Schiit Jotunheim 2

Yes it is kind of forward and metallic/harsh.
Thanks for the comparison.

 

Loaner jot 2 in the house.

Spoiler: Me after 1 hour of back and forth

(Cursor hovering around submit button..)

2541 made me immediately ditch Bifrost 2 which I thought to keep for a few more years.
Jot 2 .. is trying to do something similar. Oh no.



I feel like a very disloyal man.. (sigh)

Some preliminary thoughts below -- all relative to Erish

• Very bright. To the point I almost thought the background wasn't black enough. Erish made it a little blacker by taking some details out.
• Squarer transient than I triangulated, highs were fairly aggressive.
• Macro was noticeably impressive. The presentation closer to SS-sounding tubes (semi-synonym to $$$ in sbaf glossary) rather than pure SS (I am in the camp SS can't do macro well).
• Erish is still more effortless and has more elegant air. On this effortlessness alone, I'd rank 3F (which I suspect the best in the planet) > Erish (reasonably degraded, minutely laid-back) > Jot 2 (a little too distractingly engaging) >> Anything else I heard in SS.
• Every 5 minutes I thought "Did I happen to turn on the high gain?", which I didn't. Very explosive and soulful even with low gains. I didn't like Lyr 3's low gain as it sounded soulless to me. I had to bite the bullet and use low gains with Magnius purely because of Grados. With Jot 2, even from Verite, I can't think that way any longer.

That's pretty much it for now. I should hear more to collect thought.. or should read Jason's onsanity article again to resist myself.

EDIT: J2 seems to favor several hours of prep time to reach to its true sound. I found quite a refinement like below.

 

Yes, I can’t run any of my cans on high gain with the Jot 2. Low gain already gives me less play on the knob than I’d like, and the macro swings still sound shocking. I feel like I’d need a 600 ohm headphone or an HE-6 to handle the amp in high gain.

I actually quite liked the RS2 on low gain on the Lyr 3, but I think that was a case of two components balancing each other out.

 

I've tabulated some of my impressions of four amps with the the goal of seeing how well Jot 2 could challenge MJ2, the incumbent amp on my desk for several years. Starlett and Darkvoice are added for context, as they passed through this month.



Headphones: HD6XX, HD800SDR.
MJ2 Tubes: EH 6922, Amperex Orange Globes 6922
Starlett Pre: Amperex Orange Globe 6CG7
Darkvoice tubes: PSVane 6SN7UK, GE 5998
DAC: Gungnir Multibit A1, SPDIF optical. (Jot2 Bal /MJ2 Bal, DV SE/Starlett SE)

General comments
Jot2 and MJ2 are in the same weight class. Jot 2 is an excellent performing amp that really comes together and commits no major sins while MJ2 has a little extra animation from the tubes but has a dry more upfront treble, especially on HD800. Jot 2 treble is less upfront and folds neatly into the rest of the sound. The mids sound a bit more real to me on MJ2, especially voices, and the headstage is a bit wider, but again, Jot 2 does a better job placing mids correctly among the rest of the sound.

Starlett is one to two tiers above Jot2 / MJ2, while the DV is two to three below the Schiit amps. HD6XX on the DarkVoice is a better pairing than DV+HD800 which is meh. I've never been really been sold on MJ2+HD6XX being an unusually fabulous pairing, although it isn't terrible. The notoriously picky HD800 profits from the Jot 2 mid forwardness and HD6XX sounds great. I get the sense Jot 2 has wider pairing opportunities than MJ2 in general.

In summary, Jot 2 is an easy amp to recommend. MJ2 is a technical match as long as you're running balanced but you've got some additional considerations with regards to what you pair it with. Jot 2 is more consistent but MJ2 can pull a few tricks thanks to the tubes. They're not nautical miles apart though. I do admit to enjoying watching tubes glowing on my desk, although Jot 2 does have some bright orange LED's that shine out of the top.

