[smodtactical]

Some questions if I may, apologies if they have been answered.

How does Jotunheim stack up against TOTL amps? I know some like it as much as Ragnarok, but what about against SS amps like V281, Simaudio moon neo 430HA, headamp GS-X mk2 ?

How does the combo with the multibit dac compare to TOTL AMPS and DACs like benchmark dac and yggdrasil?

Also how is it compared to Lyr 3 with regular or SS lisst tubes.

I'm thinking of upgrading my burson conductor SL9018, using HD800S, HD650 and DT990 pro. I think this could be a more affordable but still solid upgrade but if yggdrasil and totl amps are much better I'd probably save up more and go straight to them.

Thanks!

 

[kevlar51]

I'd be interested in hearing your comparison between the Jot and Magni3.

It’s been a bit, but I wanted to follow up with my impressions on the Jot vs. Magni 3 with various configurations. I’m using HD650s for all configurations (compared using the 3.5 jack). I got a used Jot with the phono module (the module is replacing a Art DJ Pre II). I can’t really A/B test the phono pre-amps; it’s impractical given the ground wire. And the only way to compare the Magni with the Jot via vinyl at this point was to use the Jot as a pre-amp to the Magni, which I feel isn’t very fair to either, so I’ll just say that I’m happy with listening to my vinyl with the Jot—a bit happier than with my previous setup—and leave it at that.

On the digital side, I was using the Fulla 2’s DAC with my Magni, and A/B tested the Fulla/Magni with the Fulla/Jot. There was a difference, but it was incredibly subtle. The Magni was a bit wetter and the Jot leaned more toward neutral. That’s just me trying to peg a difference though—had I left it at that I don’t think it would have been worth the upgrade.

Then I replaced the Fulla with a Modi Multibit. This made all the difference. The Mimby/Magni stack sounds great, and is still a bit wetter than the Jot (not a judgement, just an observation). Had I never heard the Mimby/Jot, I’d be very happy with it. But I did hear the Mimby/Jot, and I did not find the difference subtle—the Mimby/Jot had a noticeably wider soundstage with clearer separation than the Mimby/Magni. As before, the Mimby/Jot leaned more toward neutral.

I picked up some balanced cables for my Senns as well. The more power is nice, but not really necessary for me. I didn’t notice a change in SQ, just a change in the volume knob setting for me. I don’t blare my music so I don’t think the cable was a necessary expense. But I suppose you never know until you try.

TL;DR: Mimby/Jot > Mimby/Magni3 > Fulla2/Jot ≥ Fulla2/Magni3

 

[Wallboy]

What's with the For Sale section full of people selling these units lately? I'm guessing everyone is jumping on the Lyr 3 train?

 

[terminatetrails]

What's with the For Sale section full of people selling these units lately? I'm guessing everyone is jumping on the Lyr 3 train?

Listen, the Jot is an excellent amp/dac- I loved it enough to buy 2. I just upgraded one to mb and use it daily. However, variety is the spice of life (except when it comes to marriage you know!). The other thing is that Schiit is always developing/improving, I can't blame anyone for wanting to try their latest. Just means new people can get into the game at a lower entry fee.

 

[Tuneslover]

What's with the For Sale section full of people selling these units lately? I'm guessing everyone is jumping on the Lyr 3 train?

Mine is NOT for sale and I don't see it going up for sale either (I use my Jot in balanced mode). Besides, I have a Project Ember in another headphone setup that satisfies my tube cravings.

 

[NEXTLEVEL5]

Is anyone using the Jot with Focal Utopias? If so, how are you liking the combo? Thanks

 

[terminatetrails]

Yes, I've done this extensively, but I generally reserve the Utopias for my top system Gumby/MJ2. My advice is that if you can easily stretch to afford a higher end amp/dac combo for Utopia, go for it (I mean you already invested $3-4k in the Utopia!). However, if you only have the funds for either a TOTL hp (like Utopia) OR a TOTL amp/dac stack, put most of your money into the hp. The Utopia sounds fantastic on everything I plug it into, even my portable setup- as long as you feed it enough power. The Jot (esp mb) is a wonderfully capable amp/dac, I can't imagine being disappointed with it. The Utopia sings on the Jot (as usual, since it always does). There are just ways to eek out a bit more detail/performance if you are willing to lay out the funds.

