Schiit Magni Heretic Headphone Amp Review

[JeffB1961]

ordered a closeout heretic last night for $77 delivered to my door .
i figure the heretic is at least as good as the HP amp section of the raw-mda1 i've been eyeballing .
i think i want to get the smsl Do100 pro to go with it .
thanks for the review and comments folks

 

[archerious]

I almost bought one of these on prime day from schiit to replace a dead magni heresy but I'm seeing bad reviews about over current protection when gaming.

 

[DSJR]

I almost bought one of these on prime day from schiit to replace a dead magni heresy but I'm seeing bad reviews about over current protection when gaming.

Just caught this and a silly question perhaps, but can't Schiit repair your Magni Heresy?

 

[archerious]

Just caught this and a silly question perhaps, but can't Schiit repair your Magni Heresy?

Since I'm out of warranty (bought it late 2020) I wasn't sure if they'd just charge me the same as a new one especially since shipping it to them will be probably $11-15.

 

[DSJR]

Since I'm out of warranty (bought it late 2020) I wasn't sure if they'd just charge me the same as a new one especially since shipping it to them will be probably $11-15.

Seriously, I think it's worth asking, even if it's repairable but not ultimately cost-effective. I mean, one huge reason to buy Schiit products is the after-care I'd have thought. I know a hundred dollars or so is peanuts to some of you, but it'd be worth keeping as much of this unit out of landfill if it was possible (I'm not a green zealot, but can't bear to scrap things).

 

[DACsNoMore]

I love it. Inexpensive and most important for me - it has 50 kOhm input and adjustable gain on line out (helps with tape decks with lower voltage line out). BTW, seems like Schiit is the only company making small factor gears with >= 47 kOhm line input/output. The overcurrent protection is clearly written in the manual, so it is not a defect. If your HP are so hard to drive, get more powerful HP amp.

 

[antcollinet]

I love it. Inexpensive and most important for me - it has 50 kOhm input and adjustable gain on line out (helps with tape decks with lower voltage line out). BTW, seems like Schiit is the only company making small factor gears with >= 47 kOhm line input/output. The overcurrent protection is clearly written in the manual, so it is not a defect. If your HP are so hard to drive, get more powerful HP amp.

Just out of interest - why do you need >47kOhm input impedance.

 

[Bob from Florida]

Just out of interest - why do you need >47kOhm input impedance.

You need it to accommodate source electronics with high output impedance. There are tube based phono preamps out there with 1000 ohm output impedance's - for example. The 50K value provides a good compromise input impedance for most anything to be a source.

 

[solderdude]

The difference between 50k and 100k load (with 1k source) is negligible (0.1dB).
Also when the output capacitance of such a tube source would be 1uF be inaudible (especially for vinyl) as -3dB would be 3Hz or 1.5Hz.

 

[antcollinet]

You need it to accommodate source electronics with high output impedance. There are tube based phono preamps out there with 1000 ohm output impedance's - for example. The 50K value provides a good compromise input impedance for most anything to be a source.

Fair enough - if you are into tube based phono pre-amps. Though a better solution might be to choose sources with sensible output impedance.

 

[Sokel]

Any piece of gear that is not specialized for a very particular use should be immune to what we hook on it (with sanity of course) .
A 50 kOhm input impedance is about right for just about the vast majority of older and newer gear.

Any kind of immunity is nice, be it for listening or measuring gear, the 100 kOhm AP has is a great tell.

 

[DACsNoMore]

Just out of interest - why do you need >47kOhm input impedance.

It is important for most vintage cassette decks, as those are designed/calibrated for standard 47 kOhm amp input impedance. Most small factor amps right now are ~10-20 kOhm - it will cause UV meters on the deck to show lower -2dB to -4dB signal levels due to higher voltage drop on the the deck Line Out when those "modern" amps are connected. It becomes critical when recording as you will set signal level too high as decks UV meters are not showing the calibrated levels anymore. BTW, YAMAHA A-S301 and etc. have 47 kOhm inputs/outputs.

 

[pdfield34]

Just FYI, Schiit keeps putting batches of these out in "Last Call." $60. Currently 12 left in the latest batch. Having not paid attention to the physical specs, didn't expect it to be so small - 5 inches by 3 inches. Great for listening at work with Protocol Max EQ.

 

[antcollinet]

It is important for most vintage cassette decks

You are saying the outputs are unbuffered, and taking the VU signal directly from the output pin (rather than upstream of any bufferning)?

For a 3dB drop with 10K load, you are suggesting their output impedance is around 4.2kOhm. With that output impedance, even with 47k Load, you still get a 1.1dB drop.

BTW, YAMAHA A-S301 and etc. have 47 kOhm inputs/outputs.

Hope they don't have 47k outputs.