[Kenneth Tang]

Finally got my jot w/DAC right now, I have made the PO last week. Can not wait to feed my elear!

 

[Musicguy2015]

Glad to know you have your jodie now. Hope you enjoy it. Cheers.

 

[alota]

  Finally got my jot w/DAC right now, I have made the PO last week. Can not wait to feed my elear!

i´m interested about the sound with elear

 

[Tom Blake]

Anyone have any thoughts or experience on whether the Mjolnir 2 is worth double the price of the Jodie when paired with a Gungnir D/S DAC and the combo is used to drive LCD-2's and Genelec active studio monitors? I would be running full balanced and don't really care about tube rolling. I imagine the cost difference would be better spent on upgrading the Gungnir to MB? Thanks!

 

[franzdom]

  Anyone have any thoughts or experience on whether the Mjolnir 2 is worth double the price of the Jodie when paired with a Gungnir D/S DAC and the combo is used to drive LCD-2's and Genelec active studio monitors? I would be running full balanced and don't really care about tube rolling. I imagine the cost difference would be better spent on upgrading the Gungnir to MB? Thanks!

 
No, very similar setups here and you definitely won't do better with MJ for the money or even not, unless you want exotic tubes.

 

[jimmers]

 
No, very similar setups here and you definitely won't do better with MJ for the money or even not, unless you want exotic tubes.

Just an interested observer here, but would you mind explaining what you are saying? 
 

 

 

[franzdom]

 

 
No, very similar setups here and you definitely won't do better with MJ for the money or even not, unless you want exotic tubes.

Just an interested observer here, but would you mind explaining what you are saying? 
 
1. Anyone have any thoughts or experience on whether the MJ2 is worth double the price of the Jot when paired with (insert Schiit DAC here) to drive Audeze LCD 100 ohm headphones and active studio monitors?
 
1REPLY. Yes, I have thoughts and experience on this. See equipment in my signature and you will find the equipment is almost exactly what you are looking for someone with thoughts and experience on this topic.
The MJ2 is not worth double the price in any sense over the Jot for LCD-2 or active monitors. I much prefer Jotunheim over MJ2 with LISST tubes and the only time it gets better is after some tube rolling experience and even more expense. If you have no interest in rolling tubes or at least buying good ones, stay away from MJ2. 
 
2. MB worth the money?
 
2REPLY. In my opinion yes, I am very happy with high end balanced multibit Schiit DACs.
 
Jimmers, what is there to understand, how can I be more clear on this?
MJ2 has more power than Jot for some loads and less power than Jot for other loads. 
This is a Jot thread, are you surprised I am not recommending against it?
 
By the way, my Jot has been much more reliable than my MJ2. This has nothing to do with my recommendation however, just a side note. I love Jot!
 
If you want even more breakdown on this see:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/818323/schiit-jotunheim-review-preview-head-fi-tv/3435#post_13188315
http://www.head-fi.org/t/818323/schiit-jotunheim-review-preview-head-fi-tv/3435#post_13188526
http://www.head-fi.org/t/601151/schiit-owners-unite/12255#post_13155838

 

[Tom Blake]

Thanks franzdom - just what I was looking for and you confirmed my thinking.

 

[X-Calibar]

  The black Jot is very stylish! On USB vs S/PDIF, there are lots of opinions around, but in my experience with Schiit Multibit DACs, a decent USB>S/PDIF converter can improve sound quality if the USB source is a generic computer as is in your case.

 
My PC is a bit dated now but it does have a S/PDIF connection!  So I ended up trying both inputs into the Modi Multibit in a semi A/B setup (dual Foobar2k).  Although I did run into a weird issue after switching the Mimby input button too often.. a weird ghostly ringing in the left channel that wouldn't go away until I restarted the Modi M!  I guess it doesn't like to be constantly switched back and forth continuously...
Anyway, I couldn't discern a difference between the two inputs with what I tested so far.  The one "advantage" I noted with the USB, was its ability to handle odd sampling rates like 176kHz.  
 

