Schiit Jotunheim impressions

The BW was impressive when I first got it, but I grew to dislike its warmth over time. It also didn't play well with IEMs with its higher gain and noise. That's about all I can say based off of memory. They're very different amps.

 

Just ordered one today! gonna bring it to meeting next month in Thailand! hopefully i can gather some impression and comparison with another gears we used here to share with you guys.

 

I don't hear noise on the BW. I agree on all other points - warmth and gain. I do not use IEM, but have a growing interest in the easier to drive headphones, of which many have plenty of heft already built into the design. Hearing the Focal Utopia out of my BW, I did not find the heft of the BW necessary or helpful. I'm very interested to give the Utopia another go with my Jotunheim.

 

Jotun arrived at my doorstep today. Will pit it against my 2 other big-boy amps this weekend. Let's see what this hype really is about.

 

There wasn't any noise with the full sized headphones that I tried out of them, but the BW did not play well with my UERMs.

 

Interesting, I didn't hear the BW v2 as overly warm at all. If Jotun makes it seem warm then it might be the case that Jodi is bright and bubbly and from Long Island?

 

I had the V1, which a few of the NY members got to try out when I brought it over to their houses. @Boops has a version 2 which he brought to the last NY meet. I didn't get to listen to that one.

 

He was hearing noise from the BW2 from iems. I am not hearing any noise when I use my headphones (HD650, HE560) with the BW2. That said, I did not hear any noise with the Andromedas when I used the Jotunheim at the Schiit Show. That said, I'm staying with my BW2 for a year or so and then revisiting the Schiit line around this time next year.

 

I saw the clarification regarding IEM.

I am still focussed on trials using headphones, which I think have similar behavior as the Utopia (I do not own - I will need to retry when I can get time at local meets on the Utopia). My BW2 lost information when playing through the Utopia. A Liquid Gold amplifier used at the meet did not lose audio information. Using headphones at my disposal, I hear more similarity between the Gold and the Jotunheim than the BW2. Again though, I'll need to wait for meets to validate.

 

The issue with me getting Utopias is that I feel like I'd need a better amp (oh noes, TUBES!) and transport capabilities to where I would validate getting one. The mini meet reconfirmed my own issues and thus I am okay with the HD650 and HE560 with my current setup. But that's me. I didn't hear the Utopias on the Jot, so I have no comment on that. Maybe at the Big Meet in November.

 

Interesting comment about the Headtrip. I have a Wells Enigma (baby brother) & IME it's a good pairing with the HE1000. Sounds like I'll need to tap up Mark @ Electromod for a listen to the Jotunheim in the UK when he gets one.

 

I was being totally sarcastic and am happy it is here. I am buying one instead of a Rag now actually when I have some funds available. Hopefully the z1R is good so ill get it and the joti and be done. I just wanted one amp for orthos and one tube amp for high impedance dynamics and I will have both with the joti and trafomatic head 2

did you try it out with the Code-X? I am sure that is a good pairing as well. is the soundstage wide or deep or both?

 

Can you please give a detailed comparison of the joti vs the 800R stack and the mjilnor 2?
Pretty please with ice cream on top?

 

Lol i think just "Jot" is nice and simple. Oh and my 2cents about the Jot. i think its the cleanest amp I've heard to date. Its just got GOBS of power and drives all kinds of things with ease without adding much if any of its own sound (I heard the LCD2, HE5, Utopia, Bill P's 580, HD650, HD800, HD800s, & Denon D5000 on it). It also pairs really well with IEMS (listened to a modded RE-00 on this). The soundstage is also wide and natural, it just feels like it scales accordingly with the DAC / source its been fed. This is definitely on my next to buy list.

 

I found the BW you had to be a dark sounding amp with better than average soundstage.
If I was starting in this hobby and had someone to advise me the most cost effective way to go,
**Edit (for clarity )
It would l suggest the "project ember" first, then graduate to the Jotunheim.
Then when you get financially established in life you go for a EC studio.. or kill yourself with DIY tube Amp..

 

I thought I was done with solid state...

The Valhalla 2 I got recently was my first real tube amp (had the Vali 1 hybrid), and it's great, but I don't care for the fact that tubes take a couple hours to warm up and sound best (at least to my ears), and because of short tube life, I can't leave the amp on 24/7 like I did my old SS integrated. First world problems and all that, but with the Jot being hailed as Schiit's new TOTL amp, I don't think I can resist.

 

It's the other way around. SS amps usually need to warm up for an hour to sound their best, tubes won't change much after 15 min.
Tube life is stupid thing to worry about. Cheap new production ones are not that much $$ to replace, nos tubes are spec'ed conservatively.

 

Yes. That's why I always left my SS amp on, no need to deal with warm up.

I paid $60 for a couple new great tubes for the Val2, so I imagine I can replace those every couple years, but leaving the Val2 on all the time would greatly shorten the life of them. In my setup, the Val2 sounds great not long after being turned on, BUT I find it does not hit its amazing stride for a couple of hours...it's a pretty subtle thing but noticeable to me.