[betula]

Do you do any EQ'ing with the Cyan 2? I thinking of replacing my mojo2 with the Cyan 2 as the main desktop dac with my Mentor.

No, I don't do EQ with the Cyan 2. I like it as it is.

 

[jkteddy77]

Mentor arrived! Washington USA, 17 days from order. Got the US Rhodium and the $14 comically large Elderly Accessible remote haha

I've never heard an amp like this outside of a Home Theatre store. It's in another league for me, like a boutique Mcintosh or something.
Vs. V222 and MJ3, Mentor has a Night & Day clarity and resolution. There's zero nuance there, it's straight up just better.

Amp
V222 is a lot lusher, dynamics more fun, and the vocals still a lot sweeter and forward, makes it more engaging for me overall with my rock music taste
MJ3 is the in-between. A bit more impact in the bass than Mentor 'allures' to you. The timbre sweeter, but it sounds thinner in body and power than the Mentor.
Warm --V222--Mj3-Mentor- Neutral
Detail --V222-MJ3----Mentor

Dac
Bifrost 2: definitely warms the tone up, but Amazed I can hear the detail drop going from NOS to OS. It's a straight downgrade to keep OS on.
Ares 12th-1: Dead-Neutral and more detail than the Bifrost 2, but bigger soundstage at the cost of some dead space in the space between instruments

Mentor is Pitch-Black against the others, and is Grandiose in sound. Not QUITE as holographic in imaging as a Burson, but the detail retrieval makes up for that in my brain.
Has a Theatre Stage presentation, a full body in the bass and mids despite it's neutrality.
I concur it just makes every song sound like it's supposed to, never quite understood what that's like before.

I love my V222 lately so we'll see, but technically it is no competition whatsoever.
Looking for a DAC to slightly warm it up, like a Pontus II tier, seen Cyan 2, taking suggestions

For Me, I realize I maybe should have waited for the M-Field, side-grade incoming

 

[Hoondarrh]

I've been waiting for the M-Field, myself. Going to grab the stack when it becomes available. Hardest thing has been all this research on which R2R DAC I want to pair with it. Still haven't made up my mind. Was eyeing the Pontus II 12th-1 myself, but feel like that's way too much warm in the chain to pair with my SS Tungsten's, though it seems with their firmware updates it has become less warm over time. There's way too many DACs to sift through.

Thanks for your impressions.

 

[Slackaveli]

Mentor arrived! Washington USA, 17 days from order. Got the US Rhodium and the $14 comically large Elderly Accessible remote haha

I've never heard an amp like this outside of a Home Theatre store. It's in another league for me, like a boutique Mcintosh or something.
Vs. V222 and MJ3, Mentor has a Night & Day clarity and resolution. There's zero nuance there, it's straight up just better.

Amp
V222 is a lot lusher, dynamics more fun, and the vocals still a lot sweeter and forward, makes it more engaging for me overall with my rock music taste
MJ3 is the in-between. A bit more impact in the bass than Mentor 'allures' to you. The timbre sweeter, but it sounds thinner in body and power than the Mentor.
Warm --V222--Mj3-Mentor- Neutral
Detail --V222-MJ3----Mentor

Dac
Bifrost 2: definitely warms the tone up, but Amazed I can hear the detail drop going from NOS to OS. It's a straight downgrade to keep OS on.
Ares 12th-1: Dead-Neutral and more detail than the Bifrost 2, but bigger soundstage at the cost of some dead space in the space between instruments

Mentor is Pitch-Black against the others, and is Grandiose in sound. Not QUITE as holographic in imaging as a Burson, but the detail retrieval makes up for that in my brain.
Has a Theatre Stage presentation, a full body in the bass and mids despite it's neutrality.
I concur it just makes every song sound like it's supposed to, never quite understood what that's like before.

I love my V222 lately so we'll see, but technically it is no competition whatsoever.
Looking for a DAC to slightly warm it up, like a Pontus II tier, seen Cyan 2, taking suggestions

For Me, I realize I maybe should have waited for the M-Field, side-grade incoming

Yggy OG is excellent with Mentor, Im quite sure Pontus II 12th would be as well. And that one has a little bit of warmth.

 

[jkteddy77]

I've been waiting for the M-Field, myself. Going to grab the stack when it becomes available. Hardest thing has been all this research on which R2R DAC I want to pair with it. Still haven't made up my mind. Was eyeing the Pontus II 12th-1 myself, but feel like that's way too much warm in the chain to pair with my SS Tungsten's, though it seems with their firmware updates it has become less warm over time. There's way too many DACs to sift through.

Thanks for your impressions.

I should have waitedddd haha, pretty set on an M-field now, maybe I can side-by-side for yall.
Seriously consider the Cyan 2, I mention because the warmth of the Pontus II has me leaning to it instead.

 

[psy472]

I should have waitedddd haha, pretty set on an M-field now, maybe I can side-by-side for yall.
Seriously consider the Cyan 2, I mention because the warmth of the Pontus II has me leaning to it instead.

