[Thenewguy007]

Cross posting this from Jason’s thread...I’m very much so enjoying this setup!

I’m now personally biting at the bit to have this on my desk as my main source for my SR1A! It is more inline with a single Vidar in performance, but for me the form factor and functionality make this a worthy trade off, as a single Vidar is excellent, two just bring up the ability to have excess power (that in reality I don’t even use lol, as I’m a 75-85db range listener...with peaks in the 90db range).

So it doesn't have as much power for the volume like two Vidars have?
I listen at pretty loud levels, definitely not at moderate or polite levels so this could be a problem.

 

[TylersEclectic]

So it doesn't have as much power for the volume like two Vidars have?
I listen at pretty loud levels, definitely not at moderate or polite levels so this could be a problem.

Well, I would be surprised if the jotunhiem R couldn't get you there.... I think my statement is me not being able to describe properly my thoughts....plenty of power with the Jotunhiem R, it could also be that the difference was the tube sound profile from using the Cayin as a preamp...which I'm beginning to believe is the case...sorry for the confusion.

At around and just passed noon on the pot, it runs in the 90db range so you would easily be able to get to earbleed hearing loss levels quite easily with the Jotunhiem R.

I will be able to make a more accurate impression statement when I'm back from holiday.

 

[thomaskong78]

I expect to get SR1a delivered on Jan 2nd.

But no news on Jotunheim R release date yet.

Then I will try it out with either Rogue Cronus Magnum II tube amplifier(100W) or Crown
XLS 2502

This one has 775W for 4 ohm, maybe overkill.

I got this one to drive two 18 inch subwoofers of Scaena 3.2 speakers.

 

[Pale Rider]

Limited first impression here, but wow. I’m impressed. I got hold of a Vidar last month right after my Sr1a kit arrived. Got ready to hook everything up, but . . . first problem: I had no unbalanced outputs in my headphone rack. I have unbalanced outs available in my speaker system room, but I didn’t want to test the RAAL there. So, I found my Lumin A1 DAC—I knew there was a reason I was hanging on to it!—found some good ICs, and set about to hooking everything up. One might argue that using the Lumin, rather than the MSB Select that feeds the Stax, puts the SR1a at a disadvantage; maybe so, but the A1 is a pretty musical device. Actually took less than a half hour, including the firmware upgrade for the Lumin [from version 7.x to 11.x], but the upside for me doing that is that the Lumin is now Roon-ready and doesn’t require a UPnP server like Minim. It’s a bit of a mess on the headphone rack; apologies on the appearance. So, I have a Lumin that hasn’t been powered up in over two years, a brand new SR1a, a brand new Vidar, etc. Played these tracks, a mix of Redbook and DSD files, from the Roon Nucleus+ with no additional DSP:

1. Jesse Cook/Baghdad
2. Jesse Cook/Mario Takes A Walk
3. Jesse Cook/Fall At Your Feet
4. Dead Can Dance/Yulunga
5. Dead Can Dance/The Wind That Shakes The Barley
6. Dire Straits/One World
7. Verdi/Requiem [Telarc Robert Shaw recording]
8. Qua Continuum/Ten
9. The Valence Project/Heart Drum
10. Cowboy Junkies/Blue Moon Revisited
11. Fiona Joy Hawkins/Ghosts Insanity Angels

Wow. Even with no break-in, the initial impression is superb. I am a ribbon fan of several decades going back to my Strathearn/Dynaudio speakers in the early 80s. And these cans (boxes?) are everything one might hope to hear and maybe more. The bass is unexpectedly good.

Now, the SR1a feels very odd on my head, and I suspect there is some better fitment I can obtain. They also seem sensitive to quick movement [when I turn my head quickly to the left, the right ear speaker briefly lifts, and I lose that sense of spatial illusion briefly], but the sense of spaciousness, and real bass are just amazing. Female vocals and piano are impressively realistic. And the air, wow. But I said that already. I’ll say it again: the sense of air and separation between instruments and voices is spectacular. I have done little comparative listening against any of my Stax or the Utopias, but the little I have suggests I may need more dust covers. I can’t wait to hear these on a direct drive amp. I know the Jotunheim R is in the works, and I plan to click that button when it’s offered.

 

[dieslemat]

I knew there was a reason I was hanging on to it!—found some good ICs, and set about to hooking everything up.

what’s an ICs? Integrated Circuit?

 

[Pale Rider]

what’s an ICs? Integrated Circuit?

Sorry. Interconnects.

