[Allanmarcus]

Well, I have a Jodie for a enough time to have some impressions. I've been testing with a Mimby for the DAC. Headphones include:
 
Sennheiser HD800
Sennheiser HD650
Audio Zenith PMx2
Code-X
Grado RS2e
Focal Utopia (loaner courtesy of Todd the Vinyl Junkie)
 
Amps compared:
 
iFi Audio iCan Nano
Schiit Magni, 1st gen
Sony UDA-1
 
One interesting tidbit: All my headphones each sound about the same with all the amps (the Sony is a tad darker), except the Utopia. For some reason the Utopia sounded like absolute crap with the UDA-1, but sounds fantastic with the Jodie (and the other amps). Odd.
 
At any rate, I set up the system to have the Mimby output split into the Jodie and a comparison amp. The amps then SE out into a FiiO switch box, and then the headphone SE to my head. That allows me to A/B switch really really easily.
 
Bottomline, the Sony wasn't as good as even the Magni, but still quite acceptable for background listening. 
 
Here's the interesting part. To my ears (which are over 50, and have gone to many loud rock concerts in their youth), the Magni, iCan, and Jodie all sound pretty darned similar. I do not think I could tell the difference between them in a blind test. Maybe the Jodie was a little clearer and had a little more bass, but that might have been bias.  
 
I also tried the HD800 SE and Balanced on the Jodie. Again, I could not tell the difference in a blind test.
 
Now, that all said, I certainly heard distinct differences with the different headphones. Bottomline is the Utopia is friggin' amazing. Just perfect for my tastes. Each of the other headphones had some issue against the Utopia. I will post specific impressions in the Utopia loaner thread. 
 
So, where am I going. If you are a casual listener and already have a mangi or better, I don't think the Jodie offers enough improvement to upgrade. If you have good enough hearing and/or are a critical listener, the Jodie might be better. I certainly cannot tell. Obviously YMMV. These are just my opinions that someone might find useful.
 
If you have another brand of Amp and can figure out how to compare to a Schiit amp, I recommend you do. If you have some integrated desktop unit, like the Sony UDA-1, NAD, Denon, or other brand, Schiit might offer a nice upgrade for you. A first gen Magni should be ~$60 on the used market. and is a great, inexpensive way to try the Schiit sound.

 

[humblesquad]

  ... But high end sound ain't cheap, so the Jotunheim is certainly a great buy, I don't think the SQ can't be matched at this price, except maybe the NFB-28, which is USD200 more expensive. Other than Audio-GD, Cayin or Goldenwave, be ready to spend 2x for a better sound somewhere else. ...

 
Does this mean you feel NFB-28's amp part is better than Jot? I'd like to hear more about Jot vs AGD amps (NFB-28, NFB-1AMP etc)

 

[cthomas]

Well, I have a Jodie for a enough time to have some impressions. I've been testing with a Mimby for the DAC. Headphones include:

Sennheiser HD800
Sennheiser HD650
Audio Zenith PMx2
Code-X
Grado RS2e
Focal Utopia (loaner courtesy of Todd the Vinyl Junkie)

Amps compared:

iFi Audio iCan Nano
Schiit Magni, 1st gen
Sony UDA-1

One interesting tidbit: All my headphones each sound about the same with all the amps (the Sony is a tad darker), except the Utopia. For some reason the Utopia sounded like absolute crap with the UDA-1, but sounds fantastic with the Jodie (and the other amps). Odd.

At any rate, I set up the system to have the Mimby output split into the Jodie and a comparison amp. The amps then SE out into a FiiO switch box, and then the headphone SE to my head. That allows me to A/B switch really really easily.

Bottomline, the Sony wasn't as good as even the Magni, but still quite acceptable for background listening. 

Here's the interesting part. To my ears (which are over 50, and have gone to many loud rock concerts in their youth), the Magni, iCan, and Jodie all sound pretty darned similar. I do not think I could tell the difference between them in a blind test. Maybe the Jodie was a little clearer and had a little more bass, but that might have been bias.  

I also tried the HD800 SE and Balanced on the Jodie. Again, I could not tell the difference in a blind test.

