Upgrade Your Desktop Hi-Fi Setup with This Beautiful, Affordable Amplifier

Schiit Audio is a California-based hi-fi company (with additional manufacturing facilities in Texas) that prides itself on selling high-end audio components at quite attractive prices.

The brand is probably best known for the “Schiit Stack,” which comprises the Magni headphone amplifier and Modi DAC, two of its smallest and most affordable desktop components.

It has updated each of these several times over the years — we first covered them back in 2018 — and now it’s at it again with the Modi 5 and the refreshed Magni.

Schiit’s upgraded stack

Schiit Audio

The newest iterations of the Modi DAC and Magni (now referred to the Magni Unity) headphone amplifier don’t stray far from their original design. In fact, they look exactly the same — with the same aluminum chassis and compact footprint — as before.

The big change is that Schiit has incorporated each with its Mesh conversion technology, which essentially performs a similar job to the proprietary digital filter that Schiit employs in its much higher-end DACs, including the Bifrost ($799) and Yggdrasil ($2,299).

Schiit Audio

According to the company, Mesh “brings this unique digital filter to a much more affordable price point, by meshing (ahem) a 32-bit Microchip processor with a standard delta-sigma modulator. The result? Something that sounds a lot more like our more expensive DACs.” (To dive a bit deeper into this Mesh technology, check out Darko.Audio‘s explanation.)

The Modi 5 has been updated with this Mesh conversion technology, while Schiit Audio still lets you buy the Magni with or without a built-in DAC; if you buy it with the DAC, you get the new Mesh DAC card. (If you plan on stacking the Modi and Magni together, you won’t need the latter to have an integrated DAC.)

Schiit Audio

Price and availability

Both the Modi 5 and Magni Unity with the Mesh DAC are available for purchase from Schiit Audio’s website now. The Modi 5 costs $149, while the Magni Unity (with DAC) costs $199.

Both components are available in either black or silver finishes.

Schiit Audio

Schiit Modi 5

Schiit Audio’s fifth-generation Modi desktop DAC — which is designed to use in a stack with its Magni Unity desktop amplifier — has been updated with Mesh conversion technology. According to the company, Mesh “brings this unique digital filter [featured in its higher-end DACs] to a much more affordable price point, by meshing (ahem) a 32-bit Microchip processor with a standard delta-sigma modulator. The result? Something that sounds a lot more like our more expensive DACs.”

• $149 at Schiit Audio

Schiit Audio

Schiit Magni Unity (w/ Mesh DAC)

Schiit Audio upgraded its popular desktop headphone amplifier, the Magni Unity, by giving it an improved DAC with Mesh conversion technology. This promises to perform a similar job to the proprietary digital filter that Schiit employs in its much higher-end DACs. Aside from this change, it’s the same affordable desktop amplifier as before.

• $199 at Schiit Audio

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