Schiit Jotunheim Review / Preview - Head-Fi TV
Apr 3, 2019 at 3:25 PM Post #6,031 of 6,468
Can the Jotunheim properly drive an LCD-4? Will it make a difference if I get the 4z?

Yes. No.
Can the Jotunheim properly drive an LCD-4? Will it make a difference if I get the 4z?
It can drive both easily. Also selling a black Jotunheim if anyone's interested.
 
Apr 4, 2019 at 12:02 AM Post #6,033 of 6,468
Just upgraded from Magni 3 to the Jot. Even with the SE output this thing sounds amazing. I am waiting for balanced cables to come in for my 1060, 6XX and Argon headphones.

Congrats and very nice mate! How's the SMSL SU-8 holding up? You got her piped through to the Jot?
 
Apr 4, 2019 at 1:45 AM Post #6,034 of 6,468
Just upgraded from Magni 3 to the Jot. Even with the SE output this thing sounds amazing. I am waiting for balanced cables to come in for my 1060, 6XX and Argon headphones.


Same setup as mine using balanced cable from SU to Jot, while SE from SU to DV336.
 
Apr 4, 2019 at 9:02 AM Post #6,035 of 6,468
Congrats and very nice mate! How's the SMSL SU-8 holding up? You got her piped through to the Jot?
Yeah I have the SU-8 hooked up via XLR to the Jot at the moment. I am just waiting for a few balanced headphone cables to come in to complete the fully balanced setup. I have to say I am really happy with how things sound via the single ended output though.
Same setup as mine using balanced cable from SU to Jot, while SE from SU to DV336.
Yeah I have been considering picking up a tube amp just to see what the whole tube thing is about. The Darkvoice seems to be one of the best places to start.
 
Apr 4, 2019 at 11:48 PM Post #6,037 of 6,468
Is it much better than the Magni 3?
I have not done extensive A-B testing but I did hook up the Magni and Jot right off the bat. I am no audiophile and do not have the vocabulary to really communicate the difference. That said to put it simply it seems like the Jot produces a bit more full sound with less effort. The Magni still sounds pretty good but it seems like its working harder to do it. This seems more evident at lower listening volumes. Like I said I did not do extensive A-B testing but I did enough to rule out placebo lol. I also like that I can insert a headphone cable into the Jot and it doesn't move, whereas you have to hold the Magni in place since it is so tiny. I can't wait to try the balanced output on the Jot.
 
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Apr 5, 2019 at 10:20 AM Post #6,038 of 6,468
Yeah I have the SU-8 hooked up via XLR to the Jot at the moment. I am just waiting for a few balanced headphone cables to come in to complete the fully balanced setup.

I also have the Jot and my HD6XX has been re-terminated to XLR but my DAC is the Modi MB which is SE. I'm tempted to pull the trigger on SU-8 in order to get the full path in balanced but I have read that the SU-8 is a fairly bright sounding DAC and doesn't have the same bass quality of the Modi MB. How do you like the sound of the SU-8 and Jot combo, obviously in SE mode for now until you go XLR on your headphones?
 
Apr 7, 2019 at 8:40 AM Post #6,039 of 6,468
I also have the Jot and my HD6XX has been re-terminated to XLR but my DAC is the Modi MB which is SE. I'm tempted to pull the trigger on SU-8 in order to get the full path in balanced but I have read that the SU-8 is a fairly bright sounding DAC and doesn't have the same bass quality of the Modi MB. How do you like the sound of the SU-8 and Jot combo, obviously in SE mode for now until you go XLR on your headphones?

I decided to complete the full balanced chain so yesterday I ordered the SU-8 from Shenzhenaudio. Also ordered a pair of Monoprice XLR connectors from Amazon.
 
Apr 13, 2019 at 1:11 AM Post #6,040 of 6,468
To be honest, I'm not much of a headphone music listener. I'm much more into speakers, and all of my headphone/earbud listening happens when I am working at my computer.

A few years ago I bought a set of Sony MDR-1A headphones and I like them. They wouldn't work with the cheap NuForce DAC/amp I had at the time, so, being a Schiit fan, I bought a Fulla 2, which I thought had decent sound for the price.

When the Jot came out, it was something I was interested in, but I kept convincing myself that I wasn't into headphone listening enough to justify laying out that kind of money.

One night a few weeks ago I said WTH, and ordered a black Jot w/ multi-bit DAC card. The next day I had major buyers remorse and was kicking myself for spending $600+ on a computer headphone amp. I looked up the restocking fee and tentatively planned on returning the Jot without even listening to it.

When it arrived I couldn't help but open it up to have a look. I connected it to my iMac, and had a listen.

I absolutely love it. Instead of kicking myself for ordering a $600+ headphone amp, I've been kicking myself for not buying this sooner.

I'm sure there are better DAC/amps out there, but this is a huge improvement from what I was using and I am really happy with it.
 
Apr 13, 2019 at 9:13 AM Post #6,041 of 6,468
To be honest, I'm not much of a headphone music listener. I'm much more into speakers, and all of my headphone/earbud listening happens when I am working at my computer.

A few years ago I bought a set of Sony MDR-1A headphones and I like them. They wouldn't work with the cheap NuForce DAC/amp I had at the time, so, being a Schiit fan, I bought a Fulla 2, which I thought had decent sound for the price.

