Schiit Jotunheim 2 - Impressions Thread

[szore]

Love my Jot 2. Plugged into a balanced transformer, and hooked up to an Ares II DAC. Love it.

 

[hottyson]

I need some advice. I've been really looking at the Jotunheim 2 (w/ ES9028 DAC). I'll never get any headphones that'll need that much power output. Is the Jotunheim 2 right for me still? I've never heard Asgard 3 by the way, but rather go straight to "end game" worthy stuff rather than waste time with minor upgrades.

Prefer clean / neutral that leans warm / full. But above all I want the technical power... details, staging, imaging.

Has the issues with the ES9028 been resolved? I've read a lot of units needing repair with the addon card.

I have a large amplifier collection https://www.head-fi.org/members/hottyson.7590/#about I own both the Schiit Asgard 3 and the Schiit Jotunheim 2. The Schiit Jotunheim 2 is the amplifier out of my collection that I recommend the most at it's low price point. The Schiit Asgard 3 is my least recommended amplifiers out of my collection. When A/B side-by-side comparison between $100 amplifiers and the Asgard I can make out slight differences that are definitely not worth the price difference above $100 amps. The Asgard has NEVER impressed me. NEVER. With the Asgard one is mostly getting the convenience and clean setup from having an internal power supply instead of a wall-wart power supply that you get with most $100 amps. On the other hand the Jotunheim 2 impresses me often in spades.
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Schiit internal DAC cards are another no go for me. I have a few different cards that make for clean setups being all-in-one, however why not buy once, cry once, and put that $100 towards a Bifrost 2/64 to live in bliss for all eternity.

 

[cdacosta]

I need some advice. I've been really looking at the Jotunheim 2 (w/ ES9028 DAC). I'll never get any headphones that'll need that much power output. Is the Jotunheim 2 right for me still? I've never heard Asgard 3 by the way, but rather go straight to "end game" worthy stuff rather than waste time with minor upgrades.

Prefer clean / neutral that leans warm / full. But above all I want the technical power... details, staging, imaging.

Has the issues with the ES9028 been resolved? I've read a lot of units needing repair with the addon card.

I love my Jot 2. The extra power with balanced will give you headroom. I have not tried any of the internal DACs offered. If you are looking for performance I would suggest an external DAC of at least Bifrost 2 quality to mate with the Jot 2. Jot 2 will scale with source gear, cabling and noise reduction devices.

 

[slader166]

Has anyone here been able to compare the Jot 2 and Geshelli's amp offerings, the Archel 3 or Erish 3?

 

[MacMan31]

Does the Jot 2 outshine the Midgard? How well does the Jot 2 pair with the Gungnir MB DAC?

 

[theveterans]

Does the Jot 2 outshine the Midgard? How well does the Jot 2 pair with the Gungnir MB DAC?

GMB A2 is better with Jot 2 while BF2 OG and GMB A1 is better with Midgard

 

[MacMan31]

GMB A2 is better with Jot 2 while BF2 OG and GMB A1 is better with Midgard

I think mine is a GMB A1. I still would love a Mjolnir 3 but those are hard to come by used and are fairly pricy new.

 

[UrsusMajr]

Not looking to start a fight here, but looking for some actual listening cues. What differences should I hear between a Jotunheim 2 with the multibit DAC card, and a Jotunheim 2 -- Bifrost 2/64 DAC stack? Be as specific as you can. Any areas/frequencies that really stand out? Ones where there is little or no difference? More or less open? etc. What should I be listening for?


Thanks in advance!

 

[legend192]

I used to have one of these. I now have a $3400 Holo Bliss. The Bliss is definitely better, but the Jotunheim does pretty well in comparison. It is definitely the best amp under $1000.

 

[cdacosta]

I used to have one of these. I now have a $3400 Holo Bliss. The Bliss is definitely better, but the Jotunheim does pretty well in comparison. It is definitely the best amp under $1000.

A Holo Bliss and Holo DAC would be a sweet combo for headphone setup. Since you have had a Jotunheim 2 and now the Holo Bliss, can you articulate the differences between the two? What DAC and headphones are you pairing with the amps? I ask because I love the Jot 2 I have but could be open to upgrading. Thanks!

 

[legend192]

A Holo Bliss and Holo DAC would be a sweet combo for headphone setup. Since you have had a Jotunheim 2 and now the Holo Bliss, can you articulate the differences between the two? What DAC and headphones are you pairing with the amps? I ask because I love the Jot 2 I have but could be open to upgrading. Thanks!

I have a Holo Bliss and a Holo Spring 3. It is great. I think it is generally best to match an amp with a DAC from the same manufacturer in a similar price range. Typically these amp makers sell equivalent DACs. They are usually designed to be optimized together. If your amp isn't of a similar quality as your DAC, then the lesser unit will be a bottleneck, and you wont get all you paid for from the superior unit. So when I had the Jotunheim 2, the DAC I used was a bifrost. I think that is the DAC anyone with a Jotunheim should use. I listened to a Mjolnir 3 at canjam, and it was a mini Bliss. I think the Jotunheim 2 is a mini Mjolnir 3. They didn't have a Jotunheim 2 to compare it to, so I had to go off memory to compare them. Schiit has a grungy house sound, whereas the Bliss is more neutral. But I listen to a lot of grungy rock and metal, so the difference between the two I notice is more power (the Bliss slams harder) and soundstage/imaging. If you listened to music that wasn't as grungy, you would probably notice the Jotunheim 2 giving a thicker sound than the Bliss whether you wanted it or not. I traded my Jotunheim 2 for a Ferrum Oor/Hypsos, and I liked the Jotunheim 2 more. I think it had a bigger soundstage than the Ferrum stack, though the Ferrum stack likely has better detail. I think the Jotunheim 2 might have slamed better than the Ferrum stack, assuming you weren't using demanding headphones.

I think it is best to have an amp that costs something similar to what the headphones you use cost, and the DAC that matchces that. If you have headphones under $1000, I doubt it would be worth upgrading from a Jotunheim. If you had headphones in the $1000-$2000 range, the Mjolnir 3 I think would be better. Above that, go with a Bliss.

 

[UrsusMajr]

I used to have one of these. I now have a $3400 Holo Bliss. The Bliss is definitely better, but the Jotunheim does pretty well in comparison. It is definitely the best amp under $1000.

Sorry if I wasn't clear... I was asking about the DAC, not the amp. The Jot is staying, I was asking about what to listen for when judging between the Schiit multibit card and the external Schiit Bifrost DAC.

 

[legend192]

Sorry if I wasn't clear... I as asking about the DAC, not the amp. The Jot is staying, I was asking about what to listen for when judging between the multibit card and the external Bifrost DAC.

I had both. The Bifrost was way better than the internal Jot DAC chip. Much better soundstage, imaging, and detail. Easily worth the extra money.

 

[szore]

Just chiming in; love my Jot2 AresII R2R combo! Still can't get over I only paid $400 for the thing...but it plays great with the DAC, really brings it all out! With all the noise reduction and cabling I have done, (see signature) my Arya's really sing! I get a full spectrum presentation with spacious sound stage. Too bad more people don't use balanced transformers....

 

[mdelrossi]

I’m pairing a Jot2 w/RME ADI-2 DAC and think it sounds great.

Late to the game, but what are /were your gain settings on the ADI?