Schiit Magni Unity vs Schiit Vali 2+

Short answer

  • More power: the Schiit Magni Unity, with 2.50 W into 32 Ω; the Schiit Vali 2+ has 1.50 W. Both drive 567 of the 567 non-electrostatic headphones here to 100 dB, so on that test the difference changes nothing.
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: no headphone here hisses audibly on one and not on the other.
  • Output impedance: 72 headphones are left alone by the Schiit Magni Unity under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the Schiit Vali 2+ (64 Audio Aspire 1, 64 Audio Fourte, 64 Audio Nio, 69 more).
  • Price: the Schiit Magni Unity costs $30 less and gives up nothing on power, output impedance or hiss against the 567 headphones here. Whatever the extra money for the Schiit Vali 2+ buys, it is not these three numbers.

Both are desktop amplifiers, $119 against $149.

On raw power they are level: each reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 non-electrostatic models here.

Side by side

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationSchiit Magni UnitySchiit Vali 2+
Power into 32Ω2.5 W1.5 W
Power into 150Ω622 mW496 mW
Power into 300Ω415 mW400 mW
Power into 600Ω220 mW200 mW
Output impedance0.1 Ω1.8 Ω
Output noise1.59 µV25 µV unverified
Price$119$149
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567		567567
How solid these numbers are

Where each power figure comes from

LoadSchiit Magni UnitySchiit Vali 2+
32 ΩPublishedPublished
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩPublishedPublished
600 ΩPublishedPublished

Both makers publish a power rating. Schiit Magni Unity publishes at 32 Ω, at 300 Ω and at 600 Ω; Schiit Vali 2+ at 32 Ω, at 300 Ω and at 600 Ω. The other rows are worked out from those.

The two publish at the same loads, which is the one case where the rows of this table can be read straight across.

What the labels mean.

What separates them

The headphones that tell them apart

On power they are interchangeable across this whole database: there is no headphone here that one reaches 100 dB on and the other does not.

72 headphones are left alone by the Schiit Magni Unity under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the Schiit Vali 2+ (64 Audio Aspire 1, 64 Audio Fourte, 64 Audio Nio, 69 more).

567 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both.

On real headphones

Headroom and hiss on 8 models, both sources

Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.

The widest gap on the list is the Shure SE846: Schiit Magni Unity has +46 dB of headroom there against +40 dB. 6 dB is about 4 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for Schiit Vali 2+ because that maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsSchiit Magni Unity headroomSchiit Vali 2+ headroomSchiit Magni Unity hissSchiit Vali 2+ hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+46 dB+40 dB damping18 dBnot published
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+26 dB+20 dB damping-2 dBnot published
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+31 dB+30 dB-3 dBnot published
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+29 dB+28 dB-8 dBnot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+25 dB+22 dB-9 dBnot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+22 dB+22 dB-15 dBnot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+18 dB+18 dB-19 dBnot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW+14 dB+12 dB-21 dBnot published
What the price difference buys

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The Schiit Vali 2+ costs $30 more than the Schiit Magni Unity, and on these three axes the money buys nothing: among the 567 models here there is not one that the Schiit Vali 2+ handles and the Schiit Magni Unity does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper Schiit Magni Unity leaves 72 models alone under the one-eighth rule that the Schiit Vali 2+ does not.

Only published figures count here; blank axes are counted separately.

Next

Both pages in full

Each in full: Schiit Magni Unity and Schiit Vali 2+.

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