Schiit Magnius Review - Measurements don't tell the whole story.....

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The magnius is a balanced, low cost amplifier that I'm not too keen on, but also don't think schiit had much choice but to make this way.
It's an amp that represents the movements the budget audio market is making. In this video I talk about why I dislike the magnius, why I feel that it isn't schiit's fault, and a little bit about why you shouldn't blindly trust measurements as a guarantee of quality.
1:37 - Power
2:42 - Overall signature
5:40 - Bass
7:00 - Midrange
8:40 - Treble
10:40 - Sound Conclusion
11:18 - Single-Ended Output
13:04 - Pot/Volume Control
13:53 - Measurements Discussion
16:38 - Why schiit designed the magnius this way
19:37 - Conclusion
Intro Song: "Alien" by Dennis Lloyd - song.link/gb/i...
Test Tracks:
Only I (Live) - Skinny Living - song.link/gb/i...
Full Control - Omnitica - song.link/gb/i...
Day by Day - Manganas Garden - song.link/gb/i...
Enough to Believe - Bob Moses - song.link/gb/i...
Take what you want - Post Malone - song.link/gb/i...

[@hafgrim.]

I like your reviews purely for the music discovery.

[@BwanaJesuasifiwe]

He feeds people his opinion as if it’s better than the next audiophile sucker but it’s not

[@ChrisStoneinator]

That's so backhanded lmao

[@bunsw2070]

And I think this was an excellent review. He just saved me from buying this thing for my computer. Joshua Valour put this amp in his S category. Lol. Criticism is the most important thing. Saying everything is pretty good is useless.

[@eyeofsauron7662]

@@bunsw2070I think it’s best to judge something yourself no? Instead of just eating everything up like a goldfish

[@bunsw2070]

@@eyeofsauron7662 How about you buy it and then tell me what you think. Then again, why would I believe the judgement of anyone who would write such a comment?

[@ResilientME]

Instant like for not wasting time showcasing things that the manufacturer site shows & getting right into the sound quality.

[@scotm3599]

Realistically, most people can't afford a 6,000 dollar set of headphones, $ 3k DAC, $ 3k Benchmark AHB2 (which should sound better than the $199 dollar Schiit magnius since it cost more than 15 x the Benchmark) Don't get me wrong. I like you and your videos. I could clearly hear the difference. That being said, many products you have mentioned or reviewed are out of bounds for many people because of the cost. Try to find UNICORNS...great valued audio equipment that the masses can afford. Equipment that performs above average for the price. I am wanting to put together my first "affordable" system. Unfortunately for me my overall budget is only around 3k dollars. Yes, I am depressed!

[@migueltorcuator2152]

Price bias

[@bunsw2070]

