orkney
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2004
- Posts
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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.
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.
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