[quawn0418]

Lots but mainly Electronic, rock, and rap.

Yea that was my guess, I’m a classical/vocal guy but i can appreciate some well mixed hiphop/rap as well, that’s probably why i love Schiit products so much, its really the timbre for me, super life like…i imagine your right in the sweet spot with the yggy/mentor combo, timbre and technicality!!

 

[Slackaveli]

You had the same problem I had. It was overwhelmingly detailed that it fatigues you. You gotta get used to it. It gets even more detailed with a bigger soundstage in a dual mono setup. It doesn’t color the music like other amps at all. Just nice transparency and clarity.

This is what I've found I prefer in the hobby.
Tell me no lies, give me what it is.
Now, there are times for a syrupy, tubey gunky funky sound, and thats when the tube amps come out for a bit.
But day to day this is incredible.

 

[Slackaveli]

Yea that was my guess, I’m a classical/vocal guy but i can appreciate some well mixed hiphop/rap as well, that’s probably why i love Schiit products so much, its really the timbre for me, super life like…i imagine your right in the sweet spot with the yggy/mentor combo, timbre and technicality!!

genre isnt discussed enough in our recommendations for sure. There is some crossover gear though. I do love all-arounder chains.
I also dabble in classical and jazz as well.

 

[Slackaveli]

Flux says they are working on the next batch of Mentors so you guys who didnt get your order in don't panic or change your plans over them being out of stock currently.

 

[Erick Muller]

You had the same problem I had. It was overwhelmingly detailed that it fatigues you. You gotta get used to it. It gets even more detailed with a bigger soundstage in a dual mono setup. It doesn’t color the music like other amps at all. Just nice transparency and clarity.

Not to be a contrarian, but given that you have said that you have ADHD, I don't think you became fatigue but rather overwhelmed by the experience, it has happen to me too when I got my first good amp and headphones.

 

[nighthink]

typically takes about 3-5 days for it to make its way by land to Poland then 48 hours later delivery in my case in the middle of the US.

Funny that to US it is faster. In my case it was 1 week from Ukraine to Poland and then another week in EU. But it was UPS ground shipping.

You had the same problem I had. It was overwhelmingly detailed that it fatigues you.

Maybe, but I wouldn't call it a problem

Not sure if someone would call Mentor genre-specific. So far it deals with everything for me.

But wondering what kind of gain settings shall be optimum for my case - is it low or medium for 35Ohm impedance and 96dB sensitivity? So far switching between them.. Maybe Low on Mentor is meant for IEM?

 

[Slackaveli]

Funny that to US it is faster. In my case it was 1 week from Ukraine to Poland and then another week in EU. But it was UPS ground shipping.


Maybe, but I wouldn't call it a problem

Not sure if someone would call Mentor genre-specific. So far it deals with everything for me.

But wondering what kind of gain settings shall be optimum for my case - is it low or medium for 35Ohm impedance and 96dB sensitivity? So far switching between them.. Maybe Low on Mentor is meant for IEM?

Ive noticed no advantage once volume adjusted for low/med/high gain. I usually leave it in medium and run between 11 and 1 o'clock.

Yeah once it hit Poland it was on a plane and in the US that day; hilarious that it got to me faster, but, I bet the $120 i paid for shipping was a bit more than you probably paid.

 

[nighthink]

Yeah once it hit Poland it was on a plane and in the US that day; hilarious that it gets to me faster, but, I bet the $120 i paid for shipping was a bit more than you pay.

They can calculate for you slightly better options, depending on where you are located in the EU or so. In my case it was I think $80.

 

[Erick Muller]

Funny that to US it is faster. In my case it was 1 week from Ukraine to Poland and then another week in EU. But it was UPS ground shipping.


Maybe, but I wouldn't call it a problem

Not sure if someone would call Mentor genre-specific. So far it deals with everything for me.

But wondering what kind of gain settings shall be optimum for my case - is it low or medium for 35Ohm impedance and 96dB sensitivity? So far switching between them.. Maybe Low on Mentor is meant for IEM?

There's some people that recommend that you use the lowest gain setting possible on your amp because going to a higher gain setting might introduce some noise, but YMMV. I've found in my case with my S17 that high gain on 100ma makes the bass more punchy, but I'm losing some clarity on the high end of the spectrum, so choices and sacrifices have to made.

