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Schiit Magni Mesh DAC Review

Rate this DAC & HP Amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 42 23.1%

  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 111 61.0%

  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 29 15.9%

  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    182
confucius_zero said:
If you spend enough time here (which you might have since you are a member from 2019), you'll understand that the point isn't that they aren't built, don't sound or perform great from a subjective standpoint. Heck, I have personal subjective opinions on the way 2 products with identical sinads sound, but it's not much the space to discuss this.

The point is that the objective quality of their electronic implementation isn't competitive even when compared to drastically more affordable alternatives.
Click to expand...
I firmly disagree with you.

Many of their product measure just fine, and are price competitive.

This Magni Unity does not perform as well as we would like, yes.
 
confucius_zero said:
Can you cite such devices with proof plz?
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No, you can research if you so desire. You could look at the last page of the Modi 3 review, some thorough info there. I believe Amir also reviewed the Vidar amp, other items over the years. I don’t think he’s done the Saga 2 preamp yet, but others have.
 
Here’s a link to the Vidar amp review:

www.audiosciencereview.com

Schiit Vidar 2 Stereo Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Schiit Vidar 2 stereo/mono class AB amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $799. Nice to see Schiit (finally) put a stand-by switch in the front. They usually have only a power button in the back. Being a class AB amplifier...
www.audiosciencereview.com www.audiosciencereview.com
 
Joe Smith said:
I still find it a very satisfactory dac to use.
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If we are objectively comparing numbers in the traditions of this site, this 99$ device it wouldn't stand a chance next to this 22$ lunch money tiny dac as far as electronic implementation and signal transmission goes (not build or sound quality).

Again, this site measures signal transmission from its purest form. Not user-experience/features/quality-of-life/build-quality (I have other dacs I prefer to the JM20MAX). Best not to confuse the goal here... people are allowed to enjoy what they enjoy but higher numbers remain higher numbers.
 
confucius_zero said:
If we are objectively comparing numbers in the traditions of this site, this 99$ device it wouldn't stand a chance next to this 22$ lunch money tiny dac as far as electronic implementation and signal transmission goes (not build or sound quality).

Again, this site measures signal transmission from its purest form. Not user-experience/features/quality-of-life/build-quality (I have other dacs I prefer to the JM20MAX). Best not to confuse the goal here... people are allowed to enjoy what they enjoy but higher numbers remain higher numbers.
Click to expand...
Yeah, fine. I think most of us here view measurements as paramount, but not the sole criteria. That’s how I look at it, anyway, because I am not an absolutist.
 
I own a couple of Schiit products (Mimir and Kara F), was not a fan of the presentation of the prior review, but a duck is a duck. They could have done a better job with the engineering here.

I'm glad to see the updated review happened.
 
Joe Smith said:
I think most of us here view measurements as paramount
Click to expand...
Correction: Most of us are here to view measurements, period*

No need to be an absolutist to be a spectator of improvements in electronic implementation and signal transmission in audio devices. In the Olympics, you don't need to love the gold medalist to admit it won an event while cheering for your favorite athlete... Consider "shitting on bad products" to be simply bad personal form. I don't think it's aligned with the goal of ASR.
 
amirm said:
The implementation universally used by almost everyone. It allows a less steep filter. Yes, some amount of imaging components are passed through, relying on lack of energy in musical content from 20 kHz and up. If a DAC does have a sharp filter at 22.05 kHz, then it will garner higher praise from me. Conversely, the slow filters in some DACs get a damning remark.
Click to expand...
Did you attempt to listen to this dac at all?
 
rebbiputzmaker said:
Did you attempt to listen to this dac at all?
Click to expand...
What value would that have for you? You don't have my ears, room, or musical content. But maybe you are a fan of random information....
 
rebbiputzmaker said:
Did you attempt to listen to this dac at all?
Click to expand...
Actually Amir did do a listening test with the Magni Unity.
He did not state if that was the amp only or that it included the MESH DAC card as well which should not matter as the DAC card outperforms the amp section.
Funnily enough in Schiit amplifiers having an op-amp in the audio path is a nono but every DAC they sell has op-amps in the audio path.
Seems more like a gimmick than conviction.

amirm said:
Schiit Magni Unity Headphone Listening Tests
I did some listening tests using my Dan Clark E3 headphone which has a 27 ohm impedance. Up to about 3:00 o'clock on the volume control, the sound was excellent on my reference tracks. Above that, which starts to become loud, distortion started to set in with sound getting brighter and crunchy. To be sure it was not the headphone, I switched back to my Topping DX5II unbalanced out. Not only the Topping get louder, it stayed gorgeously clean and produced dynamic range far beyond the Magni. I know, not a fair comparison given the $100 price difference but just making the point that the Magni is not the "end game" the company says it is.
Click to expand...
 
