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

I completely understand the Schiit policy of not discussing products in development but an ethereal roadmap of sorts indicating the theoretical possibilities for each chassis would certainly aid in deciding which form factor to invest in...

What do you mean there 'won't be Modi monoblocks'?

 

That only works for companies like Intel whose products all do the same thing and aren't primarily targeted to end users. Schiit letting that kind of thing slip would hurt sales.

It's bad enough that people are waiting to buy based on what they imagine will come.

Remember, with any company, its us (consumers) against them.

 

I feel like Asgard + cards is a no-brainer in one really obvious sense -- it's a $249 amp whose "matching" DAC is $399+, so if you can turn that into $249 amp that becomes an optional $349 (discrete class-A) amp + (expandable) DAC that's going to appeal to a lot broader audience.

 

DIY is frustrating now because even my half-assed "saving money" self-justification is gone when I can buy decent finished products from China for cheaper than I can buy parts. Even with cables which can be done cheaply and don't need casework blah blah, I can buy a super nice braided balanced whazzit with nice looking connectors for cheaper than ugly parts cost here. I used to have a couple amp ideas floating around, but ebay for finished clone boards etc and it's like why bother?

 

I knew schiit was planning something on the e-stat side

Ali

 

Forget this modular card stuff, I want to go all Voltron style and plug complete schiit products case and all into a super-chassis.

 

If my audio gear could look like Voltron, I would absolutely make it look like Voltron.

 

At the show, I never got to ask @schiit if I'd be silly to run Yggdrasil balanced into it or confirm that was the intent all along. Well, I've been running Jotunheim this way since yesterday morning and I cannot stop. This amp is more than the real deal. It lives up to its namesake and clearly hails from the land of giants.

 

I think the L-fold looks slick as hell:



Yes that's a Momby on the right. Prepare for a 3+ way DAC shootout.

 

This makes things much more clear. I think the reason there was such a lukewarm reception to the Jotunheim was that it was marketed as an affordable DAC/AMP combo to an initial crowd that already owned Yggys/Gumbys/Bimbys and more expensive amps. Logically, everyone in this boat felt like "well, this must be a downgrade". For the enthusiasts, it would've been better to just market the Jot as a Generation 3 Solid State Amp with an all new topology (and an optional adapter slot). But as Jason just said, one of their goals is to move outside their current market with this one, hence the DAC/AMP marketing. I bet they figure that the enthusiasts will quickly figure out that it is an amazing amp section and buy them without any need to market to them

 

Need a picture of the feet, of course -- the most important innovation of this product.

 

@Hands - I'll begin writing them up soon.

 

Looks like the font and logo have slightly thinner lines now or is that just my imagination? Also the case color with Schiit products never seems consistent. My Rag is slightly darker than my Gungnir DS.

Also: @schiit No chance for speakers at all? What about Cicadas with 11 Ohms minimum impedance (and at low volumes)? The Andromedas dip to less than 4 Ohms...

 

I didn't have time to post over the weekend but this seemed obvious to me. This is a huge "one-and-done" opportunity for all the HeadFi newbies to get something pretty damn solid (especially on the amp end) and be set until they have the funds or desire to go for an outboard DAC or phono pre. And people freaking out about the quality of the DAC - you're talking about people who maybe had an Audioquest dragonfly, O2, maybe used Geek Out before. If you get it WITHOUT a card it is $100 less. So chill. No one is making you buy an all-in-one. Get just the amp (if you want) and pair it with whatever DAC. Which numerous people are doing. And of course in another year or two who knows what upgrades may come. By my takeaways were: 1) excellent way to hook newbies with quality components in one box they can fit on their small desk 2) new, very powerful amp topology that will roll out to speaker products and possibly desktop products (Jason made it sound like they're still figuring out what to kill, if anything, but it is getting a little congested. But the older designs have already paid for themselves so no harm in keeping them around as long as overall demand doesn't go down from confusion).

 

Actually, there's no phase splitter--it's an inherently differential stage.

 

Wow - I never even tried to justify DIY through cost savings. That might have worked on the wife

 

That has been true for decades, but the chinese stuff usually is BS, even components are often fake, pcb design problems, not thought through design etc.
To get something made in first world for practically the cost of parts is something else. Truly inspiring.

That has been my game for a long time. You wouldn't believe the slack I got for EC amp (though, surprisingly not from my wife this time, she loves it)