Schiit Jotunheim 2

Kinda bizarre how I made this topic back in Dec 2020, and ended up only just now looking at buying the damn amp.

Luckily, despite having lost my job in April and just now getting a job back in September, I'm in a lot better spot financially than I was last year and can actually put money in the hobby without having to immediately sell things.

Anyway...the Focal Clear I have are sounding compressed with the Element v2. Is this what I should be getting with a BF2?

 

My Jot2 does this weird thing, where after being turned off for around 30-90min, it will click one or two times. Sounds exactly like the relays at startup and right after shutdown. Is anybody else's Jot2 clicking like that well after having been shut down?

 

Mine clicks 3 time then 1 more time but within seconds of shutdown.

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/schiit-jotunheim-2.10345/page-2#post-331003

 

Just to be clear mine clicks a few times when I turn it on and off (that's normal, that's the protection circuit doing it's thing). After 1h or so of being turned off, it will click one or two more times again (that's the weird part). At times, when I am done listening at night, I turn it off, and then while I am sleeping, I will hear the thing clicking 1 or 2 times at 1am :/

 

Poltergeist-unheim. it's an off-the-menu upgrade.

 

Just to be clear mine doesn't click a few times when I turn it on. Only once. There's 4 relays that click when I shut it off as I described. Maybe has something to do with different voltage where you live. Not sure.

 

My MJ2 also has Ghost-nir installed. The relay clicking after severing power is so bad I can't sleep in the same room as the amp.

 

Just a tidbit on the Jotunheim 2... I purchased a new one few weeks ago and it came with this awful knob, which Schiit says it is their new one. It feels mostly plastic and has a cheap feeling powder coat on it, it also has that rough drag feeling when you turn it.

 

It's a press on fit, just pull the knob away from the faceplate by a millimeter or so: no more scratchy knob feels.

 

What do you get when you take a solid state that has tube characteristics and two tube amps that have solid state qualities?
Some pretty interesting insights actually.

I picked up the Tuba because my SW51+ doesn't have the greatest noise floor, but I really liked how it sounds, so I figured Tuba would be very similar to the SW51+. In fact, they couldn't be farther from each other in terms of sound profile.
I picked up a Jotunheim 2 as a compliment to my SW51+, but heck they are such close cousins in terms of sound profile, it feels silly to have both sitting on my limited desk space.

Jot2 has more slam and authority than all three. Sound stage is a bit 2D compared to the others. And it's a bit murky in the mids and highs. It's my preference for pop and rock though, which makes it my main amp that stays on 24/7.

SW51+ has the same stage size as the Jot2 but has this amazing depth to the stage. The mids are a bit clearer than the Jot and I find the highs to be similar. You trade a bit of slam for more bass bloom when compared to the Jot2. But the overall sound profile is similar to the Jot2.

Tuba is crystal clear in the mids and highs. It has that clear pane of glass feeling you get on neutral and clear amps. It has a very, very expansive headstage. And with some decent NOS tubes the timbre is excellent. It's much softer and more polite than the Jot2 and SW51+ doesn't really get slammy or murky. You realize how actually colored the SW51+ is when you have this to compare it to. It's my preference for singer / songwriter type music.

I think the Jot2 and Tuba provide enough day to day usability and difference from each other that they will remain on my desk.

I had the Valhalla 2 in the mix as well and thought that sounded great.

 

Man the Jot2 high gain is super hot, as in 8:00am on the dial is loud enough for my ZMF Aeolus and 8:30am is like hearing level loss. I almost want to keep it on low gain for a bit more volume headroom, but high gain just seems a bit more dynamic to my ears.

 

They could go lower on low gain, put a medium gain in the middle, and let the HE6 fanboiz go nuts on high gain. Would be totally fine with that. Amps with that much power should have that kind of flexibility imo

 

If Jot2 had a -db low gain for IEM's I would have to sell some gear and jump on one! I missed the IEMagni run just barely... Archel 2.5 is super hot too...

 

I personally run most things on low gain on my jot 2 these days. . In particular the massdrop plus Iems work very well with no discernible noise at low gain. I actually feel like the sound is less harsh/less sharp/ less congested when on low, and there’s a sense of smoothness & Refinement. YMMV tho depending on your chain and sonic preferences.

 

Thankyou for pointing out the NOT -dB gain switch...

No kidding why can't we have an actual low-gain? I desperately want to sell my A90 for a Jot2 to pair with my BF2 but the -9.5dB SE low gain is still a lot for my IEM's (currently pairing a Geshelli J2 to drop gain even further) I can't imagine another 9.5dB...
Balanced out with Sundara or hd6xx I still only need med-gain with older classical music that gets really quiet other wise I rarely get much past 12:00 low gain...

 

@jmaz87 , You can try in-line attenuators. I have used both the bal and se Rothwell attentuators to good effect in a number of systems to help with gain staging. You would place them on the destination component. In some cases they can color the sound/mess with dynamics, but they have been mostly successful for me. I used to use them extensively with a Mapletree tube amp so that I could get the volume knob above 8:00.

 

Anything unity gain or below is a design challenge, so I vote for cooler sources. I just don't understand the rationale in having an amplifying output stage on a source, to throw away a heap of that signal at the volume pot of the next stage. Especially when the input sensitivity of many tube and discrete S/S input stages maxes out at a couple of hundred mV.

I run digital attenuation to get my sources down to 0.5-1.0 VRMS, and it's still stupidly loud on most amps with most headphones. And why so high, with sources starting to push well above 2 VRMS? It's all for a couple of dB of extra SNR. Madness.

 

How much is the A90 worth 2nd hand in the US? Maybe you can get a Jot2 + something like a THX AAA for your IEM needs? Maybe an IEMagni 2nd hand + Jot2 is an option?

I don't know, that's what I would go for. Would also make you look badass, like you aren't messing around. You use two separate amps, one for each situation. Chad audiophile move, like having an Eitr alongside your Modi MM.

 

This is why lately I've been using the JNOG2 at desk for source since it has 3 gain settings and IIRC is around 2VRMS on both outputs in "high" gain so its pretty low to begin with. its kind of tedious to switch gains and inputs with this DAC but it does the job well. Do you think digital attenuation would be better than using a "cold" source like this as u suggested?

I'm trying to avoid having too many things in my chain and in the living room where TV optical isn't a source I can easily attenuate digitally it becomes an even harder sell.

Been trying out a Saga S / Bifrost 2 in living room with some actives and it does sound great but explaining to GF we have 4 remotes now is kind of a bummer too lol... (TV, CCWGTV, BF2,SagaS) I don't mind FWIW