Schiit Magnius Balanced Headphone Amp and Preamp

magnius is schiits (brand) competitor into the headphone amplifier market, and it delivers. ive got a pair of sennheisers that i'll admit aren't difficult to drive, and magnius has such a clean interpolation of my lossless quality tunes. it's extremely pleasant to have critical listening sessions w magnius stacked w modius (dac) because they open up the music in such a way that sends other—more expensive—equipment to the cleaners.i have them paired via magnius's balanced input, so there's clean, unfettered return of artist-intended sonic reproduction that i can really appreciate.magnius also has a pair of balanced (xlr) or single ended (rca) outputs for connections to studio monitors, which i am utilizing for audio mixer input in order to output to a lot of speakers the mixers reign over. this way i can have greater control of the music if i don't want to listen via headphones, which when plugged in mutes the output. there's no selection you can make on the hardware itself, so i have to keep it thru headphones because i don't want to damage the hardware or the balanced cable i invested some money in.

If you have watched any of the reviews you will have expectations when you buy this. I paired the modius and magnius. I use these for basic headphone usage and pre-amp outs to a set of yamaha powered monitors. Value for money is great compared to the competition and I enjoy supporting a US based manufacturer. not sure why portability is a rating for this, it is not meant to be portable, like... at all. If you want a portable amp do not buy this, there is no battery option lol.

Hey, it's a crowded segment of the market. Matched with the Modius DAC this combination just can't be beat. Offers SE or balanced connections, strong confident presentation, I've had hours of trouble-free, quality listening and was happy to own it. You have to spend a whole lot more to get a better product. I bet for 90% of the population, this would be a welcome end destination to high fidelity sound.

I am making this review ignoring the fact that I am now returning my second Magnius because both of the Magnius came defective.This product does absolutely nothing more than impress me with their Magni+ variant.The Magnius is a good amp.However, if you're not an extreme audiophile, but still want high quality audio, spend $100 on the Magni+ and $200 or $300 on quality, open-back headphones.My favorite go-to for this are the Sundara, which go for $300.Sure, the Magni+ doesn't output as much power as the Magnius, but if you want more volume, spend $100 on a DAC.The Magni+ with a budget DAC is cheaper and a much more cost-effective choice in my opinion.And if anyone's curious, the first Magnius I got gave a static now through the right headphone.Tried different cables, different headphones, and it kept producing static on the right.The second one sounds utterly broken when I turn the Gain on. As in, there's nothing remotely close to a cohesive sound. It was all just different frequencies of static noise. With the Gain off, it sounded perfect.Get the Magni+, you will not be disappointed.

I'm upgrading out of using either built in audio and for phones a usb-c dongle/fiio dac-amp. And without surprise it's better once you get XLR cables that fit. The first set was 90° set in hopes to make a short jump. But they require a large loop, don't lock in and you can't fit them both in. So keep it simpler with normal 3 pin.

The Magnius works great with my system. Could not ask for better sound and control. My old system was 20 years old and didn't make it in our move to New Mexico, spent $2,300 back then. Now retired, my budget was $750.00 and the Schiit Magnius is spot on! Nothing negative to say about this new system. Everything positive for Magnius.

Really well made balanced amp. Also the cheapest Balanced made in the USA. I have Bought other items from Schiit before and i have not had any issues with any of their other products. I wholly recommend!

This is probably the most under-rated headphone amp on the market. However, to get the most out of this amp, it should be used with a DAC that has a balanced output and used with headphones that have a balanced headphone cable. Balanced connections come in several different configurations, such as XLR or 4.4mm, so you may have to buy an adapter for your balanced cable to connect to this amp (or may not, depending on what balanced cables you have).