Now, that all said, I certainly heard distinct differences with the different headphones. Bottomline is the Utopia is friggin' amazing. Just perfect for my tastes. Each of the other headphones had some issue against the Utopia. I will post specific impressions in the Utopia loaner thread. 

So, where am I going. If you are a casual listener and already have a mangi or better, I don't think the Jodie offers enough improvement to upgrade. If you have good enough hearing and/or are a critical listener, the Jodie might be better. I certainly cannot tell. Obviously YMMV. These are just my opinions that someone might find useful.

If you have another brand of Amp and can figure out how to compare to a Schiit amp, I recommend you do. If you have some integrated desktop unit, like the Sony UDA-1, NAD, Denon, or other brand, Schiit might offer a nice upgrade for you. A first gen Magni should be ~$60 on the used market. and is a great, inexpensive way to try the Schiit sound.

UDA-1 vs Jot with 650?

 

[Allanmarcus]

Sony UDA-1
Mimby/Jotunheim
 
HD-650 with stock, but re-terminated balanced cable to the Jot
Home-made balanced to TRS adapter with the same cable to the Sony
 
So hard to tell. If there is a difference, it's very small to me.

 

[cthomas]

Hmm, that's interesting. I've heard a few people saying this but never directly compared to the UDA-1 (which I just sold). I just bought a Sony PHA-3 balanced amp after considering the Jot but decided portably was a good bonus.

 

[Dephezz]

  Hello, I have ordered a Jotunheim with the DAC card. I am now looking for a usb cable (under 1m) to connect to my Windows computer. My budget is around US$50/£40 (I am from the UK). Do you guys have any suggestions?
 
I am looking at the Wireworld Ultraviolet 7 and AudioQuest Cinnamon which both have a similar price. I am also looking at the Furutech ADL Formula 2 and AudioQuest Forest which are a bit cheaper. Which one should I go for?
 
Thanks everyone in advance

 

it does benefit when u plug good usb cable in schitty usb source like laptop/pc w/o galvanic isolation. Go for used AQ carbon - its rly musical one. WW Ultraviolet 7 is mediocre. I feel like AQ Cinnamon is better. Dont go for ADl Formula 2 - fail. Furutech GT2 is good only and worth it.
AQ carbon, cinnamon are good choices.
Or wait and save money for used uptone regen with mediocre 10$cable - good choice also.
Good usb cable dispels some kind of veil and gives clarity to overall sound.
Just let others who doesnt know this stuff to use their favorite high quality printer cables.  

 

[appleidappleid]

  it does benefit when u plug good usb cable in schitty usb source like laptop/pc w/o galvanic isolation. Go for used AQ carbon - its rly musical one. WW Ultraviolet 7 is mediocre. I feel like AQ Cinnamon is better. Dont go for ADl Formula 2 - fail. Furutech GT2 is good only and worth it.
AQ carbon, cinnamon are good choices.
Or wait and save money for used uptone regen with mediocre 10$cable - good choice also.
Good usb cable dispels some kind of veil and gives clarity to overall sound.
Just let others who doesnt know this stuff to use their favorite high quality printer cables.  

 
Thanks for all the replies! How about audioquest jitterbug? Is it worth getting it?

 

[Dephezz]

   
Thanks for all the replies! How about audioquest jitterbug? Is it worth getting it?

i dont think so - this device is too simple to provide some serious effect. 
Get normal/good cable to use it with internal Jodies DAC - it's the best choice. After u upgrade your DAC to 500-2000$ one, like Gungnir Multibit for example, its worth to get something like uptone regen, intona usb isolator, sonore microrendu, sotm usb hub, singxer su-1 - those devices are serious.

 

[watchnerd]

  it does benefit when u plug good usb cable in schitty usb source like laptop/pc w/o galvanic isolation. Go for used AQ carbon - its rly musical one. WW Ultraviolet 7 is mediocre. I feel like AQ Cinnamon is better. Dont go for ADl Formula 2 - fail. Furutech GT2 is good only and worth it.
AQ carbon, cinnamon are good choices.
Or wait and save money for used uptone regen with mediocre 10$cable - good choice also.
Good usb cable dispels some kind of veil and gives clarity to overall sound.
Just let others who doesnt know this stuff to use their favorite high quality printer cables.  

 
What problem are you trying to solve?
 