 

Hi, long time lurker here), in your opinion would Jot2 be a worthwhile/noticeable upgrade from Meier Corda Jazz-ff for HD800+SDR ?

 

I've not heard the Meier Corda but I have heard the HD 800 SDR with the Jot 2. The Jot 2 didn’t seem to do a great disservice to the HD 800 but the pairing was too fatiguing. I say that as someone with a high degree of tolerance for the treble of the HD 800 SDR.

 

Thank you, sbaf, for the opportunity to listen to the Jot 2 through the loaner tour. I very much appreciate it.

I’m afraid I don’t have the experience to characterize the Jot 2’s qualities in general terms or to do so in relation to a wide variety of amps. I’m also coming from a particular perspective: I’m firmly in the bargain, high-performance range of gear; my amps are the ZDT Jr., the MCTH, and I’m looking forward to getting an SW51+ in the near future; my DAC is the Massdrop Airist RDAC. I’m considering the Jot 2 as a complementary solid state amp, i.e. in the same price range, punching well above its price.

A few disclaimers: I expect I’m not getting the most out of the Jot because, with one exception, my auditions were done with single-ended connections; also, I’m not sure if the RDAC does the Jot 2 proper justice, and it may not make for the best pairing with some of my headphones. All impressions after 12 hours of warming up the amp.


RDAC—>Jot 2, balanced out—>Clear (vs. MCTH)
The surprise here is that the MCTH doesn’t trail all that far behind the Jot. The Jot 2, though, is superior in several ways:

• It has a blacker background and sounds cleaner
• Macrodynamics and slam are slightly stronger
• Resolution, instrument layering and separation are all better. I wonder if the Jot’s better imaging make its soundstage seem larger (in both width and depth). In other words, the Jot goes a long way towards offsetting one of the Clear’s main weaknesses
• The Jot sounds a bit more refined, by which I mean that its sound is rounder and softer in some ways; it lacks the harder, more crystalline treble of the MCTH
• At the same, time, though, higher frequency strings have more bite than with the MCTH, and cymbals are crisper and cleaner
• My sense is that the treble is smoother, then
• Bass with the Jot 2 seems less prominent than with the MCTH; by contrast, the Jot’s mids sound richer and more prominent
• Overall, the Jot’s a warmer amp

In the MCTH’s favor are its greater bass heft and its less-forward staging. Out of both amps the Clear can be a bit too bright and aggressive, even with the darker RDAC.


RDAC—>Jot 2, high gain, single ended—>HD 6XX (vs. ZDT Jr.)
Sadly, this is far from an ideal setup. The darker DAC and slightly warm amp make for too much warmth with the HD 6XX. The Senns sound better out of the ZDT Jr, which is itself an overly warm pairing, not one I favor. The HD6XX comes across as congested and, at the risk of a cliché, veiled. The ZDT Jr. pairing, then, is preferable in several ways:

• The overall sound is better balanced with the ZDT Jr, the soundstage more open and spacious; actually, the staging is better in every way—wider, deeper, and much less forward, the Jot being overly so
• Macrodynamics are stronger, the sound more impactful on on the ZDT Jr
• The ZDT Jr’s resolution strikes me as being superior but that might be a function of it being brighter or livelier
• I prefer brass instruments and electric guitars with the ZDT Jr, the latter have more growl and crunch

Notwithstanding all this, the Jot has some great qualities:

• Its bass is tighter and faster; that said, there’s more bass heft with the ZDT Jr
• The Jot sounds more crisp, as though transients are faster
• String instruments have better timbre than with the ZDT Jr.; if anything, acoustic instruments generally have richer timbre with the Jot

Overall, the Jot 2 setup is engaging and pleasant. While it isn’t fatiguing, it’s not exactly exciting, either. Ultimately, the amp and DAC combination don’t offset the less appealing characteristics of the HD 6XX.


