Schiit Jotunheim 2

I have not heard it with the multibit card, but for what it's worth I had the combo briefly with the DS card and thought it was very good. I liked it more than the similar Lyr3 (which had the MB card, so not apples to apples, but close enough).

 

Thanks to the generosity of @Joshvar and @weicheheck, I was able to compare the Jot 2 and Black Widow 2 amps. Not an entirely fair comparison, but it's important to know what one has in store if they wish to stay with the Schiit or "upgrade" to a BW (if one can find a used unit).

Bifrost 2/Unison was source, HD650 were headphones.

Jot 2 gets alot of things right in the sense that it is able to capture musical nuances and plankton present in the original recording that alot of amps truncate or smooth over. I actually found detail levels to be very similar between the two amps, which is astounding, given how good the BW is. The major differences lie in resolution (not the same as detail). You can have all the detail in the world, but if you don't have the resolution to back it up, those details can become either lost or too homogenized to create that "you are there" feeling TOTL amps give you. In the case of the Jot 2, there is enough resolution to do its detail justice, but the BW kicks things up a notch or two so that even things like timbre are even more palpable. And not just with regard to superior resolution, but the nature of its staging abilities. The BW's wider, deeper, airier, more open and layered stage allow those details to breathe enough so that there appears to be "more" detail present, when in reality it's not giving you much more detail, just a clearer window into them. The BW's stage creates a more cohesive musical picture, whereas the Jot 2's stage is more compact... better than Jot 1's flat pancake, but still smaller and more closed in than BW. Even before comparing them, I could tell something wasn't quite there with the Jot 2's stage... albeit a major improvement over the first iteration. Keep in mind this is still a $400 amp we're talking about, and even though it punches WAY above its price point, it's not a giant killer in that it still compromises in certain areas. One more thing that adds up to BW's more apparent resolving abilities is its much blacker background compared to Jot 2, a black void canvas from which sounds spark to life and then vanish into nothingness... not to be confused with plankton-swallowing black hole DACs where details go to die. The blackness of the BW is more about creating extreme contrasts between sounds so that each sound is more distinct from one another.... once again adding to the superior resolution capabilities of the Eddie Current. Jot 2 has a pretty black background though, but it's decidedly more grey sounding overall compared to BW. Vocals in particular really benefit from all these areas on the BW, being more present and palpable.

Layering on the BW is top tier, and Jot 2 is noticeably weaker in this area, with a multitude of sounds tending to sound more smeared together, as opposed to the BW's ability to keep rock solid focus no matter how much is going on at once. EDM with lots of layers is particularly more enjoyable on the BW because of this (along with its incredible slam, which I get into later).

Even though Jot 2 is warm, BW is warmer... but BW is also clearer sounding, so it doesn't necessarily FEEL like it's that much warmer. But you can definitely hear a "dipped in honey" tonal quality to BW. But I found that tweaking upstream components (even cables) could shift things one way or another with the BW, because of it's extreme transparency. I find it even more transparent than the Jot, which is no slouch.

There is also that spooky Eddie Current house sound, which I'm not totally sure how to describe that just makes everything sound more vivid and engaging. This relates to speed levels, which are similar between the two amps, but BW is even faster and more liquid, which I feel is part of this "grand technicolor" like presentation Craig's amps have. Schiit has its own house sound, which is more straight up, and the Jot 2 is still super engaging in its own right... still one of the most engaging Schiit amps I've heard (and I've heard most of them).

One final area where the BW pulls ahead is bass impact and slam (or macrodynamics, not to be confused with strictly bass: a lack of compression basically). To put it bluntly BW slams like an earthquake... it just doesn't hold anything back and its impact capabilities are astonishing. Jot 2 does very well here, slamming with the best of them, and only lacks in direct comparison.

The speed, resolution, blackness, staging and slam are the major areas where BW proves it to be a definite upgrade to the Jot 2. Used BW's are usually not THAT much more expensive than a new Jot2, so if one wants to stick with solid state, but doesn't want to pony up for a DSHA 3F, the BW (besides maybe a used Ragnarok 1/1.5) is probably going to be the best option. I haven't listened to Rag extensively enough to come to any conclusion about it compared to the BW or Jot. At the end of the day the Jot 2 is still one of the best readily available (and not OOP like BW) solid state options and anyone who owns one should feel content that they are still getting most of the qualities present in amps like BW and other high performers.

There you go... not the fairest comparison, but good solid state is a weird no man's land in today's tube flooded headphone amp market and I think it's good to be aware of some options.

 

Great review, but small note since you got me excited just to be disappointed after looking around:

"Used BW's are usually not THAT much more expensive than a new Jot2"

A new Jot starts at $400, used BW2s seem to be going for $1200

 

Any thoughts on if the new multibit board for the jotunheim 2 has the same warmup time as a bifrost 2 / modi multibit? I power down my equipment every night.

