^^^ Hah! Well said! Agree completely.
Schiit Mjolnir 3 - Impressions Thread
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Slackaveli
Headphoneus Supremus
One of the best analogies Ive seen on Headfi
psy472
500+ Head-Fier
In either cases, remember to wear gloves when you “audition”.
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The harshness in treble will go away in few weeks.Some first impressions after about 24 hours burn-in:
- Truly special and good sounding SS amp. There is some sweet liquidity in the sound which is rare in SS amps. This aspect reminded me to my first encounter witht he Meze Empyrean in 2018.
- Quite energetic and clear sound but with rounded edges, so it is not aggressive. Soundstage is good but not huge, but I do not actually mind it as the space has very good depth layering and imaging. It is easy to visualise instruments in their place.
- Bass is not overblown, but strong with good impact. Mids are clear and vocals surprisingly sweet and lifelike for a SS amp. Treble initially was a little dry, and slightly too forward, but this seems to be taming down with burn-in.
- Overall, a clean, clear, dynamic, impactful but at the same time smooth and fun sound. Acoustic instrument tone and timbre is good, but my NOS tubed HA-3A is more fluid, richer and more natural when it comes to string instruments. Tubes also give vocals more magic. MJ3 on the other hand offers better technicalities with more detail, better dynamics and a lot clearer, more defined and more impactful bass. As expected, I prefer MJ3 bass but HA-3A treble. These two amps are very different and offer different strengths, a different listening experience.
- Warm up time is real with the MJ3. It takes at least an hour but more like 2-3 hours to get the hottest, but sound is best when the amp is fully warmed up. For now, I keep it on a separate, 4-inch-tall (10cm) stand where breathability is good. This way even the hottest temperatures do not seem like anything to worry about, no fan needed for me.
- Dislike that is the switch on toggle is located on the back.
- With my ZMF Caldera I prefer low gain, no feedback. Also, usually SE versus push-pull. The differences are actually smaller than I expected, but they are there. My Cyan 2 DAC puts out 5V, which is a little higher than the 4V average for XLR out. Perhaps this is partly why I prefer low gain with the Caldera. High gain is just a little too harsh. Feedback takes away a little from dynamics in a subtle but non-favourable way at least to me. I initially liked the subtle liveliness push-pull brought to the picture, but after a while it gets a little too much in the treble. Treble is already quite lively, so I prefer to leave it in SE mode.
Overall, I am happy so far: great bass, dynamic but sweet and clear, detailed sound. A fun and engaging listen with good technicalities. The relatively smaller soundstage is nicely compensated with great spatial imaging, so I am happy on that front as well. If there is one thing, I would improve that would be a tiny bit more relaxed and more natural treble, but that will probably improve with further burn in and I am used to tube amps these days which have liquid treble.
So, I like the MJ3, but let's see where things lead and evolve.
I wouldn't call it harshness, just a bit dry and bright but it is indeed improving with burn in.
My M3 must be different. It is good to go within 5 minutes. I detect no difference between right after initial startup and 8 hours later. Maybe keeping the amp cool really does mitigate the effects of gradual heating up. I turn on my fan before I turn on the amp. It is fully ready to go almost immediately, the heat sinks barely get warm at all, the bottom of the amp is only very slightly warm. Temperature stable almost immediately. No pops or any other noises after shut down, even after 14 hours straight listening time. And no deviation in sound quality at all from start up to shut down.
Cooling does make the difference. No one may believe this and that is OK. I see how my amp is running and sounds as I maintain cool heat sinks. And I always do long hour listening sessions. Works great for my amp. When not using outside cooling, it will take the semiconductors a lot longer to reach temperature stability because they are heating up the heat sinks so there is a much longer period of time that the drift affects output. When I cool the heat sinks, the transistors and everything else are almost immediately temperature stable, and the amp is ready almost immediately after start up.
Don't believe it? TRY IT yourself. I have a few hundred hours on my amp, I see and hear very clearly what it is doing. And how it is operating with extreme temperatures mitigated.
So the argument that "if it needed fans, Schiit would have provided fans" is just foolish. They provided heat sinks with enough surface area to dissipate enough heat so the amp doesn't go into meltdown. So it runs very hot and takes a while to get temperature stable. At which time it sounds best. Now if temperatures are kept much lower, the sinks are already cooled and the output transistors are temperature stable immediately and the analog outputs are not drifting. The entire amp is cool, and trust me sounds incredibly good almost immediately and stays that way until I shut it down.