RDAC—>Jot 2, single ended, high gain—>LCD 2-Classic (vs. Magni 3)
I’ve had these headphones for just over a year now. I was disappointed with them out of the MCTH, so I picked up the Magni 3, which made for some improvement. Even so, I was still ambivalent about the LCD2-C and would have sold them were it not for reading that the they benefit from powerful amps. One of the reasons, then, that I wanted to audition the Jot 2 was to see if it could redeem the LCD2-C.

It’s not fair to compare the Magni 3 directly to an amp that’s four times its price. Still, the Jot 2 did much to improve the LCD2-C:

• Everything sounds cleaner, with less haze
• The soundstage is larger, imaging is more precise, and everything sounds tighter, more focused, and better controlled
• The soundstage is also deeper (I don’t notice the Jot being particularly forward here)
• There is much better instrument separation and layering than with the Magni 3
• The LCD2-C now sounds better balanced; it’s less recessed in certain areas of the frequency response
• Bass is much better delineated, is faster and tighter and cleaner; likewise the sub-bass extends deeper, perhaps
• There’s less of the treble grain, less of the brightness, and I think some of the peakiness is reduced
• The headphones are less fatiguing even as they’re livelier
• Macrodynamics are improved and, better yet, the overall sound isn’t as muddy; music is more energetic and engaging
• Textures are richer, electric guitars have more crunch

Then again, the LCD2-C’s resolution isn’t all that great, and macrodynamics are still fairly soft.

My dad once had a bloody awful diesel car that chugged along until, at some point, you’d get the revs high enough to open it up and get some wind in its sails. The LCD2-C are like this with the Magni 3. I always want to crank up the volume. But I don’t with the Jot 2. It's an effortless drive. The amp wakes them up beautifully: I’ve gone from wanting to sell the LCD2-C to thinking about buying the Jot.


IEMs, Jot 2, single ended
There’s too much hiss and noise for sensitive IEMs like the Andro; there’s appreciable hiss even with less sensitive IEMs like the MD+ or the Dunu SA6; it didn’t bother me with music playing, and there was no channel imbalance at low volumes; I could turn the volume pot to 8 o’clock, depending on the music, so there was a decent amount of travel.


Conclusions
There’s much to like about the Jot 2. It has a slightly warm, engaging, clean, and pleasant sound. The bass isn’t the deepest or heftiest. But the treble is lovely and smooth without being too rolled off (if my cloth ears can be trusted). Resolution is one of the amp’s strong suits, as are the mids. It’s also an incredibly versatile amp, one that brought planar headphones to life, worked perfectly well with the easy-to-drive Clear, and that could even work with less sensitive IEMs (IIRC, Jason Stoddard wrote that IEMs are dead quiet out of the balanced output).

I’d like to hear the Jot 2 with a better DAC than mine and with balanced cables; I imagine it would scale nicely. Thank you again for kindly including me in the loaner tour.

 

I have similar concerns. It's interesting to see people bipolarized in perceiving Jot 2 either slight bright or slight dark. At least with bal ins/outs, I am clearly not willing to pair this with focal opens, hd800 mods, or non-f (= non-ttvj) grados. Maybe even not wanting to hear with hd600. hd650 was in safe zone for me, but without much headroom to the borderline. It's also easy to find opposite use cases. It can be a good evidence showing how neutral Jot 2 is though.

Back in the Jot 1 days, I remember I used it with hd800S. Fatiguing for sure, but didn't feel very painful in shorter sessions and with well-recorded tracks. Problems typically more evident with challenging situations -- I believe everything not only relative but also very use-case dependent.

So, @Chucky you'd better read between lines and infer each evaluator's preferential bias. I've never been successful to blindly buy something (even if it's well-received) only following face values.

