[davidland]

how does it sound?

 

[Tor M]

Tor, looked at my MJ2. There are also small gaps I never noticed before. Think I remember seeing pictures of a M&J headphone disassembled. If I remember correctly, there was a gasket between the driver plate and the wood ear cup to help seal it. That is possibly what we are seeing. Other wise an air leak would kill the low frequencies. Since your MJ2 have nice, balanced low end, they must be fine.

If the headphones still have the original warranty I wouldn't worry. M&J are good about taking care of things.

Hope you get that DFR for Christmas. What is one of the most impressive sounding albums you've heard on the MJ2 so far.

I bought the demo-pair. I get the same warranty as if they were new and a promise to fix any issues if any would appear. They also offered me 20% off on a brand new pair if I would prefer a new set instead.
But to start the burn inn process all over again isn't tempting and except from the gaps the demo-pair looks like new.

Regarding the gaps I don't think they are a problem. Wood always live a little, so gaps like that would probably appear on most of the pairs. They have probably taken that into account when constructing the headset.

Time to remove the questionmark from my avatar.
Next step i DFR, I probably have to buy it myself though. Heard it was to late for new christmas wishes.

Most impressivee sounding album so far... Hmm, I don't know. I have mostly listened to a portion of music I know well to judge the sound quality as they got burnt in. That is to say AC/DC, Jimi Hendrix, Queen, Eva Cassedy, Norah Jones, Tord Gustavsen trio and a few more. I've been testing with some album with known "flaws"/distortion like the Tord Gustavsen trio "Changing places" and Norah Jones, "Come away with me" to se how they reveil them.

But I've been away from HiFi for a couple of years, so I found a couple of new albums thats been a good listening.
Didn't know Roger Waters had made a new album, "Is this the life we really want?" was a treat! But I think I prefer Roger Waters on the stereo rather than headset.

I also discovered a danish jazz singer called Sinne Eeg. She sounds alittle like Diana Krall, but more "relaxed" music and very good sound. Maybe she had one of the most impressive sounding albums on the M&J's...

how does it sound?

To my ears, wich are not as in the same shape as they used to be, they sound neutral but very musical. Midrange to treble sound very clean without beeing "pushy", by that I mean that voices aren't pushed forward, but sound natural without any veil. Treble is airy without any sibilants/harsh"s'ss". Bass is there without dominating anything. If you have heard electrostatic speakers from Quad or Martin Loagen you will probably recognize the sound.

 

[davidland]

I bought the demo-pair. I get the same warranty as if they were new and a promise to fix any issues if any would appear. They also offered me 20% off on a brand new pair if I would prefer a new set instead.
But to start the burn inn process all over again isn't tempting and except from the gaps the demo-pair looks like new.

Regarding the gaps I don't think they are a problem. Wood always live a little, so gaps like that would probably appear on most of the pairs. They have probably taken that into account when constructing the headset.

Time to remove the questionmark from my avatar.
Next step i DFR, I probably have to buy it myself though. Heard it was to late for new christmas wishes.

Most impressivee sounding album so far... Hmm, I don't know. I have mostly listened to a portion of music I know well to judge the sound quality as they got burnt in. That is to say AC/DC, Jimi Hendrix, Queen, Eva Cassedy, Norah Jones, Tord Gustavsen trio and a few more. I've been testing with some album with known "flaws"/distortion like the Tord Gustavsen trio "Changing places" and Norah Jones, "Come away with me" to se how they reveil them.

But I've been away from HiFi for a couple of years, so I found a couple of new albums thats been a good listening.
Didn't know Roger Waters had made a new album, "Is this the life we really want?" was a treat! But I think I prefer Roger Waters on the stereo rather than headset.

I also discovered a danish jazz singer called Sinne Eeg. She sounds alittle like Diana Krall, but more "relaxed" music and very good sound. Maybe she had one of the most impressive sounding albums on the M&J's...

To my ears, wich are not as in the same shape as they used to be, they sound neutral but very musical. Midrange to treble sound very clean without beeing "pushy", by that I mean that voices aren't pushed forward, but sound natural without any veil. Treble is airy without any sibilants/harsh"s'ss". Bass is there without dominating anything. If you have heard electrostatic speakers from Quad or Martin Loagen you will probably recognize the sound.

sounds nice! I'll try once if there is any chance, thank you for the sharing.

 

[barondla]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone.

A few of my most impressive sounding cuts have been the Eagles - Hotel California (live 24-192WAV), Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (24-96WAV), and David Gilmour - Rattle That Lock (Girl In The Yellow Dress 24-96WAV).