   
You're well beyond of a lot of people who just started the headphone audiophile world BTW. It's a no-brainer to get the balanced cable especially with Jot since Jot is inherently balanced in the first place. Take advantage of it. Then you can use your Modi 2 Multibit on another setup and upgrade to Gungnir Multibit or Yggdrasil.
 
Your current setup is pretty much end game unless you want to foray in the high end components or TOTL. In my case, I found my ideal setup already until the next half a decade or a decade comes (Bifrost Multibit -> Saga -> Yamaha HS7 computer speakers (I highly prefer the listening experience of computer speakers than headphones)).

 
I really want to see if using a balanced cable will make any noticeable improvement in the meantime... so I broke down and ordered an XLR headphone cable from c3audio; the UPOCC one for 300$!  Insane!  I read some interesting reviews and since they have a 14 day return policy... If I can't tell a worthwhile difference with this, then I know to just wait until I can afford what will likely be my end game...   (The Yggy, the HD 800 S, and maybe an amp like Ragnarok...)
 
I'd love to follow the speaker route too, but... I decided the cost difference for the same quality was too much if I'm the one using it.  ...I remember drooling over Martin Logan statement speakers; Theta Digital equipment; room treatment and design... Hah... too much...  That's actually one thing that really hooked me with Schiit.  That one of the founders was originally from Theta Digital.  Affordable quality?!  I was hooked.
 
Although I'm focusing on headphones... I would love to try for the Magneplanar speakers or some halfway affordable setup someday.
Oh, I almost went for the Bifrost too... until I started reading about the Jot, and allocated my funds differently.

 

[theveterans]

I really want to see if using a balanced cable will make any noticeable improvement in the meantime... so I broke down and ordered an XLR headphone cable from c3audio; the UPOCC one for 300$!  Insane!  I read some interesting reviews and since they have a 14 day return policy... If I can't tell a worthwhile difference with this, then I know to just wait until I can afford what will likely be my end game...   (The Yggy, the HD 800 S, and maybe an amp like Ragnarok...)
 
I'd love to follow the speaker route too, but... I decided the cost difference for the same quality was too much if I'm the one using it.  ...I remember drooling over Martin Logan statement speakers; Theta Digital equipment; room treatment and design... Hah... too much...  That's actually one thing that really hooked me with Schiit.  That one of the founders was originally from Theta Digital.  Affordable quality?!  I was hooked.
 
Although I'm focusing on headphones... I would love to try for the Magneplanar speakers or some halfway affordable setup someday.
Oh, I almost went for the Bifrost too... until I started reading about the Jot, and allocated my funds differently.

If you get bored with headphones, you'll probably switch to speakers. Headphone listening IME doesn't sound natural at all.
 
If you go with the amp upgrade route, Rag should be the top of your list so you can enjoy both headphones and speakers at the same time. Only issue with Rag is the lack of remote control. As for DAC, wait for Yggy upgrades which Schiit might release in the future (hopefully Schiit has plans for it).

 

[Kenneth Tang]

  i´m interested about the sound with elear

 
Ok, here is a few comments after several hours of listening to Jot w/DAC and elear. This is a subjected feeling so YMMV.
 
Setup:
USB Sources: Win7 Desktop using foobar2000 / Android device LG G5 with build in player app
File types: Mostly are FLAC with some 320k mp3 and dsf SACD / Highest quality Spotify
Connection: Cheap but fully capable USB 2.0 Type B cable from desktop/Android (OTG) to Jotunheim internal DAC. SE output to ELEAR
 
