[Ichos]

@Bluesburger thank you very sharing your well written thoughts. BTW, nice office that you have!

 

[Newsee]

I finally found some time to spend with the Mentors and thought I'd share my impressions I posted on Facebook with you. No review, no comparisons, just my personal impressions and thoughts.



I remember a funny scene with Austin Powers when he checked off having a threesome with Asian twins on his to-do list. In the past, I wanted to tick off the topic of “headphones on 2 mono amplifiers” in a similar way. Over the last few years I have occasionally been looking for 2 Questyle CMA800s in a monoblock configuration. These were hard to come by, so I consoled myself with the newer models CMA400i and CMA Twelve Master. Both very good devices, no question (at least as long as they work, because service is virtually non-existent, both from Questyle itself and from the German distributor). But this is another story.....

It doesn't matter, my heart beats for tubes anyway, but I also like to have a solid state variety and as a reference. A few weeks ago I decided to slim down my gear and focus solely on my DIY tube amps that I built with a good friend. So I sold the Twelve Master again and put the topic of solid state amplifiers aside for the time being.

Before Christmas, however, I stumbled across the Mentor announcement on the Flux Labs Facebook page and the monoblock concept piqued my interest again. I contacted the guys from Flux and had a very pleasant and interesting exchange, so I decided to order a Mentor stack when it was available. My idea was to order 2 pieces and possibly sell one again because I was sure that one mentor would be completely sufficient for my purposes, but out of curiosity I wanted to try out the full stack for a while. After just a few hours it was clear: the stack would be with me for a long time. However, these are two big guys that take up a lot of space on my desk, too much space. So I had to build a wall-mounted shelf and custom cables to store everything properly and in a space-saving manner. I am very happy with the result and use the Mentor stack very often with all my headphones, due to honeymoon phase even more often than my tube amplifiers to be honest.



I'm really wondering why the Mentor is getting so little attention at the moment, because it's great, especially considering the price. This applies to both, an individual in stereo mode and to the full stack. It's a wonderful counterpart to my tube amplifiers and definitely the best solid state amplifier I've heard so far. Really very transparent and clear with a wonderful spatial image, especially in depth, which always impresses me the most because I think that's the supreme discipline with headphones. The combination with the Merason Frerot DAC is wonderfully musical and leaves absolutely nothing to be desired for me. I don't feel the need to compare with my other amps or "test" certain songs. I just listen to whatever music I feel like listening to, enjoy it, get goosebumps and look forward to every day that I find time to listen to music. For me, the focus on the music instead of the equipment is a sign that it just fits. I also like the look and feel. The units are very nicely built and switches, controls and sockets are of very high quality. The synchronization of the devices via the 9 pin cable works smoothly. The volume control via relay is precise and fun to use. I love the clicking sound that both devices make when changing the volume and switching them on and off. I operate the Susvara on medium or high gain and the ZMF Atrium Closed and Verite Closed on low gain. The volume can be regulated with excellent precision in all cases; it seems to progress more slowly in the lower range than at higher volumes, which means that I always have a comfortable control path. I'll also test my IEMs (64 Audio U12T and Sony IER-Z1R) some day, but I wasn't bored enough to do that yet. They get warm, but not nearly as hot as I expected and they don't need much time to warm up and sound great.

At this point I would like to say thank you to the guys from Flux Labs. I wish them all the best and much success! They really took the time to answer my questions and I had a very good feeling about the purchase, even though it was a blind purchase and there were no reviews or impressions at the time I ordered. The package took a week from Ukraine to Germany and arrived safely. The amplifiers were double packed and so well padded that you could have dropped the package with a parachute without having to worry about damaging the devices. When ordering, you have the option of ordering an adapter cable for mono operation and an upgraded power cable for an additional charge, as well as a remote control. I assemble all of my cables myself and have therefore decided not to buy these. What I really regret, however, is that I didn't order the remote control. I was sure I wouldn't need it because I had planned to use the amps on the desk from the start. However, at some point, the master unit will probably show signs of wear and the slave will look like new forever, so I think I have to get a remote as soon as possible.

Now back to listening to music. Have a good time everyone!

Michael

Nice thoughts, nice pictures, thanks.
Hmmm, Merason DAC, .

