Schiit Mjolnir 3 Impressions

LOL, well you could watch Warrior (assuming she is old enough) which turns Kung-Fu on its head.



Throughout its three seasons, the lead Asian male got to f**k a white blonde women, a beautiful Mexican lady, and then by season 3 finally settled on a nice Chinese girl. When the Chinese characters talk with each other, they speak in perfect American English without accents (normalizing their speech). It's only when the Chinese characters talk to white people do they speak in "Engrish". There are detestable characters throughout, but certain white characters are super detestable, along with the token "decent" white people (an Irishman or two, and a decent Southerner on the run) LOL. It's so turned on its head that it's hilarious. (There's one Chinese lady who goes around executing shitty racist white people with her sword in the middle of the night.) I am absolutely certain there will be white people watching this show going WTF on the evil white people stereotypes. (Something we yellow people have to deal with for a long time).

 

Come to think of it, my kids did literally say: WTF, why is he a white guy?
Dad response: He's supposed to be a half-breed like you kids.
Kids: Dad, he doesn't look Asian at all.
Dad: Doesn't he? I think he kinda does.
Kids: No dad.

My own dad thought the show was cool back in the day: Oh, soft style Kung Fu. Shaolin monks. Neat.

 

Not the same amp. That was the prototype, with parts constantly changing, along with the masking tape and warnings "do not flip switch with headphones attached". It still may not have that last octave air for you though.

 

Folk just sounded plain rolled. I wouldn't say Mjolnir 3 top octave is any more muted than Mjolnir 1 or 2 or Rag 1/1.5. It's just that the top octave isn't not emphasized like on some amps.

 

Mjolnir 3
0dBu (0.775Vrms) into 300-ohms
4Vrms source, output arrived by adjusting volume knob
BAL in, BAL out
SE, NFB, High Gain


Mjolnir 3
-10dBu (0.775Vrms) into 300-ohms
4Vrms source, output arrived by adjusting volume knob
BAL in, BAL out
SE, NFB, High Gain


Mjolnir 3
0dBu (0.775Vrms) into 32-ohms
4Vrms source, output arrived by adjusting volume knob
BAL in, BAL out
SE, NFB, High Gain


No distortion spikes above -100db. Much better results than I expected here!

Mjolnir 3
-10dBu (0.775Vrms) into 32-ohms
4Vrms source, output arrived by adjusting volume knob
BAL in, BAL out
SE, NFB, High Gain


I am actually a little bit surprised here. No distortion products above -100dBu. Distortion at closer to reasonable listening levels (but still high SPL) is very low.

 

I think most ECs are airier. THX789. Even Magni+ or Piety I feel are airier, but only by a tiny bit. Almost anything with Gilmore moniker (commercial, not necessarily DIY), maybe excessively so. Don't get me wrong. Stick a fricking AKM Velvet DAC deal and there's plenty of air.

 

A few select others:

-10dBu into 32-ohms
PP mode (@schiit did warn more noise / hum in PP)


-10dBu into 32-ohms
PP mode and FB on


-10dBu into 300-ohms
SE mode, FB on


0dBu into 300-ohms
SE mode, FB on

 

THD (not THD+N) vs Output (V)
BAL in, BAL out
SE and NFB
90kHz bandwidth


THD (not THD+N) vs Output (V)
BAL in, BAL out
PP and NFB
90kHz bandwidth


PP mode has more noise (AC mains), but less distortion into more difficult loads at higher output levels.

 

This is a high output level, but not high enough. I guess we can say PP has more mains noise, but marginally lower distortion (by a few db?). SE and PP mode do sound different though.

Mjolnir 3
PP mode, NFB
BAL in, BAL out
0dBu


Mjolnir 3
SE mode, NFB
BAL in, BAL out
0dBu

 

I just realized something interesting. No 4+HD or "crap factor" as @atomicbob calls it. Main distortion products are second and third harmonic.

Let's push it up to 2Vrms output just to see...
(this level kills hearing or headphones)

32-ohms SE NFB


32-ohms PP NFB


Still, no one is hearing distortion at such low levels. Nothing in the measurements is explaining why PP and SE sound different. Maybe it's placebo. Maybe it's expectation bias.

 

Mjolnir 3
THD vs Frequency
Note bandwidth to 50kHz!


Note: SE mode has more of a rise in THD toward higher frequencies.

 

Measurements summary:

I thought the measurements would be shittier, but they aren't. At expected listening levels (and also much louder because 0dBu into most headphones will cause hearing damage quickly), there's not a single harmonic spike that is louder than -100db. (Theoretically, no one can hear any of this, looking at steady state signals can only tell us so much.) The exception is when the amp is in PP mode where the AC noise gets to -85db, and even then, this won't be audible even with efficient Grados. (The amp turned out subjectively quieter than I thought it was going to be and these measurements confirm that - the Mjolnir 3 is NOT a Grado hum machine!). One very interesting aspect is the lack of "crap factor" or harmonics from the 4th and up.

With respect to SE and PP modes, PP has lower distortion at higher output levels and lower impedance loads. The amp seems to have a rise in distortion after the 10kHz mark with the PP mode exhibiting a lower rise in distortion than SE mode as we go up in frequency. This is something of academic note and not to be associated with anything subjective.

About the only thing I expected (based on what I heard subjectively and my measurement experience) that turned out to be true was the second and third harmonic being evenish. This would seem to be the case at reasonably high listening levels (-10db into 30-ohms). Below this output level, distortion isn't detectable! (see below graphs). As the amp is pushed harder toward clipping (headphone destruction levels), the 3rd and then the 5th harmonics creep up.

Finally, I leave you guys with a measurement reflective of the output levels I probably use (I don't listen as loud as I used to) with the HD600 and Caldera.

If there is a moral to the story (measurements), then its the following:

• Measurements often can't tell us much how something sounds likes.
• Measurements can be designed to make it appear that something is worse than it really is. Or the opposite: to promote manufacturers who exceed in certain measurements that have zero to little correlation to how something sounds like.

Mjolnir 3
-20dBu into 300-ohms (HD600)
SE mode NFB


Mjolnir 3
-20dBu into 32-ohms (Caldera)
SE mode NFB