SS - Solid State Headphone Amplifiers - Discussion

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adydula

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Re: SS - Solid State Headphone Amplifiers - Discussion
« Reply #20 on: 12 Nov 2019, 03:21 pm »
Good Morning!

Today I am comparing the DIY "Noir" I completed several weeks ago with the Schitt Magni 3.

I spent the morning level setting the volume pots and both set to 75dB which to my ears is a bit loud at times!

The Noir from Mark Johnson is a class A amp and the Magni3 is a Class AB amp.

The Magni3 is direct coupled, no caps in the output path. while the Noir has a big ole 3300 uf cap in the output.

The Magni 3 has a whopping 2 watts available at 32 ohms and the ATH M50s I used are 32 ohms and the Clears are 55 ohms...so the Magni3 has the power
to make these both sing very well.....

The Noir has plenty enough power to drive most cans with the exception of those HiFiMan HE-4, HiFiMan HE-6, HiFiMan H3-500's.
It will drive them but not to 110dB spl.

So the end result this am is both amps are so very close that its hard to tell if one is better than another!

So this tells me for $79 for the Magni3 B-stock and approx $200 DIY you can have a great affordable experience!

I can be happy with either of them, and I am fortunate to have both.

Many folks will spend more ( me included) but you dont have to spend mega bucks for great sound.

Life is good!
Alex

« Last Edit: 12 Nov 2019, 05:55 pm by adydula »

poseidonsvoice

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Re: SS - Solid State Headphone Amplifiers - Discussion
« Reply #21 on: 12 Nov 2019, 05:42 pm »
Alex,

From my recollection both the T2 and subsequently Noir are not direct coupled, they have input and output capacitors right?

Best,
Anand.

adydula

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Re: SS - Solid State Headphone Amplifiers - Discussion
« Reply #22 on: 12 Nov 2019, 05:53 pm »
Yes!!

Your correct!!  There is a big old 3300uf output cap in the Noir!!

My bad, I will update my recent post...

Alex

:>)

adydula

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Re: SS - Solid State Headphone Amplifiers - Discussion
« Reply #23 on: 16 Nov 2019, 09:30 pm »
OK so the Tuba has left the stage and is winging its way back to Hawaii, it surely will be missed.

But the little Magni 3 is performing admirably and I am just listening with it with the clears and am just amazed how good it is...

Non-fatiguing with all kinds of music and quality of recordings...

There is a very nice synergy with the Focal Clears, with bright music things are toned down just a bit and this takes the edge off of these types of recordings..

With some female vocal recordings the combination makes them pop abit when they have been recorded with a little less of the higher registers.....thinking of Madeleine Peyroux and Corrine Bailey....these are helped with this combination....

Live recording are wonderful like Eva Cassidy and Bill Withers live performances...two folks that arent around anymore but they still live on in spirit and lovely tunes...

Just lovely sound....

Alex



mresseguie

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Re: SS - Solid State Headphone Amplifiers - Discussion
« Reply #24 on: 16 Nov 2019, 11:19 pm »
Alex,

Thanks, again, for your reviews!

From your impressions of the Magni 3, I can’t help but wonder if it makes sense to spend ~$500 on SS headphone amps?

Michael

adydula

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Re: SS - Solid State Headphone Amplifiers - Discussion
« Reply #25 on: 17 Nov 2019, 12:05 am »
Well,

I've been doing this a long time, and I do like "stuff" and gear, especially audio stuff....so its a pleasure to build, buy and test stuff....for a long time I could only read someone else's reviews and hope they were accurate and honest.

The old adage if its costs more, it has to be better and if it measures better it has to be better.....

Well over the years these two things just dont always add up to an exact accurate answer.

What I have learned reading thousands of reviews and thousands of posts on other websites is that there are so many experts and folks that think they are experts that spend many, many hours, thousands of posts and bloviate with glittering adjectives about how one item is better or worse than another.

This includes me as well, but its really gotten much simpler for me at my age and experience.

There are lots of gear out there that works very well at $99 and at $999 +.

But if you think that the $999 item is going to be sonically better than the $99 one all the time, I think your wrong...IMO.

So why would you spend more if less can deliver about the same sonic experience?

Well, just because you can, and most often the more costly item has more bells and whistles that might be important to you.

So it all depends on what you want out of the hobby or pastime and in many of our cases what we can afford.

IMO the perfectly measuring amp down to .0000XXX will work very well, but will it outshine the $99 well designed amp sonically....only having the two
side by side and doing an honest AB comparison will show YOU what if any the sonic differences are.

So there is more to just the cost....for alot of us.

Life is good!!

Alex

 :D :D