[fauxdiophile]

You can't guarantee an opinion. How something sounds and whether it sounds better than x is an opinion. I bought the JOT with built in DAC because I felt that it was a good value for what I was getting by a company that will stand behind their warranty if there is an issue. I will probably never sell it because I just don't hear much difference myself in DACs or amplifiers past a point. Headphones are another story to me. They all sound different in qualitative and usually quantifiable measurements. I felt that for $500 I could by something that would power any headphone and do it well. I wish the damn power switch was on the front though. Only complaint.

this is exactly why i bought the jot. i have a bifrost MB and liquid carbon for home, and a jot for work. i feel there are minute differences between the 2 setups, but i have not A/B'd them so who knows if that's even real. I DO hear a huge difference between diff headphones, tho.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

It's the transducers, stupid. Yeah, wa5 does sound very wet and rich and wonderful, but I'm not paying 4K or 6k for that last 30%. Better to get a k1k or heck an lcd2

 

[iAudio365]

I currently have Ether Flows - AEON (on pre order) and am more than likely going to be getting Senmheiser hd800s soon as well, and using a mojo for a dac.

I'm so torn between getting this Schiit Jotunheim or the Liquid Carbon. I honestly can not make a decission it's so frustration especially because I cant audition the LC it's still available on the site (seriously wondering when this "final run" is ever gonna end lol) where's the jot is readily available everywhere.

I've seen a tear down of the LC as well and the internals look like really poor build quality for the price you pay as well,but I hear the sound is warmer and not as bright as the Jot then I hear they sound pretty much the same as each other with a bit more detail in the jot lol.

I'm really leaning toward the Jot though does it pair well with my headphones?

Edit: scratch all the above, I just pulled the trigger and bought a Jot. Price to performance, quality for for the $ value I couldn't help myself.

Ok so I have now heard the jot (if only for a short time) with my HD800S, not sure how to say but it is a little bright for my liking, details are very pronounced. I think I want something a little darker sounding so I'm going to go ahead (against all my gut instinct) and buy a Cavalli Liquid carbon. I'm just going to fingers, feet and toes crossed I do not get imbalance issues.

I just cant find anything else that interests me in all honesty, I heard LC pair really well with mojo and Hugo (which i will be getting a hugo 2 when they launch) and that gives a nice warm sound (or so I hope) but from what I've been told its a nice little balanced amp.

Everything else I've looked at is either far to big or far to ugly, and I want something that sounds good and is stealthy as well due to my desk space.

We'll see how I go.

 

[JorgeGVB]

I received a Jot with the DAC option today and it sounded great out of the box. Can't wait to hear it once it has time run for a couple of weeks.

 

[iAudio365]

I received a Jot with the DAC option today and it sounded great out of the box. Can't wait to hear it once it has time run for a couple of weeks.

Yeh I didn't get a lot of time with it due to work etc. i will test it out some more. What headphones did you use with it?

 

[DavidA]

Ok so I have now heard the jot (if only for a short time) with my HD800S, not sure how to say but it is a little bright for my liking, details are very pronounced. I think I want something a little darker sounding so I'm going to go ahead (against all my gut instinct) and buy a Cavalli Liquid carbon. I'm just going to fingers, feet and toes crossed I do not get imbalance issues.

I just cant find anything else that interests me in all honesty, I heard LC pair really well with mojo and Hugo (which i will be getting a hugo 2 when they launch) and that gives a nice warm sound (or so I hope) but from what I've been told its a nice little balanced amp.

Everything else I've looked at is either far to big or far to ugly, and I want something that sounds good and is stealthy as well due to my desk space.

We'll see how I go.

LC and HD800 is a really good pairing while the Jot is too bright for me also.  The Hugo doesn't need an additional amp to drive the HD800 but I didn't try it with a HD800S but it shouldn't make a difference.  The only headphone the Jot really sounds good with is a HD650, its a bit too bright for most other headphones that i have.  Did tubes ever interest you or too much work and limited desk space it the main concern?

 

[JorgeGVB]

I was limited on time too, so I was just running the Jot through my powered M‑Audio StudioPhile AV 40 Speakers.  I use them as computer speakers.  My cans are the HD600 (balanced) and Grado SR225.

 

[MattTCG]

LC and HD800 is a really good pairing while the Jot is too bright for me also.  The Hugo doesn't need an additional amp to drive the HD800 but I didn't try it with a HD800S but it shouldn't make a difference.  The only headphone the Jot really sounds good with is a HD650, its a bit too bright for most other headphones that i have.  Did tubes ever interest you or too much work and limited desk space it the main concern?

Jot also works very well with Nighthawk, and hex for me.

 

[DavidA]

Jot also works very well with Nighthawk, and hex for me.

I can see the Jot working well with the Nighthawk, just had one for a few weeks but I wasn't able to borrow a friends Jot to try the pairing.

 

[CarlosUnchained]

Finally I could test some Schiit with my LCD-X!
 
First I have to say that I'm looking for my first and hopefully my last amp and DAC. I've only listened through them in stores. Many of them and in sessions no shorter than 2 hours though. I did the same for the headphones. I like this approach better than buying and upgrading. More affordable in the long run. Luckily I'm currently living in Taipei were there are plenty of hi-fi stores around.
 
Sooo Valhalla 2 takes here the third place. The lack of power with low impedance cans is noticeable. The warmest of the three. May be nicer with ~300 ohms hp.
 
