Schiit Magnius Balanced Headphone Amp Review

[IPunchCholla]

The APx555's balanced output was used to gather that data, so the setup was:
AP->XLR Bal->Magnius->XLR Bal->AP
View attachment 200728

Thank you!

 

[IPunchCholla]

I had been looking at the Magnius since one of my use cases is amplifying a SE phono stage using a Topping PA5. Are there any measurements of using the Magnius fed SE to balanced pre out?

 

[kenshone]

Is there any reason to use the RCA outs on this? Put differently, if you need to connect to an unbalanced device from the Magnius, wouldn't using an XLR to RCA adapter cable be strictly superior compared to RCA->RCA?

 

[Veri]

Is there any reason to use the RCA outs on this? Put differently, if you need to connect to an unbalanced device from the Magnius, wouldn't using an XLR to RCA adapter cable be strictly superior compared to RCA->RCA?

Some RCA>XLR cables have slightly better noise rejection (CMMR) but realistically speaking it probably won't matter versus straight RCA.

 

[kenshone]

Some RCA>XLR cables have slightly better noise rejection (CMMR) but realistically speaking it probably won't matter versus straight RCA.

Makes sense. And to be clear, I'm talking about the significantly superior SINAD of the XLR pre-outs vs the RCA pre-outs per the measurements.

 

[MRC01]

An XLR to RCA adapter cable won't difference the balanced output signals, so you'll have higher noise & distortion than the balanced output. It won't necessarily be any better than the RCA outputs. You might as well use the RCA outputs.

 

[RHO]

An XLR to RCA adapter cable won't difference the balanced output signals, so you'll have higher noise & distortion than the balanced output. It won't necessarily be any better than the RCA outputs. You might as well use the RCA outputs.

The differences shown in the measurements are between the 2 headphone outputs. But it could be indicative for the differences between the balanced and SE pre-outs. Amir never measured that.

 

[Veri]

Makes sense. And to be clear, I'm talking about the significantly superior SINAD of the XLR pre-outs vs the RCA pre-outs per the measurements.

Aaah sorry now I get what you say. A lot of cables will not be terminated ideally for the balanced to single ended operation and you will lose half the voltage. But two of these should yield nice results (in theory, like RHO says amirm didn't compare/test this explicitly)

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[ButteredToast]

Back from the dead again:

My current headphone set up is a e30 v1 dac with a thx888 headphone amp running singled ended and powering a HD6XX. I’m considering putting together a balanced set up on the cheap, and a Magnius / Modius stack plus cables would run me about $600. My question is this set up still competitive at this point or are there better options at this price point for fully balanced?

 

[Jimbob54]

Back from the dead again:

My current headphone set up is a e30 v1 dac with a thx888 headphone amp running singled ended and powering a HD6XX. I’m considering putting together a balanced set up on the cheap, and a Magnius / Modius stack plus cables would run me about $600. My question is this set up still competitive at this point or are there better options at this price point for fully balanced?

Why not just the modius into the 788? But tbh why bother if you aren't getting noise on your single ended connection?

 

[ButteredToast]

Why not just the modius into the 788? But tbh why bother if you aren't getting noise on your single ended connection?

I guess I should have mentioned that part of my plan was to move my e30/thx888 set up to my office and replace it with a fully balanced rig at home.

 

[Jimbob54]

I guess I should have mentioned that part of my plan was to move my e30/thx888 set up to my office and replace it with a fully balanced rig at home.

Ah- makes more sense! But for my money I would get a modius for the 788 and then an L30 mk 2 or Schiit Magni Heresy to go with the E30 in the other location

 

[ButteredToast]

Ah- makes more sense! But for my money I would get a modius for the 788 and then an L30 mk 2 or Schiit Magni Heresy to go with the E30 in the other location

I get what yourre saying, but the 888 (it’s a SMSL sp200) isn’t a truly balanced amp if I remember correctly. Both the singled ended and the XLR inputs on this amp run through the same internal connection, so there’s no real benefit as there is (might be?) with the Magnius. Please, correct me if I’m wrong.

 

[Jimbob54]

I get what yourre saying, but the 888 (it’s a SMSL sp200) isn’t a truly balanced amp if I remember correctly. Both the singled ended and the XLR inputs on this amp run through the same internal connection, so there’s no real benefit as there is (might be?) with the Magnius. Please, correct me if I’m wrong.

My bad, I was thinking of the monoprice 887. Wrong thx amp.

 

[WeebTrash]

Hey all -- sorry to Necro, but curious about buying this amp if I am going balanced and SE? I have THX-00 and K7XX that I switch with regularly. Coming from a Magni 2U, is the SE output that bad? Should I switch to a different amp if I want exceptional performance out of both outputs?

 

[WeebTrash]

I get what yourre saying, but the 888 (it’s a SMSL sp200) isn’t a truly balanced amp if I remember correctly. Both the singled ended and the XLR inputs on this amp run through the same internal connection, so there’s no real benefit as there is (might be?) with the Magnius. Please, correct me if I’m wrong.

Pretty much in the same boat you are, as I just acquired some LCD2C and am interested in going fully balanced and upgrading from Magni Modi 2U.. did you come to a conclusion yet?

 

[IPunchCholla]

Hey all -- sorry to Necro, but curious about buying this amp if I am going balanced and SE? I have THX-00 and K7XX that I switch with regularly. Coming from a Magni 2U, is the SE output that bad? Should I switch to a different amp if I want exceptional performance out of both outputs?

I have 50 year old ears, so take this with a grain of salt, but I couldn’t here the difference between the SE and balanced outs (Except the drop in volume). It seems like a very well made pre-amp/headphone amp. I only sold it because I wanted an ADC.

 

[WeebTrash]

I have 50 year old ears, so take this with a grain of salt, but I couldn’t here the difference between the SE and balanced outs (Except the drop in volume). It seems like a very well made pre-amp/headphone amp. I only sold it because I wanted an ADC.

I ended up pulling the trigger on both! Going to give the MagniModius stack a try. Now questions is do I want a Lokius with the black friday sale... seems unnecessary but sexy to look at

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

But now we can't make puns on how their products perform.

The best Schiit for the best price.

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

I ended up pulling the trigger on both! Going to give the MagniModius stack a try. Now questions is do I want a Lokius with the black friday sale... seems unnecessary but sexy to look at

I use my Loki Mini and Lokius for tapes that were recorded without necessarily being thought of as being for commercial release.

The fewer changes, the better.