ABOUT MAGNA HIFI

Magna Hifi is a company comprised of two partners, Rob and Jos. Together we founded Magna Hifi in order to overcome the limitations and improve on the musical characteristics of a popular media streamer that we won’t name out of professional courtesy. Although the convenience of this media streamer was notable, the sound quality itself could have been better. Both Rob and Jos have backgrounds in electronics, and both work at a high-tech hardware and software company—so, it comes as no surprise that the streamer was soon fully disassembled on our work table. The improvements we developed convinced us to establish Magna Hifi and dig deeper into possible improvements for other devices.

For me, making music has never gone further than some amateur flute-playing and taking a few organ lessons. Listening to music, however, went quite far indeed. As a kid, sitting in front of the radio with a tape recorder, delivering newspapers on cold mornings with headphones for an early-model Walkman on my nearly frozen ears, I made a habit out of surrounding myself with music. The first money I ever earned was used to purchase a real Philips stereo ‘tower’, which I then spent many pleasant listening hours with in my bedroom.

Repairing CD players

Every day, on my way to school, I passed a Philips Technical Service Center, which had a truly magical appeal. I ended up working there as an audio service engineer. And, of course, quite a few devices among the higher-order Philips audio series left that building from time to time, winding up in my home, including CD960 CD player and one of the very first Philips car CD players. While CD players were still in their infancy, I already had two! From my car, the original hat shelf was quickly replaced with a serious DIY construction, resulting in many hours of pleasant driving.

Hifi got my interest

Moving to a new home was the excuse my wife needed in order to banish those huge Philips speakers. But before long, a couple of Xanadu speakers and an NAD amplifier replaced them. An accidentally fallen speaker (whoops!) led to an upgrade to MKII. At the same time, I took the opportunity to go fully digital with Sonos and Cambridge CD/DAC). After some growing pains, the music bug has seriously bitten me. Much later, when we found out during our coffee breaks that we shared the same passion for high-end audio, Jos and I started a hobby project, caught Sonos by the horns and, as a result, the first ‘Magna’ streamer was born….the rest, as they say, is history.

Music has always been central in my life. At the tender age of six, I played flugelhorn, and later I switched to the trombone. I played everything from symphony orchestra music to show bands and musicals. In addition to music, technology has always interested me greatly, and I ended up making that my profession. It was the relationship between electronics and digital technology that especially caught my interest.

Hobby

The ‘audio hobby’ started when I was sixteen years old when my dad gave me a set of audio speakers to renovate. Soon after, there came a homemade DC-coupled FET/transistor amplifier, which were later replaced by two mono tube amplifiers with construction schedules of the firm Klare van Hoorn, which I visited frequently, almost daily. Then one day I got the chance to take over a set of the new full range of Martin Logan (CLS II). I made my own power supply (6000 volts cascade) and my uncle, a furniture craftsman, made the wooden frames.

DIY

Not long after, perhaps because I talked about nothing else, I suddenly had friends, neighbours and acquaintances asking me to build speakers and to assist in selecting a hi-fi set. The latter was a very nice of course, since of course I did not have much money of my own to spend!

Many years later, while the audiophile hobby just getting started, and after I had worked together with Rob for some time, we had our first conversation about audio….a conversation that has continued to the present day. Of course, audio shop talk on its own was not the immediate start of Magna Hifi, but it wasn’t long before talk led to action. These days, Rob and I are full of ideas, and our collaboration is not only innovative, but also fun.

How can we help you?

Magna Hifi offers best modifications because we only offer modification on specific vendors and models. The offered modifications on our website are extensively tested; improved to offer best quality. Most of the products are reviewed by customers and professional reviewers. Each modification is done with selected components to guarantee sonic quality and each time the same results. Before shipping we put the equipment on a duration test (8 hours at minimum) to ensure the work was done properly.

Professional Service

Besides modifications we offer of the shelf Audio equipment selected based on their (sonic) quality. We strongly stand behind the products we offer in our webshop and prefer personal contact with customers. Modifications, upgrades and repairs are done in a professional anti-static environment and we have professional equipment such as tools to work with the smallest SMD components; and e.g. 3D micro camera.

In case you have a special request or suggestion please do not hesitate to contact us.