He told you which products were better in this price range. What more do you want? There are channels that review nothing but the most affordable equipment so why not go there instead of complaining here? For myself I wish these guys had a clue about what the best equipment sounded like and used that as references (Most of these guys would wet themselves if they could have a top level DCS rig as their DAC but seasoned audiophiles know that type of stuff will kill the hobby for the listener. Real Hifi Help channel has plenty of videos explaining that). Like having an Audio Note DAC 5 Signature and M9 Phono Signature preamp driving a Ongaku Kensai stereo power amp to power Susvaras. I wonder how that would sound compared to these top level electrostatic systems we have today? And do those electrostatic systems sound so good because that headphone technology is hands down superior to anything else? I honestly can't even figure out which of these electrostatic systems sounds best (in case I wanted to buy one). And how is the Hifiman Shangri La Senior power amp designed? Is it balanced and if so, does it have a splitter and if so what topology? What type of rectification does it have? Does it have a choke? What type of filter capacitors and how much? What type of topology are the gain stages? Does it have a cathode follower anywhere? What type of resistors and capacitors and chassis wire is used? How much overall gain does it have? Is there overall loop feedback and/or nested feedback and how much of each? Maybe if the Shangri La system sounds worse than any of the others, the problem is the amp? And being a tube amp means a do it yourselfer could do a way better job. People like me would like to know stuff so we could build our own amplifiers. Each situation would require a different design though so having some info would sure help. I honestly have no idea if any of these OTL tube headphone amps use blocking capacitors in the output. I assume so or the amp would cost a hell of a lot more and require regular tube biasing but how good can the amp sound if it's not also a OCL amp? I guess I'll die without knowing unless I buy the damned amps myself and there is no way I'm buying a Feliks Audio Elise just to find out it has output capacitors. I can guess that already. Are they metalized polypropylene or film and foil polypropylene capacitors? I assume metallized or the amp would be way bigger. Who bloody knows? All they care about is how stunning the chassis feels and looks. Audio Note uses utilitarian chassis and people complain about it while they do zero advertising and their sales triple every three years. They only build things after they've been ordered and paid for and the magazines almost never review their gear. Even when they do they go and plonk one Audio Note component into a preexisting system and then pretend they know how it sounds. The level of stupidity in the world today is increasing so quickly that I'd be surprised if we can keep the lights on in 30 years. They'll think that Chat GPT will take care of it until the lights go out and then it's too late. These audio reviewers today, and I'm not specifically calling out this channel but everyone, have zero idea how electronics works or the degree to which electromagnetism is a mystery. Try to find out how free electrons flow in a conductor. They have almost no idea that isn't a guess. Just on a lark, try to find out what causes Skin Effect in a conductor. You'll find answers but keep looking and you'll find more answers. They all make sense in certain ways but don't make sense in other ways. For Audio Science Review dude to delude himself into thinking they know pretty much everything they need to about electronics and audio is laughable. I bet he keeps getting boosted every chance he gets. And now he's growing an entire army of pseudo science idiots. I'd rather stick pins in my eyes then read the comments on his website. And now that army of clowns are doing real damage. It's just like an engineer. They should leave the thinking to the theoretical physicists.

[@mariodrv]

Z Reviews done right. Subscribed.

[@fclp67]

I appreciate people who dislike Zeos

[@prithvib8662]

Any review that plays different parts of the same track and then records that audio to show the difference to the viewer is so utterly removed from rational comparison. Idk how this review or z reviews has any sort of popularity. This is exceedingly dumb.

[@stubskututstuy]

Wow! New subscriber here. We need more like you in the audio community. Thank you for this well made video!

[@qorkado5007]

18:30 "If it measures awfully, then it's probably going to be awful" Cries in tube amp

[@GoldenSound]

Tube amps are both an exception (because you're buying a tube amp almost explicitly FOR the specific distortion it gives), and also an example of why SINAD alone says very little. Tube amps might have low SINAD due to having high harmonic distortion. But other areas; bandwidth/slew rate, noise floor, behaviour of the transfer function etc (and less/no need for negative feedback) means that they can in many other ways be just as good or sometimes better. Its not that measurements overall are bad. They're not. Its just that picking one specific metric and using it as a linear, unquestionable judge of quality is silly.

[@snowrang3r657]

some tube amps still measure extremely well on noise floor or IMD which I'd say is more important than THD (especially if most of the THD is 2nd order which it usually is on tubes). Look at the ASR measurements on the Chord Qutest it get's 114 SINAD and thus "bested" on the SINAD charts by a lot of other products that cost less than it. But look closer and you'll see the only harmonic is the 2nd and it's noise floor is actually very low. So you can't just glance at the SINAD, you have to look at all the measurements. (and even then perfect sine waves aren't music)

[@differentbutsimilar7893]

@@GoldenSound And funnily enough, when it comes to SINAD, ASR has given some speakers with integrated amps that actually have quiveringly 'poor' SINAD high marks. Considers the JBL LSR306p to be a properly designed speaker, a perfect example of a manufacturer sticking to the science. But if he had measured the amps inside... well lets be honest, he'd have found a way to handwave on that ~55dB SINAD lol It's a good sounding speaker too. I've got older 305's which are enjoyable and probably have about the same quality plate amps inside. But that goes to show the inconsistency.

