Schiit Mjolnir 3 - Impressions Thread

[psy472]

I considered those but the springs looked like they would be finicky. Have they been? (like, constantly falling out or being a challenge to put into feet?)

It’s not finicky at all. Those grooves for the spring will lock it in.

 

[psy472]

I wondered if there were any problems with that. Back in the day when I used my Jot 1, my main headphones were a Grado PS1000e and an HD650. I never used the Grado with Jot, because of the brightness factor. It paired pretty well with the HD650 which IMO is a darker sounding headphone. Has anyone else thought of the Mj3 as an amp that can lead to brightness in the sound? I have one on order, it was going to replace my Niimbus, which is going to stay downstairs.

I have my grado RS2e and it works great on it. The brightness mellowed out after the first day of burn in. I agree the Jot is definitely brighter to the point that I had to stop using my Grados with it and only use them with the Magni. The MJ3 put the Grados back to use.

Ironically my HEK stealth isn’t seeing as much use because the other cans sound so much better. My Starry Night V2 is ridiculously better than before and just inches out the HEK in bass tightness and is a bit less harsh on treble.

 

[Smoothstereo]

When I first got my MJ3, right out of the box it was a little bright for my taste (especially comparing it to my warmer Jot2). After 150+ hours of repeat playing on the amp, it started to mellow out and became smoother up top. Switching back to the Jot2, the Jot2 sounded slightly veiled in comparison because the MJ3 is so transparent and clean, that you see/hear a much cleaner window into the music. When I listen to the Jot2 now, I feel I am missing out on the finer details, not seeing/hearing the complete picture.

If anything, the MJ3 is very transparent where it will reveal bad recording (or upstream) flaws in the chain.

One thing I find when upgrading one component for another, its never always a one for one swap. Since the setup was built around an existing synergy, swapping out a component for another might require some minor tweaks to bring back that original synergy and to perform at its best. It depends how big of a tweak one has to do and whether the effort is worth it for them.

 

[newToAudio100]

When I first got my MJ3, right out of the box it was a little bright for my taste (especially comparing it to my warmer Jot2). After 150+ hours of repeat playing on the amp, it started to mellow out and became smoother up top. Switching back to the Jot2, the Jot2 sounded slightly veiled in comparison because the MJ3 is so transparent and clean, that you see/hear a much cleaner window into the music. When I listen to the Jot2 now, I feel I am missing out on the finer details, not seeing/hearing the complete picture.

If anything, the MJ3 is very transparent where it will reveal bad recording (or upstream) flaws in the chain.

One thing I find when upgrading one component for another, its never always a one for one swap. Since the setup was built around an existing synergy, swapping out a component for another might require some minor tweaks to bring back that original synergy and to perform at its best. It depends how big of a tweak one has to do and whether the effort is worth it for them.

I found the mj3 to also be transparent but not to the level of the niimbus. Mj3 still has some fuzz and warmth to it compared to Niimbus. That being said I actually sometimes preferred the mj3 due to the bass slam, great midrange, and fully detailed treble. Also prefer it to the bliss all the time. Mj3 works great with yggdrasil og a2 and t+a dac 200. Overall the amp is incredibly detailed. The sound signature does warm up slightly as your burn it in.

 

[Slackaveli]

My apologies if any of my consternation about powering the Tungstens has caused dismay for folks with pending MJ3 purchases.
By all accounts it's a wonderful amp.

 

[psy472]

My apologies if any of my consternation about powering the Tungstens has caused dismay for folks with pending MJ3 purchases.
By all accounts it's a wonderful amp.

It’s fine. Tungsten is a fad thing. As long as the Susvara and other cans sound good, that’s all it matters. High Watt amps has a real risk for burning your cans and IEM. Not sure what the Flux has installed to prevent that. That Wattage is no joke for 33 Watt at 32 Ohms on Mono mode and 11 Watt at 32 Ohms on balanced.

 

[rsmithor]

Someone go AB this on CanJam with the tungsten!

 

[Hydrate]

How does the amp perform on the SE and balanced end? I currently use a magnius/modius/heresy stack, I've been thinking about treating myself to an endgame class A amp for headphones.

 

[BenJoe]

My space heater is here!

Initial impression: Very spacious sounding in both width and depth. Seems uncommon for amp in this price range or lower. I personally like the push-pull mode better which gives the music a little bit more 'bite' and energy. I keep feedback mode off since I don't hear many meaningful differences.

Equipments used: Gustard R26 -> MJ3 -> LCD5 & HE1000se

 

[Slackaveli]

My space heater is here!

Initial impression: Very spacious sounding in both width and depth. Seems uncommon for amp in this price range or lower. I personally like the push-pull mode better which gives the music a little bit more 'bite' and energy. I keep feedback mode off since I don't hear many meaningful differences.

Equipments used: Gustard R26 -> MJ3 -> LCD5 & HE1000se

Gustard R26 -> MJ3 -> LCD5 & HE1000se



noice

 

[Thetaburn]

My space heater is here!

Initial impression: Very spacious sounding in both width and depth. Seems uncommon for amp in this price range or lower. I personally like the push-pull mode better which gives the music a little bit more 'bite' and energy. I keep feedback mode off since I don't hear many meaningful differences.

Equipments used: Gustard R26 -> MJ3 -> LCD5 & HE1000se

Looking forward to your full review.

 

[psy472]

How does the amp perform on the SE and balanced end? I currently use a magnius/modius/heresy stack, I've been thinking about treating myself to an endgame class A amp for headphones.

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.

 

[Currawong]

About the failures, it looks as if the first lot used a bad batch of switches, or maybe some other component that failed after initial testing. I wouldn't be surprised if that were one of the reasons for more recent delays, as they would have stopped sending them out, and re-checked or fixed non-shipped units, as well as had to source a new, working batch of whatever faulty component caused the issue.

Just as a comparison, in the 17 years I've been here, I've seen countless new products have some flaw that only showed up after the first batch was shipped. In a couple of months, everyone will end up forgetting about it. It's not like SoMe Severely Lame companies that use cheap components (eg: switching PSUs) that fail outside warranty after a couple of years.

SS or DS?
This really has been one of those topics where I see people say both yes and no to MJ3 for Tungsten. It's weird.
Has to be genre or DAC differences. Like how some DACs output @ 2/4v, others @ 2.5/5v and yet others @ 9v (few).
THAT would change it, huh?

I may have misunderstood, but the negative impression of the Tungsten from the MJ3 was from the SE (6.3mm) output, not balanced.

 

[Slackaveli]

I may have misunderstood, but the negative impression of the Tungsten from the MJ3 was from the SE (6.3mm) output, not balanced.

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

 

[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.