 

[bodhidharma]

I finally found some time to spend with the Mentors and thought I'd share my impressions I posted on Facebook with you. No review, no comparisons, just my personal impressions and thoughts.



I remember a funny scene with Austin Powers when he checked off having a threesome with Asian twins on his to-do list. In the past, I wanted to tick off the topic of “headphones on 2 mono amplifiers” in a similar way. Over the last few years I have occasionally been looking for 2 Questyle CMA800s in a monoblock configuration. These were hard to come by, so I consoled myself with the newer models CMA400i and CMA Twelve Master. Both very good devices, no question (at least as long as they work, because service is virtually non-existent, both from Questyle itself and from the German distributor). But this is another story.....

It doesn't matter, my heart beats for tubes anyway, but I also like to have a solid state variety and as a reference. A few weeks ago I decided to slim down my gear and focus solely on my DIY tube amps that I built with a good friend. So I sold the Twelve Master again and put the topic of solid state amplifiers aside for the time being.

Before Christmas, however, I stumbled across the Mentor announcement on the Flux Labs Facebook page and the monoblock concept piqued my interest again. I contacted the guys from Flux and had a very pleasant and interesting exchange, so I decided to order a Mentor stack when it was available. My idea was to order 2 pieces and possibly sell one again because I was sure that one mentor would be completely sufficient for my purposes, but out of curiosity I wanted to try out the full stack for a while. After just a few hours it was clear: the stack would be with me for a long time. However, these are two big guys that take up a lot of space on my desk, too much space. So I had to build a wall-mounted shelf and custom cables to store everything properly and in a space-saving manner. I am very happy with the result and use the Mentor stack very often with all my headphones, due to honeymoon phase even more often than my tube amplifiers to be honest.



I'm really wondering why the Mentor is getting so little attention at the moment, because it's great, especially considering the price. This applies to both, an individual in stereo mode and to the full stack. It's a wonderful counterpart to my tube amplifiers and definitely the best solid state amplifier I've heard so far. Really very transparent and clear with a wonderful spatial image, especially in depth, which always impresses me the most because I think that's the supreme discipline with headphones. The combination with the Merason Frerot DAC is wonderfully musical and leaves absolutely nothing to be desired for me. I don't feel the need to compare with my other amps or "test" certain songs. I just listen to whatever music I feel like listening to, enjoy it, get goosebumps and look forward to every day that I find time to listen to music. For me, the focus on the music instead of the equipment is a sign that it just fits. I also like the look and feel. The units are very nicely built and switches, controls and sockets are of very high quality. The synchronization of the devices via the 9 pin cable works smoothly. The volume control via relay is precise and fun to use. I love the clicking sound that both devices make when changing the volume and switching them on and off. I operate the Susvara on medium or high gain and the ZMF Atrium Closed and Verite Closed on low gain. The volume can be regulated with excellent precision in all cases; it seems to progress more slowly in the lower range than at higher volumes, which means that I always have a comfortable control path. I'll also test my IEMs (64 Audio U12T and Sony IER-Z1R) some day, but I wasn't bored enough to do that yet. They get warm, but not nearly as hot as I expected and they don't need much time to warm up and sound great.

At this point I would like to say thank you to the guys from Flux Labs. I wish them all the best and much success! They really took the time to answer my questions and I had a very good feeling about the purchase, even though it was a blind purchase and there were no reviews or impressions at the time I ordered. The package took a week from Ukraine to Germany and arrived safely. The amplifiers were double packed and so well padded that you could have dropped the package with a parachute without having to worry about damaging the devices. When ordering, you have the option of ordering an adapter cable for mono operation and an upgraded power cable for an additional charge, as well as a remote control. I assemble all of my cables myself and have therefore decided not to buy these. What I really regret, however, is that I didn't order the remote control. I was sure I wouldn't need it because I had planned to use the amps on the desk from the start. However, at some point, the master unit will probably show signs of wear and the slave will look like new forever, so I think I have to get a remote as soon as possible.

Now back to listening to music. Have a good time everyone!

Michael

I agree word for word with everything you wrote, this is also for me by far the best headphone amplifier I have ever listened to, simply superb! The Flux Lab team is a handful of geniuses

 

[Lvivske]

What a fine review.