 

Just to add to what the other guy said...the BW2 used is usually 2-3x the price of the Jot 2. The cheapest BW2 I've seen in years was $950.

 

I've had the jot 2 in my deskside setup as a solid state backup to my ECBA for a few months now, after having previously used a Topping A90 in the same chain, and I've enjoyed it a lot -- it's actually the only solid state amp I've used that sounds good with the zmf verite w/verite pads as well as the fostex th900, and I've had several more expensive than the jot 2.

Initially I thought its bass was too huge of neutral and its soundstage kinda incoherent, but I don't hear either of those things anymore, so I'm wondering if it's an effect of burn-in.

I really like its sound signature for gaming and such. It's less detailed than the ECBA I have next to it, but I don't really care if I'm just gaming or listening very briefly/casually.

 

It seems that the folks at schiit think that DCA headphones are very synergistic with the Jot2. They have a package deal now - https://www.schiit.com/products/aeon-jotunheim

what do members with DCA headphones think about this "special synergy"?

 

I don't have time for a long, drawn out essay, but I went to the Schittr in Newhall, CA yesterday to check out the new combo, as there is a pair of DCA AEON Noires on the wall. I'm not a Dan Clark hater, nor has he ever done anything that really resonated with me. I'll make this relatively short, it sounds like a pretty neutral-ish pairing. It's not particularly bombastic in the bass, the midrange is fairly engaging, but the treble sounds a little dry up top. There's really nothing offensive, but the Aeon series has always been my least favorite of the DCA headphones as I always felt that they were a little dry, slightly muffled sounding, or unengaging in general. If people are curious if this is a super-synergy-type combo, I definitely don't think it is. It's just a fairly good value for a decent home or office setup, but it REALLY depends on how much you like the sound of the Noires.

Edit, music used for listening was Rush: moving pictures, Simon Phillips Protocol 3 and 4, a little John Williams via ESB soundtrack, Periphery 5.

 

Has anyone ever tried to add shielding between where the psu and amp sections are? I'd reckon a metal wall could be joined to the top plate that fits, and maybe it'd lower the sorta-bad noise floor?

I notice that one temp-controlled relay always activates seconds before the other. Is that demonstrating that the left side is getting a lot more thermal radiation off the psu than the right (if you're facing the amp, I mean)?

 

There's no need for shielding. Jotunheim 2 has a spectacularly low noise floor in balanced, less so in single-ended. Full measurements are available on our site for those who are interested. In any case, the shielding "wall" would not work. Magnetic shielding doesn't work that way--the circuit needs to be closed--either a ring or closed box is what you're looking for.

Relays are not thermal, and are driven off the same circuit. A slight delay between the two (not seconds, but tenths of seconds), is normal--the voltage ramps up and relays trigger at different times due to relay variance. 100% fine.

 

My bad about the relays. I probably just misheard a reviewer or something. None of my really sensitive headphones have balanced terminations to compare with. They're still very usable se with the DAC volume lowered a little bit, otherwise I wouldn't still be using the jot 2 (I got rid of a few more expensive amps for it), but it is just objectively the noisiest amp I own, so I'll naturally wonder if anyone's tried to change that.

 

Reterminate for balanced. Zero noise. Jotunheim 2 is a balanced amp; we've optimized for balanced performance.

Or use literally any of our SE amps (Magni on up) for SE duties with total silence.

 

I have a magni 3+, but the jot 2 actually has enough sonic improvement on grado's and fostex that I'd still rather use it anyways, fwiw -- the jot 2 is detailed enough that I can instantly hear differences in DAC filters and digital source changes and such. Not even saying there's a functionality issue (the gain in se would be such if I didn't have volume control on my DAC, though) -- I was really just being curious about some shit on a hobby forum.

You guys should make a box that just converts XLR to RCA. Have it stackable and aesthetically match with the mid-sized chassis products, for people whose DAC's just sound better via their XLR's than their RCA's -- some reviewers say *your* DAC's are better balanced than not, but then most of your products aren't xlr-friendly. I would have spent more money on a lyr 3 if it had balanced inputs and maybe have bought one of the speaker amps by now if I didn't actually need to buy two.

 

Think that is the lokius plus it does eq

 

Yeah, but cheaper and without the entire eq system probably degrading sq. It isn't even a weird thing to want considering that budget versions of what I'm talking about can clip amps and there's a general perception that they're unsafe for gear. I've seen a cardas adapter before, but a solution in a chassis could probably do it better.

 

Was gonna say... How is the Jot 2 having a noise floor which has been mentioned twice already in 2 threads... Amps dead quiet for me and always has been .

 

Jason wouldn't have acknowledged the noise and suggested a magni for sensitive single ended use a few posts ago if that were true.

 

Actually, he said reterminate to balanced if you are having any problems, and if you want to be exclusively single ended, just use a se optimized amp.