 

Interestingly, I find the Jot 2 to be quite nice with my HD800SDRSBAFs all balanced (fed by Bifrost 2). I have always viewed myself as treble sensitive and have had the HD800's in and out of my collection as a result. Either I am starting to lose my hearing, or my particular HD800s and Jot 2 work well together. Then again, I can't turn the knob past about 9:30 so maybe I don't listen loud enough to hurt myself.

 

Thanks for feedback everyone, the search continues...

 

Thanks to the generosity of SBAF I've had the good fortune of having the Jotunheim 2 in my system for the past few days, and I have to say I am quite impressed. There has been a lot of hype, some by people I trust so my curiosity was piqued. I was most interested how this amp would stack up to my ifi Pro iCAN, and I’ll spare you the suspense: the short answer is quite well.


Just to get the basics out of the way, my setup is my HP PC -> Bifrost via Unison -> balanced into the Bifrost 2 playing with multiple headphones. Most notably were the Verite Open, slightly 'modded' (ZMF earpads and a makeshift filter a-la DCA) HiFiMan 400i, and a JAR650 (modded Sennheiser 650) as well as briefly with the ZMF Aeolus, Drop Noble x & Etymotic ER2XR. The HiFiMan and IEMs were used S/E and the ZMFs & Sennheiser were balanced.


I used a variety of tracks, (FLAC, WAV & MP3) in a variety of genres more to get a sense of enjoyment (or not) than to rip it apart sonically. Many here on SBAF are much better than I at distilling sound into prose, and I agree with just about everything that has been said already. I’ll do my best to contribute what I can.


One of the first things I wanted to check out was the difference between balanced and S/E. I used the Verite Open with an XLR/1/4” pigtail, and after adjusting the volume by ear, I couldn’t hear much of a difference beyond what could be attributed to other influences. Both outputs sounded close enough and quite good to me.


I think it’s important to note that I only fed the Jotunheim 2 in a balanced configuration, so while I think that Balanced & S/E are for the most part comparable, IDK how that would fare if I used the SE inputs.


Again I don’t feel I’m the best at characterizing amps, but if you hold the proverbial gun to my head I’d say the Jotunheim 2 is a mostly neutral amp with very good extension throughout and addictive slam. I also have to give a nod to the overall construction (in particular that volume knob). Everything is super solid, and the volume pot is a pleasure to use. Rock solid with just the right amount of resistance for my tastes.


In comparison to my ifi, they both have a good amount of power on tap, I’d say they’re fairly on par. Low gain on the Schiit seems about equivalent to medium gain on the ifi. The bass kick was more prominent with the Schiit and there is a bit more sparkle in the treble, though I didn’t find the Jotunheim 2 to be bright.


Detail retrieval I thought was more subtle when using the ifi, though I’m not sure there was less information. To make an analogy, I’d liken it to the Sennheiser/Focal comparison. One just appears more obvious but I’m not sure one really pulls more info out of the mix than the other.


Enjoyment factor was actually a little more with the Schiit than with my ifi. The stage is a similar size, but I think that the Jotunheim has a bit more of that hard to describe “3D-ness” which likely added to that impression.


I do find them both to be engaging amps, and if slam is not your thing the ifi might be preferable. The ifi is also a much more versatile amp with 3 gain stages, tube buffers, bass boost and the like. However on the merits of performance it really boils down to a toss up of preference, which is a huge achievement at this price point.


I didn’t feel there was any headphone I had on hand that didn’t pair well with the Jotunheim 2, though I do have mostly high impedance dynamic driver cans.


My aging ears heard no hiss with IEMs even on low gain unless the volume pot was turned past noonish, and never while listening to music. The Noble X and Ety sounded as good as I’ve ever heard them.


Similarly, the HiFiMan exhibited no noise on S/E, but that’s to be expected with a planar even an efficient once such as this.