When the Jot came out, it was something I was interested in, but I kept convincing myself that I wasn't into headphone listening enough to justify laying out that kind of money.

One night a few weeks ago I said WTH, and ordered a black Jot w/ multi-bit DAC card. The next day I had major buyers remorse and was kicking myself for spending $600+ on a computer headphone amp. I looked up the restocking fee and tentatively planned on returning the Jot without even listening to it.

When it arrived I couldn't help but open it up to have a look. I connected it to my iMac, and had a listen.

I absolutely love it. Instead of kicking myself for ordering a $600+ headphone amp, I've been kicking myself for not buying this sooner.

I'm sure there are better DAC/amps out there, but this is a huge improvement from what I was using and I am really happy with it.

I bought the original Jot (straight amp) when it came out a few years ago to replace my Magni 2 Uber. A much better amp in my opinion. Shortly after getting the Jot I re-terminated my HD650 and HE500 to balanced XLR in order to take advantage of the Jot's balanced capabilities. Last week I ordered the SMSL SU-8 DAC which has balanced outputs thereby completing the fully balanced path straight into my ears. Looking forward to its arrival next week.
 
Apr 13, 2019 at 8:22 PM Post #6,042 of 6,468
I bought the original Jot (straight amp) when it came out a few years ago to replace my Magni 2 Uber. A much better amp in my opinion. Shortly after getting the Jot I re-terminated my HD650 and HE500 to balanced XLR in order to take advantage of the Jot's balanced capabilities. Last week I ordered the SMSL SU-8 DAC which has balanced outputs thereby completing the fully balanced path straight into my ears. Looking forward to its arrival next week.
Hopefully this will wet your appetite a little @Tuneslover :grinning:

2019-04-13 (2).jpg
Theta DS Prime II balanced in to (Black) Jotunhiem, out to the AR-H1's (Balanced).

Good luck with the SU-8 mate, heard good things about it!
 
Apr 16, 2019 at 10:14 AM Post #6,043 of 6,468
I bought the original Jot (straight amp) when it came out a few years ago to replace my Magni 2 Uber. A much better amp in my opinion. Shortly after getting the Jot I re-terminated my HD650 and HE500 to balanced XLR in order to take advantage of the Jot's balanced capabilities. Last week I ordered the SMSL SU-8 DAC which has balanced outputs thereby completing the fully balanced path straight into my ears. Looking forward to its arrival next week.

My SMSL SU-8 arrived yesterday. I swapped out the Schiit Mimby with this DAC. The SU-8 has both XLR balanced, as well as, SE outputs which works really well for my setup. The balanced output of the SU-8 goes directly into my Jotunheim completing the balanced chain directly into my ears. The SE output of the SU-8 goes into my Schiit Loki and out into my NAD C326BEE integrated amp. This puts the Loki exclusively into my speakers chain (the real reason as to why I bought the Loki, to help with my acoustically challenging room).

The SU-8 has a much richer sound with appreciably better detail which really improved the soundstage of my speaker system. The sound can be nicely tweaked using the Loki. A huge thumbs up!
As for the fully balanced headphone system, there is a total black background and once again the detail is amazing with excellent instrument separation. The output sounds slightly higher than with the Modi MB.

I'm not quite sure if the 3D like sound reproduction produced by the Sabre chips is what makes this DAC sound so engaging or not but the bass seems to be slightly less impactful than the Mimby's but it's not a deal breaker whatsoever because the SU-8 still has good bass, perhaps slightly overshadowed by the detail and clarity. I can easily adjust this with the Loki for the speaker system where it's most needed. The same can be said with the balanced headphone setup, namely a slight taming of the bass but again it still sounds very satisfying.

This DAC solution in my setup is very very nice indeed. I haven't tried all of the sound enhancement features yet but once I have fully adjusted to this DAC sound I will give it a try.
 
Apr 16, 2019 at 10:31 AM Post #6,044 of 6,468
My SMSL SU-8 arrived yesterday. I swapped out the Schiit Mimby with this DAC. The SU-8 has both XLR balanced, as well as, SE outputs which works really well for my setup. The balanced output of the SU-8 goes directly into my Jotunheim completing the balanced chain directly into my ears. The SE output of the SU-8 goes into my Schiit Loki and out into my NAD C326BEE integrated amp. This puts the Loki exclusively into my speakers chain (the real reason as to why I bought the Loki, to help with my acoustically challenging room).

The SU-8 has a much richer sound with appreciably better detail which really improved the soundstage of my speaker system. The sound can be nicely tweaked using the Loki. A huge thumbs up!
As for the fully balanced headphone system, there is a total black background and once again the detail is amazing with excellent instrument separation. The output sounds slightly higher than with the Modi MB.
Have you tried A-B-ing the balanced vs SE outputs on the Jot?
 
Apr 16, 2019 at 10:40 AM Post #6,045 of 6,468
Hopefully this will wet your appetite a little @Tuneslover :grinning:


Theta DS Prime II balanced in to (Black) Jotunhiem, out to the AR-H1's (Balanced).

Good luck with the SU-8 mate, heard good things about it!
I really do like the look of your black Jot! I already had a silver SMSL SU-8 though. I wish it came in a black option!
 

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