Which headphones of Drop's currently available?
I have some rewards points to burn but there's no obviously good options on Drop right now for headphones Contenders Ultrasone - maybe? I don't own any Ultrasones, so curious. Looks like garbage travel headphone which could be useful also. Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro. - Maybe? I have the DT 880 Good price point, really uncomfortable headphones but could be interesting to try the upgraded version. E-MU - strong contender but $400 is a bad price point for what it is. Which of the above would you choose and why? Nothing else on Drop is relevant to my interests, because Already own 6xx 820 800 s Ether cx Garbage / Consumer grade Meze 99 - garbage bass canons, hard pass No gaming headphones obviously Sennheiser wireless - no to wireless/bluetooth Hifiman - I have 2 of drop hifimans and they make really bad cheap shit on Drop, hard pass on HE-R7DX Aeon - I own the closed, Drop refuses to address #padgate so no reason to buy open Beyerdynamic 177x - wireless, nope Too similar 8x / 560s...
Mar 28, 2024
First of all, the Modi only has unbalanced RCA outputs. So for those speakers you already need a pair of 1/4" TR/TRS to RCA cables to connect that to each other. If you only get a Modi/Magni you will also then need to swap the cables each time on the Modi. You could also buy a switch and have it go like Modi -> Switch -> Magni or Yamaha HS7. If you want to just stick with Schiit they have the Sys, which is a passive pre-amp or switch [reversed, volume knob at 100% all times].
I was in your dilemma not too long ago. I never bought a switch, but my KRK Rokit 8 G3's were my last purchase in my mix of Modi/Magni and then the Sys to fulfill that role, Personally the Sys was just for volume control of the speakers for convenience. I was still unplugging cables regardless.
That all became very tedious and I decided to buy a Schiit Asgard 2 and sell my Magni and Sys. The Asgard 2 is more expensive, but it has 1x pair of RCA in/out respectively (1 pair in; 1 pair out). Another benefit was it had an ACTIVE pre-amp, unlike the sys. The Asgard 2 switches between headphone amp and pre-amp depending on if headphones are plugged in or not. I also own a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 990 600 ohm headphones and the magni was underwhelming in regards to them, so it was a win-win for me.
Another suggestion might be undesirable, but I had seen it suggested depending on your personal needs when looking to resolve my own problem. Some folk on the internet suggested just using your motherboard outputs for the active monitors and the Modi/Magni for headphones. If you have an audio interface by chance you could use that exclusively with your monitors. Other crazy people bought 2 Modi's (wouldn't recommend)!
I wish you luck in finding the most cost-effective option for your needs.
Edit: Added some clarification and a second photo showing I've owned the triple Schiit stack for credibility.