[George Hincapie]

Terminator is just suuuuper pricey @ $6600 over double the Venus and almost 4 times the Pontus.
Im sure the Terminator is the best, of that I have no doubt.

$3,000 for Venus II is out of my budget currently as well, but, there's a possibility. $6600 aint never going to happen around these parts.

And that isn't even the best Terminator.

 

[Smoothstereo]

One thing to also consider is size, the Terminator 2 is freaking huge and heavy. Desk real estate is a challenge for some like myself.

 

[jkteddy77]

Has anyone compared the MJ3 to the GSX Mini?

The MJ3 is just superior, and they share a very similar signature, from my understanding on wave theory's review.

 

[quawn0418]

Also, if we’re talking strictly headphones…the odds of you being able to tell the difference between a Venus and Terminator are close to impossible. You’re a lot more likely to pick up any notable differences on a good speaker set up. We fool ourselves into believing that we can hear a difference most of the time lol with that being said, I’m here for all of it lol lol

 

[PopZeus]

Just curious why Venus and not Terminator 2? I know cost is one factor, but from what I read it's only Terminator that has the best galvanic isolation on USB input, thus potentially removing the need for external DDC. For Venus it is still recommended I believe. If true it could be the less expensive solution after all.

A couple of things have pushed my thinking towards a Venus with DDC instead of the flagship Terminator. One, it’s easier to save up for each item separately and get an incremental sense of satisfaction. Second, most DACs don’t have a built-in DDC as robust as a standalone. So if I ever want to swap DACs, I would need to swap DDCs too if I had all my savings invested in a Terminator. And yeah the Terminator’s a chonky boi

 

[quawn0418]

When people say the MJ3 is bright it makes me wonder how loud there listening. The MJ3’s treble is truly top notch. I just finished listening to a record that was always sibilant on other amps I’ve owned, yet the MJ smoothened it out completely, its detail capabilities are just outstanding. It’s like now when i get sibilance on the MJ i know for a fact that the information simply isn’t there to resolve. It’s mind blowing lol

 

[XIST_]

The MJ3 is just superior, and they share a very similar signature, from my understanding on wave theory's review.

Thanks, I'll have to give that review a watch. I recently got a GSX Mini for a good price used and am very curious about how the MJ3 sounds.

 

[Smoothstereo]

When people say the MJ3 is bright it makes me wonder how loud there listening. The MJ3’s treble is truly top notch. I just finished listening to a record that was always sibilant on other amps I’ve owned, yet the MJ smoothened it out completely, its detail capabilities are just outstanding. It’s like now when i get sibilance on the MJ i know for a fact that the information simply isn’t there to resolve. It’s mind blowing lol

I think when folks describe their MJ3 being bright (or warm for that matter), a great part is from their dac and rest of their gear. Also one's tolerance to brightness plays a role.

 

[Slackaveli]

Looking into Vinshine page it is now 3070 vs 4920. Still a substantial difference. But if Venus needs at least Hermes and Terminator not, then it is 4400 vs 4920.

interesting

 

[George Hincapie]

One thing to also consider is size, the Terminator 2 is freaking huge and heavy. Desk real estate is a challenge for some like myself.

No different from May KTE. Buy a rack if you have space?

 

[Slackaveli]

No different from May KTE. Buy a rack if you have space?

Idk but I doubt it's bigger than OG Yggy.

 

[artur9]

When people say the MJ3 is bright it makes me wonder how loud there listening....

I think the music makes a great deal of difference, too. I don't listen to electronica, just pretty much acoustically created sounds, and MJ3 sounds spot on.

Separately, my belief system has the "fact" in it that noise manifests as "brightness." If something upstream is noisy, in that sense, the MJ3 is going to let it through due to its highly transparent nature. In that scenario, swapping X, which blocked some of that due to lack of transparency, for an MJ3 is going to lead to lots of talk about how bright the MJ3 is.

 

[sygnus21]

Also, if we’re talking strictly headphones…the odds of you being able to tell the difference between a Venus and Terminator are close to impossible.

I'm curious if you've ever heard both DACs?

A couple of things have pushed my thinking towards a Venus with DDC instead of the flagship Terminator. One, it’s easier to save up for each item separately and get an incremental sense of satisfaction. Second, most DACs don’t have a built-in DDC as robust as a standalone. So if I ever want to swap DACs, I would need to swap DDCs too if I had all my savings invested in a Terminator. And yeah the Terminator’s a chonky boi

I thought long and hard about getting the Venus, but since I was buying 3 Denafrips devices - DDC DAC, Headphone amp, I went Pontus, Iris DDC and Artemis headphone amp. Yeah, it's not the Venus or Terminator, but it gets the job done. And the setup works very well with my Sennheiser HD800S phones.

I never even considered the Terminator, and certainly not the Terminator plus as all 3 of the devices totaled still wasn't enough for a Terminator.

 

[George Hincapie]

I'm curious if you've ever heard both DACs?


I thought long and hard about getting the Venus, but since I was buying 3 Denafrips devices - DDC DAC, Headphone amp, I went Pontus, Iris DDC and Artemis headphone amp. Yeah, it's not the Venus or Terminator, but it gets the job done. And the setup works very well with my Sennheiser HD800S phones.

I never even considered the Terminator, and certainly not the Terminator plus as all 3 of the devices totaled still wasn't enough for a Terminator.

Venus is probably the sweet spot.

 

[quawn0418]

I'm curious if you've ever heard both DACs?

I haven’t heard either of them. What i mean is that they’re DAC’s of the same nature and at those price points with diminishing returns you’d be really hard pressed to notice any improvements in quality, signature sure, but quality no.
I have a hard enough time noticing the difference in quality between the Bifrost and Yggy, but i do notice it.