Schiit Jotunheim impressions

@Marvey or anyone else have tried Jotunheim as preamp? Just wondering how much it would change if i put it between Yggdrasil (balanced out) and Stratus (SE in).

 

Still very much looking forward to your compiling the list of tracks used to audition the DACs in 'Life after Yggdrasil'...

 

@Marvey great info, thanks a bunch.

I am a little disappointed the HD800 has been getting mixed reviews with the Jot, because I'm planning on a future purchase... damn that is one finicky, high maintenance headphone. Valhalla 2 seems tailor made for high impedance Senns and Beyers, so probably a good idea to keep Val2 around for now.

I can probably squeeze a little extra dough in for a Jot without selling Val2, and just compare both and keep one, or just keep both for whatever mood suits me, and have an end game amp for a few years down the road when I've got a much better DAC like Gungnir Multibit or Yggdrasil.

 

Or just wait for a Valhalla 3. You know it'll eventually come, it's just a matter of when.

 

I'm kind of ignorant about this stuff, but I wonder if it would be possible to implement Schiit's breakthrough amp design tech they utilized for Jotunheim, in a Valhalla 3...

 

Nope and nope.

Back to Jotun talk..

 

Thanks to extended listening and a bit of serendipity, I've neatly categorized my amps/transducers as single units. For instance, I will not bother with my BW with the Senns. The latter are mated to the ZDS. My planars will only be played through the BW (at home) or the Liquid Carbon/Asgard 2 (in the office). When I get the Jotunheim, I will use it exclusively with the planars again (maybe the HD 650 to see if I can get excited by the pairing).

 

The Jodie with the 650 is probably my favorite pairing so far.

 

Just hooked it up, my first serious headphone amp that's for sure, nice and heavy too! Sounds awesome w/HD650's! Need to get a balanced cable for them, or make one--

Took a pic cause has nice internal LED's on each channel... didn't know it did that!

 

Yes, get a balanced cable and mod your 650s if you haven't already!

 

They're for biasing, not good looks.

 

Could you provide a link to this? I tried searching some obvious keywords but couldn't track down your post... Thanks!

 

Just trying to help.

The top result on my Google "hd800 amp" result page http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/best-amps-for-sennheiser-hd800.330/

 

Thanks. Not my best searching effort, though I was looking for posts by 'Marvey' whereas in this case the database says 'The Alchemist'.

 

Jotunheim better or worse than the Asgard 2 with the HD 600/650? That's my current preferred Schiit as I found the Valhalla 2 both bright and bloomy while the Rag was way too harsh.

 

If you found the Valhalla 2 with stock tubes too bright and bloomy, and the Rag harsh, then I don't think the Jotun is right for you. I don't find either the V2 or Rag to be bright but that's with Yggdrasil and modded hd650s. Technicalities wise I'm sure the Jotun is much much better but the tonal balance won't work out.