The JAR650 sounded fantastic & engaging as well. None of the 650 magic was negatively effected, and the Schiit did help a bit with perceived bass extension, though it didn’t work miracles. It was a very enjoyable listen nonetheless


The majority of my listening was done with the (silkwood) ZMF Verite Open (perforated lambskin Universe pads) because I found the synergy to suit my tastes best. The bass response from the Bifrost 2>Jotunheim 2> Verite open combination was the most addicting that I’ve heard to date. Tight, punchy, deep and textured are adjectives that come to mind.


I didn’t get the sense that the combination added anything either, it felt more like an enhancement of the recording. If the recording is lacking in bass, it didn’t sound like a subwoofer was added after the fact. The mids were well served, sounding as natural and robust as ever, and I detected a little more sparkle in the treble. Again to my ear this was more akin to a better focus than any added extension.


When you bandy about claims like "The best $2400 amp for $400" you better have something to back it up, and IMO Schiit actually delivers. Just the fact that I consider the performance difference between the Jotunheim 2 and the ifi Pro iCAN to be all but negligible drives that point home for me. IDK if there is a special Schiit synergy with the Bifrost 2 that I don’t get with my ifi, or if there is some other factor, but I’ve been thinking about the Jotunheim 2 every day since I mailed it out. It’s not a perfect amp, the bass slam might be too much for some and there are definitely ‘better’ amps out there. Once you factor in for price though, I can’t think of any amps that fit my preferences as well.

 

A bit of follow up. I don't think anything has fundamentally changed in my assessment of the amp, but listening to it over the course of the last 10 days since this quoted post, especially just listening for pleasure and not trying to actively compare it with anything else, has made me appreciate the finer qualities of this amp. It really does get a lot right and very little wrong. And there is something addicting to the sound. It imparts a certain energy to the music that makes it feel lively without being overbearing or aggressive. I gushed about the lows before but the biggest thing that's stood out to me since then has been the quality of the vocals. I feel like the Jotunheim is excellent at presenting the micro dynamics of vocals that make them so emotionally charged. Listen to Janis Joplin on "Piece of My Heart", Freddie Mercury on "Somebody to Love", or Billy Joel's live version of "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)" from Songs From The Attic, and the emotional content of their performances is on full display. I must also reiterate how exceptional the macrodynamics are on this amp. It's jump out of your seat stuff.

In the end the biggest thing I miss going from the SW51+ or the LP to the Jot 2 is the textural content, or tactility of the music. This is something that I have yet to hear any SS amp truly pull off (to be fair I haven't heard the best of the best SS amps), the way tubes can fill in the textural aspects of the music. The SW51 and LP both render the music in this tactile way where I almost feel like the music is a physical object I could run my hands over. The Jot 2 doesn't do that for me. I can hear all the detail, but it doesn't get to that next level of music reproduction. Given what the Jot 2 does do so well, this is something I can live without (especially considering both the price point and the fact that the other two amps aren't going anywhere, so I can have my cake and eat it too).

I just wanted to offer an evolving viewpoint on the amp as I think my first post on it highlighted what I saw as deficiencies without properly crediting the amp for its many strengths.

 

As usual with "good" loaner products, my sleep time endangered. Pandemic gave me a little more flexible time allocation though.

Anyway, J2 compared to Erish again. This time with using HD650. Volume level matched through minidsp ears. M4 bal line outs used as source. While the experiment still largely reiterates my early findings, but every delta gets more evident and noticeable. Some highlights below.

With J2

• Relatively more mid-centric. I could hear more details both in frequency and in amplitude. In other words, J2 could resolve not only denser but also more textual information on upper lows and whole mids.
• Less editorialized feeling. When this works positively, I hear very rich and lush presentation (both micro- and macro-wise). When negatively? It's something I associate with "distraction" (occasionally heard with heavily synthesized/digitized music).
• Better slam. Impactful oh yes. But there's more. I also hear accurate-ish discriminations among various slams. Lyr 3 (+HD600) did this particularly well -- something I still think not always given with even $2400 well-received amps. J2 (+HD650) fairly close to L3. Maybe one tick or two behind in reproducing mod-high level slams. I value this very much because most of my favorite tracks have low crest factors (often coming with relatively high rms level and extremely small headroom). To sum, Lyr 3 is still king (and that's the reason why I still wait for Mjo 3 with unlimited continuity and fancier tube gains). But J2 didn't lose much. I surmise the difference would be caused by "S" (limited) and "Non-S" (full) of each amp's continuity implementation.