 

[Bluesburger]

@Bluesburger thank you very sharing your well written thoughts. BTW, nice office that you have!

Thank you! I wish the rest of my life would be as organized as my desk

Nice thoughts, nice pictures, thanks.
Hmmm, Merason DAC, .

Thanks. Yes, the Merason is a great device that also doesn't get the attention it deserves.

I agree word for word with everything you wrote, this is also for me by far the best headphone amplifier I have ever listened to, simply superb! The Flux Lab team is a handful of geniuses

They are geniuses and very nice people. I´m really glad that I am part of the Flux family now

What a fine review.

Thank you!

 

[chrisnyc75]

I finally found some time to spend with the Mentors and thought I'd share my impressions I posted on Facebook with you. No review, no comparisons, just my personal impressions and thoughts.



I remember a funny scene with Austin Powers when he checked off having a threesome with Asian twins on his to-do list. In the past, I wanted to tick off the topic of “headphones on 2 mono amplifiers” in a similar way. Over the last few years I have occasionally been looking for 2 Questyle CMA800s in a monoblock configuration. These were hard to come by, so I consoled myself with the newer models CMA400i and CMA Twelve Master. Both very good devices, no question (at least as long as they work, because service is virtually non-existent, both from Questyle itself and from the German distributor). But this is another story.....

It doesn't matter, my heart beats for tubes anyway, but I also like to have a solid state variety and as a reference. A few weeks ago I decided to slim down my gear and focus solely on my DIY tube amps that I built with a good friend. So I sold the Twelve Master again and put the topic of solid state amplifiers aside for the time being.

Before Christmas, however, I stumbled across the Mentor announcement on the Flux Labs Facebook page and the monoblock concept piqued my interest again. I contacted the guys from Flux and had a very pleasant and interesting exchange, so I decided to order a Mentor stack when it was available. My idea was to order 2 pieces and possibly sell one again because I was sure that one mentor would be completely sufficient for my purposes, but out of curiosity I wanted to try out the full stack for a while. After just a few hours it was clear: the stack would be with me for a long time. However, these are two big guys that take up a lot of space on my desk, too much space. So I had to build a wall-mounted shelf and custom cables to store everything properly and in a space-saving manner. I am very happy with the result and use the Mentor stack very often with all my headphones, due to honeymoon phase even more often than my tube amplifiers to be honest.



I'm really wondering why the Mentor is getting so little attention at the moment, because it's great, especially considering the price. This applies to both, an individual in stereo mode and to the full stack. It's a wonderful counterpart to my tube amplifiers and definitely the best solid state amplifier I've heard so far. Really very transparent and clear with a wonderful spatial image, especially in depth, which always impresses me the most because I think that's the supreme discipline with headphones. The combination with the Merason Frerot DAC is wonderfully musical and leaves absolutely nothing to be desired for me. I don't feel the need to compare with my other amps or "test" certain songs. I just listen to whatever music I feel like listening to, enjoy it, get goosebumps and look forward to every day that I find time to listen to music. For me, the focus on the music instead of the equipment is a sign that it just fits. I also like the look and feel. The units are very nicely built and switches, controls and sockets are of very high quality. The synchronization of the devices via the 9 pin cable works smoothly. The volume control via relay is precise and fun to use. I love the clicking sound that both devices make when changing the volume and switching them on and off. I operate the Susvara on medium or high gain and the ZMF Atrium Closed and Verite Closed on low gain. The volume can be regulated with excellent precision in all cases; it seems to progress more slowly in the lower range than at higher volumes, which means that I always have a comfortable control path. I'll also test my IEMs (64 Audio U12T and Sony IER-Z1R) some day, but I wasn't bored enough to do that yet. They get warm, but not nearly as hot as I expected and they don't need much time to warm up and sound great.