 

[Ho Kim]

Hello,

Can anyone who has experience with Jot MB and LCD X provide reference? This might be a really bad question but how do you think the Ifi Micro IDSD Black Label measures against the Jot balanced?

 

[MikeW]

Received my Multibit DAC, got it installed and working late last night. Thanks again @TheViolentVicar for the visuals. It was very straightforward, the only tricky part was getting the DAC's pins aligned and in place carefully. Steady hand, patience, and a precision tool are a must.

Sound. The only piece of gear I've used since Aug of 17 has been the Jot w/ the OG 4490 card. Its sound is literally imprinted onto my mind, so the comparison was very easy for me to make. For those on the fence, the good news is that this is not a minor or subtle upgrade.The Multi presents a much more open sound space; better separation, and superior imaging. The transparency and layering are on another level. For anyone like me, who is only using the Jot + 4490, this is a significant step up.

I am very impressed day one.

I agree with this very much, same situation for me. I've also encountered the ringing issue a few times, especially in the beginning when I was tinkering with unplugging and replugging the USB cable and the dac was initially burning in. I've also noted that the DAC improves with about 300 hours of burn in. The biggest improvement's happening in the first ~150 hours. Finally, I'd like to note a significant improvement in sound quality (like all other Schiit USB GEN2 products) when using a USB reclocking device (W4S Recovery /w ebay r-core lps in my case). This was also true with the Original 4490 card. Im considering upgrading to an Uptone ISO REGEN.

 

[GrussGott]

How does the combo with the multibit dac compare to TOTL AMPS and DACs like benchmark dac and yggdrasil?

In my 2 years of experience the Jot is firmly mid-fi - an excellent solid-state amp and maybe in general not as good as the Lyr 3.

I say "in general" because it's good enough to either be end-game or the launching point to optimize your whole chain based on your preferences and headphones. Said differently, it's the point where there isn't necessarily "better", rather "better for you". So, for example, if you want to optimize for the ZMF Atticus house sound it's probably not the right amp for that headphone, but that doesn't make it bad, just different.

As for DACs, it's much the same. The eitr+mimby is probably getting close to a gen 5 gumby, with the gumby being fairly clearly "better", but also being about 90% of the Yggy. Is that 10% worth double the cost? Your call. Some people prefer the Gumby to the Yggy so, again, it depends on your chain and that's just with Schiit gear. For example, some people would put the Soekris 1321 between the gumby and yggy, but depends on if you like that sound vs the gumby (and all of the other aspects of getting a euro dac).

So back to in general, a gen5 Gumby > Lyr 3 is going to be fairly excellent assuming you like how it pairs with your headphones. e.g., I wouldn't say the Jot is perfect match for the HD800s or the DT990 and would prefer the Lyr 3, but with the 650 it's a great match for me. (tidal hf>eitr>mimby>jot).

Personally I'm planning on adding an Atticus so I might also get both a lyr 3 and a valhalla 2 versus, say, a Woo wa6, as this will give me a few amps to match to different headphones and then next year I"ll probably get a gumby. It also allows for experimenting with some trade-offs like head stage, tone, detail, etc

Just depends on what you think the weakest link is and how much flexibility you want - personally I want some flexibility to match to different headphones and sound profile whims.

 

[Bazirker]

In my 2 years of experience the Jot is firmly mid-fi - an excellent solid-state amp and maybe in general not as good as the Lyr 3.

I say "in general" because it's good enough to either be end-game or the launching point to optimize your whole chain based on your preferences and headphones. Said differently, it's the point where there isn't necessarily "better", rather "better for you". So, for example, if you want to optimize for the ZMF Atticus house sound it's probably not the right amp for that headphone, but that doesn't make it bad, just different.

