My own version of SchiitR - Schiit + Raal Requisite Sr1A
First of all I’d like to thank @sean888 from SLT (here in Singapore) for letting me audition the Jotunheim R with my own Raal Requisite SR1a.
My initial impressions of the Raal SR1A can be read at the Raal thread
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/raal-ribbon-headphones-srh1a.890603/page-58#post-14914671
I thought of posting this new Jotunheim R impression, albeit an amateurish one, in the Raal Sr1a thread but its more fitting to post it here as I realised that I am basically "Amp Rolling" between Schiit amps.
But before reading what I have to say, I’d like to just be clear that:
- I’m not a technical audiophile kind of guy. Meaning I’m not used to using terms like plankton, holographic etc etc. I'm a simpleton that knows what's excellent from what's EPIC
- What I have auditioned is a production-qualifier Jotunheim R.
- I’m very very familiar with most of the Schiit amps. Jotunheim > Lyr 3 > Ragnarok 1 > Mjolnir 2 > Vidar > Aegir. But I don’t consider myself as a Schiit fan boy.
- These are just my own impressions.
I visited
@sean888 's office back in April to try out the different pairs of Vidar and Aegir for me to decide which amps would I use not only for the SR1a, but also for my KEF R300s (which I am thinking of changing soon). There I got to try out the Vidars + Freya OG vs Aegir + Freya OG vs Devialet D-Primer Integrated Amp. Not knowing the price of the Devialet I thought it was only 5-10% better than the Aegir.
To me the Aegirs were a clear winner. However the Devialet amp driving the Sr1a was much more refined has better bass control and treble extension.
So my current setup I have at home is a Source X > Yggdrasil A2 > Freya+ (with rare Brimar tubes) > 2x Aegirs > KEF R300 or SR1a. Having this setup gives me a lot of joy but only up to the point when I need to reach the back of my setup to switch the connections of the Aegirs and Raal’s black box driver. So troublesome to do that everytime. Which is why I was so thrilled that
@Jason Stoddard announced that Schiit is in the process of making the Jotunheim R that would directly drive the Sr1a with no required big bulky amps.
What I had with my was the production-qualifier of the Jotunheim R and the Bifrost 2 + my setup. Not yet burned in. For the SR1A, I wanted to do a comprehensive AB testing , different chains like:
- BiFrost 2 + Jotunheim R + SR1a
- BiFrost 2 + Freya + Aegirs + Raals Ribbon Amp/Interface + SR1a
- Yggdrasil A2 + Jotunheim R + SR1a
- Yggdrasil A2 + Freya + Aegirs + Raals Ribbon Amp/Interface + SR1a
I tried all and in my opinion, the setups above all sounded way way way better than any Electrostats, Dynamic Drivers and Planars.
But with the limited time I had with the Jotunheim R I’m not able to do a very well focused listening. So in the end I had to do AB testing with the setup:
- Yggdrasil A2+ Freya + Aegirs + Raals Ribbon Amp/Interface + SR1a
- Yggdrasil A2+ Freya + Jotunheim + SR1a
In the end, aftere 5-6 hours of listening. I’m sold on the Jotunheim R. Its even better than the Devialet amp which I believe was around 15K USD (I think).
Some of the tracks that I listened to were:
Dreaming Tree - Dave Matthews Band
- Separation is amazing. Nicely flooded with a lot of sound information. But none of the instruments sound like they were fighting for each other in the time domain.
Stay - Lisa Loeb
- Oh wow. Warm. Lisa Loeb’s breathes is more visible with the echoes of her voice more pronounced. Easy to determine how many back up singers singing.
Easy Fraction - Breakbot
- With this track I wanted to check if the Jotunheim R drives the SR1a with better bass. Yes, the Joturnheim R delivers on the bass. Fuller and richer. I would say the right amount of realistic bass.
Other Jazz and Classical tracks
- All instruments sounded real. Cymbals are cymbals and Pianos are Pianos. Sorry I can't really elaborate. You just need to buy/try it and I'm sure you'll agree.
The production-qualifier Jotunheim R drives the SR1a with:
- overall better bass than the Aegirs or the Vidar or the Devialet
- tighter, faster and slightly higher resolution. but still wide sound stage (well relative to how the Sr1A is spread out)
- somehow the Aegir's top end sounded shouty but I only realised this when I heard the Sr1A with the Jotunheim R. never noticed this before. Aegir is not glaring to beging with. Maybe the right description would be that the Jotunheim R is far more refined
- Hard for me to determine if balance vs single ended has some difference in sound quality in the Jotunheim R.
Again even with any headphone amp (except maybe with the Abyss + some insanely expensive amp) no other headphones can compare with the SR1A.
Jotunheim R + Sr1A - Is this an end game setup?
Its very easy to say yes but there’s always that possibility that Raal may come up with a better version. By better version - is out of my imagination. However, I would, without any hesitation, say
that Raal Ribbons as drivers are the end game for me.
Is the Schiit Jotunheim R a product you should buy to pair with the Sr1a?
Well, let me put it this way, the Jotunheim R is a gift from Schiit that I highly recommend you should give yourself.
I'm excited for the Jotunheim R. Really really excited. I will click on "add to cart" and "check out" the day it's out. For the sound quality and performance that the Jotunheim R and the SR1A delivers, its relatively cheap compared to other high end amps and headphones. I know some people are even saying its the same level as the Sennheisser HE 1 in terms of performance.
Its funny that my first Schiit product was the Jotunheim. I upgraded to the Ragnarok 1 to get a more high end platform only to circle back to the Jotunheim R.
Cheers guys. I hope you all try out the Jotunheim R and the Sr1a.