My thought:
Jot w/DAC does everything right to elear, it is detail and punchy, with a lot of power. The sound signature suits my taste. However, to be honest, it brings no surprise to me. 
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that Jot is no good. It is good.... Just because it sounds very similar to my previous amp.
What I used to drive elear before I get the jot is the so called "B&O Hifi plus" module which is a optional accessory for LG G5. It is a tiny usb powered DAC/amp combo (maybe like Fulla from schiit but smaller) with ES9028 DAC and SABRE9602C as the core, it can be inserted into G5 or works standalone with a PC, and it is just costed me around USD$130 (This accessory, however, is not available in US market).
Maybe the elear is so easy to drive to perform well, I can not hear a big improvement at all. I am really expecting "wow", "sweet", or something screaming out from my mouth... but sorry, no, I didn't. It just sounds so familiar to me. I did heard a very little bit micro details improved, but not that much, or even maybe due to new toy syndrome.  If Jot + ELEAR =10, then B&O Hifi plus + Elear =8.5.. That's why I say I have no surprise at all. I don't have other other cans in my gear expect elear, so I can not tell whether the harder hedphone to drive, more improvement I can get. I have 2 IEM, one is X20 from Klipsch and the other is Sphear from Focal. I may give them a try to pair with Jot.
 
I did hear some other dac/amp combo to pair with elear before I get my Jot. One is Fostex HP-A8 (the retail price here is around USD$1K), it sounds too flat, nothing spectacular to me. The $499 Jot definitely worth to buy no matter in terms of price or sound quality.
The other one is Burson Audio Conductor V2+ (the retail price here is around USD$1.3K). I sounds airy, natural and smooth. It should sounds better than jot, bringing surprise to me, but the price tag... and it is big, very big, I lived in Hong Kong and the most expensive stuff here is ROOM SPACE!
 
I think I will still keep the Jot although it didn't surprised me much coz I need a desktop amp. Again, I am not saying jot is no good, I like the sound signature of Jot. I am still expecting to hear more details from jot. Maybe sometimes later, when I switched back to B&O, I would tell jot is much better.
 
 
Attached a photo of my jot and elear, the black plastic on jot is the B&O hifi plus.  
 

 

[Alchemist007]

 
Anyway, I couldn't discern a difference between the two inputs with what I tested so far.  The one "advantage" I noted with the USB, was its ability to handle odd sampling rates like 176kHz.  
 
 
I really want to see if using a balanced cable will make any noticeable improvement in the meantime... so I broke down and ordered an XLR headphone cable from c3audio; the UPOCC one for 300$!  Insane! 

If you're willing to wait a little, I'd recommend this guy for cables https://www.etsy.com/shop/impactaudiocables
 
Your conclusions about USB vs SPDIF are the same as mine, the best thing it does is free up a USB port for other stuff.

 

[alota]

@Kenneth Tang thank you. The important is that the jot souds good in the price range. The similar products(excluding audio-gd)are more expensive. I'm waiting the stock from european reseller

 

[Kenneth Tang]

@Kenneth Tang thank you. The important is that the jot souds good in the price range. The similar products(excluding audio-gd)are more expensive. I'm waiting the stock from european reseller

Yes, in fact the list price of jot is very competitive. 
I have forgotten to mention I faced some difficulties during driver installation. I have D/L the Schiit_USB_Gen2_1_16.zip and followed the instruction for WIN7 installation. However, it always prompt me to re-plugin the Jot and after 3 trials, the installation terminated. I had to use another file Schiit_USB_1_03.zip and finally got the driver installed. I didn't install the schiit_asio_1_01.zip but it seems that the Schiit_USB_1_03 already bundled the ASIO driver, as I can see a new ASIO for C-Media USB driver in foobar2000.
However, if I use this ASIO driver in foobar2000 with my jot dac, sometimes I can hear a very short audio skipping, or a very short "pop" sound impluse. Maybe once per track. If I switch back to the DS driver for schiit gen2 (I guess it stands for direct sound for win7). No audio skipping at all. Anyone encountered this problem?

 

[windcar]

For those who bought with the DAC addon, do you find that the 32-bit at 88.2kHz sounds much better than at 16-bit 176.4kHz?
At first I was trying out 16-bit 176.4kHz and it sounds like poo to my ears, it just sounds kinda coarse. I was surprised that changing to 32-bit at 88.2kHz the sound becomes much more refined.
 
Also I do not know why the 32-bit sounds a lot softer. I think this option may have problem with cans needing alot of juice.