Schiit Jotunheim Review / Preview - Head-Fi TV
Aug 10, 2018 at 11:47 AM Post #5,897 of 6,471
Aug 10, 2018 at 10:20 PM Post #5,898 of 6,471
Hello guys,
I'm new here. Can anyone please tell me how naturally the Jot sound? I have now an Asgard 2 and i like it very much because of its realistic sound. The two amps from Schiit that i found to be artificial were the Mjolnir 1 (no sparking and harsh treble) and the Vali 2 (plastic and hazy mids/treble), that i sold.
Thank you so much,
 
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Aug 11, 2018 at 8:32 AM Post #5,899 of 6,471
Hello guys,
I'm new here. Can anyone please tell me how naturally the Jot sound? I have now an Asgard 2 and i like it very much because of its realistic sound. The two amps from Schiit that i found to be artificial were the Mjolnir 1 (not sparking but harsh treble) and the Vali 2 (plastic and hazy mids/treble), that i sold.
Thank you so much,

If you like a clear and detailed sound then the Jot might be for you. It is considered to be a bright amp when compared to other amps but that doesn't mean that it is lean. If you're looking for a warm sound then this wouldn't be an amp that you would like.
 
Aug 13, 2018 at 4:39 AM Post #5,900 of 6,471
Hello guys,
I'm new here. Can anyone please tell me how naturally the Jot sound? I have now an Asgard 2 and i like it very much because of its realistic sound. The two amps from Schiit that i found to be artificial were the Mjolnir 1 (no sparking and harsh treble) and the Vali 2 (plastic and hazy mids/treble), that i sold.
Thank you so much,
If you like a clear and detailed sound then the Jot might be for you. It is considered to be a bright amp when compared to other amps but that doesn't mean that it is lean. If you're looking for a warm sound then this wouldn't be an amp that you would like.

Agree with @Tuneslover about the Jot being a touch on the bright side compared to an Asgard2 but you should also consider that the Jot does sound a bit better from the balanced output versus the SE output so unless you already have balanced cables you should take this into consideration. The few times I had my friends Jot I like the Asgard2 better if only using SE output. The sound of the Mjolnir and Vali 2 are tube dependent so hard to say if they are bright or not, also the Lyr2/3 would be tube dependent.
 
Aug 13, 2018 at 5:00 AM Post #5,901 of 6,471
Thank @Tuneslover and @DavidA but i didn't mean neutral. I meant how the amp portrays sound. Drum, percussion and specially bell sounded fake (to my ears) on the vali 2 and the Mjolnir1(ss amp). It is a little hard to describe. Just like jjj sss crisp voice on many balanced amateur iems, it is not life-like.
 
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Aug 14, 2018 at 4:20 AM Post #5,902 of 6,471
Thank @Tuneslover and @DavidA but i didn't mean neutral. I meant how the amp portrays sound. Drum, percussion and specially bell sounded fake (to my ears) on the vali 2 and the Mjolnir1(ss amp). It is a little hard to describe. Just like jjj sss crisp voice on many balanced amateur iems, it is not life-like.
How "natural" an amp sounds is also dependent on the headphone that is paired with it along with ones experiences. For me a HD650 with a BH Crack is about as close to what I'd consider a live sound and what I can remember when I was playing in a band back in high school and college while my friends 2 daughters who are professional musicians (violin and piano) think that the HD650 + OTL amp (BH Crack or Elise) is one of the best at rendering then in a un-amplified setting.
 
Aug 14, 2018 at 12:35 PM Post #5,903 of 6,471
I've come to accept that the more 'natural' sounding a piece of gear is can to attributed to color. Not so much FR shifts but harmonics, etc. For instance the Gumby A2 for me added a more 'natural' sound however in turn was more muted in the sub bass and made alterations to the soundstage vs other DACs I've tried. It also seemed a bit upper-mid forward. When switching back to the DS this natural attribute went away and things were more flat. When adding an Auralic Taurus MKII that natural sound came back - because the amp is colored a bit to make things sound more natural which fits with a DS dac as opposed to multibit which already has that thing going on. Purely my opinions here.
In regards to the Jot.. it does some stage smearing but overall is a very enjoyable amp. Would I go to it for a 'live natural sound'? Probably not.. could I get lost in it +mimby for hours upon hours of casual listening any day of the week with a 650? Yes please.. is it a wickedly solid choice for a $400 amp? Definitely. It is all about tastes though and trying amps until you find one that suits your preferences and your chain.
 