With Erish

• More commission on top octaves. Fake air, fake ambiance, etc. But everything presented in harmonic and cohesive ways. I see this as Erish's strength.
• Lots of micro "noise" filtered out -- my own glossary term meaning unintended or small-impact plankton. No annoying overshoots either (this sometimes fools me as if "rounder" transient). As a result, I always hear frequency-wise and amplitude-wise cleaner presentation. More evident on bass and midrange. Not so much on highs though. Note that this has been the primary reason why Erish survived for such a long time around me. I don't think informational loss a penalty if coming with no effective harm.
• Less senn veil and (perhaps overly) tighter lows. Erish really demotivates me to mod my (stock) hd650 in any direction. Veil still exists when compared with true zero-veil headphones. But nothing to bother much while putting on HD650. Erish does this service even better than J1 which I believe outperform J2 in this specific criterion.

PS. So, just within a couple of days, J2 could secure a solid place in my primary chain as I don't think Mjo 3 coming out any time soon. Erish will survive as a secondary amp though (I am not as confident with losing Erish as ditching BF2).

 

I've had Jot 2 for 2 months now. I never want to fire up liquid platinum (1963 sylvania D getters) or ZDT jr anymore. There's something about this amp that just keeps me listening. Maybe it's that it's SS with no tubes runs cool and and just does what it does ? With Aeolus blackwood I just don't care about my other 2 amps anymore ! I would not pay more than 400 for LP now.

 

As I wrote in the previous post above, I could score a Jot 2 for myself (Yeah!!) It will serve for my primary rig at least until Mjolnir 3 comes out ... or I get enough disposable cash bonus to swing Starlett or above.

At this point, I think it interesting to share some of my decision process. To be specific, a couple of other amps survived in my final shortlist (SW51 and BHA1) and reasons why I turned both down in the end regardless of their respective strengths. I want to make it clear that I haven't compared either of them with Jot 2 side by side. You guys should be aware of any sort of recall bias. Also my evaluation is always about what they bring to MY table, rather than generalizable assertions.

Ok, enough disclaimers, let me talk about each product with some highlights.

Zampotech SW 51+

• Had this in the house for one month roughly 1.5 years ago -- largely shadowed by the other loaner amp (apex teton) in the house atm though. But it has been in my shortlist whenever I thought of amp purchases.
• Nothing to add much for its strength. The amp was very impressive for what it was - great texture, decent stage, and fairly neutral tonality. I can't think of any other decent SET we can easily buy new below 1k usd. Definitely better buy than Drop ZDT.
• However, I wasn't convinced at the end of the day. Can I live only with sw51? Probably not unless 650 is my sole transducer. When paired with Verite, I always found its low end (50-60hz and below) very compromised and occasionally disjoint from upper bass. Mids to highs didn't meet my required level of snappiness for primary amps, either. Whereas it did have its own airy feeling, but couldn't reach to any of 3F, Erish, and Jot 2. Not being able to resolve dynamics well with crap recording was eventual deal breaker.
• I am still curious if Zampo will develop something bigger, more expensive (~Mjo price), and coming with more uber transformers.

