Schiit IEMagni Headphone Amplifier and Preamp

The first time I used this amp I got my ears blasted when the music started. Not having heard any hiss AT ALL, I'd turned it up too far! This amp is really quiet!I have mine stuck onto the side of my receiver (see photo). I’m using the amp to drive my Hifiman Sundara headphones, which I am still in love with.By the way, the thing stuck to the side of my CD player in the photo is a Schiit Modi 3+ DAC.

Excellent seperation. Almost creates a holographic soundstage. Coming from the ifi zen dac, the magni modi combo is in another realm all together. So glad I made this purchase.

Worth the extra money for sensitive IEMs.

This worked great for 2 years, then, my wife is telling me there is a fire in the house, we go looking and we cannot see a fire, but the stench is there, we found it. THIS device let all of the magic smoke out of the box and into the room. Very disappointed. Any there seems to be no way to reach the seller. Hopefully they will see this. 020723, added a star, the factory will warranty repair the unit!

It sounds great with my dt770 pros and they get way louder than I need but I could use my headphones just fine plugged into my pc or xlr interface. I do love the hardware volume and not just windows control it makes it so much easier to adjust volumes. The knob really doesn’t feel great and the plug is to close to the knob so your fingers kinda bump into it. It’s does what it says it would do and we’ll enough that I don’t plan on returning it but if your on a budget I don’t know that it’s really worth paying 100+ for some extra volume. Only gave it a 4 for build quality everything else is pretty good

I've been a audiophile for as long as I can remember, ThisAMP Is overly hyped for what you get.To start off if you have a sound card in your computer such as a ASUS XONAR or the CRATIVE X-FI, Dont bother with this amp, These sound cards by themselves will push my 250 OHM DT770's like they are nothing, A Sound card is highly recommended over this AMP, With that being said its a decent amp just overly hyped.Pros:Its in-expensiveIts got great quality for the priceGreat entry-level headphone amp!Cons:The amp itself muddys out the sound compared to being directly plugged in to a sound card, This is partly due to the limitation of having to use RCA cables vs OPTICAL cables.Not enough volume, It only has 3 DB settings, No gain at all, Negative gain (which can be great) & +15DB, But its not enough.Bottom line is this, Its a great Preamp/Headphone amp for entry level, But dont buy this thing expecting the performance of something like 500$ amp....I Use to have a pair of KINYO KY-100's and their 50$ amp did a far better job than the Schiit IEMagni.DO NOT BUY THIS EXPECTING THE BEST! THIS IS A ENTRY LEVEL AMP!

I use a variety of separate DAC and Head Amp units, which I often blog about. And usually, I love to mix and match to find preferences in how a pair may sound.I currently have the IE Magni stacked on top of the older Schiit Modi 3 DAC and this combination has worked out quite well. Actually, it doesn't make a difference which DAC you pair the IE Magni with, as the results will be sterling (in my opinion). However, do keep in mind that the IE Magni is a very precise, sharp and highly defined sounding head amp/Preamp, so if you have a somewhat bright sounding DAC, it may be a bit too much. Using the newer Modi 3+ (which is brighter and a tad harsher sounding than the original Modi 3 - again, my opinion only), I found the sound to be a touch too bright for my taste - thus I mated it with the older Modi 3, and it worked out quite well.Although I have a variety of over the ear headphones and various IEM's, most of my listening with this gear is done via powered speakers. For headphone listening, I tried the HiFiMan Sundara, the HiFiMan HD 400i - 2020 version, the Philips SHP 9500, the Sivga 007, and several others. Each one sounded superb on the IE Magni with no issues with power requirements. Sound was sharply defined and quite accurate.When used with powered speakers - in my case the Presonus Eris E5 XT monitors and a Mackie 8" powered subwoofer under my desk, the sound-staging was superb - quite wide, with excellent depth. Using a Schiit stack, although the sound is more up front, the illusion of space and depth is still maintained, which is not always possible with some other DAC/Amp combinations. Although I'm primarily a tube lover and have a half dozen hybrid tube head-amps/preamps, I must say that adding this Schiit IEMagni to a DAC results in a very musical experience - and surprisingly a sound that is very dynamic, realistic and musical. I can't often say that about solid state components - that's for sure.The only issue some folks may have with the IEMagni head-amp/preamp is the fact that it can get as warm as some tube gear - yes, that's right. The first time I noticed this was when I had it on, warming up for 24 hours and when I went over to plug in a headphone, I wondered why everything was so warm. In fact, it gets almost as warm as the various hybrid tube amps that I maintain. I thought this was odd given that it's a solid state unit. All of my other solid state head amps do not get this warm. But this lone issue is not enough to affect my 5-star rating.So you can't go wrong with the likes of the Magni, Heresy, or the IEMagni - that's for sure. Other units I measured it against were the iFi ZenDAC, Topping D10S with xDuoo Tube MT-602 amp, the JDL Labs Atom DAC X with the Douk Audio P1 tube amp, the Schiit Modi 3+ with the Schiit Modi Vali2+ Tube Amp, and the Micca OriGen 2.There is just something about Schiit products that grows on you - everything is well constructed and feels like high quality gear. Of course, given the prices you pay for their gear - ranging from the lowest entry level prices, to those priced far higher up the scale, you just get quite a bit for your money sound-wise, and that keeps you coming back for more (and more expensive) Schiit equipment.Now do keep in mind (maybe I shouldn't say this), but if you buy the IEMagni off of the Schiit website, you'll save $20. It's actually $20 more expensive if you purchase it off of Amazon (where I happened to purchase mine - before I did my homework. That's to incorporate added Amazon fees, etc.). So keep that in mind.Need I say more!