[@MT-ll3tu]

@@differentbutsimilar7893 They've been caught out many times claiming they can hear above 1% THD on transducers. But the owner couldn't even tell HD650 higher bass distortion from planar HP's or move the goalposts when Speakers measure much worse. But god forbid if you post there saying you own a ER4XR.

[@borisborovcanin8434]

I own an Asgard 3 and an Atom and I agree with you that while they both measure well and should sound a 100% identical in theory, in practice they simply do not. Even when level-matched, there are differences, and this is using the HD800S, an extremely revealing set of headphones. The Asgard 3 is a good match for it, but the Atom is also pleasant. In fact, out of all the op-amp based amplifiers I have tried, the Atom is the most natural sounding one. I was one of the people that tested the Magni 3+ vs the Heresy when they were released simultaneously and the difference in sound was very clear when properly level-matched. Suffice it to say, the Magni 3+ sounded better to me. Sure, I did not do a fully blind test, and was dismissed for it by the ASR crowd, but I don't need their validation to tell me what sounds better to me. Thank you for raising awareness of the fact that measurements do not tell the full story of how a product sounds.

[@Kevin.L_]

Asgard 3 is what I'm considering next. Which DAC are you using?

[@fclp67]

dac and amp measurements are meaningless, they hold no weight whatsoever

[@jamesbittle2138]

Great review. I am glad I'm not the only one who didn't like the Magnius. For the record, I didn't really like the Modius either. I much prefer the Modi MB. I am considering a Bifrost 2 purchase to pair with my Lyr3, or perhaps the new Jotenheim. FYI, I am one of the Americans you referred to in your video. I like buying American products whenever I can.

[@jamesbittle2138]

Update: Bifrost 2 on the way!

[@TheDodgefan9]

I wish they would refresh the Modi Multibit with their Unison USB. I have the Asgard 3, so I can't see myself spending Bifrost money for my lower cost amp and I don't need balanced.

[@ugursenturk5860]

@@TheDodgefan9 do i need balanced?

[@topspin4hand]

Love your style of reviews. The mix of technical detail and sound samples throughout makes it more interesting, and your A/B comparisons help a lot too. Jason Stoddard mentioned in an interview that sales were basically half Heresy and half Magni.

[@1212r12]

Had the chance to listen to Magnius from a friend once. Sounded clean but something felt... off... ended up buying the Asgard 3 and definitely sounds WAY better than Magnius IMO! Creamier, smooth, a little more convincing but in a warm way. It’s sweetened butter!

[@elnrik8655]

Subbed. Great review! Thx

[@dougclendening5896]

You know what else we should stop doing to ourselves? Pretending we listen to gear without EQ'ing it. Fatiguing? Knock down the top end.

[@snowrang3r657]

Great review and discussion topic. I think Jason said the 3+ and Heresy are about 50/50% so for now they're keeping both (when other products in the "thunder-dome" like the tube and solid state pre-amps the tubes won and they stopped the solid state). People wonder why the Magni Hersey, and Magnius are black only. I think it's clear it's because they're "black sheep". Made for people that will follow the measurements rather than what Schiit really wants to build.

[@joosteijkenboom1988]

Man, these video's are awesome. Both scientific AND well thought through. Just found your channel (from the MQA video) but I am going to watch all of it!

[@JumCuggler]

Just a good video. Like Zeos but coherent and intelligent.

[@Heldermaior]

It would be interesting to see you review the Magni 3+ and Heresy. I tried both and kept the Magni 3+.

[@loganwade1459]

Great video, the quality of your content is exceptional.

[@MrCornelius30]

Your music choices.. Oh myyy.. Lurv it.. 👍

[@dasman6621]

I see what looks like a Spring DAC on the left side of your desk. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it ------edit------I was wrong, looks like the May. Way out of my budget...

