Schiit Mjolnir 3 Impressions

MJ1 ≈ carbureted 351 in a 67 Mustang notchback
MJ3 ≈ Aston V8 Vantage

Also might be good to keep in mind Jason's penchant for Corvettes, too. MJ3 could be considered a subliminal reflection of his C8 ownership experience. I'm certainly open to other car similes, too.

 

Been living with the MJ3 for a week or so and have really enjoyed having a reason to listen to headphones more!! I have been off the headphone train a bit as I have a solid 2ch rig that is a bit newer and shiner for the past year ish.

The last thing I needed was another headphone amp... but the MJ3 was very compelling considering all that is packed into it.

Set up:
USB Unison-> Yggdrasil A2-> Freya S (buffer mode) -> DNA Starlett/MJ3 (Balance in)
HPs: HD800s/JAR650 v1

My background/bias... I have been through plenty of gear the last 10 years. Including MJ2 which I owned for 5 years or so. Over that time I came to the realization that I like dynamic HP's, tubes and Yggdrasil A2. When I purchased the Starlett I was finally content and have been extremely happy with everything it does Since.

The Starlett is my reference and what I will compare the MJ3 to.

When I first got the DNA Starlett I was blow away by how it made everything sound compelling... real.. with impressive detail. This is also the first time I could understand what it meant to have a wet tube sound. I did not know how much transparency and resolution I was giving up with my previous gear. Instruments had prefect reverb and decay. Top notch sound stage/space around everything. I loved the Starlett so much I sold all my other headphones amps off and some headphones.

The MJ3 has many/most of the positive Starlett traits. MJ3 is very compelling with same level of clarity with out any harshness. Reverb and decay really impress. Plenty of adjustability with both amps!! Every thing sounds right out of the MJ3. Sound stage is on par with Starlett (the MJ3 brings the background forward just a bit) nice work Schitt!

Differences from Starlett: MJ3 has tighter & slightly more resolving bass. Starlett has a hint of bloom in the lower end with the HD650. Overall the MJ3 is just a touch cleaner than the Starlett. But the tube goodness sound MJ3 is as close to perfect for SS amp as I can imagine.

The MJ3 is a no brainer after comparing with the Starlett.

Also regarding the heat... I have burned myself multiple times with the Starlett hot AF tubes trying to turn the power off.... I have never felt safer with the MJ3 on my desk

 

As a owner of both DSHA-3F and MJ3, I agree, but in their own different ways. MJ3 is more earthy, 3F more delicate, although they fairly converge in delicate genres like some slower-moving chamber music. Even there, MJ3 makes plucked strings more 3D, material, while 3F creates a slightly warm, liquid presence. I had promised myself that I'd have just one solid-state amp per location, but MJ3 is creating a fateful triangle
PS. I never thought of Caldera as chamber music, let alone lieder, headphones, just focusing on their speed and transients for modern jazz, but MJ3>Caldera is ear opening on this stunningly recorded, romantic new Alpha Classics release "Infinite Voyage" (Emerson String Quartet, Barbara Hannigan, Bertrand Chamayou).

 

earnmyturns... I know you really enjoy the Atrium on your Stellaris, but I'm quite curious if you've tried your Atriums on the MJ3 yet. I'd love to hear any thoughts on how they compare on the MJ3 vs the Stellaris, esp. with jazz and anything with group vocals.

 

To be done when I have time. Atrium open works very well with Stellaris and 3F. Caldera does not. Got Ferrum Oor+Hypsos to solve that. Very good pairing. But then MJ3 came up, couldn't resist trying it out after reading early impressions here. Now I'm really loving MJ3>Caldera -- somehow, makes Caldera more "ZMF-ish" than Oor -- and I've not had any reason (or time) yet to take on the MJ3>Atrium expedition. Maybe I'm afraid that it will compete too well with the Stellaris

 

I've read the blackness discussion thread before, and have heard this phenomena when comparing dacs (Modi MB & Gungnir Multibit A2 compared to Hugo 2 and to other delta sigma dacs) But with MJ3 I think this is the first time I heard such great benefits of preserving background resolution.

I liked the OLED analogy a lot, in fact I have similar findings when comparing BHA-1 and MJ3, where BHA-1 works slightly better with synthesized/electronic sounds where the audio signal tends to be more 'artificial', but any sound that are recorded 'acoustically' like vocals, instruments are really brought to life on MJ3.

 

How is the pairing with the Verite open or oval Hifimans in general? This amp is very intriguing I have to say.

 

I check in every few days on the Head-Fi thread and it looks like at least two more units have had issues.

• https://www.head-fi.org/threads/schiit-mjolnir-3-impressions-thread.969416/post-17731195
  
• https://www.head-fi.org/threads/schiit-mjolnir-3-impressions-thread.969416/post-17731370 (and follow-up here)

Different units have had different channels fail, and someone else's has a persistent static only in one channel. I'm not sure what the total # of units sold in this initial run has been so far, but this seems concerning. Potential kinks that need to be worked out before round two? Anybody here have any issues, particularly with static and/or channels dying?

 

Weird, because we've only seen one back here.

Basically no more fails than usual. The one that came back had a misaligned switch that was rubbing on the front panel, which caused one channel's relay to be flaky (it's a mechanical switch with separate poles for each channel, yes we took the "dual mono" that far). A couple of others internally had transformer problems, but they were caught in burn-in.

But whatever comes back, we'll have a look and get it taken care of.

 

So far so good here. Been burning it in for about 2.5 days, fingers crossed.

 

AKA slacktivism.

 

Sorry to dirty the thread but I'm hoping I can still get one of these around the holidays. Wishful thinking? Any data available as to how many are left or how many second batch perhaps?

 

I can't be the only person that's pondered a Yggdrasil Constructicon chassis that allows for mounting and switching between A2, LIM, and MIB-Agent K boards at the press of a button...

 

The physics of that get interesting. How would you do it? My thought is double height chassis with an upside down second circuit board on the lid with two additional sets of analogue cards and six ribbons dropping to the original circuit board on the bottom which has the third set of analogue cards in the original position.

 

Or external plug in slots for different boards. I can imagine a spike in customer service calls though because people will do something wrong.

 

From the look of it, you’re burning your headphones