Considering the Mentor has at least a 2 month wait you can probably sell it pretty easily.

 

[Hoondarrh]

I should have waitedddd haha, pretty set on an M-field now, maybe I can side-by-side for yall.
Seriously consider the Cyan 2, I mention because the warmth of the Pontus II has me leaning to it instead.

Yeah, the Cyan 2 is on the long list of R2R DACs I've been looking into. I'm hundreds of hours into reading reviews and forum posts at this point. Had almost grabbed a $1200 Yggy OG A2, but they chose to go with another buyer instead. It's agonizing. Lol

If you end up with both, I look forward to the comparison.

 

[jkteddy77]

Mid-fi is torture, I miss when Schiit stack was all I had to get haha
Touching $2k I figure i'm breaking out of it but it's just splitting the hairs EVEN THINNER haha

Interested in your list if you wanna PM me

 

[markkr]

My stack arrived and it sounding wonderful. Only problem with the remote is the “volume +” Changes the input on my TT2… so that kind of sucks.

 

[Shane D]

Mentor arrived! Washington USA, 17 days from order. Got the US Rhodium and the $14 comically large Elderly Accessible remote haha

I've never heard an amp like this outside of a Home Theatre store. It's in another league for me, like a boutique Mcintosh or something.
Vs. V222 and MJ3, Mentor has a Night & Day clarity and resolution. There's zero nuance there, it's straight up just better.

Amp
V222 is a lot lusher, dynamics more fun, and the vocals still a lot sweeter and forward, makes it more engaging for me overall with my rock music taste
MJ3 is the in-between. A bit more impact in the bass than Mentor 'allures' to you. The timbre sweeter, but it sounds thinner in body and power than the Mentor.
Warm --V222--Mj3-Mentor- Neutral
Detail --V222-MJ3----Mentor

Dac
Bifrost 2: definitely warms the tone up, but Amazed I can hear the detail drop going from NOS to OS. It's a straight downgrade to keep OS on.
Ares 12th-1: Dead-Neutral and more detail than the Bifrost 2, but bigger soundstage at the cost of some dead space in the space between instruments

Mentor is Pitch-Black against the others, and is Grandiose in sound. Not QUITE as holographic in imaging as a Burson, but the detail retrieval makes up for that in my brain.
Has a Theatre Stage presentation, a full body in the bass and mids despite it's neutrality.
I concur it just makes every song sound like it's supposed to, never quite understood what that's like before.

I love my V222 lately so we'll see, but technically it is no competition whatsoever.
Looking for a DAC to slightly warm it up, like a Pontus II tier, seen Cyan 2, taking suggestions

For Me, I realize I maybe should have waited for the M-Field, side-grade incoming

The amp is probably too rich for me, but I would definitely go for the M-Field version.

 

[Slackaveli]

Considering the Mentor has at least a 2 month wait you can probably sell it pretty easily.

very easily i'd imagine. hell gimme a deal and ill grab one to stack.

 

[Slackaveli]

Yeah, the Cyan 2 is on the long list of R2R DACs I've been looking into. I'm hundreds of hours into reading reviews and forum posts at this point. Had almost grabbed a $1200 Yggy OG A2, but they chose to go with another buyer instead. It's agonizing. Lol

If you end up with both, I look forward to the comparison.

oh, thats brutal. soooo close. Keep looking and you'll find an OG, but $1200 is a crazy good price. Ive seen A1 OGs go for that, i sold mine for 1250.
But 1600 A2 happens from time to time.

 

[Slackaveli]

Im surprised at so many of you saying you'd prefer the M-Field. I came to the other conclusion but to each their own. I'll certainly read the reviews and comparisons.

 

[Hoondarrh]

oh, thats brutal. soooo close. Keep looking and you'll find an OG, but $1200 is a crazy good price. Ive seen A1 OGs go for that, i sold mine for 1250.
But 1600 A2 happens from time to time.

Aye, there's a few in silver going for $1450-1650 right now. Only jumped on it because I'd never seen it that low. I'm really just holding out until the M-Field releases before making a decision, maybe a while longer, just so I can get use to their signature before deciding what to pair it with. The decision would have been made easier had I gotten the Mentor stack and paired with a warmer DAC, instead.

However, at least this way, it will give me plenty of time to financially recover. Lol

 

[jkteddy77]

Im surprised at so many of you saying you'd prefer the M-Field. I came to the other conclusion but to each their own. I'll certainly read the reviews and comparisons.

I'm a larger fan of Hifiman's older more warm and V shaped sound, but the Stealth phones bring so much more speed and resolution i've caved. A/Bd the He1000 V2 and He1000 Stealth and in Bass Impact, dynamics, treble resolution, stealth just it edges out too far
I find the right amp makes a modern speedy planar get back there again from my comparisons
With a tungesten on the way, I think the Mentor is definitely the proper pairing if going totally fun isn't your conclusion.