[Argo Duck]

snip... I believe that the differences we hear are based at least as much on our expectations as on our ears. Humans are kind of hard wired to experience what we expect to experience.
...snip...
2. The Monster Cable effect.  For a long time one aspect of my job was either selling Monster Cable or teaching others to do so.  There is considerable doubt as to whether speaker wires and patch cords make an audible difference. So after selling a $100 patch cord I always expected a good percentage of the buyers to return them saying they could not hear a difference.   It almost never happened.  After buying into the Monster concept and spending the money they DID hear a difference. I hear the difference too.  But whether the benefits I hear are based on my ears or my expectations...I am not so sure, and perhaps it does not matter. 
...
I promise my next post will be totally on topic about my Joty...which i absolutely love. 

Good post. But on the off-topic(!) topic of 'expectation bias', this is a complex, multi-part construct. Btw, this is off topic and most may wish to skip it.

I'm by no means expert on this specifically, but two aspects I've used directly in my psych labs in years past are: ambiguous stimuli; cognitive priming.

The first concerns sense data right at the threshold of our perception. A suitable instrument would reliably pick the signal, but we can't (reliably). Thus we might end up calling A better than B half the time, and B better than A the other half. Which in a blind test would report as "no difference". What's the punchline? Well, here indeed contextual factors come into play and may influence one to - for example - hear or not hear a difference strongly in one direction or the other.

The second though concerns activation of long-term memory structures once 'primed' with a suitable stimulus. Talking about words, the word "blue" might prime us to associations such as "Sky", "sad", "Miles Davis" etc. In cognitive testing, this priming is reflected in faster responses. The take home message? Being primed doesn't mean one sees/hears/tastes/whatever things that aren't there. However, it would focus attention on primed rather than unprimed aspects. For example, the 'good' features of Monster's cable ("hear a difference"?!) rather than its 'bad' ones (price? :eek.

Of course the two effects - ambiguity and priming - can interact. No doubt the same with other components of expectation (money spent == reduction of cognitive dissonance etc). It gets messier from here...

Just a follow-up comment and my last word on the subject. On topic, I definitely see a Joti in my future

 

[Ggroch]

.......Talking about words, the word "blue" might prime us to associations such as "Sky", "sad", "Miles Davis" etc. In cognitive testing, this priming is reflected in faster responses. The take home message? Being primed doesn't mean one sees/hears/tastes/whatever things that aren't there. However, it would focus attention on primed rather than unprimed aspects... 

).
 

 
  Ahhh, perhaps a reason so few companies pick names like Schiit. 
 
Since we're discussing Joty feature/mod options.   As I understand it, since Joty is a fully balanced design, those of us who are using it primarily with single ended phones are wasting 1/2 of the power and circuitry.
 
So I get to thinking, why waste. Why not add a 2nd, perhaps 3.5mm SE jack so you can power 2 pair at once.  How hard could that be?
 
So I brought my new Joty to my next door neighbor who is a whiz at this stuff and here is the result:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
........Just kidding.  Back on post 434 I ordered a pack of "Light Dims" so the LED would not blind me and went for black cause it matches the input jacks.  It looks and works great I think, I can still see the LED in a brightly lit room but it does not blind me with the lights down.  Only problem is I have 69 more of them to find uses for.
 
So, could a 2nd SE jack be added to use the extra power potential? 

 

[kevin gilmore]

looks like 10 pins
 
2 pins for L+ and L-
2 pins for R+ and R-
1 pin for analog GND (maybe more)
1 pin for digital power (3.3 or 5V)
2 pins for analog power (+/-5 to +/-15)
1 pin for digital ground
 
best guess

 

[Allanmarcus]

  looks like 10 pins
 
2 pins for L+ and L-
2 pins for R+ and R-
1 pin for analog GND (maybe more)
1 pin for digital power (3.3 or 5V)
2 pins for analog power (+/-5 to +/-15)
1 pin for digital ground
 
best guess

If I do my math correct, 5 pairs = 10 pins
 
I'm leaning towards your guess since there would be no need for I2S; there is just a need to transfer balanced analog signal. Now if we could just get Schiit to release specs

 

[kevin gilmore]

seriously, this should take you less than 10 minutes with a voltmeter to figure out.

