Recording - March 2018 - 57

Schiit Audio
Modi 2 DAC
and Magni 3
Headphone Amp

I've written about a couple of products from Valencia, CAbased Schiit Audio in the past, most recently the Fulla 2 portable
DAC/headphone amp/USB interface (December 2017). For
those of you who are new to the company, yes, the name's
pronounced just as it appears to be-the folks at Schiit are
highly irreverent (to put it mildly) about their production of
American-made products with American-made parts at prices
that most "audiophile" companies would consider sacrilegious.
Along with the Fulla 2, Schiit provided me with a pair of
desktop modules that pair up wonderfully for high-quality
headphone listening: the Modi 2 D/A converter and the
Magni 3 headphone amp. After a few weeks of using them, I
came away very impressed.

Modi 2

The Modi DAC has been a mainstay of the Schiit line for
some time now, and the latest version offers improved audio
performance while retaining an unheard-of price. There are
two fancier models than the one I reviewed, which add more
digital input connection formats and a multibit D/A based on
an Analog Devices SHARC chip.
It's a 24-bit/192 kHz D/A converter in a cleanly-designed
aluminum enclosure, based around an AKM chip for the actual
conversion. Input is USB and output is unbalanced RCA; the
Modi 2 runs on bus power. There's a white LED on the front
indicating power/connection and a tiny switch on the back to
place the unit in Simple mode (no Windows drivers needed,
sample rate limited to 96 kHz). That's it-no muss, no fuss. I
ran it through two of my reference headphone amps and was
gratified at its clean and unhyped sound.
Some specs: the Modi 2 has a maximum output level of
1.5V RMS, at which its THD is under 0.002%, its IMD is under
0.003%, and it's flat from 20 Hz to 20 kHz ±0.1 dB. It's not
meant to be listened to on its own; you run its output into an
amplifier, such as...

Magni 3

The latest Magni headphone amp is reportedly a complete
redesign of the unit, with an all-discrete current-feedback gain
stage that's usually found on much more expensive amplifiers.
In an enclosure sized to match the Modi, it features unbalanced
RCA inputs, unbalanced RCA outputs to drive powered monitors
or a larger amplifier, a Hi/Lo gain switch, and a power switch

$99 each; www.schiit.com
for its 16 VAC wall-wart power supply (the only part of it that's
not USA-made). The front face sports a white power LED, 1/4"
TRS headphone jack, and smooth level pot.
In listening sessions where I drove the Magni 3 from the
analog outputs of studio gear that I was familiar with, including
mixing consoles and a few different audio interfaces, I was
impressed with its clarity and power handling capability. Even
with my 600Ω AKG K240M headphones, the Magni 3 could
get plenty loud, and it sounded fantastic on my lower-impedance
headphones and in-ears.

Together

The bulk of my listening was done with my computer feeding
high-resolution audio files (generally 24/96 with some CD
WAVs and 24/192 files) to the Modi 2, which in turn fed
the Magni 3 via good-quality RCA cables. I had some inkling
of what to expect from my experiences with the Fulla 2, but
I was still highly impressed with the detail and clarity of the
Modi/Magni combination. Tiny mix details, audio edits, and
the like, were presented honestly and unapologetically, and in
switching to my audio reference library, I found the two units
to be a joy to listen to.
My only small worry about these boxes is that they use
unbalanced connectors, which might make them susceptible
to radio-frequency noise in studios with badly shielded gear
or lots of nearby interference. While I had no issues in any of
my listening sessions in various locations, some users in rooms
with lots of RF crud might miss having balanced I/O.
There's not a lot more to say here; these two boxes bring
any studio a higher level of listening fidelity and accuracy
than you'll get with the headphone output of most audio interfaces. While they can't match the quality and I/O capability
of high-end pro products, they're fantastic for teaching new
recording musicians what good audio can sound like-and
how to spot and deal with bad audio. For a wide range of
musicians who thought they were stuck with whatever headphone
outs they had, Schiit just got real.
RECORDING March 2018

http://www.schiit.com

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