SCHIIT JOTUNHEIM WORLD PREMIERE: Schiit Show 2 - August 27, 2016 So Cal

Oh no... I know I'd been so stubborn about the HD650s, but having everyone recommend it to me was more than enough to not worry about it. And so I haven't been able to put them down ever since. Can't possibly imagine wanting anything else than this midrange ! Looks like I'm gonna have to get a Jotunheim .
Also, I've been wondering, would it be worth getting a balanced cable since I don't have a decent DAC ? From what I've read so far, Jotun's balanced jack should be much more powerful.

@schiit lastly, would you mind letting us know whether the Jotunheim will be reaching Europe by the end of the month ?

 

I think this has been asked before but if we wanted to try driving speakers with the Jotun, would we go through the 4-pin XLR in the front or the pre-amp on the back? I would assume the front, since the pre-amp outputs only a limited amount of power compared to the headphone out.

I'm kind of tempted to have a custom speaker cable built just to try this.

 

To be clear: THIS IS NOT A SPEAKER AMP.

Don't do it. Boom.

 

Okay okay xD.

 

Mods, suggest renaming this thread something or other Jotunheim.

 

Sorry if I sounded a bit tetchy. It's just that if we intended this to be a speaker amp, it would have speaker terminals.

Speaker amp output stages are VERY different than headphone amp output stages. Just because a back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that it might be able to source enough current to run speakers doesn't mean it can run them--physically large drivers with big back EMF are VERY different than headphones. So boom.

 

Any chance at a Jotunheim chassis speaker amp?

 

Any feedback on how the phono card compares to Mani?

 

Holy crap, it's like people can't wait for RMAF.

 

If it happened (and I am not working on it), it would be very low power--think about 25W or so--and it would probably have to be in the U-chassis form factor, so it wouldn't be Emotiva-level cheap. I personally think it's a loser, because it'll immediately get compared to cheaper stuff with 50WPC or more.

Sorry, not doing Class D here.

 

Worth upgrading from the Asgard 2? My Asgard 2 with a noisy transformer was warm, the replacement one is neutral Schiit sound but much less painful than Magni 2U, Valhalla 2, and the Rag despite being about hte same level of brightness in terms of volume. I seem to be able to tolerate much brighter recordings louder with Class A, no negative feedback amps while an hour of 70-90 db music on the other causes fatigue beyond activating my tinnitus.

 

Gotcha

 

I'm a bit skeptic about the schiit range right now. Not that Jotunheim isn't relevant, and I don't know wether I'll be able to hear it soon, but I'd kick out Lyr and Asgard to get a more comprehensible range.
I also find it a bit surprising to keep D/S stuff above Modi Multibit (Bifrost and Gungnir), have gotten an answer from Mike on HF...and still skeptic : if one is convinced that MB is better than D/S, it should be true not only for acoustic music as well.

I know you guys at Schiit have better cannibalizing your own range than waiting for other brands to do it / not moving, and I also remember a chapter "when to kill a product", so time will tell

Whenever you get regularly on black stuff and/or e-stat (I know you keep sayin' no), do ring a bell please

Ali

 

Spoiler alert: You don't know what they actually sell. I mean, I agree that their lineup is kind of analysis-paralysis-inducing right now, and that having three separate amps with their own plusses/minuses around $400-$500 is maybe a bit much. But at the same time, it's easy to say "you should kill this product so your lineup makes logical sense" but it'd be bonkers to do that if the product is one of their better sellers.

 

I think each amp has something that it is good at that none of the other amps can offer, at least for the same price.

Schiit has called the Jotunheim a 3rd generation product. That probably means that it will look a bit at odds with the current stable in terms of value/performance/features. The only thing it is missing is tubes. As time goes on I expect the rest of the amp line to evolve around it. Jotunheim also looks to me like the first step in scaling back D/S in their main DAC line. But we'll see.

 

Aaannnddd....

This is what is called "evolution."

When a car manufacturer comes out with a new car model, they usually don't replace the whole line at the same time. They may not even know what the overall strategy is going to be in the future until they see the reception the new model gets.

Same here. I don't know how Jotunheim is going to affect the rest of the line. Will it result in other combined products? I don't know. (Feel free to tell me what you think of the idea of Asgard and Lyr taking cards, for example, because I'm honestly unsure which way to go on this.) Should products be dropped? I don't know. (Valhalla 2 was eventually supposed to fade away when tubes became hard to get, or too expensive, but the tubes remain available, so Valhalla 2 remains in the line.)

But in the end, it's better NOT to wait until someone else cannibalizes your line. There are plenty of big names out there looking at the headphone space. I don't expect all of them will sit back on their heels forever.

So...we keep evolving. And we'll see where it goes.

 

@mkozlows
Needless to say, indeed

Ali

 

I don't see a problem with adding a slot to the other amps, but unless the cards come up to the same quality as the standalone DACs, I probably would still get separates. I guess I don't see the value OR the problem, personally. Choice is always good, if you already have the platforms to support it.