At this point I would like to say thank you to the guys from Flux Labs. I wish them all the best and much success! They really took the time to answer my questions and I had a very good feeling about the purchase, even though it was a blind purchase and there were no reviews or impressions at the time I ordered. The package took a week from Ukraine to Germany and arrived safely. The amplifiers were double packed and so well padded that you could have dropped the package with a parachute without having to worry about damaging the devices. When ordering, you have the option of ordering an adapter cable for mono operation and an upgraded power cable for an additional charge, as well as a remote control. I assemble all of my cables myself and have therefore decided not to buy these. What I really regret, however, is that I didn't order the remote control. I was sure I wouldn't need it because I had planned to use the amps on the desk from the start. However, at some point, the master unit will probably show signs of wear and the slave will look like new forever, so I think I have to get a remote as soon as possible.

Now back to listening to music. Have a good time everyone!

Michael

Great review & pictures! Let me make sure I understand, though - you're using 2x Mentors in monoblock mode to power a headphone with a custom cable?

 

[Stax 7]

What might be a interesting comparison is how running one Flux Mentor into any other headphone than the Susvara ,how would it sound compared to two

 

[mfgillia]

What might be a interesting comparison is how running one Flux Mentor into any other headphone than the Susvara ,how would it sound compared to two

Interested in this too but also with the Tungstens.

 

[streaml1ne]

Interested in this too but also with the Tungstens.

Unpacked my single Mentor today, looks like US CBP opened the box which is a shame cause they did a fairly crappy job re-taping it, but everything was intact. Mentor drives single sided Tungstens perfectly well, it should have no issues with double sided either. Initial impressions are it sounds good, I had a few "oh that's new" moments listening to some of my regular tracks, but I need to break out my XLR switch box so I can do a better/direct comparison between Mentor and Mjolnir 3, I don't trust my auditory memory for anything longer than a knob switch and moving the headphone cable.

The volume knob is smooth and nice and chonky, really pleasing to use. The 3 position switches could use a little better detents in them. Getting into the middle position could use a bit more of a positive engagement, but honestly in my use case it's set it and forget it so it's not a big deal. The remote is a solid piece of billet that's looks milled and powder coated and is very heavy. You could seriously hurt someone with it. The Titanium Grey colorway is definitely chameleon like, photos are not going to really do it justice since there does appear to be a color/matte-ness shift depending on the lighting. The white power LED is not overly bright.

My initial impressions are that it's definitely worth the asking price, specially at the sale price. It'll take me a week or two to do the comparison with Mjolnir 3, Pietus Maximus and Folkvangr (need my ultra low impedance double sided set for that FV comparison), and could take longer if I meet up with Ryan from Modhouse to gear-swap. I shipped my MJ3/Midgard to him direct from Schiit way back when so it seems fitting to keep the tradition going and let him have Mentor for a while.

 

[Bluesburger]

Great review & pictures! Let me make sure I understand, though - you're using 2x Mentors in monoblock mode to power a headphone with a custom cable?

Yes, exactly. It is explained very clearly on the website, if you’re interested in further informations.

 

[streaml1ne]

So I've been listening some more, and I broke out the Douk XLR switcher for some head to head comparisons of Mentor to Mjolnir 3. The chain is, Moode Raspberry Pi 4 USB to Bifrost 2/64 -XLR-> Lokius (in bypass) -XLR-> Douk Switcher -XLR-> MJ3/Mentor. MJ3 in high gain, Class A, Feedback off. Mentor in High gain. Both amps volume matched with a 440hz, 1k, and pink noise source file to the same tenth of a DB on Tungsten Single Sided. All interconnects are World's Best Mogami, and both output cables to the amps from the Douk are the same length.

Bass

No contest to me, MJ3 has more junk in the trunk here, for sure. Chokes for the win I guess. I tested on CZARFACE - All That For A Drop Of Blood, BigBoi - Kill Jill as well as a straight 20hz foobar generated wave file and the MJ3 has noticeably more sub-bass extension. The middle bass drop on Kill Jill (~35 seconds) is faintly present on MJ3 whereas on Mentor it's barely there. Mentor MAY have an edge in tightness, but I don't have a track that I know is good for testing that. Open to suggestions there.

Mids

Mids sounds about the same to me. Mostly listened on Billie Eilish's Your Power as some of her inflections can be too much on certain sets in the mids for me so it's one of my midrange goto's. Acoustic guitars sound similar to me on both amps, but I do need to spend more time here.