 

[nighthink]

Since today I have added the Puritan PSM156 into the chain and I'm officially like an Alice in Wonderland .
For those interested in my first impressions it did to my speakers here it is:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/pur...m1512-power-conditioners.963397/post-18041725

But to not mix the topics here, I can only say similar things are happening also with Mentor and HeKSe - namely, I hear a lot more (sub)bass, which is both much deeper and stronger. Right now I have no lack of the bass in any direction whatsoever. In that "please read the letter" mentioned before, as the bass is going on in the background, now I hear a lot more of that and much deeper, I'm quite shocked. I know this song pretty good but I never heard that before here.

Obviously, my findings might be very iffy, as Mentor is new and maybe changing a bit every next hour, the Puritan is purely new , crazy stuff here happening. Not going to argue here, it can be I just hear proper sound now for the first time ever. But I hear what I hear, it's not an illusion, it is just so obvious and present that you can't ignore or mislead it. It's just crazy. HekSe is capable of a LOT of bass, and so is Mentor as well.

I'm not going to do any more A/B comparisons as I want to keep that thing in the chain from now on for both systems I have, period. ...And I thought that it wouldn't have too much of an impact on me living in a standalone relatively new house (6 years old, built quite well above the latest standards) - so my assumption is my power can't be THAT dirty. But it absolutely does things, amazing. One would think a conditioner would make the sound brighter, but the opposite happened to me so far.

To sum it up, confused and happy .

 

[nighthink]

There's some people that recommend that you use the lowest gain setting possible on your amp because going to a higher gain setting might introduce some noise, but YMMV. I've found in my case with my S17 that high gain on 100ma makes the bass more punchy, but I'm losing some clarity on the high end of the spectrum, so choices and sacrifices have to made.

Thanks, will keep it now for a few days only on low as that is in my case sufficient as hell. Once I will get used to it, will try to compare different gains. Right now I'm unable to do so..

 

[psy472]

Flux just responded. They will be open for orders in 3 weeks.

 

[Smoothstereo]

Mentor arrived today finally and I did my best (so far) to place it into my existing stack (see photo). Still not ideal and I'm sure I will rearrange it several times.. Until now I was only listening to my speakers from here, so I need to find some new setup.

I was curious what that claim of "almost like listening to speakers" means, and well it's not the same as listening to my speakers but I get that statement.

Usually, I start with Please Read the Letter from Rober Plant & Alison Krauss (this whole album is such a good recording) and I was satisfied right from the box. If this is the start, wondering where it will go. I'm actually not sure whether to call it neutral, bright or warm or whatever. It was just right. Bass where it needs to be and holographic enough to hear everything I know and then some.

Then going to Brother from Alice in Chains (the MTV unplugged album) I swear the right headphone speaker will eventually melt from the overblowing portion of musicality and energy coming out there, it's amazing. I like how this song resonates in the room from my speakers, now it is just around my head.

Now listening to some clean piano and vocals in Stay from Matt Rollings (again) with Alison Krauss again confirmed I will like this setup. The silent background helped to stand out all the instruments there. They are presented here always in small pieces at a time, but well balanced. The piano here is just perfect to my ears.
I still hear a bit of sharpness from time to time, for example in Metallica's Turn the Page, but that I hear even from the speakers. It is probably caused by the source (from iPhone to DAC) I guess here I will just need to solve it with some DDC like Iris, maybe.. Let's see how this will burn in.

What surprised me the most so far was however when I played Show Me Heaven from Maria Mckee. That is now a completely different song as I knew it. On the one side, too much of new information coming out, but I like it. It's not like it would be too much on me, the opposite actually. Didn't know this all was on the recording.

So in summary, not bad for the first 2 hours . I'm quite happy I have Mentor home. I'll never know how it would be with MJ3, but who cares, I not.
Puritan will arrive only tomorrow, so let's see how that will shake with all this.

Very nice. What firmware are you using on the Pontus 2?

 

[nighthink]

Very nice. What firmware are you using on the Pontus 2?

12th anniversary v1.4

 

[Slackaveli]

In addition to the Mentor being back in stock in a couple weeks, the M-Field with it's rich, more tubey sound will go on sale soon.
-per Flux.