 

[MattTCG]

Wow KG in the house. Have you had a chance to hear the Joti? 

 

[painted klown]

   
1. Youtube video of JJ Johnson who is an engineer at DTS.  You can jump in a 1:00 minute and end at about 5:00 minutes for the relevant section. 
 
 

For those of you even remotely interested, please watch this video in its entirety. It is excellent, to say the least. I have watched it a couple of times now, and it is worth viewing all the way through. 
 
Also, please watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-lN8vWm3m0 regarding the McGurk effect. Also excellent IMO. 

 

[rovopio]

  However, the HD650 does very specifically seem to go unusually well with the Jot- it's a hell of a sound for what it costs. The HD650 can sound (dead horse alert) a little "veiled" with a slower amp, and the Jotenheim seems to bulldoze through that, and much better than you might expect of an SS amp at that price.

 
Just a quick question to you, are you talking about the Jotunheim-hd650 pairing when you put it on the Balanced mode or does the SE also "bulldoze through that" as well?

 

[gto88]

Have Jotunheim (amp only) for two days now.
I did a quick comparison with Audio-GD NFB-1AMP with HE-1000.
The Jotunheim right out of box competes head to head without falling behind at all.
By $120 less, and a little shy of power, it does a good job and is a good choice at sub $500.
But, NFB-1AMP has more interface makes it a versatile role in a system.
My NFB-1AMP has more hours on, I'll see if Jotunheim  surpass it after a while.

 

[Maelob]

off topic but wow!

 

[ClintonL]

Just wondering how does this pair up with the hd800's? What dac/amp equiv is this equal too. Would it be an asgard + modi 2 uber or better. 
 
Cheers

 

[Dephezz]

Guyz, do you think its worth to spend 130$ to add iFi iPurifier 2 to Jodie's DAC? Or does it smell like SQ paranoia over here?
The point is that i didnt want to buy Modi multibit, because i want to try out Jodies internal DAC and wait for Schiit to upgrade their mid-price dac.
But for now i'm looking for maximum quality for USB->DAC chain.

 

[Argo Duck]

^ I like to add one piece at a time, learning the sound of my system at each stage. Doing too much too quickly, one misses a lot of learning. What makes a big difference, what makes little or no difference...

IOW, I personally would wait a good while before adding anything to Jodi's DAC. YMMV of course.

 

[Starcruncher]

^ I like to add one piece at a time, learning the sound of my system at each stage. Doing too much too quickly, one misses a lot of learning. What makes a big difference, what makes little or no difference...

IOW, I personally would wait a good while before adding anything to Jodi's DAC. YMMV of course.

I encourage people to add music to any DAC.

Sorry, too easy. But I am with you on spending lots of time with gear and lettting the character seep into your subconscious. My experience with A/B testing has never been too insightful. However, I have never heard a supreme rig.

 

[Ancipital]

   
Just a quick question to you, are you talking about the Jotunheim-hd650 pairing when you put it on the Balanced mode or does the SE also "bulldoze through that" as well?

 
Actually, they're remarkably close. I wouldn't fancy my chances of telling the difference blind with a 100% pass rate. I think there's a little more snap in sharp attacks of percussive notes (especially in a busy, "layered" mix), and nylon vs metal guitar strings sound more different over balanced- but can't rule out that I'm just imagining it. It's not like the SE lacks the power to make the HD650 behave, either- I probably would have been fine if I'd stayed SE. However, given how easy it is to go balanced on the HD650, I couldn't resist giving it a go, for the sake of curiosity over any slight improvements that could result.
 
Both the balanced and SE output are really decent- which is quite an achievement on an amp of this price.
 
The only downside with the combo is it's costing me sleep, as I lose track of time listening to favourite music on it.. it's very pleasing.