[Rattle]

From Flux Labs email regarding M-Field: "...there will be a small discount at the beginning of sales."

Ohh interesting. Thanks !

 

[psy472]

I was in the same boat. I got my Mentor yesterday and been listening and burning it in. I like everything so far. The soundstage, macro dynamics, and detail retrieval. The clarity and instrument separation are superb. The only thing that's missing is that bass that I like so much on my Empyrean. I asked Flux if stacking the M-field will be a good idea. Have the best of both world if possible. They replied:


We recommend warming up the device for about 100 hours, this will primarily affect the bass response, the bass will become more significant and the overall sound will become less harsh. You can also try using another network cable, based on thick copper cores. But in any case, Mentor's bass is more intelligent, with more nuances. Combining into a stack with M-field is technically possible, but it will not work correctly since one headphone channel will be amplified by Mentor, and the second channel by M-field. On the other hand, if you have M-field and Mentor together, it will be possible to determine a more suitable option for yourself. Each model will have its own advantages and features.

Sincerely, Flux Lab Team

Stacking doesn’t work that way. 1 amp will go to the left and the other to the right ear. So you’ll have bass and drums on the left but clarity on the right? That’s kinda weird…

 

[Erick Muller]

i find this very odd, someone mentioned that flux implemented some kind of new heatsink design where the sinks are located under the board. this is also odd being that heat rises upward. schiit went in depth about different types of class a and maybe flux is using a newer style. i just cant imagine it being the same type of class a as the MJ3 ("true" single ended or push-pull) and not getting anywhere near as toasty, especially delivering 6x the power. although none of these things matter as much as the way it sounds. im assuming the s17 uses a similar type of class a as the MJ3 being that it gets pretty hot as well.

The problem with the S17, speaking as an owner is that it's a closed coffin when it comes to the chassis and it has really small rubber feet and given that the main heatsink of the amp is bellow on the bottom plate, you need to raise in order to get proper ventilation to properly regulate the temps, that's why it gets so hot.

 

[Erick Muller]

i don’t know, on top of having chokes, i see the MJ3 having more capacitance than the mentor as well. I think power supply was Schiits initial focus with the MJ3. This is why all watts aren’t created equal. I’m not saying that the MJ’s 2 watts are better than the mentors 11, but they are definitely created differently. Also, Schiit’s design is a lot less spacious than flux’s and i can certainly see that playing a role as far as heat goes. Both company’s strive to keep cost low, they both cut corners (in different ways from what i can see) to achieve this. There’s no way around it. Luckily, they know what corners to cut lol

Yep, flux labs chassis more resemble a Rotel power amp for speakers in size.

 

[betula]

Just thought I share a couple more thoughts about the Mentor versus MJ3 after even more listening. I really like the punchy bass on the MJ3 and its overall character/tonality. BUT.
The refinement and resolution upgrade on the Mentor is big. It is a little bit like watching a movie on a more saturated screen at 1024x768 versus watching 4K with a more neutral colour scheme. The former is exciting, fun and completely satisfying, until you see (or in our case hear) 4K resolution and realise what you are losing out on in HD only.
Even though the Mentor's neutrality does not result in the most engaging listen from a tonal point of view, the 4K high-resolution contributes to a more fluid and as a consequence more realistic sound reproduction.

 

[nighthink]

Just thought I share a couple more thoughts about the Mentor versus MJ3 after even more listening. I really like the punchy bass on the MJ3 and its overall character/tonality. BUT.
The refinement and resolution upgrade on the Mentor is big. It is a little bit like watching a movie on a more saturated screen at 1024x768 versus watching 4K with a more neutral colour scheme. The former is exciting, fun and completely satisfying, until you see (or in our case hear) 4K resolution and realise what you are losing out on in HD only.
Even though the Mentor's neutrality does not result in the most engaging listen from a tonal point of view, the 4K high-resolution contributes to a more fluid and as a consequence more realistic sound reproduction.

Appreciate such comparision, it has value even for me already settled for Mentor. Then I can understand more what would be at home if MJ3 would be sooner available.

On this engaging note, in my case this goes in phases. First one was like "holly crap what the hell is this" (I never experienced such detailed headphone experience before) so it was a lot of information I had to get used to. But I always liked it right from the day one, it was entertaining, never overwhelming or exhausting.
The next phase was getting used to it, it became more of a business as usual and I started to really appreciate that big soundstage. Over the course I went through many different songs where that soundstage was just magical. I hear sounds from every corner and distance never though is possible plus some rumble right in the head or ears. I know for you guys already long in this business it might be pretty standard, but for me coming from speakers this was really new.
Now I'm in third phase so to say where I think the Mentor starts to be better burned in and it goes a bit on warmer side for me, or maybe more organic I should say, it sounds better every time I put it again on the head and especially the bass is even more prominent.

Recently my burn in process of Mentor slowed down becuase I tend to share my dedicated listening time between speakers and headphones, usually after 10pm when everybody in the house finally sleeps . Both listening experiences are now so engaging and so different at the same time. Can't sacrifice one over another.

 

[jeffjefferson1]

It’s going to be hard to A/B with different amps. Only a few of us got our hands on the Flux Mentor since production gets interrupted each time Ukraine got bombed. As for me I haven’t heard the Holo.

Over all the Mentor amp strangely will make any headphone sound good with impact and detail. It’s also not that picky with its DAC. This is comparing to Schiit MJ3 and Jot 2 on the Yggy GS2 and BiFrost DACs. The Schiit amps are very DAC sensitive.