Treble

Mentor seems brighter here. Slightly. Whether that translates to more detail or just more treble I can't say for sure yet. I have not come across a detail in a track that doesn't also exist in MJ3, its just that Mentor sounds brigher. Some examples, Counting Crows - Anna Begins, around 1:38, Adam Duritz's esses are slightly more sibilant on Mentor, same track ~1:53 there's a tinkling sound top right of the stage that's a hair more pronounced on Mentor. On the right channel of Amber Rubarth's Tundra, someone needs to trim their nose hair. The whistling from it and some of the edges of percussion are more pronounced on Mentor. BT - The Antikythera Mechanism from 5-6 minutes there's a very high frequency ticking that extends up to 20khz in the background that sounds better defined/sharper on Mentor.

Stage

Mentor seems to have slightly more stage width than MJ3 and I mean slight.

Will update the thread as I listen more. I plan on trying the other gain modes on Mentor to see if that changes the bass situation. I still think it's a good amp, but I do wish it had the booty shaking bass extension of MJ3 to go along with its treble extension.

 

[jonathan c]

So I've been listening some more, and I broke out the Douk XLR switcher for some head to head comparisons of Mentor to Mjolnir 3. The chain is, Moode Raspberry Pi 4 USB to Bifrost 2/64 -XLR-> Lokius (in bypass) -XLR-> Douk Switcher -XLR-> MJ3/Mentor. MJ3 in high gain, Class A, Feedback off. Mentor in High gain. Both amps volume matched with a 440hz, 1k, and pink noise source file to the same tenth of a DB on Tungsten Single Sided. All interconnects are World's Best Mogami, and both output cables to the amps from the Douk are the same length.

Bass

No contest to me, MJ3 has more junk in the trunk here, for sure. Chokes for the win I guess. I tested on CZARFACE - All That For A Drop Of Blood, BigBoi - Kill Jill as well as a straight 20hz foobar generated wave file and the MJ3 has noticeably more sub-bass extension. The middle bass drop on Kill Jill (~35 seconds) is faintly present on MJ3 whereas on Mentor it's barely there. Mentor MAY have an edge in tightness, but I don't have a track that I know is good for testing that. Open to suggestions there.

Mids

Mids sounds about the same to me. Mostly listened on Billie Eilish's Your Power as some of her inflections can be too much on certain sets in the mids for me so it's one of my midrange goto's. Acoustic guitars sound similar to me on both amps, but I do need to spend more time here.

Treble

Mentor seems brighter here. Slightly. Whether that translates to more detail or just more treble I can't say for sure yet. I have not come across a detail in a track that doesn't also exist in MJ3, its just that Mentor sounds brigher. Some examples, Counting Crows - Anna Begins, around 1:38, Adam Duritz's esses are slightly more sibilant on Mentor, same track ~1:53 there's a tinkling sound top right of the stage that's a hair more pronounced on Mentor. On the right channel of Amber Rubarth's Tundra, someone needs to trim their nose hair. The whistling from it and some of the edges of percussion are more pronounced on Mentor. BT - The Antikythera Mechanism from 5-6 minutes there's a very high frequency ticking that extends up to 20khz in the background that sounds better defined/sharper on Mentor.

Stage

Mentor seems to have slightly more stage width than MJ3 and I mean slight.

Will update the thread as I listen more. I plan on trying the other gain modes on Mentor to see if that changes the bass situation. I still think it's a good amp, but I do wish it had the booty shaking bass of MJ3 to go along with its treble extension.

Since the acquisition of each, for how long have you run MJ3 vs Mentor? Could that help to explain differences?

 

[streaml1ne]

Since the acquisition of each, for long have you run MJ3 vs Mentor? Could that help to explain differences?

I suppose it's possible, MJ3 I've had since launch so it does have a bunch of hours on it, Mentor has gotten about 10-20 hours of use so far. The bass test is easy to reproduce with the 20hz sample file so I can check it again later on.

 

[jonathan c]

I suppose it's possible, MJ3 I've had since launch so it does have a bunch of hours on it, Mentor has gotten about 10-20 hours of use so far. The bass test is easy to reproduce with the 20hz sample file so I can check it again later on.

What about music?

 

[CRNA2B]

How long should I expect mine to be “in processing” after ordered? I ordered mine 9.5 days ago and no sign of shipping yet.