I have a Schiit Magni 2. I liked the sound of the amp and it's ability to drive almost anything. After enjoying the Schiit for several months I purchased a pre-amp with its own headphone amp (Bryston BP17).
I gave the Schiit to a headphone deprived buddy on an extended loan.
Now I'm wondering how the Bryston stacks up against the Schiit.
Has anyone done a comparison?
It used to be that headphone jacks were an after thought and not to be taken seriously. Fortunately that has changed (I believe).
I have no complaints with how the Bryston handles my heaphones (Sennheiser HD598 and Audio Technica ATH-M50X)
but I can't stop thinking about how they'd sound with the Schiit.

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Can you select PHONES with your pre-amp or do you have to turn your speakers off when using your phones. The Phones jack on my int. amp works fine but I have to turn off the speakers as the phones jack is always on. This means I can not leave the phones connected as I would like to when using the main speakers. Just curious if yours is the same.

? take your headphones over to your buddy's place, and listen to his Schitt.

Cheers, del Sol

Inserting the headphones automatically mutes the speakers.

-- 28 Jun 2017 15:36 --


Difficult to do, he's on the left coast and for the record he's borrowing my Schiit.

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He who is like the wind blowing from your pants.

Sorry confused here - you had the Magni and liked it, now you have the Bryston - so don't you know how both units sound to make your own comparison
jp

When I had the Magni I wasn't doing an analysis of it's sound. It did a job and did it well. I bought a pre that has a headphone jack. And it sounds pretty good as well but different.
I never did a back to back direct comparison.
I can make a guess but I'm wondering if my experience is typical. that's really all I'm asking.
If I had the Magni here I'd hook it up and do the comparison myself.
If the prevailing opinion is that the Magni is a lot better, I may request the unit be returned and enjoy even better sound.
My memory, being what it is, tells me the Magni is better. Not leagues better, but better.
Can pre-amps (integrateds as well) compete sonically with separates?
If they can't why include them at all?
What's your experience?

_________________
He who is like the wind blowing from your pants.

No experience in this area but Bryston builds their own dedicated headphone amp ( BHA-1 ) so that might hint at your answer.

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No matter how hard you try, you can't cure stupid.
Unknown

Hello thanks for the clarification - no experience with the Bryston but do have the sames phones as you and have a Schiit Vali amp. I have compared this to the headphone output in my Linn Intek and the the Vali is as good as the Linn but a "softer" sound (maybe not quite as dynamic - it is tubed) to my aging tinnitus plagued ears. Of the built in headphone amps I recall hearing, I think my Audiolab 8000a has been the best. I would say it sounds better than the Linn or Vali (or Maverick as well). But I could live with any one of them with any of the phones I have.
jp

Man I hate when you buy a new piece of gear and can't hear the difference immediately and dramatically. Always makes me question my decision to purchase. That being said, is the Bryston new? Still burning in? I would have thought the Bryston would blow the doors off of the Shiit.

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The BP 17 is a approx. a year old. I bought the store demo unit. It's safe to say its' had a lot of burn in.
The BP 17 is a very good pre. Under rated IMHO.
Thinking about it now, the one thing I didn't check was the headphone output.
It's only been the last few years that I've developed an interest in headphones. My previous Pre is a Classe' Four that has no headphone jack thus the purchase of the Schiit Magni 2.
One thing I'm sure of is that the Bryston's headphone section is not dramatically better that the Magni's. The Magni may in fact be a bit better.
Unless a units headphone section is noticeably bad or better than average, reviewers seldom mention it.
I hate to think that manufacturers are including a headphone section just to pander to current trends.

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He who is like the wind blowing from your pants.

That just sucks! And also speaks to the quality of the Shiit Magni 2!

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I've been warped by the rain, driven by the snow, drunk and dirty and don't cha know that I am still willin'

I would think that the Bryston volume control would have much better L-R channel balance at all positions than the Schiit.

Not saying this is the case with the BP 17, but given Bryston does not post the specifications of it’s HP out does leave one to suspect. They do state headphones with impedances greater than 50 ohms should only be used. This leads me to believe their headphone out has a somewhat high output impedance. The golden rule is the output’s impedance should be 1/8 or lower than the HP’s nominal impedance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headphone ... _Impedance

This is my conclusion as well. The Bryston comes across as a preamp first, that just happens to have a headphones jack that taps off the preamp's line stage. The Schiit is, on the other hand, a dedicated heaphones amp, complete with it's own little classA/B power amp.

Hard to say which would sound better; with the Bryston less is more, but with the Schiit more is more. All this assumes your headphone impedance is well above 50ohms. With low impedance cans, my money's on the Schiit.

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To a hammer, everything looks like a nail

My two main pairs of headphones:
Audio Technica ATH M50X-38 ohms
Sennheiser HD 598-50 ohms

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He who is like the wind blowing from your pants.