This is a review and detailed measurements of the Schiit Magni headphone amplifier with its optional MESH DAC module. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $199 including that option.
I previous reviewed the Schiit Magni with its off-the-shelf DAC IC. That unit had generally good performance however, it produced highly variable results. Critique was made that it was not the latest and greatest MESH DAC module. A member was kind enough to send that combo to settle the question. In this review, I will be focusing strictly on the DAC portion as the headphone amp is the same and covered in the other review. To that end, I used the RCA output:
It is wired in parallel with the headphone jack but likely with a series resistor. This shouldn't impact my testing.
I used the included USB cable and connected it to my USB switch.
Product was purchased in January of this year and identifies itself to Windows as MESH DAC (there is no marking on the unit itself that I could find).
Schiit Magni MESH DAC Measurements
Let's start with our usual dashboard. To get to 2 volts nominal output, I had to use the medium gain with volume control set to max:
Output was quite stable having none of the issues of the previous DAC module. It also produced lower noise and distortion, ranking the unit few steps higher:
Note that the competition is all in the blue region so this is a bit of a miss. But still competent.
Same story when it comes to dynamic range:
And filtering/frequency response:
50 mv output is slightly above average but not where it needs to be for sensitive IEMs:
Multitone turns in good numbers:
Although there is that odd spike in there.
Stereophile's 50 Hz test also looks good:
But we see some dark clouds where we don't expect in the IMD test:
At anything less that peak output, noise should dominate, not distortion. Yet we see that hump indicating non-linearities in the digital to analog conversion Our 5+ year old reference (dashed blue) doesn't have that issue whatsoever.
We saw fair bit of interreference in the noise floor of the jitter signal. Same exists here, to a smaller extent:
Linearity as I expected, also shows randomness in reproduced lower bits:
As with the original, we see elevated wideband noise+distortion in our frequency sweep:
FFT shows the same mess of noise and distortion in ultrasonics:
So I decided to investigate further. I switched out the DAC and used just the RCA input and disconnected the USB-C cable (blue):
We see a far cleaner output. I then reconnected the USB cable, while still using analog RCA input. We see that mere connection of the USB cable, without using the DAC, generates all that noise and interference sources. In other words, isolation from USB ground is poor (power is provided by the AC transformer).
In my test system, as I noted in the intro, I use a USB hub which tends to reduce my systems noise. In your system, the noise level over USB could be anything -- higher or lower. So while the instrumentation of my system points to noise that is inaudible, it may not be so on your system. This is what the output looks like by the way, from a DAC and amp combo in the same price point:
We see very little interference. There is an increasing noise floor but that is part of the noise shaping of the DAC, not noise from the USB bus.
Conclusions
Let me start by quoting company product description relative to the DAC: "With the optional internal Mesh™ DAC card, Magni Unity is a one-box system with uncompromising sound. "
Well, this is definitely compromised performance. The MESH DAC brings no benefit and instead, reduces measured performance in a number of areas. Electrically, noise over USB is allowed to enter the system even if you are not using the DAC -- a poor showing.
Folks spend all kind of money to reduce noise from cables to power conditioners. Yet, we have a device here that by itself, allows computer noise to enter the rest of your chain in a very easily measured way. Simple measurements like what I have performed easily identify the noise issues. The company is either not running such tests, doesn't know how to reduce impact of USB noise, or doesn't care. None of these sit well with me. They know better. This is a case of relapse in proper engineering.
I get that they want to differentiate with their own designs. But this has to provide clear user benefit, and not reduce performance. Best to put the marketing costs for the new DAC into better design or else, give up and use an IC solution like everyone else. They have plenty of differentiation already in the form of US manufacturing and support.
So, no, I can't recommend the Schiit Magni Mesh DAC. My recommendations are mine and I can't reward a product that takes a step back in performance in so many areas.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I previous reviewed the Schiit Magni with its off-the-shelf DAC IC. That unit had generally good performance however, it produced highly variable results. Critique was made that it was not the latest and greatest MESH DAC module. A member was kind enough to send that combo to settle the question. In this review, I will be focusing strictly on the DAC portion as the headphone amp is the same and covered in the other review. To that end, I used the RCA output:
It is wired in parallel with the headphone jack but likely with a series resistor. This shouldn't impact my testing.
I used the included USB cable and connected it to my USB switch.
Product was purchased in January of this year and identifies itself to Windows as MESH DAC (there is no marking on the unit itself that I could find).
Schiit Magni MESH DAC Measurements
Let's start with our usual dashboard. To get to 2 volts nominal output, I had to use the medium gain with volume control set to max:
Output was quite stable having none of the issues of the previous DAC module. It also produced lower noise and distortion, ranking the unit few steps higher:
Note that the competition is all in the blue region so this is a bit of a miss. But still competent.
Same story when it comes to dynamic range:
And filtering/frequency response:
50 mv output is slightly above average but not where it needs to be for sensitive IEMs:
Multitone turns in good numbers:
Although there is that odd spike in there.
Stereophile's 50 Hz test also looks good:
But we see some dark clouds where we don't expect in the IMD test:
At anything less that peak output, noise should dominate, not distortion. Yet we see that hump indicating non-linearities in the digital to analog conversion Our 5+ year old reference (dashed blue) doesn't have that issue whatsoever.
We saw fair bit of interreference in the noise floor of the jitter signal. Same exists here, to a smaller extent:
Linearity as I expected, also shows randomness in reproduced lower bits:
As with the original, we see elevated wideband noise+distortion in our frequency sweep:
FFT shows the same mess of noise and distortion in ultrasonics:
So I decided to investigate further. I switched out the DAC and used just the RCA input and disconnected the USB-C cable (blue):
We see a far cleaner output. I then reconnected the USB cable, while still using analog RCA input. We see that mere connection of the USB cable, without using the DAC, generates all that noise and interference sources. In other words, isolation from USB ground is poor (power is provided by the AC transformer).
In my test system, as I noted in the intro, I use a USB hub which tends to reduce my systems noise. In your system, the noise level over USB could be anything -- higher or lower. So while the instrumentation of my system points to noise that is inaudible, it may not be so on your system. This is what the output looks like by the way, from a DAC and amp combo in the same price point:
We see very little interference. There is an increasing noise floor but that is part of the noise shaping of the DAC, not noise from the USB bus.
Conclusions
Let me start by quoting company product description relative to the DAC: "With the optional internal Mesh™ DAC card, Magni Unity is a one-box system with uncompromising sound. "
Well, this is definitely compromised performance. The MESH DAC brings no benefit and instead, reduces measured performance in a number of areas. Electrically, noise over USB is allowed to enter the system even if you are not using the DAC -- a poor showing.
Folks spend all kind of money to reduce noise from cables to power conditioners. Yet, we have a device here that by itself, allows computer noise to enter the rest of your chain in a very easily measured way. Simple measurements like what I have performed easily identify the noise issues. The company is either not running such tests, doesn't know how to reduce impact of USB noise, or doesn't care. None of these sit well with me. They know better. This is a case of relapse in proper engineering.
I get that they want to differentiate with their own designs. But this has to provide clear user benefit, and not reduce performance. Best to put the marketing costs for the new DAC into better design or else, give up and use an IC solution like everyone else. They have plenty of differentiation already in the form of US manufacturing and support.
So, no, I can't recommend the Schiit Magni Mesh DAC. My recommendations are mine and I can't reward a product that takes a step back in performance in so many areas.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
At least it's inexpensive.
