This super-compact budget desktop amp/DAC can replace a mini hi-fi stack, and it's perfect for budding audiophiles

Angled front view of the Schitt Audio Magni Unity on a black background.

• New Mesh DAC delivers the same digital filter as the firm's flagships
• More than enough power for almost any headphones
• $199, or $209 if you want the silver one

Schitt Audio has launched an updated version of its Magni Unity headphone amplifier, with the firm's new Mesh DAC card to deliver what it calls "a complete one-box amp/DAC solution".

The extremely small, modular system is designed to deliver similar performance to the firm's flagship DACs for considerably less money: the Magni Unity with Mesh DAC is priced at $199 in black, or $209 if you want it in silver. International availability and pricing hasn't been confirmed just yet.

The Magni Unity is still available without the DAC for the same price as before, $119 / $129.

(Image credit: Schitt Audio)

Schitt Audio Magni Unity with Mesh DAC: key features

The Magni Unity delivers 2.5W of power into 32 ohms and has three gain settings to cover most headphone types. It has a "vanishingly low" noise floor – Schitt says noise is inaudible "on all headphones and IEMs".

If you go for the Mesh DAC version of the Magni Unity it features the same "megacomboburrito" digital filter as Schitt's more expensive DACs, enabling you to have a high-end-matching desktop DAC and amp setup without the separate units that usually entails, so it fits in a very small space: 5 inches by 3.5 inches.

Schitt is pretty irreverent with its product descriptions, claiming that the Unity's distortion is "unmeasurable at normal listening levels; 1000x lower than the typical headphones you're using" and noting that while the amp gets "moderately warm" with a DAC card "this is fine, we have made much hotter-running stuff that lasts farrrrrr past the warranty."

More information on the Mesh DAC is available on the Schitt website.

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