Want to run yours hot? Awesome. It will take prolly at least 30 minutes to get those sinks and output transistors toasty so it gets stable. I prefer to get mine temperature stable immediately. My amp will likely last forever running nice and cool. What might contribute to early capacitor failure? Could it be elevated temps inside the amp case? Why the popping noises on shutdown? Could that be due to temperature equilibration going the other way? Those chokes and transformers cooling down? Hmmm could be. I never hear any of that. My amp is ready to rock 5 minutes after I turn it on. Freakin amazing. Crazy huh?
This is not mystical magical BS. It is the laws of physics at work. But hey you wanna run hot? DO IT. Your amp your money, do as you will. All good.
Cooling does make the difference. No one may believe this and that is OK. I see how my amp is running and sounds as I maintain cool heat sinks. And I always do long hour listening sessions. Works great for my amp. When not using outside cooling, it will take the semiconductors a lot longer to reach temperature stability because they are heating up the heat sinks so there is a much longer period of time that the drift affects output. When I cool the heat sinks, the transistors and everything else are almost immediately temperature stable, and the amp is ready almost immediately after start up.
Don't believe it? TRY IT yourself. I have a few hundred hours on my amp, I see and hear very clearly what it is doing. And how it is operating with extreme temperatures mitigated.
So the argument that "if it needed fans, Schiit would have provided fans" is just foolish. They provided heat sinks with enough surface area to dissipate enough heat so the amp doesn't go into meltdown. So it runs very hot and takes a while to get temperature stable. At which time it sounds best. Now if temperatures are kept much lower, the sinks are already cooled and the output transistors are temperature stable immediately and the analog outputs are not drifting. The entire amp is cool, and trust me sounds incredibly good almost immediately and stays that way until I shut it down.
Want to run yours hot? Awesome. It will take prolly at least 30 minutes to get those sinks and output transistors toasty so it gets stable. I prefer to get mine temperature stable immediately. My amp will likely last forever running nice and cool. What might contribute to early capacitor failure? Could it be elevated temps inside the amp case? Why the popping noises on shutdown? Could that be due to temperature equilibration going the other way? Those chokes and transformers cooling down? Hmmm could be. I never hear any of that. My amp is ready to rock 5 minutes after I turn it on. Freakin amazing. Crazy huh?
This is not mystical magical BS. It is the laws of physics at work. But hey you wanna run hot? DO IT. Your amp your money, do as you will. All good.
Oh yeah my chokes don't hum or vibrate either. Forgot to add that. Running it cool WORKS.
adydula
Headphoneus Supremus
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What fan do u use ?
Cheap $20 fan I got at Best Buy, sits atop the amp, aimed at case openings and heat sinks. It has cloth blades so if I accidentally touch blades while turning amp on/off no hurt LOL. Dead silent.
adydula
Headphoneus Supremus
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Neat looks big..cloth bladed interesting. Thanks for the pix.Cheap $20 fan I got at Best Buy, sits atop the amp, aimed at case openings and heat sinks. It has cloth blades so if I accidentally touch blades while turning amp on/off no hurt LOL. Dead silent.
adydula
Headphoneus Supremus
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I love the idea of keeping things cool. Not an elegant solution but hey..it works this great !Cheap $20 fan I got at Best Buy, sits atop the amp, aimed at case openings and heat sinks. It has cloth blades so if I accidentally touch blades while turning amp on/off no hurt LOL. Dead silent.
If I get a mj3 this will be a purchase here.
Here is the fan if people are interested...Cheap $20 fan I got at Best Buy, sits atop the amp, aimed at case openings and heat sinks. It has cloth blades so if I accidentally touch blades while turning amp on/off no hurt LOL. Dead silent.
Vornado - Zippi Personal Fan - Black
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/vornado-zippi-personal-fan-black/2188013.p?skuId=2188013
KipFox
100+ Head-Fier
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This little unit sits right on top of my MJ3 and works great, pulls the heat up and exhausts out the back. If you are looking for something a bit more AV oriented in looks.
AC infinity Aircom S6 it's 12" wide and sits right on top of the heat fins.
AC infinity Aircom S6 it's 12" wide and sits right on top of the heat fins.
