Excellent review Alex.
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thank you for your impressions Alex!
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Excuse me Sir! A mere 2 days early, my in depth review. Ah thank you.
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Pardon my oversight, mate! We might as well close this thread 
Nooo please dont close this thread!!! 
I bought the Magnius and Modius because being an analytica engineering (electrical) type I was curious on how well this pairing would 
sound or not sound compared to my other āstuffā to include the Lyr 3 and Jot and several other ss and tube amps.
The nut of it is the Magnius is an excellent amp and for the price its a wondefully affordable, powerful amp, that even on the SE (less than stellar by some other site accounts) drove my HEDDS exceptionally well. Actually I preferred the sound from the SE outputs vs the balanced outputs!! Imagine that!!
That said for me with these other amps, the Magnius did not trump either the Lyr 3 or Jotā¦so for me no need to really have this amp here except for curosity and review.
But if I were new to this hobby the Magnius would be an excellent choice in an amp.
For the Modius, this was a different experience for sureā¦I could detect a real difference in sound here compared to my Bifrost 2. And my ear clearly like the multi-bit soundā¦IMO clearer, more open etcā¦just more musical all around. Again with that said the Modius did very well but was just different in its sound output etcā¦Some will prefer the Modius AKM 4493 sound over the Multi-Bit sound some will not.
Alex
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Itās interesting how that works - I also sometimes prefer SE over a unitās accompanying balanced connection!
For me, Bifrost 2 versus Modius is an unfair fight. Both are excellent in their respective category.
Iām keeping an eye out for comparisons of the Magnius to the Heresy and Asgard 3, which are closer in weight class (not literally).
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Totally understand thisā¦the idea again was to āexperienceā these two new offerings and for what they are they fit this spot in the cost structure VERY wellā¦
But again fair on unfair people will want to know is it really necessary to pay $500 more for audio nirvana?
The same could be asked about a Bifrost 2 vs Yggyā¦unfair maybe but still a valid comparison ā¦
We will have an Asgard3 here probably late next week to test!
Alex
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Understood and agree - theyāre quality products that fit in their cost structure very well.
You provided an informative and valid comparison that is helpful for us all. I was attempting to provide context. Just because one prefers A over B, doesnāt mean B is not of quality.
Iām eagerly awaiting your Asgard 3 impressions!
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Glad to see u over at the discord!!!
Alex
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You can already get really good sound from $200 stacks like the Magni/Modi or JDS Atom stack. With a great pair of headphones youāll be able to get a fantastic listening experience for sure.
Moving on to $400 stacks, the Modius + Magnius/Asgard 3 will be a definite step up. Iād argue that if you can afford the jump, itās enough to be worth it.
Whatās funny though is that moving up from there, I canāt think of a better upgrade than the Bifrost 2. $500 more expensive than the Modius, but once again, if you can afford it, Iād say itās worth it. (judging by my experience with AKM DACs in general, havenāt heard the Modius for myself)
Either way, I think for HiFi standards, ~$200 is the barrier to entry. Spend more and it gets better. But do you need to? Nah, itās not significant enough to be worth stressing over.
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A number of reviews put them closer than a lot of people imagined. Not sure if its the same difference between the Modius and BF2. BF2 seems like a strong contender for best first option for the DAC between entry level and TOTL (for most people, not talking Bartok $$$ but something in the 2-5k range). Placing a ābetter valueā judgment on the Modius or the BF2 would be an interesting call.
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How does the Gungnir MB fit in this picture.Schiit still sells it for a lot more than BF2, but only about 1/2 of a Yggy, their TOTL.
Dont know for sure. There are a few folks here who would know more about the G than I do. From what I remember reading, the G may be more of a use case scenario, matching with certain gear and ears whereas the BF2 may appeal to more people in general. Technicalities may still have the G on top by a slight margin.
Iāve heard of someone downgrading from a Gumbi to a Bifrost 2. According to that person they were more similar than different, Gumbi being only a hair better, but not enough to justify keeping it over the smaller and less expensive Bifrost 2.
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The Gungnir has a fully balanced circuit (4x Multibit chips), while the BF2 is single ended internally (I believe, with only 1 or 2 multibit chips). I donāt recall the details exactly, but the BF2 doesnāt have as many components or as large a power supply.
Gungnir sounds different. Iāve recently had all three.
BF2 and Yggy both have a warmer sound. Gumby is a leaner / crisper sound. The difference is small, but with sighted comparisons itās plainly apparent.
I sold the Gumby. Still have BF2 and Yggy.
Gumby and Yggy are both are both excellent in their own rights, but I would pair each with different amps/headphones to maximize synergy. On the super clean SET or SS amps like Aficionado, Yggy or BF2 would be my pick. For the warmer sounding amps, Gumby gets the nod.
Edit - Actually, for the warmer amps I would still pick the Yggy as its not so warm as to over do it.
Beyond tone, the Yggy still takes the cake for all the little things like ultramicrodetail (or whatever people refer to as resolution nowadays) and stuff like that, but holy smokes do you need bat ears to pick up the differences between it and the Gumby. ā¦ or even the BF2.
I think thatās what makes BF2 great. Itās very much like a mini Yggy. You arenāt giving up much.
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A person made this comment at head-fi:
Surely, as with the Bifrost 2, the source selection leds serve as a visible front panel indication that the Modius is powered up. No source selection led, no power; source selection led on, powered up.
Its a great point and observation I totally missed!!!
Alex
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FYIā¦
We had the question whether the ādotā on the Magnius volume knob was paint for just the metal showing thruā¦
I asked Schiit and Amy responded to me this morning with:
āIt is where the metal shows through.ā
Mystery solved! When i had mine here it looked like they machined a small indentation and voila a nice small neat visable dot!!
Alex
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Iāve owned all 3 before at different points of my life. Theres 2 version of Gumby btw. Gumby A1 is warmer and A2 is cooler sounding
I would say Bifrost 2 gets pretty close but lose out a bit on resolution, slam? Weāre talking minor differences though. Theyāre all great value products
The upside to bifrost 2 is it doesnāt have āgimp SE outā if you care about that stuff. The SE on Yggy and gumby never bothered me though tbh
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I ordered a Magnius on Friday. It shipped today and Iāll have it tomorrow. I plan to hide it under my RME ADI-2, so Iāll have the option of a balanced headphone output. That might give me the most resolving headphone/DAC rig Iāve owned.
Anyone else tried this pairing??
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