 

[erik701]

Limited first impression here, but wow. I’m impressed. I got hold of a Vidar last month right after my Sr1a kit arrived. Got ready to hook everything up, but . . . first problem: I had no unbalanced outputs in my headphone rack. I have unbalanced outs available in my speaker system room, but I didn’t want to test the RAAL there. So, I found my Lumin A1 DAC—I knew there was a reason I was hanging on to it!—found some good ICs, and set about to hooking everything up. One might argue that using the Lumin, rather than the MSB Select that feeds the Stax, puts the SR1a at a disadvantage; maybe so, but the A1 is a pretty musical device. Actually took less than a half hour, including the firmware upgrade for the Lumin [from version 7.x to 11.x], but the upside for me doing that is that the Lumin is now Roon-ready and doesn’t require a UPnP server like Minim. It’s a bit of a mess on the headphone rack; apologies on the appearance. So, I have a Lumin that hasn’t been powered up in over two years, a brand new SR1a, a brand new Vidar, etc. Played these tracks, a mix of Redbook and DSD files, from the Roon Nucleus+ with no additional DSP:

1. Jesse Cook/Baghdad
2. Jesse Cook/Mario Takes A Walk
3. Jesse Cook/Fall At Your Feet
4. Dead Can Dance/Yulunga
5. Dead Can Dance/The Wind That Shakes The Barley
6. Dire Straits/One World
7. Verdi/Requiem [Telarc Robert Shaw recording]
8. Qua Continuum/Ten
9. The Valence Project/Heart Drum
10. Cowboy Junkies/Blue Moon Revisited
11. Fiona Joy Hawkins/Ghosts Insanity Angels

Wow. Even with no break-in, the initial impression is superb. I am a ribbon fan of several decades going back to my Strathearn/Dynaudio speakers in the early 80s. And these cans (boxes?) are everything one might hope to hear and maybe more. The bass is unexpectedly good.

Now, the SR1a feels very odd on my head, and I suspect there is some better fitment I can obtain. They also seem sensitive to quick movement [when I turn my head quickly to the left, the right ear speaker briefly lifts, and I lose that sense of spatial illusion briefly], but the sense of spaciousness, and real bass are just amazing. Female vocals and piano are impressively realistic. And the air, wow. But I said that already. I’ll say it again: the sense of air and separation between instruments and voices is spectacular. I have done little comparative listening against any of my Stax or the Utopias, but the little I have suggests I may need more dust covers. I can’t wait to hear these on a direct drive amp. I know the Jotunheim R is in the works, and I plan to click that button when it’s offered.

Wow, you have great collection of hi-fi gear. MSB Select DAC has to sound like heaven

 

[FLTWS]

Just posted by Jason on his thread; 2 paragraphs on "R"

Jotunheim R almost made it this year, and it’s literally the first and only headphone amp designed to drive ultra-low-impedance ribbon headphones. (We’re talking 0.2-0.4 ohms here, basically a screwdriver.) When it appears, it will eliminate the need for speaker amps and interface boxes to run the Raal/Requisite SR1a.

Jotunheim R. We’ll be shipping Jotunheim R in January. A slight miss from “before the end of the year,” but please excuse us for being a bit busy. Tyler asked me if this was the fastest product development cycle in Schiit history, and I let him know it’s actually #2—the fastest being the original Lyr. But hey, when you’re in a garage it’s fairly easy to move fast. The fact that we turned this one on a dime—during the busiest year for product intros in our history—is plenty good. Expect a full chapter on this one when it launches.

 

[Pale Rider]

Felt like it would be a close miss for 2019. But hey, dates are just placeholder numbers on a grid. January will be good.

 

[anach]

Hopefully Jotunheim R will be available in Europe as well.

 

[Pale Rider]

Hopefully Jotunheim R will be available in Europe as well.

I think most of their other equipment is available spec'ed for Euro/UK/Australian plugs and power. Any reason to be concerned the Jot R won't?

 

[anach]

I think most of their other equipment is available spec'ed for Euro/UK/Australian plugs and power. Any reason to be concerned the Jot R won't?

No. But it is a niche product so I am being cautiously optimistic that I can buy it here soon.

 

[Pale Rider]

No. But it is a niche product so I am being cautiously optimistic that I can buy it here soon.

Yeah, I hear you.

 

[exdmd]

There are so many people waiting for the Jotunheim R I would not be surprised if the first production run sells out in a few days.

 

[Pale Rider]

There are so many people waiting for the Jotunheim R I would not be surprised if the first production run sells out in a few days.

Agreed. That was one reason I wrote them and suggested a pre-order. Lots of us say we will, and that would give us the opportunity to put our money where our mouths are. And for Schiit to plan an adequate first production run. But they replied “we don’t do that.”