[@eskamobob8662]

The may is a bit of a high ask. Fwiw, everything I have ever seen on the spring is pretty positive about it (as a dac, the amp has issues) but says the full upgrade pack isn't worth it

[@dasman6621]

@@eskamobob8662 not sure I understand the comment "the amp has issues", since the Spring doesn't have an amp section. As for the KTE vs Lvl 1 vs Lvl 2... I'd love to find a write-up that compares the sonic abilities of the three options. I can't even find anyone that owns or has listened to Lvls 1 or 2. Everyone I know that has one, or that has listened to one, have all been the KTE version.

[@eskamobob8662]

@@dasman6621 am dumb. I am thinking of the azure 👍

[@alan2698]

You just popped up in my feed as I was watching some audio reviews. Really enjoyed the content even though it wasn't a 5 star review for an amp I genuinely enjoy lol. I'm hearing a little bit of what you describe between my Magnius and Asgard 3. In fact, since I picked up my Asgard this past holiday I tend to only use the Magnius for when I game and my Asgard more when listening to music. The Magnius does seem to sound better when I am playing COD Cold War. Like things can get louder more quickly without as much as distortion maybe? Example would be explosions or grenades blowing, especially inside of buildings. Or the sounds of my weapon firing. But when I listen to music I definitely enjoy the Asgard more. Just sounds more musical? I struggle to describe what I am hearing at times. I must say the way you review is calming and is a change of pace to the type of pace and energy I am used to and really enjoy. Great job. Subscribed!

[@ugursenturk5860]

İ had no idea what he is on about. Howevet ive seen a couple reviews now shitting on the magnius which is kind of putting me off. İt will be my first amp.and i want to run balanced. İt will mainly be for gaming and sometimes music. So maybe ill be right. Not sure

[@alan2698]

@@ugursenturk5860 yea. I enjoyed the Magnius until I tried other amps like the Asgard 3, SA-1 and even the Topping a30pro and after hearing those amps I certainly hear and understand what he was speaking about.

[@joshualee6932]

@@ugursenturk5860 Why do you feel the need to run balanced? If your headphones aren't over $1000 there's no point really. The Asgard has just as much power and is significantly better than the Magnius.

[@matusjurcik6974]

quite underrated channel ...

[@ko2y01]

very precise and concise reviewer. subscribed. keep walking your own path different from others👍👍 plus your test tracks are great

[@pierrelafaille3117]

Curious to know what you think of the massdrop THX AAA 789

[@SweAussie]

Stumbled across your channel, great video 👌. +1 subscriber

[@johnhayes8476]

Great video!

[@reximillian]

My first look at GoldSound - wow! Learned alot here!

[@drunkenhearted7256]

As an owner of this amp, he’s 100% correct. This amp will make you take your headphones off sooner than you would think. I quickly had to find another amp that I could listen to for longer sessions.

[@puciohenzap891]

Identical story with the THX789.

[@Ceko]

Which one did you get eventually?

[@drunkenhearted7256]

@@Ceko Thanks for asking. I ended up with the Monoprice Liquid Platinum. It has been providing a much more satisfactory listening experience. I don't feel the need to turn down the volume constantly and can listen for much longer periods of time than I ever could with the Magnius.

[@drunkenhearted7256]

@@puciohenzap891 That's interesting I haven't heard that amp but I guess I'm glad to know that I don't need to run out and purchase one. I wouldn't mind @GoldenSound reviewing that one!

[@dougclendening5896]

What EQ are you using?

[@RenRenification]

Ohh can’t wait for your dac measurements!

[@lukakapanadze6179]

What would your recommendation be for a 200$ balanced AMP?

[@CJNooberson]

mmmmmm

[@Chopper153]

What did you get? I'm in the same boat.

[@mohamedabosin2463]

i guess the new topping L50 will be our goal

[@vladrogonja2012]

Love your videos, can't wait for the DAC shootout video. Thumbs up.

[@RyanRos_33]

Excellent review! I am actually contemplating on buying their Asgard 3.

