Schiit Magni Heresy 100% Op-Amp-Based Headphone Amp and Preamp

I recently acquired the Schiit Magni Heresy to power my Audeze LCD-2 Classic headphones, and I must say, I'm thoroughly impressed. Here's why:Impressive Power: The Schiit Magni Heresy delivers an incredible amount of power, effortlessly driving my high-impedance Audeze headphones to their full potential. The sound is clean, dynamic, and full-bodied, with an impressive level of detail and clarity across the entire frequency spectrum.Transparent Sound: One of the standout features of the Magni Heresy is its transparency. It faithfully reproduces the audio signal without adding any coloration or distortion, allowing me to experience my music exactly as the artist intended. Whether I'm listening to intricate classical compositions or bass-heavy electronic tracks, the Magni Heresy delivers a truly transparent sound.Solid Build Quality: The build quality of the Magni Heresy is top-notch, with a robust chassis and high-quality components throughout. The unit feels sturdy and well-built, exuding a sense of durability and reliability that inspires confidence.Perfect Pairing: I paired the Magni Heresy with the Schiit Modi 3+ DAC, and the combination is nothing short of exceptional. The two devices complement each other perfectly, resulting in a high-fidelity audio setup that exceeds my expectations.Overall, I couldn't be happier with the performance of the Schiit Magni Heresy. It's a stellar headphone amplifier that delivers outstanding sound quality and performance, making it an ideal choice for discerning audiophiles looking to elevate their listening experience.

Paired it with a Modi dac. Sounds great. No distortion when cranking up the volume & no scratchy noise when turning the volume knob. Plenty of power to drive most headphones. Nothing but nice, clean, neutral sound.Build quality is fantastic. There's metal everywhere and it's got a finish that makes fingerprints very hard to see. They should offer a Magni in black+gunmetal grey to match the Modi but that comes down to personal preference. It still looks nice.The first one I ordered broke in less than a week. The power switch in the back seems like it shorted out because I heard something smoldering and it burned my finger when I tried to flip it off. I don't blame Schiit though. You can be the best company in the world, QC test every product you ship out & still have a lemon. For reference, my friend has had his Heresy for about a year now with no issues and has had other Schiit products for much longer. Schiit responded in less than 24 hours. I returned the first unit & order a replacement. The replacement works great.*Update 2 years later: Company still gets 5 stars. I might be quite unlucky because this second Heresy lasted just shy of 2 years before it started making a very loud noise out of the left side of my headphones. I contacted Schiit and they accepted my repair request. They tested it, confirmed the issue, and replaced the faulty part (replaced the "op amp" in case anyone more tech savvy than me is interested). It seems to work now.*2nd update - The same issue came back after only a few days. Schiit repaired it again and gave me a new wall wart. Seems like it was indeed the power supply, as the problem hasn't come back. 5 star customer service.

I needed this for a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-770s.Now, first time around, I only got the amp and no DAC, and that lead to me discovering that my laptop was not providing a good enough source signal for the amp to work with. It actually clipped at lower volumes because the laptop signal was just that weak compared to what the amp expects.Before I ordered the DAC, I emailed the Schiit support about it and they responded the following day and gave me the strong impression they really care about their customers. They were pretty sure my laptop was the problem and a DAC would remedy it (which is exactly what it was). They were prepared in the event that my laptop wasn't the problem.So then I got the Modi DAC, and now I have the full volume both lo and hi gain with no clipping. They are very clean sounding. Does exactly what I needed it to do and see nothing to complain about.I did notice that the volume knob has some static/popping when first using it - but it's no longer there anymore - and I half expected that given my experience with volume resistant pots on my own electronic projects. It's fairly inconsequential (it isn't ever going to happen when the knob isn't moved), and can be cleaned in the event they get too dirty over time. Hell, if you have the know how you can just replace it easily with your own resistance pot. It's not that hard.Personally, I think opting for the op amp version of the Magni is more suitable for me only cause I think tubes wear over time and can break - this thing I could drop on the floor by mistake and there's a very strong chance only the case will get damaged - one benefit of a solid state design. That said, I wasn't interested in a tube sound for now. For the money I think this was an excellent buy.Also, I would read the manual on this product and story behind it - for you engineers out there - the author has a great sense of humor and even poses some honest questions to you that they would love to hear responses for. It's little thing like that make the company really cool. Will be looking to them for products if my needs change in the future.