If there is excessive jitter, attack the jitter by using a regen/anti-jitter device.
 
If there isn't excessive jitter, what exactly are you trying to address?

 

[Slow_aetk]

   
Does this mean you feel NFB-28's amp part is better than Jot? I'd like to hear more about Jot vs AGD amps (NFB-28, NFB-1AMP etc)

+ 1

 

[zeissiez]

 
... But high end sound ain't cheap, so the Jotunheim is certainly a great buy, I don't think the SQ can't be matched at this price, except maybe the NFB-28, which is USD200 more expensive. Other than Audio-GD, Cayin or Goldenwave, be ready to spend 2x for a better sound somewhere else. ...

Does this mean you feel NFB-28's amp part is better than Jot? I'd like to hear more about Jot vs AGD amps (NFB-28, NFB-1AMP etc)

I think they are about equal. The DAC within the NFB-28 is more resolving, making the combo more balanced. Both are flexible in different ways. The Jotunheim offers a phono module, while the NFB-28 offers coaxial and optical inputs, supports DSD and there's an option to choose Amanero USB384 USB interface. The main consideration, however, is maintenance. If u live in North America, Schiit makes more sense. AGD products while great, can be prones to faults.

 

[zeissiez]

 

  Hello, I have ordered a Jotunheim with the DAC card. I am now looking for a usb cable (under 1m) to connect to my Windows computer. My budget is around US$50/£40 (I am from the UK). Do you guys have any suggestions?
 
I am looking at the Wireworld Ultraviolet 7 and AudioQuest Cinnamon which both have a similar price. I am also looking at the Furutech ADL Formula 2 and AudioQuest Forest which are a bit cheaper. Which one should I go for?
 
Thanks everyone in advance

 

it does benefit when u plug good usb cable in schitty usb source like laptop/pc w/o galvanic isolation. Go for used AQ carbon - its rly musical one. WW Ultraviolet 7 is mediocre. I feel like AQ Cinnamon is better. Dont go for ADl Formula 2 - fail. Furutech GT2 is good only and worth it.
AQ carbon, cinnamon are good choices.
Or wait and save money for used uptone regen with mediocre 10$cable - good choice also.
Good usb cable dispels some kind of veil and gives clarity to overall sound.
Just let others who doesnt know this stuff to use their favorite high quality printer cables.  

I agree that USB cables and coaxial cables do make a difference. But what I suggest is, work from the source, instead of eliminating noise down-stream. If you feed your DAC with a computer, the improvement with a good cable makes little improvement as compared to ditching the computer for a better source. A good source can be as cheap as USD35, is much superior than a computer. Less noise generated, less noise you need to take care down-stream. Once the source is sorted out, then only do optimisation to the cables, interface.....

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Then the K1000 lol

 

[BarDash]

 
I agree that USB cables and coaxial cables do make a difference. But what I suggest is, work from the source, instead of eliminating noise down-stream. If you feed your DAC with a computer, the improvement with a good cable makes little improvement as compared to ditching the computer for a better source. A good source can be as cheap as USD35, is much superior than a computer. Less noise generated, less noise you need to take care down-stream. Once the source is sorted out, then only do optimisation to the cables, interface.....

For those of us with limited knowledge (I'm speaking of myself what other source would you recommend? Currently I'm running an Asus Mini Vivo w/SSD & Jriver... Mac not an option.

 

[ld100]

it does benefit when u plug good usb cable in schitty usb source like laptop/pc w/o galvanic isolation. Go for used AQ carbon - its rly musical one. WW Ultraviolet 7 is mediocre. I feel like AQ Cinnamon is better. Dont go for ADl Formula 2 - fail. Furutech GT2 is good only and worth it.
AQ carbon, cinnamon are good choices.
Or wait and save money for used uptone regen with mediocre 10$cable - good choice also.
Good usb cable dispels some kind of veil and gives clarity to overall sound.
Just let others who doesnt know this stuff to use their favorite high quality printer cables.  

This is the most ridiculous write up I ever read. Without any disrespect, but USB is digital. It is zeros and ones. It either works or it fails. It is not analog. There will be absolutely no difference between the most expensive USB cable and the cheapest USB cable. No difference at all. Signal is passed through in a digital bit stream. A very basic Internet search can explain how it works...