Then between the Jot and the Lyr 2 was really hard to decide. I put them front to front to switch cables as fast as possible. Lyr is slightly warmer and has more soundstage compared with single ended Jot, but balanced brings a bit of that, I think still behind the Lyr. Other than that I didn't notice any differences between SE and balanced out of the Jot. I felt with some tracks (Hannah -- Sisters by Brian Eno) that the Jot was too bright with the X's. I heard a slightly warmer amp than the Lyr and much larger soundstage, but at 3x price. I really wanted to demo de Jot w/DAC because was the one I was aiming for, but they don't have it. As I move often I like the idea of having everything in one box and since the DACs didn't make that much difference as the amp as I state below, I guess I would be more than happy with the DAC added in the Jot.
 
But so far I enjoyed more the Lyr and that makes things much more difficult. Not only because I need a separate DAC, also because I love how it stacks with the Bifrost!
 
About the DAC, I used the Bifrost MB, but that's out of my budget so I wanted to test something cheaper. It was the Modi 2U (no MB to demo). I'm happy I didn't notice much difference between the Bimby and the Modi 2U, still I went twice to the store so didn't A/B test them one after another, morning the Bimby and afternoon the Modi, many hours in between. Next time I'll try to test them in the same session.
 
I saw Schiit products in pictures thousands of times, but still I was impressed by the build quality and the looks. I think they are the sexiest amps out there, the bigger brothers were sitting next to me, Rag, Mjolnir, Yggy and Gungnir. The ugliest ones are the Modi sized and Yggy sized, the ones in between win the beauty competition. 
 
 
 

 

[Iron-Buddha]

Sorry if this is covered somewhere else already, but can the Jot's USB-In take a feed from an AK320/380?    I know they implemented USB out on those DAPs.   Would be interesting to have the AK+Jot as a self-contained system without needing my laptop.  I guess I could use the analog in's as a back-up.

 

[Vigrith]

  Sorry if this is covered somewhere else already, but can the Jot's USB-In take a feed from an AK320/380?    I know they implemented USB out on those DAPs.   Would be interesting to have the AK+Jot as a self-contained system without needing my laptop.  I guess I could use the analog in's as a back-up.

 
Should be able to yea, I'm pretty sure I've tried it with my AK70 as a transport for my Modi MB + Mjolnir2/Jotun - didn't really pay it much mind since I only use my headphones whilst at the computer regardless, bypassing it would be pretty much redundant. See no reason why you wouldn't be able to do it with the 320/380 directly into the Jotunheim's DAC module.

 

[Soundofmusic]

  Finally I could test some Schiit with my LCD-X!
 
First I have to say that I'm looking for my first and hopefully my last amp and DAC. I've only listened through them in stores. Many of them and in sessions no shorter than 2 hours though. I did the same for the headphones. I like this approach better than buying and upgrading. More affordable in the long run. Luckily I'm currently living in Taipei were there are plenty of hi-fi stores around.
 
Sooo Valhalla 2 takes here the third place. The lack of power with low impedance cans is noticeable. The warmest of the three. May be nicer with ~300 ohms hp.
 
Then between the Jot and the Lyr 2 was really hard to decide. I put them front to front to switch cables as fast as possible. Lyr is slightly warmer and has more soundstage compared with single ended Jot, but balanced brings a bit of that, I think still behind the Lyr.  

 
I was in the same situation, I've spent so many hours reading up on various forums and buying lower tier dac/amps that I haven't been satisfied with.
So today my local Schiit retailer finally got all the ones I wanted to demo in stock, and I was able to A/B Jotunheim w/DAC, and Jotunheim, Lyr 2 and Valhalla 2 all with the Modi Multibit.
The cans I used were X2, HD650 (and a quick demo of Focal Utopia just for fun).
 
I came into the shop dead set on buying Jotunheim w/DAC (to eventually upgrade the DAC to some future version of the Bitfrost MB), but I found the Jotunheim to be too bright for me, it was a bit painful to my ears with the HD650, and I couldn't really go to the "fun" volume levels. With the darker X2 it was ok, but still borderlining. I had the same experience the previous time I did a rushed demo of it as well.
 
For the Lyr 2, I'm too novice to explain in the correct terms, but I felt something was missing.
 
When I heard the sound signature of the Valhalla 2 with the HD650, I was convinced pretty immediately and ended up buying that. To my ears, it strikes a good balance of fun and detailed.
 
Disclaimer; the amps I demoed weren't warmed up, and they only got about 30 minutes of listening each.
 
On a side note; Focal Utopia, oh my god what a good headphone!

 

[califmike33]

To each their own I have the hd650 with the jotunheim with internal dac I hear no brightness no harshness just beautiful detailed sound.

 

[alota]

   
I was in the same situation, I've spent so many hours reading up on various forums and buying lower tier dac/amps that I haven't been satisfied with.
So today my local Schiit retailer finally got all the ones I wanted to demo in stock, and I was able to A/B Jotunheim w/DAC, and Jotunheim, Lyr 2 and Valhalla 2 all with the Modi Multibit.
The cans I used were X2, HD650 (and a quick demo of Focal Utopia just for fun).
 
I came into the shop dead set on buying Jotunheim w/DAC (to eventually upgrade the DAC to some future version of the Bitfrost MB), but I found the Jotunheim to be too bright for me, it was a bit painful to my ears with the HD650, and I couldn't really go to the "fun" volume levels. With the darker X2 it was ok, but still borderlining. I had the same experience the previous time I did a rushed demo of it as well.
 
For the Lyr 2, I'm too novice to explain in the correct terms, but I felt something was missing.
 
When I heard the sound signature of the Valhalla 2 with the HD650, I was convinced pretty immediately and ended up buying that. To my ears, it strikes a good balance of fun and detailed.
 
Disclaimer; the amps I demoed weren't warmed up, and they only got about 30 minutes of listening each.
 
On a side note; Focal Utopia, oh my god what a good headphone!

Jot with utopia is a good combo?