[@presence5834]

I know the measures do not tell anything about the sound and because the amps are measured to really good these days, I found it easy to buy amps, because a factor is solved naturally. However without a try of the amp, no one would know if the amp sound good or bad, so really for us the measurements are the only option here to see if an amp is worth the money, audiophile is strange man

[@masterxyr]

Enjoyed the review as always. It saddens me that we have these battles all over the internet instead of more dialogue (not you) but it is only natural as people are engineered differently and will frequently have opposite proclivities. Regardless, I do personally believe Schiit are/were trying to make satisfying products especially for the price. Would you reckon a beginner would notice all those issues you mentioned, especially without so much to compare to?

[@galahippo]

what is better for that price?

[@raviviswanathan5081]

Good video and interesting point of view. What other balanced amp would you recommend in this price range instead ?

[@ugursenturk5860]

İd like to know aswell

[@mohamedabosin2463]

i guess the new topping L50 will be our goal

[@timcable]

I would like a recommendation also? Is the A90 better?

[@user-eb4ne2hw6f]

Curious if there are any updates re. the null test video?

[@hopsonz28]

Nothing like comparing a Honda to a Ferrari!?!?! Nothing wrong with Honda. They make great affordable and dependable cars. You said it yourself. Not everyone has $6,000 dollar headphones. And using $6,000 headphones to test a $200 product is not a fair comparison. It also doesn’t make sense when you said “products that measure bad sound bad. But products that measure good don’t necessarily sound good”? That doesn’t make sense. You can’t have it both ways. I don’t get any of the issues you said with my Sennheiser Momentum (first gen) or Campfire Audio Andromeda S headphones. Again at its a $200 beginner product.

[@electrobeats8203]

The quality of your content is excellent. Keep it up 👍

[@CryptoWolf]

Well presented and quite engaging. I subscribed.

[@eskamobob8662]

Looking forward to the measurement vid!

[@perinkolamanandganesh4226]

Great review again. Wonder what’s your view on Topping A90 and the Schiit Jot 2.

[@GoldenSound]

A90 will be coming soon. Filmed a review of the Ambient Accoustics MAD24 which will be up next. After that a90 :) Jot 2 I'd love to try but would need to find someone near-ish to me that has one

[@perinkolamanandganesh4226]

@@GoldenSound looking forward to the A90.

[@mbq1026]

fantastic review!

[@hshv1618]

i just got mine and the volume knob on the amp isn’t on and when i try to put it on it won’t work can you help?

[@hakan7346]

Still waiting on the colors video. It's my second time watching this video and that joke cracked me up man.

[@mranthony1886]

oooh love your wall

[@Kevin.L_]

Second video I've seen of yours. I subscribed after the first. Excellent stuff! Very much looking forward to future videos.

[@williamnaman3570]

If measurements mattered, vintage audio would be worthless.

[@TheGamerUnknown]

I hope we can get a Jotunheim 2 review! I am extremely curious if it works out better than the Magnius. :)

[@GoldenSound]

I'd love to review it. Would need someone to send me one though. Its not available anywhere in the UK

[@nlovelldev]

@@GoldenSound Does Electromod not stock it? Last I checked they had the Jot2

[@andysummersthxcinemaandmyc7748]

Man, these video's are awesome. Both scientific yet I don't see any test equipment on that bench I must be on the wrong channel?

[@akaspookie]

Damn and here I was enjoying my modius and magnius as an upgrade to my motherboard's poor audio.

[@Synth1977]

I am looking into buying the Magnius/Modius stack, however I prefer speakers over headphones. What is your thoughts about getting the Gjallarhorn amp for the stack to drive speakers?

[@ohnonate]

Great review! thanks ! new sub. by using this for pre amp only for active speakers, would this change the sounds from the doc or purely volume control only?

[@paulyllow]

I have a Modi3+. On day 1 I thought it sounded like crap, with all the negative traits you described similar to the Magnius. Since the Modi3+ has no power switch , i just left it on. Few days later, it suddenly sounds so much better-spacious, uncompressed , bass and treble all sounded clean and bold. If your Magnius is brand new, you may want to give it a full two days burn in period before reviewing it.

