[Smoothstereo]

Just received my new MJ3 in - sounding pretty dang good however, not sure if it is almost $1k better than the Pietus Maximus I currently use. I've got 580JAR headphones and my chain may be at the ceiling of what they are capable of. With the MIB, it sounds utterly glorious.. The PM is a little bit more euphonic and smoother while MJ3 has more sub bass and a bit more room between instruments. MJ3 has small gains in detail, resolving ability and other areas as well. When I was using BF2 OG the MJ3 really opened things up with a huge sense of space when compared to the PM, yet when switching to MIB Yggdrasil things opened up on the PM! To the point that MJ3 doesn't bring as much of a gain to the table. Suffice to say, I may just stick with the Pietus. I've no intention to upgrade headphones, so I may have just found my spot in this audio chase to call it golden.

It's good if you have found your sweet spot with lower tier gear and money well saved. However, I would let the MJ3 burn in for 150 hours first. Also are you using SE headphone out on both MJ3 and PM? To my ears, balance headphone out on the MJ3 sounds better than the SE out. Although I haven't heard the JAR580, I can't comment how good it is, but I would try another higher tier headphone to see if you hear more performance out of the MJ3. In my setup, better headphones scale so much better on MJ3 vs my Jot2 or Vali2.

 

[quawn0418]

It's good if you have found your sweet spot with lower tier gear and money well saved. However, I would let the MJ3 burn in for 150 hours first. Also are you using SE headphone out on both MJ3 and PM? To my ears, balance headphone out on the MJ3 sounds better than the SE out. Although I haven't heard the JAR580, I can't comment how good it is, but I would try another higher tier headphone to see if you hear more performance out of the MJ3. In my setup, better headphones scale so much better on MJ3 vs my Jot2 or Vali2.

You must not have heard the infamous JAR580 lol it’s a modded 580 that’s indestructible and beats everything under 2k!! Oooooouu aaaaahhhh lol j/k man

 

[betula]

You must not have heard the infamous JAR580 lol it’s a modded 580 that’s indestructible and beats everything under 2k!! Oooooouu aaaaahhhh lol j/k man

Although I haven't heard these Jar mods, the 600 series reached legendary benchmark status and a cult following for people with expensive tube amps not without reason. They offer a great flavour in their midrange. (Heavy bass roll off is another matter.)
That said, as good and as legendary the 27(!) years old 600 or 23 years old 650 is (ok, add the 31 years old 580 too), on today's market there are far, far better headphones. This hobby exploded in the last 6-8 years. Unfortunately, the prices too.

 

[Voxata]

It's good if you have found your sweet spot with lower tier gear and money well saved. However, I would let the MJ3 burn in for 150 hours first. Also are you using SE headphone out on both MJ3 and PM? To my ears, balance headphone out on the MJ3 sounds better than the SE out. Although I haven't heard the JAR580, I can't comment how good it is, but I would try another higher tier headphone to see if you hear more performance out of the MJ3. In my setup, better headphones scale so much better on MJ3 vs my Jot2 or Vali2.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I used BAL out on the MJ3 (I was also not as big of a fan using SE on MJ3) and a 4Pin to SE adapter for the Pietus Maximus. The HD580 JAR is the best I've got and honestly, and is my preference for all around tonality and technicality. I've tried a few headphones from ZMF, Hifiman and even 800 variants over the years and the JAR 580/600 just suits my preferences better than any of them. So, with that one has to consider synergy may not be ideal with everything, and it may appear this is the case here. Though, it's definitely not bad.. just not the gains I'd hoped for coming from the Pietus.

 

[quawn0418]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I used BAL out on the MJ3 (I was also not as big of a fan using SE on MJ3) and a 4Pin to SE adapter for the Pietus Maximus. The HD580 JAR is the best I've got and honestly, and is my preference for all around tonality and technicality. I've tried a few headphones from ZMF, Hifiman and even 800 variants over the years and the JAR 580/600 just suits my preferences better than any of them. So, with that one has to consider synergy may not be ideal with everything, and it may appear this is the case here. Though, it's definitely not bad.. just not the gains I'd hoped for coming from the Pietus.

Fair enough, but i will say that if your going to return it, do it now lol because if you continue to listen long enough you may end up having returners remorse lol

 

[Voxata]

Fair enough, but i will say that if your going to return it, do it now lol because if you continue to listen long enough you may end up having returners remorse lol

The Pietus Maximus is an exceptional amp, so I'm not too worried I'm using a nice Goldpoint to split signal for easy testing and uhh, yeah. Both sound great. If I was still using a BF2 I'm sure the delta would be further.

