Now with Serene it sounds a little wider and airier on the top end. Very slight difference though.
I’ll edit one of these posts with more impressions of this preamp experiment later.
Edit: Just revisiting this and still the results are the same. I cannot discern a noticeable difference with the Kara as a preamp. For the initial testing I was using the Verite Closed. Just now I tried again with the 800S and Diana v2.
You know that doesn’t surprise me too much? The more things I self build the more convinced I am becoming that a big impact on the sound of an amp is the power regulation section and going on form factor it seems likely these two have that in common. As the preamp is designed by the same designer they also may have it intended not to colour the sound of their other devices too. It would be interesting to compare their schematics.
Hey M0N!
Why is not a good pair with utopia, hd600, and dt880? To raw and forward? Stages seems the small side too.
880 it sounds strained honestly, 600 feels a bit too dull and compacted (I hate to say the word but slightly veiled to me, also a bit too intense and mid centric), utopia sounds a bit too sluggish and rounded for my tastes and I don’t think the presentation also suits it well, comes off as awkwardly mid forward and off sounding overall. None of them are absolutely horrible, but I’d rather just go with a different pairing if you can
I actually think there’s some treble compression with the higher impedance cans which is interesting and that along with it’s presentation becoming more closed in overall
I guess the utopia wouldn’t be too bad if you wanted to focus on resolving power for the price, but I think it’s compression a bit in presentation and a bit more round than I prefer with the headphone approach just isn’t my jam.
600s I could actually see someone else liking, makes them pretty rich and pretty midrange focused, actually good control, but I personally like something that opens them up more in the treble and a less compacted stage
Utopia was definitely a better match with the Bryston imo. MJ3 isn’t terrible but it’s not what I’d pair with it tbh. Hd800 is pretty good with the MJ3. I didn’t have any issues, but I’d still lean EC or DNA.
Haven’t tried the 580 with MJ3 (closest thing I have to 600).
I like Utopia on MJ3 a lot actually 
. It does sound a bit boomy and mid forward but I like mid forward. Versus my other setup, the speaker amps, it doesn’t stage quite as big or have all the detail and imaging. Those amps also don’t push the mids as far forward. But for a relatively small amp, I have been enjoying it. I’m running the Utopia with a Prion4 fwiw.
Do you remember how it handled the adx5000? Did it add something to it?
This seems like a nice alternative to the quicksilver in this price range
It’s a good pairing with the adx from initial testing, I’ll spend more time with the pairing and report back. And yeah I’d definitely say it’s another one of those slightly punching above options for sure. I think it’s very different from the quicksilver though, would really come down to priorities
The Quicksilver was my main amp for a few years, and I now use the MJ3 in its place. From memory, I’d say the MJ3 has slightly more resolution overall. Layering is handled a bit better as well. I think one could be easily satisfied with either amp though. I’ve chosen to step away from tubes for a while, so the MJ3 is working very nicely for me.
I’d agree that resolution and layering is better, but I think that both space and dynamics are a fair bit better on the qs, and I’d also say overall presentation organicness is also a step ahead of the mj3. I’d really come down to the cans and dac you have, along with what you prioritize.
Ok hear me out.
I absolutely love my Mjolnir 3. I sold my Bliss after getting it. Also liked it more than the Bryston BHA-1.
With my DAC on the 6v setting the MJ3 pushes the Tungsten pretty good. I’m around 1-2 o’clock. But if you don’t have a DAC that’s pushing 6v or and option to change your DACs voltage, then it could be limited with things like the Tungsten and Susvara. Would be nice to have a tad bit more power.
So here’s what I’d love to see Schiit do. Heck, it could even be a limited run, I’ll buy one. Please give us a Mjolnir 3 design in a Ragnarok chassis with a bit more power. Maybe 3 watts? With the Ragnarok chassis we could have the bigger heatsinks and additional inputs, even speaker taps. I know Currawong wanted more inputs and I think it would be great too. Sure it’ll cost a bit more but this thing sounds amazing so let’s give it a bit more juice and features.
Jason Stoddard needs to give us Stormbreaker and kill the competition! Please!
I’ll buy the first one, day one!
Or you could go the insane route like @Christof and I have and use Schiit Tyrs to power your headphones (and speakers in my case lol). AFAIK MJ3 has basically the same design characteristics as the Tyrs (dual mono, choke input). Christof did a comparison between the amps here. Obviously Tyrs take up a ton of space, don’t have the output/feedback options of the MJ3, and require a converter box with an attenuated output if you want to use more sensitive headphones with them. But the sound of the Tyrs have made these compromises worth it to me so far.
I’d also love to see a “big MJ3” though. Honestly if Schiit could make a Ragnarok 3 that used the same choke input dual mono design and sounded 95% as good as the Tyrs do, I’d probably switch to that immediately from my current setup (and free up a ton of space lol).
Yeah, but I want it in one chassis with a headphone in mind.
I like this idea. One Schiit headphone amp to rule them all! I’d really like to see an output impedance switch added as well.
I added it to the schiit mj3 thread. Need traction. I @ Jason too lol
On headfi
Thanks for the shoutout and yeah the Tyrs have been great and sound excellent with any headphone I’ve used, even sensitive ones
+1 for this. I’ve been contemplating either getting a bigger rack to make room for the Tyrs and other components I want or getting a stereo amp on the same level as the Tyrs but I don’t know what that would be. I was considering an amp from Coda or a taller rack from quadspire. A ragnarok 3 would be awesome too
Ragnarok 2 is on sale for $999. Just got an email about it. Looking at the HF thread about it, apparently it’s a fire sale because they’re moving all operations to Texas and Jason doesn’t want to move those amps.
That’s a bummer about the move. I’m guessing they’ll be closing the Schiit.
Did Jason say why they’re moving to Texas?