[@Heldermaior]

The problem with measurements is that most of us (and I am a physicist) are not trained to understand what those impacts are. There are so many factors from personal preference to things like, how much can your dac create 3 dimensionality for the sound which are not measurable in any test. Especially no test using a simple sine wave. The only test I can think that would answer that question would be to inject complex wave forms and instead of the FFT (which is boring anyway), use wavelet calculations to get an estimate of frequency separation AND phase measurements and then compare it to the imput signal. This would require a lot of calibration as you need a way to test the signal you are introducing (for instance, making something sound muffled on purpose to simulate distance to help in measuring sound stage) and for that you need a neutral listening platform... that is the only thing I can come up with and it would probably be pretty incomplete too. In the end, try them out and get what you like I guess...

[@pascaljean2333]

Omg every one in the Audiophile community needs to listen to this video at 15min in

[@CasuallyGaming909]

What a mad man.

[@dynamic-audio]

Please review the new Aune X7s 2021 version. It has its own discrete desing with 8 transistors.

[@timlink7817]

My experience with the "compressed" sound has been that I can create that or create a bonkers dynamic sound or anything in between with subtle adjustments to EQ. I used to allow an auto EQ feature on my Behringer unit to EQ my room. It would sometimes come out sounding terribly flat and boring. So I'd move the microphone a few inches and try again . Then it might come out sounding bonkers dynamic, impactful, delicate details revealing themselves, all that. More recently as I've tried different methods to EQ to a proper response I've again come across massively different presentations in the apparent dynamics of the sound when shooting for the same goal but just trying different approaches to the EQ. It seems like every time I do it I get something different. I will generalize in saying a scooped sound tends to sound less dynamic. A bit more energy in the midrange with the right fall off rate into the highs I think has something to do with creating that smashingly dynamic, fast, exciting sound. Too much upper treble never sounds dynamic to me. It adds detail but fogs the dynamics. It's like a very razor sharp in-focus picture where you can see absolutely every tiny detail but the picture as a whole is a bit washed out and pastel. It can look good for some pictures.

[@RobinSylveoff]

I'll be honest I bought the Magni Heresy because I wanted a black amp to match the black Modi, so I'm a bit annoyed they didn't have the 3+ in black

[@irzyxelwj]

Nice. My question would be how does this apply to the preamp side. Meaning do you still see these issues with the balanced outputs using the pre-amp function as opposed to the headphone amplifier function?

[@lmao-c]

yey

[@mikeythanos]

Been waiting for this one

[@thelogicmatrix]

I love this channel it's about as objective as you can be and gives a deeper look at the specifics and cuts through the bullshit

[@joshbarron3]

Not purchasable from the UK Schiit store currently, but will you ever want to review Asgard 3 & how it pairs with Bifrost 2? :)

[@RathOX]

Wont be for months i spoke to the owner of the schiit uk store

[@joshbarron3]

@@RathOX Yep, thought as much - thanks.

[@RathOX]

@@joshbarron3 theres a few “new” ones on ebay but i personally have bought from schiit us a few times and customs has been less than uk markup

[@joshbarron3]

@@RathOX Ah yep another consideration! I actually lucked out big time, UK store had some graded stock of returns/ display units - snapped up an Asgard 3 with multibit dac for £280, happy with it, silver metal unit looks amazing - just wanted someone that knows their audio to say good things about it so I can feel more like my purchase was a good choice haha

[@RathOX]

@@joshbarron3 i noticed! Im uk too and was looking at some steals!

[@Go-nb9jz]

Should I purchase this or the thx aaa one? I will use hifiman he400se with it

[@ARMediaOfficial]

Any chance you’re going to cover the Valhalla 2 or lyr 3? Looking to upgrade from my Vali and would love your opinions. Loving the channel!

[@aldphillip2003]

Eitr is pronounced "eater"

[@RtH4rbr3cht]

Not if you are English! Think al- lou-mini-uhm........Thanks for the reviews. Cheers!

[@sketchy7718]

Are you gonna review THX AAA 789 amp or Schiit Asgard 3 ?

[@thehunattila1]

Yes please. I tried both and went with the Asgard 3. I would love to hear your choice and reasoning.

