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Schiit Magni Heretic Headphone Amp Review

Rate this headphone amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 2 0.7%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 49 18.4%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 216 80.9%

  • Total voters
    267

cinemakinoeye

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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.
However, you can use narrative reports of subjective experience as data; the challenge is it’s very complicated to interpret. Measurements are artifacts of a paradigmatic realm of knowledge; while reports of subjective experience are artifacts of a narrative realm of knowledge; which according to the late cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner, these two realms are incommensurable.
 
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Lupin

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But the brain does know if it likes something or not.
Except that what the brain likes changes by the hour depending on your mood, if your tired or not, surroundings.. and so on and so on.
The brain already got a hard enough time telling you what to like, let alone convey that message to someone else. The brain is not really a reliable in that department IMHO.
 

AutobotVu

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I think this dc protection is the thing that is messing up with my gaming. I have had my modi and heretic replaced twice. When i play cs go or overwatch if the volume knob is over 12 o clock it will turn off sound to headphone for 4-7 seconds than come back it is really really annoying especially when i need sound to hear in cs go.

Listening to music on youtube is perfectly fine loud as i want but when gunshots or even in overwatch comes into play it doesnt like going past 12 o clock or poof. I bought jds atom coming in couple days to see if fixes it they also allowed me to return it and I am going to try switch to magni+ to see if that helps
 

Roland68

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I think this dc protection is the thing that is messing up with my gaming. I have had my modi and heretic replaced twice. When i play cs go or overwatch if the volume knob is over 12 o clock it will turn off sound to headphone for 4-7 seconds than come back it is really really annoying especially when i need sound to hear in cs go.

Listening to music on youtube is perfectly fine loud as i want but when gunshots or even in overwatch comes into play it doesnt like going past 12 o clock or poof. I bought jds atom coming in couple days to see if fixes it they also allowed me to return it and I am going to try switch to magni+ to see if that helps
Maybe it would be better to take a headphone amplifier that has coupling capacitors installed at the input, in addition to DC protection. E.g. Topping L30 II
 

solderdude

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The response to DC levels (reaction time and detection level) may be different.
10Hz hardly dropped indicating if there were input capacitors the -3dB point would be well below 1Hz.

I would recommend to simply use an equalizer and steeply filter below 20Hz. This should get rid of the issue unless it is caused by the waveform being very asymmetric.
 
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Coll

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I have a preamp that outputs 0.775mv could I plug this into the Magni+ and set gain to get a much higher output to my power amplifier that requires 2.5v to drive it to full output.
I have calculated that the output would be approx.3.5v but I could turn the volume back from full to reduce the output.
Am I correct with these assumptions.
 

staticV3

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I have a preamp that outputs 0.775mv could I plug this into the Magni+ and set gain to get a much higher output to my power amplifier that requires 2.5v to drive it to full output.
I have calculated that the output would be approx.3.5v but I could turn the volume back from full to reduce the output.
Am I correct with these assumptions.
I don't think the Preamp applies gain to the signal. At least the website and APx555 report don't suggest it does.
 

solderdude

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I have a preamp that outputs 0.775mv could I plug this into the Magni+ and set gain to get a much higher output to my power amplifier that requires 2.5v to drive it to full output.
I have calculated that the output would be approx.3.5v but I could turn the volume back from full to reduce the output.
Am I correct with these assumptions.
I think so.
The pre-amp out seems to be unattenuated headphone out.
 

Roland301

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I bought one of these and I'm quite pleasantly surprised. With Edition XS it sounds extremely detailed and actually beats my ifi Micro BL amp in bass control and upper midrange clarity. I had the original Heresy a while back and I thought it was fine but not amazing. Got Heretic as a temporary solution while I wait for another amp build, but this thing actually has me looking forward to using it.

Looks like the switch to OPA1656 chips really helped. I remember liking those in the Geshelli Archel 2.5, but that amp just didn't have the power to really make more demanding headphones come alive. With 6 of em in parallel it takes that transparency and brings the power too :)

Gotta say tho, if you aren't a fan of a dry sounding amp, this isn't gonna be for you :p
 

LegionOfHell

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I already have a Heresy, is it worth upgrading to Heretic ? The only thing that has changed is the 3-way gain switch and the headphone jack placement ? everything else is the same as Heresy ?

Do they have the same power ?

Does the Heretic spec better than Heresy ?
 

T.M.Noble

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I already have a Heresy, is it worth upgrading to Heretic ? The only thing that has changed is the 3-way gain switch and the headphone jack placement ? everything else is the same as Heresy ?

Do they have the same power ?

Does the Heretic spec better than Heresy ?
Similar measurements and power. Heretic has a negative gain for IEM's and a more robust protection system to protect your headphones. It also has the new style chassis as well if that does it for you with a milled aluminum knob.
 

LegionOfHell

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T.M.Noble

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The Heresy doesn't have this ? Is it safe to use Heresy ?
Yes, of course it is safe. During our testing we saw areas that we could improve so we did. That was also part of the negative gains setting. IEM's are sensitive and using a Heretic is like drinking from a waterfall.
 

solderdude

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The Heresy doesn't have this ? Is it safe to use Heresy ?
Yep doesn't have this and on rare occasions they have been known to blow up and put DC on the output silently destroying headphones.

When this happens send the Heresy and ear/headphone to them and they will take care of this (AFAIK).
 

T.M.Noble

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Yep doesn't have this and on rare occasions they have been known to blow up and put DC on the output silently destroying headphones.

When this happens send the Heresy and ear/headphone to them and they will take care of this (AFAIK).
Op amps. The gift that keeps on giving.
 

solderdude

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Happened to the discrete Magni's too if I remember well. :)

For the Heresy I think the culprit may have been the outputs being tied together with low R resistors (so paralleling outputs to increase output current).
I made a speaker amp this way (30 years ago) and on rare occasions one of the opamps (used for driving Philips CD mechanisms) blew itself up taking along a bunch of other ones right before the fuse did.
 

T.M.Noble

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Happened to the discrete Magni's too if I remember well. :)

For the Heresy I think the culprit may have been the outputs being tied together with low R resistors (so paralleling outputs to increase output current).
I made a speaker amp this way (30 years ago) and on rare occasions one of the opamps (used for driving Philips CD mechanisms) blew itself up taking along a bunch of other ones right before the fuse did.
Not nearly at the same rate. Those op amps are very sensitive to ESD.
 

LegionOfHell

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Yep doesn't have this and on rare occasions they have been known to blow up and put DC on the output silently destroying headphones.

When this happens send the Heresy and ear/headphone to them and they will take care of this (AFAIK).
Are you being sarcastic ? Some people have OCD like me and would believe it …

Is it really safe to use Heresy ? T.M.Noble said that it is safe. Can you confirm too ?
 

T.M.Noble

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Are you being sarcastic ? Some people have OCD like me and would believe it …

Is it really safe to use Heresy ? T.M.Noble said that it is safe. Can you confirm too ?
The product is safe. It is rare but they can fail, like any product. I don't know a company that could assure you of any product that could not fail.
 

LegionOfHell

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And you mean Heretic and Heresy are both safe .. right ? (Sorry for having OCD)

Also, I would like Schiit to make headphone amps with swappable opamps ... like Burson audio .... Creative X7 ... etc to enable opamp rolling...

I think Schiit makes the best intro headphone amps ... I think their designs are even better than Topping L30 II .... keep up the good work...
 
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