Schiit Jotunheim impressions

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by Bill-P, Aug 30, 2016.

  1. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    Exit stage left....
    gotta admit, that characteristic was tough for me to identify when having the modi2uber.
    perhaps due to Vali2 (tube) or HE500 already having a bit of that trait? :)

    Can anyone recommend a test track which makes the level of bass bloom pretty evident?

    as far as thinking for ourselves.... well, i'm enjoying the final Jotun more so than earlier secret demo session for some reason. so there.
    :D
     
  2. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

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    I know that I may get tared and feathered, but I swear that the Jot has broken in some and sound even better now. I ran a few bass test tracks when I first got it. Just ran some of those tracks again and extension seems even better. Check out Evolution 1:1 by Connect.ohm, damn dat bass.
     
  3. jowls

    jowls Never shitposts (please) - Friend

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    We all know it's just an elaborate ruse to stop people emailing Craig about another BW run ;)

    [​IMG]

    Joti is crazy good, regardless of price. @schiit could have easily put it in a Gungnir sized chassis and charged 2 or 3 times the price.

    I had a chance to compare it with BW. TLDR; Joti for HD650, BW for HD600 IMHO.
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2016
  4. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    Not to derail the thread, but is sound stage measurable? Is there a certain set of frequencies that when boosted or recessed affect perception of sound stage? If there is discussion of this elsewhere, please just point me there. TIA.
     
  5. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    One more thought, I wondered over at HF about building a DIY board for the JotSlot™. One guy postulated:

    Originally Posted by kevin gilmore[​IMG]

    looks like 10 pins

    2 pins for L+ and L-
    2 pins for R+ and R-
    1 pin for analog GND (maybe more)
    1 pin for digital power (3.3 or 5V)
    2 pins for analog power (+/-5 to +/-15)
    1 pin for digital ground

    best guess :D

    Any thought on this? I don't have a jot (yet) and so cannot test with a meter, and I don't know if one could reverse engineer it (or at least, I probably couldn't). What would I build? Possibly a second SE input board. Others might build a different DAC, I guess. It's there; that's enough to wonder.
     
  6. thegunner100

    thegunner100 Hentai Master Chief

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    With balanced input and SE output using the UERM, there is imbalance at 7 and then it is balanced out at 7:30 onwards.
     
  7. SoupRKnowva

    SoupRKnowva Official SBAF South Korean Ambassador

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    Lol
    >One guy postulated
    >Kevin Gilmore
    O U
     
  8. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Yes, just close your eyes and stick your hands out to what you hear as a unit of measurement. If you are covering your face or have your hands in your head, something is truly wrong.

    Also, no, not really. At least not known yet.
     
  9. atomicbob

    atomicbob dScope Yoda

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    You've got to watch that gif while listening to Alan Parsons Project I Robot through the Jotunheim stack I posted. Timing is so well sync'd and sound mesmerizing.
     
  10. defiant00

    defiant00 New

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    Thanks for checking.

    For now I'm going to use it at work for the week and then bring it home for a shootout with the Asgard 2 over the weekend, so I should have more to share after that.
     
  11. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    Yes. I believe frequency response (boosted and/or recessed here and there) affects sound stage. And it's therefore somewhat measurable.

    Soundstage is probably more than just individual channel frequency response though.

    That would actually be very kool. But more than reverse engineer it, it would be nice for him to come up with something new. Just compatible. And that it would not brick the device.

    I think Schiit products look very nice and sound well. At least the entry level ones. I haven't spend long time with the high end ones, but I'm sure they are awesome. However, I think they do tend to get pretty hot (cannot help it given topology) and the edges/corners would benefit from some (more) deburring. I personally like black better than silver finish. I would love it if some of their pre-out options /configurations included remote.

    I also do not feel Schiit products are cheap, crazily low priced, nor bargains. They seem fairy well made. And they may be very competitive in the audiophile market. Specially if we consider topology and approach. But IMO they are not very competitive in the Pro market or the mainstream consumer market. Although the Yggdrasil seems like a great performer, and offers unique market differentiation (multi-bit DAC, Burritos Filtering, ...), it cost almost the same as a Lynx Hilo which is probably more feature rich and is AFAIK a great performer (not necessarily greater, that's up to the consumer to decide).

    That being said, I'm not a Schiit hater, I like Jason, and I feel Schiit products are fairly good.
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2016
  12. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    Sorry, please excuse this old fart, but can someone translate this? Who is Kevin Gilmore and what does o u mean?
     
  13. batriq

    batriq Probably has made you smarter

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    Some random Joti impressions. It's being fed from ModiMB. I listened to the Joti with both HD650 balanced unmodded and Purpleheart.

    Purpleheart: With classical music, the bass is well controlled and the mids are vibrant. Really a joy to listen to. Other music (mostly Jazz) sounds so bass heavy and aggressive, I can't stand it. Moving right along...

    HD650: I can play the Joti at very low levels with the HD650. The bass is articulate and there's so much plankton. The Joti sounds delicate with the HD650 on low volumes (I want to say it's more delicate/articulate balanced, but that may because I spent time changing the cable and I want to feel it mattered). Here are some more observations listening to Akiko Suwanai's Four Seasons since I am very familiar with this performance.
    - The staging is intimate and very realistic. So much so that two violinists independently said the same thing: that they feel they're the ones playing.
    - The timing is fantastic. This is due to the ModiMB but the Joti doesn't mask it. In this specific piece the second violins sit opposite the first violins, and with the Joti+ModiMB you can hear the second violins ever so slightly behind. It was explained to me that this is how it sounds to the players and it's because the second violins have to use visual cues to follow the first violins.
    - The background is extremely quiet: you can hear the cellos' decay last through the start of the solo violin.
    - Strings don't crunch together in difficult passages.

    I haven't tried the HD600 with it yet.
     
  14. gaspasser

    gaspasser Flatulence Maestro

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    Thank you to all who commented about the Jotunheim and HD650! All of the positive comments by so many people makes me want to drink the "Jotunhype" Kool Aid. My wallet and my wife hate all of you ;) |\/|
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2016
  15. landroni

    landroni Friend

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    For Stax aficionados (though I hear 'staxhole' is a thing now :) ), KG has designed bespoke electrostatic amps that are proving very popular. My understanding is that the schematics are publicly available, either for DIY'rs or other manufacturers to use. You can spot them by the weird KGXXXX naming scheme.
     
  16. Coldplayer

    Coldplayer New

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    How does this pair with the hd800's?
     
  17. Gravity

    Gravity Friend

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    According to @Marvey, not good.
     
  18. GoodEnoughGear

    GoodEnoughGear Evil Dr. Shultz‎

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    Being a good few hours ahead of the left coast it's fun to wake up to last night's descent into drunkery. And yes, schill all you want, Marv. I sure as hell don't have the time or money to do all that crap. ;)
     
  19. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    Most digital volume control isn't transparent...
     
  20. Azteca

    Azteca Friend

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    Which would be why I specified transparent.
     

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