Aug 14, 2018 at 12:43 PM Post #5,904 of 6,471
could I get lost in it +mimby for hours upon hours of casual listening any day of the week with a 650? Yes please.. is it a wickedly solid choice for a $400 amp? Definitely.

Yeah, I've got the eitr>mimby>jot chain and, after adding some high quality cables, via ZMF dynamics the upgrade bug is definitely tamped down ... I've found if I make too many changes too fast I never get enough experience to understand what I'm really trying to solve for.

I haven't listened to enough amps for long enough to say whether the Jot is "bright" - what I can say is, from my experience, yes, there are a few tracks that are sharp no matter the headphone (hd600, ZMFs, Th-x00) and with the x00 there are definitely some sharp spikes. But right now, via the Atticus with suede pads, about 99% of things sound stellar and I haven't gone back to the Eikon for awhile.

Next year I'll probably get an OTL or maybe a WA8, but until then I'm just finding track matches and enjoying the jot.
 
Aug 14, 2018 at 2:04 PM Post #5,906 of 6,471
Yeah, I've got the eitr>mimby>jot chain and, after adding some high quality cables, via ZMF dynamics the upgrade bug is definitely tamped down ... I've found if I make too many changes too fast I never get enough experience to understand what I'm really trying to solve for.

I haven't listened to enough amps for long enough to say whether the Jot is "bright" - what I can say is, from my experience, yes, there are a few tracks that are sharp no matter the headphone (hd600, ZMFs, Th-x00) and with the x00 there are definitely some sharp spikes. But right now, via the Atticus with suede pads, about 99% of things sound stellar and I haven't gone back to the Eikon for awhile.

Next year I'll probably get an OTL or maybe a WA8, but until then I'm just finding track matches and enjoying the jot.

Great input. I myself have always wanted to have a short trial with the Atticus to decide if I want to buy or not.. I'm done doing blind buys on expensive gear.
 
Aug 15, 2018 at 12:43 AM Post #5,907 of 6,471
i feel the jot is a bit bright, i own and auditioned a myriad of amps and while i like my jot and it fits in its own place it does place itself in the slightly brighter area imo. i would not sell my jot either. however the newer ones being shipped myself and many others feel they tamed it down a bit i have sold my older one and kept the one from 2018 due to it just sounding better schiit says there were no changes but something def caused it to sound a bit different. i agree on the soundstage.
 
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Aug 16, 2018 at 9:42 AM Post #5,908 of 6,471
Hi, I don't have a lot of experience with amps or electrical engineering.

My Jotunheim doesn't have a hum when using the internal DAC. However if I change to the SE RCA-in setting and touch the ends of the RCA cables I get a very audible hum. This is not present when the RCAs are connected to an external DAC (iDSD micro). I think the amp sounds great and I don't hear any distortion under normal use cases.

Does this RCA hum mean mine is not grounded and is a shock risk?
 
Aug 16, 2018 at 10:06 AM Post #5,909 of 6,471
Hi, I don't have a lot of experience with amps or electrical engineering.

My Jotunheim doesn't have a hum when using the internal DAC. However if I change to the SE RCA-in setting and touch the ends of the RCA cables I get a very audible hum. This is not present when the RCAs are connected to an external DAC (iDSD micro). I think the amp sounds great and I don't hear any distortion under normal use cases.

Does this RCA hum mean mine is not grounded and is a shock risk?
If you plug an RCA cable into the input of any amp and touch the centre pin at the free end you will get a hum, if you touch the centre pin and the outer contact the hum will lessen maybe almost to the point of disappearing, this is normal.
 

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