As for DACs, it's much the same. The eitr+mimby is probably getting close to a gen 5 gumby, with the gumby being fairly clearly "better", but also being about 90% of the Yggy. Is that 10% worth double the cost? Your call. Some people prefer the Gumby to the Yggy so, again, it depends on your chain and that's just with Schiit gear. For example, some people would put the Soekris 1321 between the gumby and yggy, but depends on if you like that sound vs the gumby (and all of the other aspects of getting a euro dac).

So back to in general, a gen5 Gumby > Lyr 3 is going to be fairly excellent assuming you like how it pairs with your headphones. e.g., I wouldn't say the Jot is perfect match for the HD800s or the DT990 and would prefer the Lyr 3, but with the 650 it's a great match for me. (tidal hf>eitr>mimby>jot).

Personally I'm planning on adding an Atticus so I might also get both a lyr 3 and a valhalla 2 versus, say, a Woo wa6, as this will give me a few amps to match to different headphones and then next year I"ll probably get a gumby. It also allows for experimenting with some trade-offs like head stage, tone, detail, etc

Just depends on what you think the weakest link is and how much flexibility you want - personally I want some flexibility to match to different headphones and sound profile whims.

Great post. Really nails down the difference in transitioning from mid- to hi-fi, and why sometimes you find yourself preferring a $500 rig to a $3000 rig you heard at a meet once. I had this concept lined up in my head, but this clearly articulates it into words with examples. Well done.

 

[alota]

i had jot in the past with akm balanced module. for me the dac sounded bad but the amplifier really good. i was hoping for a multibit module. now i saw in the site the new module.
this module works with android device? i have a smartphone with usb audio player pro.
this module is balanced?that is, uses the balanced amplifier?
i´m really tempted to buy it again
thank you

 

[terminatetrails]

i had jot in the past with akm balanced module. for me the dac sounded bad but the amplifier really good. i was hoping for a multibit module. now i saw in the site the new module.
this module works with android device? i have a smartphone with usb audio player pro.
this module is balanced?that is, uses the balanced amplifier?
i´m really tempted to buy it again
thank you

The new mb dac is a significant step up from the OG delta sigma that came in the Jot originally. It is balanced (what Mike M. calls "cheap ass balanced") meaning that it uses the balanced output from a split signal from the dac, but is not hardware balanced (it only has one dac chip- vs. Gumby/YGGY which have 2 per channel). If you want balanced and mb this is the best way to get there. I recently upgraded to FLAC streams and the new chip brings out detail that the old chip did not IMHO. Admittedly and unashamedly a Schiit fanboy!
Unfortunately I cannot comment on whether it works with your particular phone- I have found the USB on the mb card to be VERY picky with sources. I moved to using it exclusively with my desktop.

 

[g00se]

Appreciate this mega-thread full of info. I finally made a purchase of a jotunheim and modi2 multibit (mimby) based on the comments of this being an improvement over the built-in DAC. Also this gives me the chance to play with different amps going forward (if I so desire).

Now to the question - what cans to pair with it?

Currently starting from Audio Technica ATH-50S. I am certainly going to keep these to simply appreciate what kind of improvements the DAC and then the DAC/AMP make on this entry level cans.

Listen to a bit of everything from EDM, jazz, classical, folk, reggae, etc. About the only thing I don't listen to much is country and heavy metal.

Appreciate the guidance and better yet where to try and demo before I buy (or must you just buy used and flip them here)?

 

[DavidA]

Appreciate this mega-thread full of info. I finally made a purchase of a jotunheim and modi2 multibit (mimby) based on the comments of this being an improvement over the built-in DAC. Also this gives me the chance to play with different amps going forward (if I so desire).

Now to the question - what cans to pair with it?

Currently starting from Audio Technica ATH-50S. I am certainly going to keep these to simply appreciate what kind of improvements the DAC and then the DAC/AMP make on this entry level cans.

Listen to a bit of everything from EDM, jazz, classical, folk, reggae, etc. About the only thing I don't listen to much is country and heavy metal.

Appreciate the guidance and better yet where to try and demo before I buy (or must you just buy used and flip them here)?

My suggestions:
HD6XX - one of the better pairing with the Jot IMO
LCD-2.2 or LCD-2C - pre-fazor / non-fazor models seem to go better with the Jot IMO