Schiit Jotunheim impressions

Mark @ Electromod / Schiit.eu.com said he'd be fitting the boards at some point. Not sure when but I'm tempted by a phono board sometime. He's currently at RMAF but I'll get in touch when he's back to discuss. Top chap he is (and local to me & London).

 

Just to clarify for me that is bw HD800X, HD650M and my speakers. I could not and will not regard as shades of neutral the AKG K701 midrange plastic or Slants shelved treble, T1's piercing highs or my current go to iem-s, the TFZ-s.
Neutral to me for hp-s and speakers means no glaring fr issues (+-3dB) in 50 to 15k Hz with minimal distortion and probably phase and directivity needs to be accounted for speakers.
Neutral for headphones is a much more meaningful attribute than for amps. Most amps by hp standards are darn neutral, leaving out a few offenders.

Also for hp-s it seems to be matter of head-ear biology. One of my friend can't wear HD800 properly, as the pads won't seal from back of his head. + ear geometry + ear channel geometry. I think this is what divides us in nominating the most neutral hp. I think HD800X is as close to neutral as HD650M, if not more.

 

Great, please keep us posted on what you find out!

 

I was surprised when I had the Jot next to the Liquid Carbon. It wasn't much larger, though it did double in weight, if not more. I could see someone taking it to the office on Monday, and bringing it home on Friday. Maybe using some kind of Pelican case...

 

The last time I took mine somewhere, I just used a camera bag, with the little Velcro dividers moved to cradle it in padded goodness.

 

Exactly what I've been doing. Albeit with the original box in lieu of a more specialized container. One would need a pretty heavy duty Pelican case otherwise, though they are available. I mean, nobody's going to be kicking back with Jodie in a coffee shop, but it's easy enough to ferry about/travel with.

That's correct, yes. It's pretty good! Jarring to switch back to D/S after so much time with the Bifrost Multibit. Perhaps less bloomy than I remember the BF4490 being. Comparable performance to the Mojo, although I'm not sure enough of its sound characteristics to render a more comprehensive opinion than that.

 

^ "Less bloomy" being a good thing, right?

 

Depends on your perspective and/or the gear that you're pairing it with. It seems a bit more tonally even than the BF4490. Not unlike Moby v. Bifrost Multibit on the multibit front, though I wound up ultimately preferring the latter's warmth in that instance.

 

I guess I wouldn't spend Pelican money, I'd go Monoprice...

http://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=12683

I think it would hold a Jot...

 

Just to be sure, are you giving up any performance from the Jot if it's being fed single ended RCA from the DAC with balanced output on the amp?

 

I haven't seen any power numbers, but this is based on gain:

• SE in, SE out, low gain 2
• SE in, SE out, high gain 4.7
• SE in, balanced out, low gain 2.1
• SE in, balanced out, high gain 7.4
• balanced in, SE out, low gain 1.1
• balanced in, SE out, high gain 3.75
• balanced in, balanced out, low gain 2.2
• balanced in, balanced out, high gain 7.5

I would base a DAC decision based on sound, not on architecture. As you can see the power potential is basically identical. But focus instead on getting your phones a balanced cable or re-termination...

 

nope

 

My dilemma is that I have mjo2 and Jot. So I'm going out of the Gungnir Multibit into the mjo2 balanced and then unplugging from the mjo and plugging into the Jot when I want to change amps which is a pain in the arse. So I'm asking if I use a good set of SE RCA cables to the Jot, am I loosing much performance as opposed to balanced into the Jot. Is there a better way to do this?

 

in that the single ended outputs of the Gungnir are slightly inferior to the balanced outputs, sure, you're "losing" performance. you could probably get some xlr splitters though and just send the balanced signal to both. but in lieu of that i would just run one of them balanced and one single ended instead of swapping back and forth, the single ended output of the gungnir still sounds excellent.

 

^^ Perfect, thanks!!

 

I go balanced from Gungnir Multibit to jot and then balanced from jot pre output to mjol2. Works great and no cable swapping.

 

To expand on my experiences with the Jot, my initial observations with the 650 stand, however I did not like it with my 800. Made an already bright headphone even brighter compared to my Valhalla 2 (SDR mod installed on 800).

With long term listening with the 650, I did start getting a little fatigued. Almost a little to much energy up top. It wasn't that noticeable but it was there and I needed a break. Overall I preferred the Val2. The more expensive soundstage and ability to tweak the sound with tubes won out for me.

 

Have a pair of 400i? The 650 sounded veiled compared to it, bigtime.. a little 2-3db on the bass running balanced and these cans handily worked over the 650s. Such clarity and quite a euphoric sound. On the 650s I could tell the general direction of instruments, with the 400i I can feel out the placement precisely and the sound is quite something. I can visualize the technique in string plucks and so much more. In games the positioning advantage of the 400i is hugely noticeable, as I use the Modi Multibit/Jot/400i for gaming too The 650s are now gone, they were fun - just dated vs the 400i's.

 

With a Jot, huh ?
I remember 400i to be decent (with a nice amp), but not comparable to a HD650 with Jot level of performance.

 

@Mystic - I'm curious if your HD650 is stock or has mods.