I may have missed any previous comments on 1 Mentor vs 2 Mentors for He1000 Stealth and Susvara, but could you provide any information as to the performance differences between one vs two mentors?

Based on reading your comments, you now have two mentors I believe?

 

[Slackaveli]

Just thought I share a couple more thoughts about the Mentor versus MJ3 after even more listening. I really like the punchy bass on the MJ3 and its overall character/tonality. BUT.
The refinement and resolution upgrade on the Mentor is big. It is a little bit like watching a movie on a more saturated screen at 1024x768 versus watching 4K with a more neutral colour scheme. The former is exciting, fun and completely satisfying, until you see (or in our case hear) 4K resolution and realise what you are losing out on in HD only.
Even though the Mentor's neutrality does not result in the most engaging listen from a tonal point of view, the 4K high-resolution contributes to a more fluid and as a consequence more realistic sound reproduction.

Now you're hearing it. It's really just too damn good, especially after 100 hours or so when the bass really comes alive.
Also I hope nobody is ordering Mentor without the upgrade power cable as that helps with the bass texture especially (FLUX told me the same)

 

[psy472]

I may have missed any previous comments on 1 Mentor vs 2 Mentors for He1000 Stealth and Susvara, but could you provide any information as to the performance differences between one vs two mentors?

Based on reading your comments, you now have two mentors I believe?

I do have 2 Mentor. There was a 2 weeks time that I had to go without one of the Mentors because it was faulty from the travel. The one Mentor is great and you’ll love it.

When you go to the dual stack, the sound is fuller and more impactful and even more detailed. The nuance is mild to moderately noticeable at first then fades over time as you get used it. The problem comes when you try to listen to a single Mentor again and it feels so lifeless compared to its dual stack. I had to preamp my single Mentor with my Lyr 3 tube amp just to get some of the fullness back. If 1 Mentor is 4K HD TV resolution then 2 Mentors is like 8K OLED resolution.

 

[jeffjefferson1]

I do have 2 Mentor. There was a 2 weeks time that I had to go without one of the Mentors because it was faulty from the travel. The one Mentor is great and you’ll love it.

When you go to the dual stack, the sound is fuller and more impactful and even more detailed. The nuance is mild to moderately noticeable at first then fades over time as you get used it. The problem comes when you try to listen to a single Mentor again and it feels so lifeless compared to its dual stack. I had to preamp my single Mentor with my Lyr 3 tube amp just to get some of the fullness back. If 1 Mentor is 4K HD TV resolution then 2 Mentors is like 8K OLED resolution.

Thank you for the reply. I have a single mentor and he1000se on the way alongside a yggy LIM. I'll start planning for a second one.

 

[betula]

Now you're hearing it. It's really just too damn good, especially after 100 hours or so when the bass really comes alive.
Also I hope nobody is ordering Mentor without the upgrade power cable as that helps with the bass texture especially (FLUX told me the same)

I heard it from the beginning, but started to appreciate it a little later, at least in direct comparison to the MJ3.

 

[nighthink]

Also wondering if for example Lokius could further alter the presentation of Mentor to your liking and potentially make it sound closer to MJ3 (if you would want to). Going from "higher resolution" to lower, it theoretically could be possible, but don't have any experience with equalising so far. I always listened without any EQ. Other than firmly trying out some preset Apple Music EQs, which is literally always a garbage - it muffles the output and results in less information and overall sound covered under more or less thick curtains. Maybe some other dedicated software based EQ would do better.

But the question is what would Lokius do in such chain - would it degrade the sound along the EQ (as it is another box that the signal must go through and maybe it's pretty basic given the price tag), or would it maintain the resolution what Mentor gives, but just alter the frequencies? In that case it could be a good little device to have and alter recordings that do not sound so great with Mentor.

 

[psy472]

For people wanting a more full and lush mid and bass, you can always preamp with a tube amp to the Mentor. The black background and high clarity resolution of the Mentor will upgrade that sound remarkably.

 

[psy472]

Also wondering if for example Lokius could further alter the presentation of Mentor to your liking and potentially make it sound closer to MJ3 (if you would want to). Going from "higher resolution" to lower, it theoretically could be possible, but don't have any experience with equalising so far. I always listened without any EQ. Other than firmly trying out some preset Apple Music EQs, which is literally always a garbage - it muffles the output and results in less information and overall sound covered under more or less thick curtains. Maybe some other dedicated software based EQ would do better.

But the question is what would Lokius do in such chain - would it degrade the sound along the EQ (as it is another box that the signal must go through and maybe it's pretty basic given the price tag), or would it maintain the resolution what Mentor gives, but just alter the frequencies? In that case it could be a good little device to have and alter recordings that do not sound so great with Mentor.

I have the Lokius with the Mentor. The Mentor itself must have a noise filter because the background grain noise from the Lokius is non existent. Most people don’t notice the Lokius sonic interference as it’s so darn minimal. But with sensitive headphones and amps you can hear it. But the Mentor took that problem out. You can EQ from it very well.

However, I discovered that when preamping with a tube amp, it doesn’t like me messing with the Lokius. I had to turn off the EQ on Lokius.

 

[nighthink]

If 1 Mentor is 4K HD TV resolution then 2 Mentors is like 8K OLED resolution.

Heh I like that . But where is the 4k OLED please? I hope single Mentor can do more than just led and cover also this stage. That is also what I choose as my TV upgrade just few months ago. 4K is enough for me, but it had to be Oled.

I can confirm Mentor with HE1000SE is great, but to not risk too much of brightness I would say the DAC must be a bit on warmer side.