Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions
iatsbohdan
200
Oct 3, 2017
I wanted to buy this amp for my upcoming 6XX's, but then Magni 3 came out, and now there's no point in buying this. Magni is more powerful, which is better for the hard-to-drive cans, and its output impedance is less than 1 ohm, while A30's output impedance is 10 ohms for the 6.3 output and 30 (!!!) ohms for the 3.5 output, which makes it a bad choice for sensitive IEMs. I can't find any adequate reason why somebody would buy this one over Magni 3. Can't say anything against the dac and the speaker amp though.
shimage
228
Oct 5, 2017
iatsbohdanFirst, max power output doesn't really matter, so long as the amp can drive the cans without clipping, and there are very few cans out there that want more power than what any halfway decent amp can provide. And in any case, HD650s are pretty efficient anyway. They need <0.5mW to hit 90+dB. Even a cell phone can do that without breaking a sweat.
Second, output impedance isn't a cut and dried issue. See, for example, https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/musings-headphone-amplifier-output-impedance It'll also give you a bit of that OTL tube sound, if it's something you're into. That said, if you're using the amp for IEMs with crossovers, it's going to seriously mess with the FR. For planars or high-impedance cans (eg, DT880, HD6x0) it won't matter. Even the TH-x00 will be fine, because they don't have that big impedance bump in the midbass that most dynamics do.
Third, I can think of several other reasons. It has both 1/4" and 1/8" jacks, which is nice if you have a bunch of different headphones and switch between them, as I do. It has 3 gain levels, 0dB, 9dB, and 18dB, vs the magni's 6dB and 17dB. It doesn't get anywhere near as hot as the magni, especially when running on low power (my magni 3 hits 100deg easily, the A30 is typically 10deg cooler). It has a loop out instead of a preamp out, which means I don't have to use cable splitters. Oh and one last thing, it turns on instantly unlike schiit amps. My magni 3 is only delayed for a few seconds, so it doesn't really matter, but my old magni took like 10+ sec before it would start making noise. That gets old pretty fast. I know I could just leave it on all the time, but since mine gets so hot I try not to.
Ostewart
246
Oct 5, 2017
shimageYou can also roll op-amps to tune the sound of the A30, over the "supposedly superior" fully discreet Magni3.
PRODUCTS YOU MAY LIKE
Trending Posts in Audiophile