Schiit Jotunheim impressions

Thanks @Merrick and @Wilson
Your confidence warms my cheapskate heart.

 

Despite a hellish end to the week, I did recieve the Jotunheim + 650 loaner last night. I hooked up Joti to warm up when I got back from work. I sat down for my first real personal listening session in some time, just running through some familiars on my Pulse Xfi with HD600 with stock cable. Oh, the 650 came with a balanced cable, so I'll try that cable on my 600. Neat. Oh, I don't have any spare XLRs at home right now but I do have my Blue Jeans Cables 1/4". Why not hook it up?
I was not expecting to write about any significant difference. I am not listening at high levels. I am not in a particularly good mood/receptive to the power of suggestion right now. But wow. Body, impact, bass immediacy. Even the difference in the clarity of the tape noise floor on the album I was listening to was "whoa." It seemed higher in level or easier to pick out, but also was rendered fully in a way that is not unpleasant, but demonstrates resolution.
Obviously very very early impressions. But shit.

 

I still prefer any of the Schiit multibit DACs, but the internal Joti DAC is not bad at all. It's hardware balanced and runs off the Joti power supply. I don't think it remotely pushes the Joti to what it's truly capable of, but it's a solid performer.

 

Hey, I'm the guy with Vali 1 and the GO450, so I know about cheap but good.

 

You might consider trying the mods that I propose here

http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?posts/52041/

Stock HD650 compared to modded:


For my tastes, the stock HD650 is too dark and mid bassy. The bump around 100Hz adds too much coloration to the sound. IMO, my mods make these sound much more natural.

 

oh stop it... the 650 is fine up top in balance
Try this mod.

The Brain Mod.

1. Buy some studio monitors (some focals,Dynaudios, or even the Yamahas(slightly leaner but still darker than beyers, Adam F7s are a little dark, or some Emotiva Stealths, or just about any pair of monitors).
2. Plug them into the Jotenheim and select the preamp function
3. Then listen to the monitors
4. Then listen to the 650's
5. Then listen again to the monitors
6. Then throw away the Beyer t90s because you don't want to sell someone else misinformation unless they knowingly love tons of treble which is fine too!
7. Keep the monitors.

If that doesn't work. Get yourself into a studio somewheres and there is a 70% chance your T90's will sound extremely off balance. If that doesn't work then just admit you are a treble head and love off balanced trebly gear just like I have come to terms with the fact that I like off balance bass(but can appreciate balanced bass too). The above won't work for me because no headphone does bass like a good old speaker will.

 

Interesting comments happening here, regardless.. the 650 and balanced cable are my next purchase.

Oh, and for those wondering the Jot was easily in stock for me. Ordered Thurs, arrives today.

And, @gbeast , try the Ultrasone Pro 900's.. those might change your perception on headphone bass.

 

Jot's also in stock for EU peeps from schiit.eu.com. Mine got here next day delivery yesterday.

I have to say, I bloody love that we can now have a proper balanced, super clean amp with serious nuts for such a ridiculous price. Plays very nicely with the Metrum Hex, which really needs to use it's balanced outputs for best results. I'm sat here listening to the Jot, looking at an enormous amp that cost almost ten times as much and thinking if I had my time over again, it'd be a no-brainer.

 

HD800S is an improvement of the HD800, but still thin to my ears. I do not hear the same boxed-in sound on the Jot as I did on the Rag, but the Jot will not add bass. HD800S is a fail for me on the Jot. I'll keep my HD800S plugged into my Sonett 2, where the tube topology makes me forget the "here treble, here treble, here treble" sound focus of the HD800S.

 

The HD800S are my default phones and I think they sound really fantastic through the Jot. They take advantage of the Jot's transparent performance without being harsh at all. I feel if you like the HD650 but want a little bit more from the music then the HD800S are worth a demo.

Listening with the HD800 is a similar experience as I have found with other amps. It sounds just as difficult through the Jot as it does through anything else I have tried it with.

 

I spent an hour or so listening to some 800S on my Jot (fed by my Mojo, so a bit "relaxed", but only a bit). It wasn't unpleasant, but it was definitely into the realm of "personal preference". It was via balanced, so obviously the sound stage was like floating in space marvelling at the majesty of the cosmos. Instrument separation was fantastic, bass was beautifully textured though you could still hear a bit of a harmonic bloom, yada yada.

Treble, which I suspect you were asking about, was.. present. It was very much there, and in your face. I wouldn't call it dentist drill levels, but someone who is normally treble sensitive might find it headache-inducing. It's hard to be more definite than that, as there wasn't really anything wrong with it per se, just it was very noticeable. I suspect that it could very much divide opinions along treble sensitivity lines much more neatly than an unmodded HD800.

It was a very energetic sound, and not all that relaxing. I think if they were my 800S, I'd be picking up a little tube amp for them instead, if funds permitted, just to get the "proctology under arclights" levels of unsparing treble to be a little less intense. However, I'd still cheerfully listen to them while hunting for an alternative amp. Summary, I guess is "not unlistenably bad, but wouldn't be my first choice pairing for either".

 

Lesson learned on trying the Jotunheim with the Sennheiser HPs (in a picture, worth a thousand words etc etc....)

 

Everyone likes the coveted hook it up cold impressions don't they? Well.. why not? I only have a few moments to enjoy before I get some rest so I can go to work again tomorrow.. bah.

The Bifrost 4490 shows its weaknesses on this new amp and the 400i is good at revealing to me that there are treble timbre problems and midrange stage blurring. The lows though... Very nice. It doesn't sound terrible, but it's not really good either. Note: My DT770s were far more forgiving of this.

Ifi Micro iDSD as a dac pairs well, wow.. real well. Very detailed. The Micro's amp has a great soundstage and far better timbre however presents a flat sound. The Jot adds the height and increases separation, honestly making everything much better. I'm using SE only atm, so I'm hoping balanced helps further. It's not even warmed up yet either! More impressions to come.

 

Balanced seems to have a positive effect on soundstage, detail etc., on my 400i. Honestly, they sound better than they probably should- though they do still retain that spookily too-crisp playnarz sound (that I am oddly fond of). Their slightly bassy balance stops them sounding too egregiously plinky, though. I was expecting the Jot to make them sound even more trebly than they were out of a little Magni 2U. If anything, they sound less glarey, despite it being a faster, clearer amp; I'm not quite sure what the mechanism behind that is, though.

(I'm going Modi MB -> Jotenheim -> 400i balanced)

Maybe if the iMicro sounds OK for now, you could consider getting that Bifrost upgraded to multibit? Might scratch that itch for better-behaved timbre.

 

I also bit on the Modi MB which arrives Monday. My thought process was cautious as the upgrade isn't returnable and what if I didn't like multibit? If I truly love it I can return the Modi and do the MB upgrade. Or, just sell the Bifrost since they perform so closely and pocket some dollars.

 

True, you have ze options. Remember that Baldr says that a multibit DAC needs to be on for a couple of hours to settle down "into its INL spec", too. Chances are that you won't hate it, though- nice solid stuff for the money.

 

I'll be giving it a subjective listen after 24h for sure, thank you for the info. I sure do like how much cooler it runs than the Asgard though.

 

Any more thoughts on how much modding to do on the 650 when paired with the Joti? I've got some Dynamat coming thanks to the generous @Gaspasser and I wondering if it's worth removing the back foam and spider too, or if I should just damp the housing and leave it at that. The 650s sound pretty terrific unmodded so I'm not sure the foam/spider removals will be necessary.