 

[RockStar2005]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you too bud!

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

https://www.amazon.com/Tate-Bauer-N...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=0F3F6MRDBXG6YZAB50Z8
are they worth picking up for $80?

 

[trellus]

https://www.amazon.com/Tate-Bauer-N...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=0F3F6MRDBXG6YZAB50Z8
are they worth picking up for $80?

Yes. I got them on recommendation from @Magick Man and I was happy I did.

 

[RockStar2005]

Yes. I got them on recommendation from @Magick Man and I was happy I did.

Hey trellus,

Ya know, I had these on my shopping list on Amazon, but only because they sounded promising. I have never heard them though. Can you tell me (or us) more about them? Like how do they compare to more expensive HPs (let's say $100-$300 range, like AKG, Sennheiser, etc.)? It says "$3000 tech for $250", yet the price on Amazon is only $80. So I'm just wondering how good they really are?

Thanks.

 

[trellus]

Hey trellus,

Ya know, I had these on my shopping list on Amazon, but only because they sounded promising. I have never heard them though. Can you tell me (or us) more about them? Like how do they compare to more expensive HPs (let's say $100-$300 range, like AKG, Sennheiser, etc.)? It says "$3000 tech for $250", yet the price on Amazon is only $80. So I'm just wondering how good they really are?

Thanks.

I mean, I think the "$3000 tech for $250" is really stretching it -- if I had $3000, I'd be looking at some other headphones for sure!

I don't have them anymore as I gave them to a roommate, but it wasn't because I didn't like them but because I have an abundance of headphones and he was trying some of them out and really liked them and so I gave them to him -- his only other headphones are Apple EarPods, after all.

From memory, I just remember being really impressed with the clean, distortion free sound of the highs and the mids (as I believe that's what is coming from the electret driver), and the treble did not hurt my ears like my sharp Grado SR-325i can with extended listening, I'm guessing due to the nature of how the electret driver works -- just very pleasurable highs and mids without fatiguing my ears.

The bass, which is rendered by the dynamic driver, seemed pretty neutral but I wouldn't call them bass lite, either, just nice and not muddy, with pretty good extension but I can't recall if there was a sub bass rolloff, though I suspect there was.

I found that for the few months I had them, I would reach for them when I needed closed headphones (I kept them at my office) and wanted to hear detail without fatigue. Oddly enough, even though they didn't have any "slam" to the bass, I really liked them for EDM tracks that have a "lot going on" because of the detail these cans bring.

 

[RockStar2005]

I mean, I think the "$3000 tech for $250" is really stretching it -- if I had $3000, I'd be looking at some other headphones for sure!

I don't have them anymore as I gave them to a roommate, but it wasn't because I didn't like them but because I have an abundance of headphones and he was trying some of them out and really liked them and so I gave them to him -- his only other headphones are Apple EarPods, after all.

From memory, I just remember being really impressed with the clean, distortion free sound of the highs and the mids (as I believe that's what is coming from the electret driver), and the treble did not hurt my ears like my sharp Grado SR-325i can with extended listening, I'm guessing due to the nature of how the electret driver works -- just very pleasurable highs and mids without fatiguing my ears.

The bass, which is rendered by the dynamic driver, seemed pretty neutral but I wouldn't call them bass lite, either, just nice and not muddy, with pretty good extension but I can't recall if there was a sub bass rolloff, though I suspect there was.

I found that for the few months I had them, I would reach for them when I needed closed headphones (I kept them at my office) and wanted to hear detail without fatigue. Oddly enough, even though they didn't have any "slam" to the bass, I really liked them for EDM tracks that have a "lot going on" because of the detail these cans bring.

hey trellus,

Well still, for $80 that is pretty DAMN impressive! I guess I will add them back to my list then based off of this very stellar review of yours. lol

Sounds like they are better than many $100-$300 HPs for sure then!

Yeah I just saw your gear inventory. Wow! lol

Thanks again for the info! Quite useful!

 

[milkyspray]

Hi, first post here even though I found out (when I tried to register) that I've been a member for almost a decade.

HiFi used to be a big hobby of mine 10-25 years ago and I used to build my own equipment. But recent years my hi-fi system has been resting in silence. Mostly because it lives in our livingroom which I have to share with my wife and two teenage daughters.
A month ago I tried a nice pair of headphones and I realized that this is my way back into the world of hi-fi, which I obviously miss.

