[nighthink]

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.

I would be in for a lokious, frankly. Not so much for another tube amp, although I can see how it could be beneficial. Too much of extra costs for not so warranted usage, but that's just me.
Thanks for confirmation on lokius though, I might give it a try at some point.

 

[psy472]

I would be in for a lokious, frankly. Not so much for another tube amp, although I can see how it could be beneficial. Too much of extra costs for not so warranted usage, but that's just me.
Thanks for confirmation on lokius though, I might give it a try at some point.

I agree actually. When I get my Lokius EQed just right and volume is up, it sounds almost exactly like my tube preamp as I A/B the two back and forth. But since trying to manually adjust the EQ each time is a pain in the butt, the tube preamp is like my preset EQ.

 

[nighthink]

I agree actually. When I get my Lokius EQed just right and volume is up, it sounds almost exactly like my tube preamp as I A/B the two back and forth. But since trying to manually adjust the EQ each time is a pain in the butt, the tube preamp is like my preset EQ.

Is it such pain? I imagined it shall be much more comfortable than fiddling with software eq and dragging all the sliders here and there and even worse on touch screen trying to move it with fingers. Having 6 knobs at hand reach distance I thought this could be fairly straight process. But reality might vary..

 

[Slackaveli]

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

Yeah thats generally how it is for me too as i get used to the new sound.

 

[betula]

Yeah thats generally how it is for me too as i get used to the new sound.

The truth is, both the MJ3 and Mentor are very likeable amps, just for different reasons.
I personally still prefer my tubes over them, but tube rolling is not for everyone. Hopefully both of these really nice SS amps will find a new, loving home in the UK soon.

 

[psy472]

Is it such pain? I imagined it shall be much more comfortable than fiddling with software eq and dragging all the sliders here and there and even worse on touch screen trying to move it with fingers. Having 6 knobs at hand reach distance I thought this could be fairly straight process. But reality might vary..

Well no it’s not as bad as software EQ. Just only a pain if I wanted the Lokius to match my tube amp exactly as part of the experiment I was doing.

 

[quawn0418]

The truth is, both the MJ3 and Mentor are very likeable amps, just for different reasons.
I personally still prefer my tubes over them, but tube rolling is not for everyone. Hopefully both of these really nice SS amps will find a new, loving home in the UK soon.

Oh they will

 

[skhan007]

I’ve been listening to my new Mentor for the past five days and really like it. Apparently, it will sound even better after 100 hours of burn-in. It packs a nice punch and it’ll take some to determine if I’ll like it better than my tube amps. There’s a certain “thickness” to the tube amps that I really like. I’ve read some comments that after the 100 hours, it will have some more to offer in the bass frequencies.

 

[skhan007]

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.

If I try this, would there be any degradation to sound quality mixing SE and XLR cables? Such as SE from DAC to tube amp and XLR from tube amp to Mentor.

 

[Slackaveli]

If I try this, would there be any degradation to sound quality mixing SE and XLR cables? Such as SE from DAC to tube amp and XLR from tube amp to Mentor.

While Im not positive i dont think so provided the cables are adequate. Since it's dual-mono and not true balanced unless stacked.
I could be wrong though.

 

[Slackaveli]

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.

goddamnit psy LOL. I coulda done without hearing that lolol. While of course thats true and I even presented that point to you before you got your stack but i kind of want to push that crap outta my mind.
Question though- is it all your headphones that scale up like that with the dual Mentor or just the Susvara? Specifically interested in HeK Stealth's ability to scale.

 

[RobWilde]

The truth is, both the MJ3 and Mentor are very likeable amps, just for different reasons.

I've decided to keep both for the foreseeable future, they complement each other. Certainly going to try the suggestions of getting a tube amp in there, and getting a power cable (Flux did not offer a UK one). Never EQ'd anything before, so this is the one to try it on.

 

[psy472]

If I try this, would there be any degradation to sound quality mixing SE and XLR cables? Such as SE from DAC to tube amp and XLR from tube amp to Mentor.

I did it via SE cables because the Lyr 3 is not balanced. Sounds just fine to me though.

 

[psy472]

goddamnit psy LOL. I coulda done without hearing that lolol. While of course thats true and I even presented that point to you before you got your stack but i kind of want to push that crap outta my mind.
Question though- is it all your headphones that scale up like that with the dual Mentor or just the Susvara? Specifically interested in HeK Stealth's ability to scale.

The scaling is more effective on Planar headphones but they do improve all the other cans.
The HeK does scale a bit higher so it might not be worth it for you. The Susvara scale much more so than HeK. But then considering I subconsciously refuse to use the HeK without the dual Mentor, it might scale more than I thought. (Susvara being replaced right now so I’m stuck with the HeK).

 

[quawn0418]

goddamnit psy LOL. I coulda done without hearing that lolol. While of course thats true and I even presented that point to you before you got your stack but i kind of want to push that crap outta my mind.
Question though- is it all your headphones that scale up like that with the dual Mentor or just the Susvara? Specifically interested in HeK Stealth's ability to scale.

Yea psy is definitely out to get you slack lol get that wallet ready!