[franz12]

placed an order on Jot R early in the morning immediately after I saw the post by Jason. Hope to see a shipping confirmation soon.

 

[RickB]

My 1st OS was CP/M on a Kaypro.

You're not counting the punchcards?

 

[Balthazar B]

My 1st OS was CP/M on a Kaypro.

Mine was VMS, on an 11-780, IIRC.

My almost-brother-in-law had an IMSAI 8800 at home, in the first man cave I ever saw.

 

[treecloud]

It would be funny to throw a Vali 2 in the mix, since it has literally 1000x the distortion of the Heresy, and actually may have THD above the level of some transducers.

1000x the distortion sounds about the correct amount

Can an objectivist come to appreciate the value in the subjective approach? Even more, can they come to value (shock, horror) measurable distortion in the signal chain?

Maybe. It's not all that complicated either:
Let's propose that aural illusions are as common as optical illusions, or even more common. This may go some way toward explaining situations where a signal with measurably greater distortion is more universally pleasing to listeners than a less distorted one.

We might call these "euphonic compensatory distortions".

What are they compensating for? The limits of the medium itself...a box too small to contain reality.

How do we develop measurements that reveal how much is left out of the box relative to what can be put in?

So far we cannot. But what if we arbitrarily say it's 50%? Then the record/playback function has 50% real distortion.

But then what if we add tonal warmth, and we find it more natural, more "real"? This would be one of potentially countless examples of "euphonic compensatory distortion".

The subjective/objective debate is old and kind of tired. More importantly it misses the point: the box is too small, we cannot put all of reality into it. Consider the implied wiggle room created by such a conundrum.

But it's not all bad news. This conundrum is in large part what makes audio so interesting and pleasurable. And of course the other part is the music itself, whether it's reproduced perfectly, or not!

 

[xuan87]

amazing chapter as always, will definitely find time to listen to a SR1A headphones from a local dealer. Just a couple of questions, I might missed someone mentioning them:

1) The Jotunheim R is a limited release product... How limited are we talking about here?

2) Will Raal sell the SR1a together with the Jot R in the future or we'll probably have to buy them separately from Raal and Schiit?

And just a side comment: I still think there is a market for a cheaper electrostatics amp but due to science, I understand that it might be impossible to design and sell one. Which is a pity because the price of decent electrostatic headphones are coming down, I believe there is a $500 one recently announced that seem promising.

 

[GearMe]

My 1st OS was CP/M on a Kaypro.

You're not counting the punchcards?

os/vs1 punchcards amdahl

 

[Tim Gray]

amazing chapter as always, will definitely find time to listen to a SR1A headphones from a local dealer. Just a couple of questions, I might missed someone mentioning them:

1) The Jotunheim R is a limited release product... How limited are we talking about here?

2) Will Raal sell the SR1a together with the Jot R in the future or we'll probably have to buy them separately from Raal and Schiit?

And just a side comment: I still think there is a market for a cheaper electrostatics amp but due to science, I understand that it might be impossible to design and sell one. Which is a pity because the price of decent electrostatic headphones are coming down, I believe there is a $500 one recently announced that seem promising.

According to Danny at Raal they will have an option to bundle with the Jot-R, and are in the process of having the foam for the Pelican case cut for the Schiit instead of their interface.

 

[johnjen]

1000x the distortion sounds about the correct amount

Can an objectivist come to appreciate the value in the subjective approach? Even more, can they come to value (shock, horror) measurable distortion in the signal chain?

Maybe. It's not all that complicated either:
Let's propose that aural illusions are as common as optical illusions, or even more common. This may go some way toward explaining situations where a signal with measurably greater distortion is more universally pleasing to listeners than a less distorted one.

We might call these "euphonic compensatory distortions".

What are they compensating for? The limits of the medium itself...a box too small to contain reality.

How do we develop measurements that reveal how much is left out of the box relative to what can be put in?

So far we cannot. But what if we arbitrarily say it's 50%? Then the record/playback function has 50% real distortion.

But then what if we add tonal warmth, and we find it more natural, more "real"? This would be one of potentially countless examples of "euphonic compensatory distortion".

The subjective/objective debate is old and kind of tired. More importantly it misses the point: the box is too small, we cannot put all of reality into it. Consider the implied wiggle room created by such a conundrum.

But it's not all bad news. This conundrum is in large part what makes audio so interesting and pleasurable. And of course the other part is the music itself, whether it's reproduced perfectly, or not!

Well stated treecloud.
This is a marvelous perspective to mull over and nibble upon.

I especially like the notion of a 'box' that is not able to contain a 'sufficient amount' of reality.
Despite our best attempts and efforts to do so.