Anyway, I started to read up on headphones and was about to buy a pair of B&W PX when I stumbled over a shop that sell M&J's online. With memories of old Quad and ML electrostatics (and sale with 30% off) got me qurious.

Last week the shop sent me a demo pair of MJ2 which they offer me to buy for $ 375. The phones are in excellent condition and look like new. I do not know how much they have been used because they sounded kind of dull when I got them.

I've let them burn in for about 80 hours and now they sound very good. My problem is that I'm new to this and not used to high-end headphones and the kind of "closeup" soundstage they provide.
My reference is my hifi system with (the legendary) Epos ES14 bi-amped with DIY amp and DIY USB-dac which sound good on everything from AC/DC to jazz, but leaves me at a greater distance to the stage.

I have no sophisticated headphone gear, so I've been using the MJ2 with a Fiio E07K that my brother lent me.

The MJ2 sounds excellent, midrange and treble sound very open and give me the electrostatic sound I remeber from Quad an ML and provide all of the atmospere on live recordings.

I got to compare them against a pair of NAD HP 50. The MJ's sounded better, more open in the midrange and airy treble without beeing "edgy". But they also reveil weakness in the rest of the chain better and the NAD's actually sounded better on one dac amp combination wich got dark and dull on the MJ's. But difference is subtile and I wouldn't pay double price for the M&J if bought at full price.

Enough rambeling. I'm mostly going to use the phones at home. I've read through this thread and I realise you guys know a lot of equipment and have compared the MJ2's against HD600, HD650 and other well known open back phones.

I have realised that I need a high quality dac/amp of some sort to get the best out of the MJ2's. But with a dac/amp I could also consider something like the HD600 wich will cost me $75 less or HD650 at the same price as the MJ2.

So how do the MJ2 compare to theese Sennheisers, are they worth an extra $75 over HD600?

If I buy the MJ2's can anybody recommend a matching portable dac/amp?

Best regards

Tor Martin

Go pick up a used lg v20 for less than $200 and be done. It has a clean bright quad dac and excellent amp, pairs well with the mj2. It's Android and can use wifi if you choose not to activate the phone. Stream tidal hifi or load your own flacs.

 

[barondla]

@Tor M how are you doing with the MJ2 headphones? Have you added the Dragonfly Red to the system yet?

Hope everyone is having a great New Year.

 

[milkyspray]

How good is the red?

 

[RockStar2005]

How good is the red?

I've only tried the Black, but I definitely recall noticing a difference with vs. without it. So if the Red is even better, then I would say it's well worth it.

 

[Tor M]

@Tor M how are you doing with the MJ2 headphones? Have you added the Dragonfly Red to the system yet?

Hope everyone is having a great New Year.

Hi, happy new year to all of you!

Sorry for no updates regarding the MJ2's. The MJ2's are doing fine, but honestly I've been playing more with my stereo system during the holidays. Fun to be back on the "HiFi-wagon".

I bought the Dragonfly Red wich was a big upgrade from the Fiio I lendt from my brother. It sounded really good, but after testing it for a couple of days I decided to return it. On the go the sound advantage wasn't worth the trouble over the simplicity of my in-ear bluetooth headset. For home usage I don't need the portability. I stumbled over the Pro-Ject Pre Box Digital S2 wich has been getting very good reviews and I got an idea.

The volumepot in my homemade integratet amp has gone bad and has started to scrath and need to be replaced. I decided that if I bought the Pro-Ject I can use it both as a headphonesystem and a preamp for my main system and instead of changing the volumepot I can convert my amp to a poweramp.

So I ordered the Pro-Ject and got it last week. Haven't had time for much listening, but first impression (on battery power) is that it sounds very good with the MJ2's. Better than the dragonfly. In my main system it seems to be more detailed but less dynamic than my 10 years old, homemade dac. But it's burning in and a nice linear powersupply would probably improve the dynamics. Theese new dac chips seems to have improved considerably over the of the old stuff and it's fun to take avantage of high-res tracks. ...and it's so small! Good sounding components don't need to be heavy anymore.

I also got a Raspberry Pi 3 for christmas. With volumio it is a nice little music server with both spotify connect and airplay. It's picky on the powersupply thoug, sound much better with batterypower than swichmode adapter, so I't should probably have been moddet with better regulators and a clean linear powersupply. But for a §40 device I'm quite impressed in what it can do. ...and we changed our TV/stereo bench. Only an IKEA unit so probably no sound improvement from that, but a nice excuse to get new speakercables.

So that's a little update on my MJ2 and hifi journey.

Regards