[@puciohenzap891]

Skip the 789, same sound signature as the this Schiit - artificial.

[@Spyrozzz]

9:58 , this voice sounds familiar ..it sounds like ozzy? 10:30 Wow he sounds a lot like ozzy , 11:30 I hear him again and pause the video and saw it is indeed ozzy XD , I didn't know he was on a trap song ....Anyway great review , I was a click away from ordering this amp and you saved me 200 + euros .

[@RyuMasterEX]

Just like the modi measures better than the yggy, yet the schiit sell the yggy 20x more. How many of those who own both would say the modi is better?

[@Ceko]

I didn’t quite get what you think of the Heresy and Magni 3+. Is the Heresy comparable to the magnius?

[@ugursenturk5860]

İ think he is saying the heresey measures better than the magni 3+ but the magni may sound smoother better

[@letsgobrandon6545]

Would be nice to hear your take on Ragnarok and Freys S eventually

[@Yellowredstone]

So the complete opposite of the Modius, which is what it's marketed to be paired with. Kinda disappointing but also vary informative!

[@RathOX]

This is intriguing

[@MazeFrame]

Finally someone put this in video form! Thanks!

[@mariodrv]

What ASR is doing to the market is tragic. This needs to stop.

[@natethuerk3493]

Omg so true..... it’s the Qasr cult....

[@xOogieBoogie3x]

They're needed, but they shouldn't be outright relied on. They crack down on proper snake oil better than anybody.

[@mariodrv]

@@xOogieBoogie3x Yes, their measurments are very usefull, but that they crack down on snakeoil better than anybody else is debatable at best. Since Amir started pushing snakeoil himself with the gospel of SINAD and the subsequent good measuring but crappy sounding chifi amps (he has dubious business connections to) and DAC's. No one is imune to snakeoil - we all want to believe that we made the right, the better choice...

[@acbarnard]

What, uncovering snake oil? Yes, let’s continue supporting companies selling poorly engineered products at exorbitant prices.

[@JDS_im]

​@@acbarnard Yeah, let's force the market to continue selling the most impressive numerical values for the lowest prices, and ignore differences we believe to hear be it positive or negative, because the numbers tell us that the ears are hearing perfect sound. What an absolutely brilliant idea! For real, who is actually drinking the snake oil? Those who judge audio products based on how good they sound, or those who judge audio products based on how far it can push the numbers rolling out of an audio analyzer? I'd rather spend $2000 on an amp that sounds good to me and will last me a lifetime, than $130 on an amp that spits out numbers so impressive that it might blow up my headphones. But hey, different strokes for different folks! If the numbers make you happy, you do you. ;)

[@davidmeyer1054]

Sup British Zeos.

[@marcusloo767]

I like how much more detailed this guy is along with the video quality

[@RathOX]

Better than zeos tbh, zeos just thinks everything is great and memes around

[@ChrisStoneinator]

@@RathOX If only it were that wholesome... Zeos thinks everything is either great or a personal affront to his ears, and generally finds an excuse to throw his toys out of the pram either way.

[@RathOX]

@@ChrisStoneinator yup

[@chrisladouceur4093]

Sounds like it’s an old magnius. Try the newer versions

[@fishcommander100]

I appreciate you, Golden One.

[@Shozimus]

Its still immposible to get in EU, at least Poland for say. There is not even a place I can listen to one. As for The Magnius is not a priority on my list. Freya preamp is quite interesing.

[@Shozimus]

@M S that is a problem in Poland to. There is no chance to actually listen to their gear anywhere in the country, and I think IT goes the same for a Europe

[@frederf69]

Thank you, I was thinking of getting a Mag/Mod stack 💩💩🤣🤣

[@fixxxer4234]

What can you recomend for an Arya user to be? What amp could be a good match for similar price? I don't have DAC also, prefer not schiit. It was a long time going but this review and my own magni 3+ have showed me i will not be going with Schiit for my own endgame.