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solderdude said:
Actually Amir did do a listening test with the Magni Unity.
He did not state if that was the amp only or that it included the MESH DAC card as well which should not matter as the DAC card outperforms the amp section.
Funnily enough in Schiit amplifiers having an op-amp in the audio path is a nono but every DAC they sell has op-amps in the audio path.
Seems more like a gimmick than conviction.
Click to expand...
I think you’re overstating the idea of discreet componentry over operational amplifiers. Might prefer having discreet, but it does not totally negate the quality of operational amplifiers. It depends on different factors of cost versus performance, you might say perceived performance, but we could just settle on preference as a possible motive. Let’s be reasonable. This is not Gulag audio, it’s still a hobby.

P.s. I wonder if the grounding issue could be something as simple as a bad connection between the daughterboard, and the main board.
 
Last edited:
Audio may be a hobby to some but it is a competitive business where money is to be made by manufacturers, sellers, shippers and advertising.
For a lot of audio enthusiasts it is much more than 'just a hobby' as well and more like an obsession.

The grounding issue, most likely, is a layout issue. The board connectors used seem to be fine but it may be used incorrectly.
This can occur when the ground connection between digital and audio ground has been 'separated' incorrectly (they have to be connected or when they are truly separated there must be an optical or inductive separation and most likely also a separated power supply.

Not overstating the idea of 'single chip' op-amps and 'discrete' op-amps. To buyers it might be a 'preference' thing but cost is never an issue. Discrete is simply much more expensive than using a 'more than good enough' chip op-amp and requires much less components.
It is the 'idea' that more expensive is 'better' and discrete is 'better' and psycho-acoustics play an extremely important role in maintaining the dogma.
 
solderdude said:
Audio may be a hobby to some but it is a competitive business where money is to be made by manufacturers, sellers, shippers and advertising.
For a lot of audio enthusiasts it is much more than 'just a hobby' as well and more like an obsession.

The grounding issue, most likely, is a layout issue. The board connectors used seem to be fine but it may be used incorrectly.
This can occur when the ground connection between digital and audio ground has been 'separated' incorrectly (they have to be connected or when they are truly separated there must be an optical or inductive separation and most likely also a separated power supply.

Not overstating the idea of 'single chip' op-amps and 'discrete' op-amps. To buyers it might be a 'preference' thing but cost is never an issue. Discrete is simply much more expensive than using a 'more than good enough' chip op-amp and requires much less components.
It is the 'idea' that more expensive is 'better' and discrete is 'better' and psycho-acoustics play an extremely important role in maintaining the dogma.
Click to expand...
To be fair without actually having the unit and looking at it directly, it is hard to make any assumptions exactly why there’s an issue. And also you keep focusing on what you perceive as their mantra. But that’s not really their entire business model or thought process. They do discreet and they do sort of champion that to a point, but that’s not the whole thing. In fact, their new $300 dac, Mimir using opamps is actually very good sounding and has been received well. They actually acknowledge the fact that it is as good as some of their more expensive products and might displace them in the marketplace. They’re not representing at all superiority versus price scaling. Reviewers tend to do that but as a manufacturer, they seem to be pretty fair in that regard. IMO. They do provide different choices at different prices, but they’re not unrealistic. Nor do I think they keep pounding the table op amps are evil. When it comes to circuitry innovation, that seems to be something they like. In the audio community they do have somewhat of a track record, even though some might think it’s not that special. And they do in audio circles, have a history to back them up. They’re not coming to the table representing themselves as the latest and the greatest new kids on the Block with all the answers. As always, people can take this and make their own decisions. IMO there are much worse companies in this field that really do deserve scrutiny. YMMV
 
rebbiputzmaker said:
To be fair without actually having the unit and looking at it directly, it is hard to make any assumptions exactly why there’s an issue. And also you keep focusing on what you perceive as their mantra. But that’s not really their entire business model or thought process. They do discreet and they do sort of champion that to a point, but that’s not the whole thing. In fact, their new $300 dac, Mimir using opamps is actually very good sounding and has been received well. They actually acknowledge the fact that it is as good as some of their more expensive products and might displace them in the marketplace. They’re not representing at all superiority versus price scaling. Reviewers tend to do that but as a manufacturer, they seem to be pretty fair in that regard. IMO. They do provide different choices at different prices, but they’re not unrealistic. Nor do I think they keep pounding the table op amps are evil. When it comes to circuitry innovation, that seems to be something they like. In the audio community they do have somewhat of a track record, even though some might think it’s not that special. And they do in audio circles, have a history to back them up. They’re not coming to the table representing themselves as the latest and the greatest new kids on the Block with all the answers. As always, people can take this and make their own decisions. IMO there are much worse companies in this field that really do deserve scrutiny. YMMV
Click to expand...
One other interesting thing about Schiit to me is that they do not always "jack" the price for new models, particularly in their middle range. The Saga 2 debuted at the same or a slightly lower price than the model it replaced. The Gjallarhorn F (latest model) is $50 less than the prior model that did not have Forkbeard capability. I am sure they still have a healthy margin, of course.
 
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