Schiit Jotenheim R Review

Not sure how much is acceptable. Just thought I'd mention it, since it's a common cause for transformer hum and them heating up more than they should.

You seem very sensitive to all this buzzing noise! I used to have to unplug every phone charger and other SMPS in my room, otherwise I would just hear them and wouldn't fall asleep... Since then I discovered ear plugs!

 

Or move to a big city in the US.
Noise floor is 10x higher than Europe. People like noisy here, makes them feel safe or something...

 

I just want to give a shout out to the biggest dark horse feature on the Jot R being the passive preamp with a toggle switch on the front allowing speakers/monitors to easily coexist with SR1a listening. As well as still use speakers when the Jot R is off.

Especially since the regular Jot doesn't have this

Whoever decided to do that you're the real mvp.

 

I'm someone who unplugs the light on the nightstand to shut up the buzzing from the dimmer, and yeah, I hear transformers hum in most components.

Not sure where you live, but here the power is in reality closer to 255V than the advertised 240V or the 230V that a lot of gear is specified for. I've found that one thing that helps is a Tripp Lite LR2000 isolation transformer switched to knock the voltage down a few % to around 228V. This quiets Yggdrasil down noticeably.

 

Anybody tried driving speakers with the Jot R? Someone on head-fi said that the current issue of Stereophile has a Jot R review, and Jason said in the manufacturers comments that he uses Jot R to drive LS50 speakers on his desktop at home. Only a few watts but apparently enough for nearfield.

 

Am I the only one who prefers listening to Jot R with its baffle compensation off? Schiit's manual says I should turn it on when using SR1a, and that it should be turned off when using circumaural ribbon headphones in the possible future. However, turning the switch off makes the sound much more open and transparent, less congested and veiled, while the soundstage becomes more holographic in all directions. Like how floating earspeakers are actually supposed to sound.

The biggest strength of SR1a is that it presents a binaural, speaker-like experience one cannot fathom with conventional circumaural headphones (unless listening to binaural recordings or using OOYH), and I can't help but feel that this baffle compensation switch is trying to "compensate" for this feature by forcing it to sound like same old boring headphones. More like a "kill switch" to me. Personally, I would always disable this switch regardless of whether I'm using floating or circumaural headphones.

Also, I noticed that turning off the compensation switch increases the threshold volume at which it starts to clip. In other words, I can enjoy the SR1a at louder volumes without clipping.

Wondering what @schiit has to say about this (seemingly unpopular) opinion.

 

Thanks for your input. Yes, I'm aware that SR1a's inherent weak point is in the lows, and honestly, I don't care if it's killed. I almost ended up selling the Jot R and SR1a but before packing it away, I decided to try it once more with the switch off. I'm glad I did, because the difference is revelatory.

 

I have tried turning off the baffle compensation switch. To my ears the sound is slightly more forward, revealing, open & has extra bite but at the expense of slight sub-bass body.
This mode is also slightly aggressive sounding on some tracks.
I have applied @purr1n PMEQ at 1.7k: -3db & 7k: -4db with Q=1.5 & decreased the output by -4db in Roon. SR1A's respond beautifully to pmeq imo.

I am also trying my old audio engine s8 sub (active). I have set the crossover to 50hz (minimum setting). I am figuring out a suitable position/volume/crossover in my very small listening room. Right now i don't have any measuring tools but will get some as i transition into 2ch.

In short, baffle switch off + @purr1n's pmeq + active sub sound phenomenal.