 

[Luckyleo]

I could not like the 650 on any solid-stated amplifiers until I got a tube amp lol . If you cannot get a tube amp you better buy another headphone that will be almost much better than your 6xx . This was my experience

I Recommend I invest in a very high quality DAC before investing in a new amp. Just me. ymmv

 

[Voxata]

Run the MJ3 a week, make sure it has been playing for at least a couple of hours prior to listening, then re-assess - I am actually curious about a critical comparison of the MJ3 to PM. I am CD60->BF2/64->Lokius->MJ3->E3 (XLR), and have experienced some of the best listening in my life, but warm up time, volume level, and time in the session all seem to make a difference. I have found that louder volume is necessary on my setup to get the vocals balanced with the instruments. But, man once it comes together, I just sit and listen for hours. That is the real test for me, if I don't want to leave to do something else, it means I am engaged and in awe. But, I have been wondering about the PM for a small secondary setup.

I ran it for about 12 hours without turning it off, it's still on now so it's at about ,30. I'll be listening to it more this week to confirm. I stated before with MIB the delta is closer between amps for my specific headphone, than it was with BF2. MIB is just crazy layered especially in the treble region and very wide. I'm giving MJ3 a fair shake, but I'm content either way.

 

[betula]

I ran it for about 12 hours without turning it off, it's still on now so it's at about ,30. I'll be listening to it more this week to confirm. I stated before with MIB the delta is closer between amps for my specific headphone, than it was with BF2. MIB is just crazy layered especially in the treble region and very wide. I'm giving MJ3 a fair shake, but I'm content either way.

Regarding the headphone discussion above, personal taste overwrites everything and that is absolutely fine. Subjectively you might prefer your modded HD580, but objectively there are technically more capable headphones. A partial explanation of your experience might be that the Pietus Maximus brings out 80-90% of your HD580 already and you just can't really appreciate that 10-20% improvement on the MJ3 that much. I believe, if we took one of the flagship headphones from Audeze, DC, Meze, ZMF, HiFiMan or others, the equation would look different. The PM might bring out 30-40% of what these headphones are capable of, so the additional 60-70% performance increase on the MJ3 would be much more obvious.
Don't get me wrong, both the PM and the modded HD580 are fantastic pieces, but when we improve our chain, peak performance of the given links and having them in balance are things that can't be overlooked. Just my 2c, everyone can agree or disagree.

 

[Rattle]

Pietus Maximus not piety. Also all the headphone companies besides ZmF you mentioned are all planar magnetics. Some people don't like planar magnetics even if they are "objectively" better headphones on paper.

 

[betula]

Pietus Maximus not piety. Also all the headphone companies besides ZmF you mentioned are all planar magnetics. Some people don't like planar magnetics even if they are "objectively" better headphones on paper.

I hope one day you will be able to forgive my typo. Planar vs dynamic was not my point. Pick any dynamic flagship then and reread my post.

 

[Voxata]

I hope one day you will be able to forgive my typo. Planar vs dynamic was not my point. Pick any dynamic flagship then and reread my post.

I've had some fairly high-end gear, from DACs->amps->headphones, but as you pointed out personal preference trumps literally everything. I consider myself fortunate to be so very pleased where I'm at. I give much of the credit to the new Yggdrasil+ MIB, which - rather than being considered 'better' than the A2, which it isn't - instead caters to my personal preference when it comes to presentation. Therefor, it is better to me. Lifting downstream gear to a level I consider more than I'll ever need to go beyond - and helping make the difference between PM/MJ3 far less palpable with my headphones, vs say the BF2. I appreciate your well written response, thanks again!

 

[artur9]

I Recommend I invest in a very high quality DAC before investing in a new amp. Just me. ymmv

I'm curious.


Everyone here is saying the DAC makes a huge difference. Yet, out in the real world, the consensus is that DACs all sound the same.

How do we reconcile this?

For the record, I've never thought DACs make no difference, just that an amp's effects are easier to hear.

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

Everyone here is saying the DAC makes a huge difference. Yet, out in the real world, the consensus is that DACs all sound the same.

Many also say that amplifiers all sound the same, too.

How do we reconcile this?

You learn to trust your own ears.


JC

 

[Melineous]

I'm curious.


Everyone here is saying the DAC makes a huge difference. Yet, out in the real world, the consensus is that DACs all sound the same.

How do we reconcile this?

For the record, I've never thought DACs make no difference, just that an amp's effects are easier to hear.

I feel like I have no bias here because the less money I can spend on great sound the better. I'm not a rich person. However, I daily drove a Bf2 og for about a year and a half. I tried a ifi zen dac and it was noticably worse and smeared sounding. In February I picked up a used Yggy A2 and it's a night and day difference over Bf2 by having far better tonality and a different presentation to its staging. My experience is that in big jumps like the ones I had the difference is just as noticable as upgrading amps. Also, a disclaimer, Schiit audio build their own reconstruction filters in their multibit dacs so this difference in sound could be baked in on purpose to separate products. Not trying to accuse anyone of anything bc at the end of the day you get what you pay for, but it's a thought that's lingered in my mind.