Loaner: Jotunheim+phono+HD650

Discussion in 'Closed Loaners' started by purr1n, Sep 14, 2016.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,320
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Thanks, guys.
     
  2. Pyruvate

    Pyruvate Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Sep 29, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,425
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Here
    @TMRaven @sphinxvc

    Going to be out of town during my turn with the Joti/650 combo. Please remove me from list for the time being. Thanks guys!
     
  3. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,320
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2016
  4. TMRaven

    TMRaven Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    621
    Trophy Points:
    93
    I dunno I haven't pm'd him yet. I'll do so once I receive.
     
  5. Erroneous

    Erroneous Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    May 15, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,897
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Texas
    @sphinxvc I was in, but @ColtMrFire stopped by with his Jotunheim and HD650 and took care of bidness. Thank you for thinking of me, Sphinx!
     
  6. JoshMorr

    JoshMorr Friend

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,066
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, ME
    Team 1 reporting in - received the package and have pork fried pork's name and address. Will send out Tuesday. Team 1 is totally kicking team 2's ass in speedy deliveries.
     
  7. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,969
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Los Alamos, NM
    Home Page:
    Yikes! I will be out of town Oct 17-22. I thought I was safe with those dates. Please rearrange the mailing schedule as necessary, or just take in account that I can't use the rig until the week of the 23rd. It can be sent to my house as I will have a house sitter bringing in packages.
     
  8. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,637
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Rochester, NY
    Go Team Group 1!!!
     
  9. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,320
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Adjusted.
     
  10. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,969
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Los Alamos, NM
    Home Page:
    Thanks @sphinxvc

    Since I'm at the bottom of the list and it appears I might get the stuff right before !CanJam, can I just return them there?
     
  11. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,320
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Should be okay. Get in touch w. me before the meet to arrange/exhange numbers, etc.
     
  12. TMRaven

    TMRaven Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    621
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Received the Jot+650 today. I will be updating this post throughout the next several hours with stream of consciousness notes and impressions and gratuitously long general banter.

    With these loaners, I set out to achieve 3 main listening goals:
    -Determine if Jotunheim will make the Elear scale nicely to new heights
    -Compare the Elear and HD650's sound signatures
    -Equalize the Elear to sound like an HD650


    I didn't have a dedicated DAC, and upon plugging the Jotunheim into my pc tower, I noticed it just brought out too much of the noisefloor of its onboard audio. Onto the Macbook air's internal sound I go--- ahhh, dead silent. Apple is always on their game when it comes to delivering good sound in their hardware.

    As much as I'd like to say I'm a snooty audiophile that lives in the realm of infinitely small subtleties, I'm just not anymore. I understand the fun and allure behind it as a hobby, but these days I just use headphones as a means of listening to music in the background while making a living in Creative Suite. My music choice has devolved into a bunch of instrumental and soundtrack stuff as well, so most of my subjective critiques on sound comes in the manner of talking about instrumental balance and timbre. Right off the bat I'll tell you that from a couple of my favorite reference tracks to use, I can't tell much of a difference in the Elear with the Jotunheim and without it. The obvious thing is a subjective loss of bass bloom, but pretty much every dedicated amp does that.

    There's an initial song I use to test a headphone's frequency balance and timbre (Two Steps From Hell ~ Fire Nation from Power of Darkness Volume 1.) I don't know how I arrived at the song as a reference track, nor do I particularly like it or think it's an outstanding piece of recording and mastering work, but it's just one of those things I know like the back of my hand. Popping the HD650 on my head first reveals to me exactly what my subjective impressions of it was 5 years ago when I was still a newbie in the hobby. It's an extremely balanced sounding headphone, and not dark at all (how could it be dark? There's plenty of upper midrange and lower treble to give it plenty of bite.) I dunno if this pair is new or not, but it has substantially less clamping pressure than the HD650 I had a while back. Throwing the Elear on after the HD650 was quite eye-opening, as a complete octave or two of information was missing in the upper midrange.

    I wanted to test the HD650 extensively with games, but the noisefloor of my pc desktop's onboard audio is exacerbated with a game running. From the limited time I did compare however, I found the HD650's sound to be crisp and upfront, with the Elear to be laid back and soft sounding, borderline muddy sounding as well. That's not to say the Elear is a muddy headphone, but its coloration is rendered obvious next to the HD650.

    I can't agree with anybody saying the Jotunheim making the Elear overly aggressive. I still consider it a laid-back headphone even on the Jotunheim, especially next to the HD650. HD650's upper-midrange and lower treble bites hard, and with good energy. I consider the HD650 a vastly more upfront and aggressive sounding headphone, and I don't think that's purely the Jotunheim either.
     
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2016
  13. TMRaven

    TMRaven Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    621
    Trophy Points:
    93
    650+Jotunheim sent out to @ibzrg1570 via Fedex today.
     
  14. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,969
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Los Alamos, NM
    Home Page:
    Looks like I will have the Jodie/HD650, Pro iCan, utopia, CodeX, and Grado GS-2000e possibly all at the same time on loans! Holy cow. When it rains it pours. It will make for great comparison shopping.
     
  15. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,320
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Pin on the group 2 power cord got bent, and is essentially useless. We're excluding it from the next shipment.

    @AllanMarcus, note.
     
  16. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,969
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Los Alamos, NM
    Home Page:
    Ok. I have many basic power cords, if that's all it needs.
     
  17. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,723
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Phoenix
    Home Page:
    Code X headphone?
    I didnt like those Grados. I will have the Jotunheim and the Pro iCan at the same time too on loan.
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2016
  18. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,969
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Los Alamos, NM
    Home Page:
  19. ibzrg1570

    ibzrg1570 Facebook Friend

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2016
    Likes Received:
    200
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    Forgot to update in the thread, Jotunheim+HD650 went out to @AllanMarcus yesterday with delivery scheduled for Friday.
     
  20. porkfriedpork

    porkfriedpork Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 9, 2015
    Likes Received:
    208
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Boston
    Also forgot to update,
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page