Bryston BHA-1

• I was recommended this amp from various independent sources.
• So, I tried get my hands on it myself, and could almost score one locally a while ago this year. Tested myself at seller's place with Verite, and decided to give it a go.
• Legit? yes. Impressive? yes -- at the moment. It could do several things such as timbre and resolution better than Erish in AB testing, and very interestingly what I scribbled that day resembles what I posted for Jot 2. lol.
• Largely two deal breaking points. One was it was too much hyped in SBAF, which created too high expectation on my end. To be honest, I was rather underwhelmed. The other was simply asking price (1k-ish usd atm). After comparing with Erish, the highest I was willing to pay was around half of the seller's original asking price. Jot 2 made depreciation (on my end) even more drastically.. as I can only benefit from its cooler aesthetics and LR knob, nothing else.
• Price aside, I'd say BHA1 performed roughly 90-95% of what Jot 2 can do for me in every criterion that matters to me. Triangulating myself, I am pretty sure if I AB it with Jot 2 today, I would be disappointed by shallower and flatter stages, weaker dynamics (both micro and macro), and less driver authority -- all relatively though; none of them is bha1's inherent weakness by any means.
• But considering its age, I am unsure how representative the unit I heard could be. Users seem to apply various mods. And it's possible I just happened to hear one unlucky sample.

 

Thought I would never ever need its SE out at all. And again to my surprise I was wrong.

Not too wrong with Verite or HD650 (via 4pin XLR to quarter inch adapter).
It was Hemp (Grado) that magically benefited from se. Of course volume pot needed careful operations, but with its high quality alps parts, that's not as problematic as thought. Clean and quiet enough if not at the level of magnius (quiet king).

I can comfortably say my hemp favors Jot 2 over any other schiit SE amps I tried (Magni 3+, Magnius, Asgard 3). Still unsure if it's a kind of nexus magic because -- if I understood correctly -- nexus likely kicks in with se input bal output..

Noted the magic applied to hemp only rather than the other grado in the house (SR-80e w f-pads). I preferred M4's hp out for SR80. Similar results witnessed with M200 (v-moda). Ok, fair enough.

With the darkest and smoothest tonality (at a cost of growl and aggression) Grado family ever created, Hemp beautifully synergized with Jot 2 SE's a little flowing and elegant presentation. Healthy expansion of staging and air, subtle but very noticeable richness there too. Grain free, harsh free, and hella full bodied. F*** it's the very addition that I desired to attach to hemp from the first day! Overall sum of every benefit was worth tolerating thick and heavy cable.

Knowing this discovery, any attempts to put them on sale suddenly feel non-sensical at all. Will take out hemp from the sales ad shortly. I am returning to (a little heretic) Grado fan boy. Problem solved.

 

Not sure if this has been said already (haven't read every single post). But it makes a lot of sense the balanced is a clear step above on the Jot 2. The design of the Jot 2 is such that the single is just half of the balanced output and distortion is a massive 20x higher on the single ended!

Also has anyone tried the Jot 2 with the Meze Empyrean yet? I think it would be a great match. Empyrean is already a little bit warm so combining with an Asgard 3 could be a bit too much, but the Jot 2 is sharper and might just be a match to the Empyrean's smooth sound.

 

The first half of your assertion could be understandable common misbelief. I am not very immune to it, either. The second half is BS in sbaf. If single distortion number is everything for you, then (1) you should get magnius or magni heresy and (2) you should quit sbaf immeidately and join asr -- prol more suitable forum for you.

This is even more BS. Or at least too naively put.

 

I own an Asgard 3, Felix Elise, and Vali 2. I'm no stranger to distortion.

I'm simply saying the Jot 2 was designed balanced first and that seems to be a good bit superior (from Schiit's own measurements) and that is backed up by purr1n's subjective assessment too. Measurements aren't everything, yes. But here we have both the measurements and a respected community member agreeing the balanced is superior. Do you disagree with purr1n too?

I do agree my if you want SE, get an Asgard 3 statement was over-simplistic.

Maybe you should cool it with the SBAF vs ASR stuff and try to be a little more friendly on Super Best Audio FRIENDS.
Call my statement BS twice and tell me to leave. Excellent.