[orkney]

Managed to scribble this into the wrong thread. Three days in, I really like the MJ3. HPs thus far are the Clear OGs, assorted Grados and HD8xx, so nothing too fancy.


Have been super busy so not much listening time of late but the MJ3 has now been playing on its own for a few days, and I have just sat down with the OG Clears and some vintage Julie London on 180g vinyl and its quite mesmerizing -- strummed guitars have great texture and body, and the room reverb is accurately captured. Julie's smoky, natural voice with its raggy, minimal vibrato is hanging in space as if she were seated and leaning into the mic, and the final chords of "Mood for Love" have a stickiness that I associate with a nylon pick. It's very compelling stuff, and more detailed and 3D than the FV, with Teles up front to my ears. Noise floor is superbly low and it does what I've always found great Class A/ well-designed tubes to do: illuminate or "burnish" the music without sacrificing detail at any freq extreme or especially the mids where so much music happens. The bass response is very good -- controlled but resonant when it should be.

I'm mostly a music over gear person at this point, and IMO the MJ3 makes glorious music. I have doubt that there are "better" sounds in terms of the technicals but at what price and with what compromises?

For me, a keeper. For sure.

 

[Currawong]

That's great news.

Also based on @psy472 's impressions it sounds like a good pre-amp helps insure great sound from MJ3.
Jot2 + Mj3

The specs of the Modhouse Tungstens though are nuts. I'd honestly not muck about and get a Ragnarok or speaker amp for them.

 

[psy472]

The specs of the Modhouse Tungstens though are nuts. I'd honestly not muck about and get a Ragnarok or speaker amp for them.

Or just wait till CanJam is done.

 

[Slackaveli]

The specs of the Modhouse Tungstens though are nuts. I'd honestly not muck about and get a Ragnarok or speaker amp for them.

Yeah, they are THE hardest to drive. Im at least getting the Flux Mentor when I can, but if I could afford it I'd get 2 and run dual-mono.

 

[Slackaveli]

MJ3 secondary uses. (not my pic) ..

 

[Nick76]

That's one way to kill your cat lol

 

[solid12345]

The MJ3 does very well with a preamp added to it. If you preamp the magnius into it you will find the bass much much more meatier and impactful.

IMO I know we’re in a modern age where DACs, CD players and even many record players put out enough power that they’re technically not needed, but I’ve found virtually all my HP amps still do better with a good pre-amp in the chain. It’s like adding tubes to the chain, something just “comes alive” more.

 

[Chuy24]

IMO I know we’re in a modern age where DACs, CD players and even many record players put out enough power that they’re technically not needed, but I’ve found virtually all my HP amps still do better with a good pre-amp in the chain. It’s like adding tubes to the chain, something just “comes alive” more.

I always wondered if I should add one but don’t truly understand them yet. So instead of having a SS amp and a tube amp; I could have a MJ3 and a Freya+ for the tube sound?

 

[psy472]

I always wondered if I should add one but don’t truly understand them yet. So instead of having a SS amp and a tube amp; I could have a MJ3 and a Freya+ for the tube sound?

Isn’t the freya built as a tube preamp anyway?

 

[solid12345]

Isn’t the freya built as a tube preamp anyway?

Yes although they now have a solid state tube option which I’d be curious to hear just for the novelty factor.

Sometime this week I might have to load this bad boy up as a preamp into the chain going to the mj3, it might turn the bedroom into a sauna though!

 

[Chuy24]

I’ve been into headphones and such for about 2 years but I never dwelled into preamps. I don’t understand them yet. So using the Folkvangr as a preamp into an MJ3 means you get the Folkvangr sound but the MJ3 power? Sorry

 

[psy472]

I’ve been into headphones and such for about 2 years but I never dwelled into preamps. I don’t understand them yet. So using the Folkvangr as a preamp into an MJ3 means you get the Folkvangr sound but the MJ3 power? Sorry

From Jot2 to MJ3, I got the bass power and timbre but with already top tier clarity and resolution of the MJ3. The bass improvement was noticeable.

I find it ironic that Schiit built all their gear to preamp and amp and kept hinting to people that they would work great in a chain. Yet reading on this forum, I rarely found anyone who did this.

 

[solid12345]

I’ve been into headphones and such for about 2 years but I never dwelled into preamps. I don’t understand them yet. So using the Folkvangr as a preamp into an MJ3 means you get the Folkvangr sound but the MJ3 power? Sorry

Does Dr. Frankenstein’s experiments need understanding

Sometimes it’s fun to just do things even if it turns out to be a bloated mess, at least I’ll have tried. Audio equipment to me is like legos, I like tweaking and playing around to see what I can come up with. I wish I could learn to live with the simplicity of one small amp on my desk and one pair of HPs connected to a computer but I can’t. It would definitely be easier on the wallet.

 

[Chuy24]

Hmm, very interesting. I shall try.

 

[artur9]

Yeah, they are THE hardest to drive. Im at least getting the Flux Mentor when I can, but if I could afford it I'd get 2 and run dual-mono.

Dual GJallarhorns ftw 30W per channel and a lot less than the Flux, I bet.