100 is irrelevant from a technical P.O.V.

 

[Laserjock]

Honestly, seeing as it's been measured, I don't need to see it unless Amir is going to do a blind listen test. We know he won't like it, but we also know he won't do a blind test.

You guys want subjectivists to believe in numbers, yet you won't put your philosophy to the test.

I wasn’t aware.

 

[lashto]

At a show, I saw Suolo Monos work well with the DCA Stealth, and the Stealth is one of the top 10 hardest headphones to drive. So I think that proves tube amps are fine with low impedance planars. Obviously there are SOME that are hard for ALL amplifiers to drive. That has nothing to do with solid state vs tube.

You need a transformer coupled tubes from ampsandsound ... given the 7 ohm, I would talk to Justin about what he thinks might be powerful enough for your amp.

You will be in heaven.

very nice looking amps from ampsandsound.
But as much as I like tubes, paying $10.000 for an amp in not on my todo list. Might consider paying that much for (extraordinary) speakers but IMO that is crazy money for "just an amp"

 

[majingotan]

very nice looking amps from ampsandsound.
But as much as I like tubes, paying $10.000 for an amp in not on my todo list. Might consider paying that much for (extraordinary) speakers but IMO that is crazy money for "just an amp"

Pretty sure the markup on those is at minimum 250%. If headphones.com can still make money by offering me 2099 out of 2899 SRP on my brand new Forge amp, that can definitely confirm my speculation

While Forge has ridiculous gain multiplier for my sensitive headphones and IEMs, my little Schiit Magni covers the latter where I get excellent sonics on most headphones out there

 

[lashto]

Pretty sure the markup on those is at minimum 250%. If headphones.com can still make money by offering me 2099 out of 2899 SRP on my brand new Forge amp, that can definitely confirm my speculation

While Forge has ridiculous gain multiplier for my sensitive headphones and IEMs, my little Schiit Magni covers the latter where I get excellent sonics on most headphones out there

200% (double) is the usual for brick & mortar stores. A bit rich for an online store like headphones.com.

OTOH, you don't want your amps to be sold for $5000 in a store and $3000 online so everyone displays ~the same sale price. Which is of course the highest one. Generally you'll get better discounts from online stores, you just need to haggle a bit on the phone

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

very nice looking amps from ampsandsound.
But as much as I like tubes, paying $10.000 for an amp in not on my todo list. Might consider paying that much for (extraordinary) speakers but IMO that is crazy money for "just an amp"

Nor mine, brother. I was horrified to see their prices jump the way they did to over $10k.

But the stuff on sale is still selling under $2k and I think it's a huge value. That is, if you want a nice tube amplifier to look at.

If you just to listen to music, get a Jot 2 for $400 it's as good as F.

Of all the amplifiers I've had, that is the one I will never sell (at heart I'm a solid state guy I've found. With only one solid state headphone amp).

 

[lashto]

Nor mine, brother. I was horrified to see their prices jump the way they did to over $10k.

But the stuff on sale is still selling under $2k and I think it's a huge value. That is, if you want a nice tube amplifier to look at.

If you just to listen to music, get a Jot 2 for $400 it's as good as F.

Of all the amplifiers I've had, that is the one I will never sell (at heart I'm a solid state guy I've found. With only one solid state headphone amp).

In terms of "nice to look at", my eyes are currently on https://www.toolshedamps.com. The level of workmanship on those things is just amazing. The prices are too but I'd say they are (almost) justified in this case

Otherwise quite happy with my darkvoice, guess I was lucky with a problem-free one.

 

[GPJ]

If someone believe only in numbers and buy gears only by numbers, i feel pitty. So many good sounding gears are missed.
Very often that gear which has ”not so good” numbers makes a music alive.
That better measured gear has not always the best soundquality.

If produced audio is not good, blame the mastering engineer, not the gear.

Correct mastering and absolute transparency will always give the best result.

From source to ear, eliminate the gear .... I say .....

That said, there are plenty of really crappy master recordings that probably do sound better on perfectly matched inferior gear.

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

In terms of "nice to look at", my eyes are currently on https://www.toolshedamps.com. The level of workmanship on those things is just amazing. The prices are too but I'd say they are (almost) justified in this case

Otherwise quite happy with my darkvoice, guess I was lucky with a problem-free one.

I prefer ampsandsound. My 300b fantasy end game amplifier is something I would love to buy someone else.