[@AbideinChristFully]

Just look at the boards and you can see the cheap components with almost a blank board with almost no capacitors.

[@carminedesanto6746]

An uptown Zeos 🤣

[@666PANDEMONIUM]

Did you just say Kim Jong Un?

[@kingjongun7295]

Pog im famous

[@onlylove1992]

Been waiting here way too long to get one here in the UK. The pandemic sucks

[@GoldenSound]

I'm actually selling one on behalf of a friend if you're interested

[@onlylove1992]

​@@GoldenSound Thanks for your kindness, however after watching your honest review I turned my head round

[@GoldenSound]

@@onlylove1992 probably a wise choice XD

[@Exeonz]

What am I suppose to make out of this when you're the only reviewer that gave Magnius a negative review?

[@GoldenSound]

Entirely up to you. First thing i'd suggest is checking if the other reviewers have an affiliate link for the magnius in their description. If they do, then they have a financial incentive to give it a good review....

[@johnwright8814]

I think that you attribute deficiencies in the tracks that you choose to the products you are reviewing.

[@mrfrosty3]

Reviewing audio gear with music? Absurd!

[@Shiegao]

Whats a good amp for ldc x you would recommend

[@phillipnunya6793]

I was initially skeptical of this video, but you have convinced me. My guess is that most popular audio reviewers are very used to comparing measurement focused op amps to measurement focused op amps.

[@kautkascitadaks]

A shame that most people are only interested in measurements without having any idea of what it means. But the problem with how it actually sounds, is that it subjective and unless somone like Dalai Lama does the reviews it will never ever be the full truth. For it to be usable for all thw reviewiever has to be an enlightened being. Otherwise it can never work. So I guess it is gonna kep going this way untill people finaly wake up.

[@pascaljean2333]

ASR just does measurements, and now companies like audio GD suffer because people just follow the numbers and not the sound.

[@puciohenzap891]

Yeah but how can we get rid of them? We can't just ban/block their forum just because...even though they are doing harm to the audio industry by showing raw data that's meaningless where it counts most - the sound.

[@puciohenzap891]

This is what you get when manufacturers try to get into ASR's circlejerk - perfect measuring but badly sounding products. Our ears hate dead flat sounding gear, there is like ZERO evidence of high SINAD making something sound good to human ears.

[@gordonfreeman4491]

Sounds like you have some sort of affiliation to ASR, you talk about them a lot.

[@GoldenSound]

I don't have any affiliation with asr or Amir no. I've posted on their forums now and then but that's all. I really do appreciate that asr has made objective testing of popular audio equipment so accessible. That is fantastic and objective performance IS important. Though I do take issue with some of the absolutism and refusal to take criticism of testing methodology. Notable examples being the yggdrasil or Diana v2 reviews. There is plenty of snake oil in audio and calling out BAD products is a good thing. But the assertion that two products will sound identical simply because they have >100dB sinad is simply not true. There is so much more that can be different for a dac/amp and the fact that two well measuring dacs neither sound the same nor have a high correlation depth when a null test is done shows that there is more to the story. I personally find both sides a little frustrating. Those that claim that measurements are useless and should be ignored are wrong. But those that claim all products with >100dB sinad are unquestionably transparent and will sound identical are also wrong. I do wish there was a little more room for discussion somewhere in the middle. Hopefully my upcoming video objectively demonstrating differences between dacs should open up a good avenue for discussion. The idea of it won't at all be to say which dacs are better/worse. Only to show that some dacs are more similar to others in real world use playing actual music. And then to start a discussion as to the factors which might be contributing to those differences.

[@gordonfreeman4491]

@@GoldenSound I agree, both aspects re meassurements and the use of them are needed. So a good reviewer has an eye on both.

[@fclp67]

I'm gonna go ahead and say measurements for dacs and amps are literally meaningless, distortion is on inaudible levels, none of it corresponds with sound quality

[@robertpolka630]

interesting how 95% of reviews of this are good.......

[@frederf69]

ASR are in bed with Topping

[@ReTr093]

I agree that it's a piece of shit