JJ

 

[xuan87]

According to Danny at Raal they will have an option to bundle with the Jot-R, and are in the process of having the foam for the Pelican case cut for the Schiit instead of their interface.

That is good to know! If I'm not wrong, the distributor for both Raal and Schiit in Singapore are the same, so they might do the same bundle too. That will simplify things alot.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

amazing chapter as always, will definitely find time to listen to a SR1A headphones from a local dealer. Just a couple of questions, I might missed someone mentioning them:

1) The Jotunheim R is a limited release product... How limited are we talking about here?

2) Will Raal sell the SR1a together with the Jot R in the future or we'll probably have to buy them separately from Raal and Schiit?

And just a side comment: I still think there is a market for a cheaper electrostatics amp but due to science, I understand that it might be impossible to design and sell one. Which is a pity because the price of decent electrostatic headphones are coming down, I believe there is a $500 one recently announced that seem promising.

1. "Limited Release" is the best category for Jotunheim R, since it is intended for a single headphone, and, if we put it in a general category, we'd get tons of people buying it and then realizing it doesn't work with their headphones. Yes, despite all the warnings. Because lots of people don't read, and because it is more expensive, it must be better. We'll make as many of these as there is demand for.

2. That's a question for Raal. Like the FAQ says, while Danny at Raal/Requisite was aware of this development, and while he listened to, and provided feedback on, early prototypes, this is a Schiit product. I'll be happy to sell these to Raal so they can bundle them.

And stats? Nope. Plenty of options there. We don't need to be a part of that.

 

[Jason Stoddard]

1000x the distortion sounds about the correct amount

Can an objectivist come to appreciate the value in the subjective approach? Even more, can they come to value (shock, horror) measurable distortion in the signal chain?

Maybe. It's not all that complicated either:
Let's propose that aural illusions are as common as optical illusions, or even more common. This may go some way toward explaining situations where a signal with measurably greater distortion is more universally pleasing to listeners than a less distorted one.

We might call these "euphonic compensatory distortions".

What are they compensating for? The limits of the medium itself...a box too small to contain reality.

How do we develop measurements that reveal how much is left out of the box relative to what can be put in?

So far we cannot. But what if we arbitrarily say it's 50%? Then the record/playback function has 50% real distortion.

But then what if we add tonal warmth, and we find it more natural, more "real"? This would be one of potentially countless examples of "euphonic compensatory distortion".

The subjective/objective debate is old and kind of tired. More importantly it misses the point: the box is too small, we cannot put all of reality into it. Consider the implied wiggle room created by such a conundrum.

But it's not all bad news. This conundrum is in large part what makes audio so interesting and pleasurable. And of course the other part is the music itself, whether it's reproduced perfectly, or not!

This is an exceptional perspective.

Many of the early CG effects looked very bad, even when they were technically perfect. Maybe this is somewhat akin to that? The beauty is in imperfection?

 

[macdonjh]

You guys are making me feel old(er). Remember this? Came with my first PC...

My step-dad, IBM lifer, had a shelf-full of those cute little binders for all those early PC applications. Imagine, having to read a manual and teach yourself how to use a program.

 

[dieslemat]

@Jason Stoddard - might be a dumb question, since the Jotunheim R produces a lot of current and the connector/plug uses the male pins, if one leaves the Jotunheim R on and accidentally touched the pins would that result in a shock?

 

[treecloud]

This is an exceptional perspective.

Many of the early CG effects looked very bad, even when they were technically perfect. Maybe this is somewhat akin to that? The beauty is in imperfection?

Thank you. Yes, probably. There has to be a certain suspension of disbelief, more organic and less synthetic. But we only have to look at the history of cinema to see that suspension of disbelief is a moving target correlated with technological evolution.

Systems of reproduction compress reality massively, and 0.0001 levels of distortion does not change that one whit. You might say compensatory distortions introduce a kind of sensory "expansion". Even the compression used by mastering engineers Is a kind of "expansion" because it makes "all the sound" more audible. Depending on the system you're listening to of course

 

[Jason Stoddard]

@Jason Stoddard - might be a dumb question, since the Jotunheim R produces a lot of current and the connector/plug uses the male pins, if one leaves the Jotunheim R on and accidentally touched the pins would that result in a shock?

Nope, it is very low voltage. See the FAQ, it tops out at about 5V RMS.

The connector was not our choice—we are mimicking Raal/Requisite. They set the standard. I personally think it is the correct choice, so people don't go plugging other headphones into it. It also properly reflects pro connection standards: male is output, female is input. The female 4-pin XLR used for balanced headphones is a bit strange.