[TrumpOrMonkey]

Hi everyone,

After spending considerable time finalising my selection of headphones, primarily Arya, HE1000V2, HE6SEv2 and LCD3(amongst others), I've been considering upgrading from the Jotunheim 2 to something a bit higher end to really be able to get the most out of what I have.

To get to know my tastes a little bit better, I'll list some impressions I have on gear I've owned previously.
Schiit Asgard 3: A little too much on the warm side for me, a bit too laid back, great timbre, not enough drive and dynamics for me. Good body to the sound but a bit slow. Stage was a bit too intimate for me.
Schiit Lyr 3: Great depth and width to the soundstage, very good imaging, good timbre, great macro and microdynamics, a little bit strident for me with brighter tubes but enjoyed it a lot with a warmer tube which made the bass rounder and tonality and timbre a bit smoother/warmer. Ultimately I really enjoyed this amp, but I found it could sound just a touch too saturated at times for me with my planars. Overall great staging size while being mid forward.
Singxer SA1: Ultimately smooth and forgiving, detailed/clean but a bit too dry sounding for me, timbre just ok, not enough drive and dynamics for me. On the thinner side of things which I don't prefer. Stage was a good size.

Now what I enjoy about my Jotunheim 2: Slightly on the warm side, good timbre, great macrodynamics and slam, great drive, good body and thickness to the sound but not slow and round sounding like the Asgard can sometimes be. Overall forward and engaging sound.
What I'm hoping I can improve: Microdynamics, detail, imaging and separation, soundstage size both width and depth, more holographic if possible?

I've actually recently also bought a Phonitor XE which opened my eyes to what is possible moving up from an amp like the Jotunheim.
My impressions of it are: Incredible detail, imaging, separation, great microdynamics and quite good macrodynamics (not flat sounding like Asgard and SA1, it has a reasonable amount of slam), wide staging with reasonable depth, body is reasonable but could be improved, overall weight of the sound (particularly bass) could be improved, timbre is reasonably good and realistic but could be a little warmer. Tonality is dead neutral if considering aforementioned amplifiers as differing levels of neutral-warm (outside of Lyr 3 with a brighter tube). Treble can fairly often be prickly which doesn't bode well on quite a few songs, sound is more quickly fatiguing as a result. Doesn't seem to drive HiFiMan Arya and HE6SEv2 with much authority, dynamics could be better on those - seems ok with Audezes, Sundara and HE1000V2. Amp has an overall very engaging sound but is fatiguing.

Now, what I'm hoping I can find is an amplifier which will combine the good aspects of the Phonitor, with the warmth, smoothness, drive, body/thickness that you get from the Jotunheim 2.

Here's a short list of amplifiers which I've found sound like they might be around the ballpark based on opinions I've seen and am considering:
Headamp GS-X Mini
iFi Pro iCan/iCan Signature
Violectric V280/V281

Any input is greatly appreciated!

 

[dunring]

I've had the Asgard 3 a few times and know what you mean with the smooth sound. From what your looking for I'd recommend the Aune S7pro or SMSL SP400 which have fun dynamics, so they aren't boring, but just fun and not fatiguing.
The Topping a90 is another favorite, for the Hifiman he6se a five volt output DAC and top power like the A90 discreet will help if you plan on equalizing with more than a -4db preamp reduction. If running stock without a lot of pre volume war recordings then it's less important
For fun the SMSL SP400, soundstage the S7Pro especially with the S6Pro DAC, the A90 is detailed and really fun too. The discreet has more power, but the LED display is a little annoying to look at after a while.

 

[elwappo99]

Hi everyone,

After spending considerable time finalising my selection of headphones, primarily Arya, HE1000V2, HE6SEv2 and LCD3(amongst others), I've been considering upgrading from the Jotunheim 2 to something a bit higher end to really be able to get the most out of what I have.

To get to know my tastes a little bit better, I'll list some impressions I have on gear I've owned previously.
Schiit Asgard 3: A little too much on the warm side for me, a bit too laid back, great timbre, not enough drive and dynamics for me. Good body to the sound but a bit slow. Stage was a bit too intimate for me.
Schiit Lyr 3: Great depth and width to the soundstage, very good imaging, good timbre, great macro and microdynamics, a little bit strident for me with brighter tubes but enjoyed it a lot with a warmer tube which made the bass rounder and tonality and timbre a bit smoother/warmer. Ultimately I really enjoyed this amp, but I found it could sound just a touch too saturated at times for me with my planars. Overall great staging size while being mid forward.
Singxer SA1: Ultimately smooth and forgiving, detailed/clean but a bit too dry sounding for me, timbre just ok, not enough drive and dynamics for me. On the thinner side of things which I don't prefer. Stage was a good size.

Now what I enjoy about my Jotunheim 2: Slightly on the warm side, good timbre, great macrodynamics and slam, great drive, good body and thickness to the sound but not slow and round sounding like the Asgard can sometimes be. Overall forward and engaging sound.
What I'm hoping I can improve: Microdynamics, detail, imaging and separation, soundstage size both width and depth, more holographic if possible?

I've actually recently also bought a Phonitor XE which opened my eyes to what is possible moving up from an amp like the Jotunheim.
My impressions of it are: Incredible detail, imaging, separation, great microdynamics and quite good macrodynamics (not flat sounding like Asgard and SA1, it has a reasonable amount of slam), wide staging with reasonable depth, body is reasonable but could be improved, overall weight of the sound (particularly bass) could be improved, timbre is reasonably good and realistic but could be a little warmer. Tonality is dead neutral if considering aforementioned amplifiers as differing levels of neutral-warm (outside of Lyr 3 with a brighter tube). Treble can fairly often be prickly which doesn't bode well on quite a few songs, sound is more quickly fatiguing as a result. Doesn't seem to drive HiFiMan Arya and HE6SEv2 with much authority, dynamics could be better on those - seems ok with Audezes, Sundara and HE1000V2. Amp has an overall very engaging sound but is fatiguing.

Now, what I'm hoping I can find is an amplifier which will combine the good aspects of the Phonitor, with the warmth, smoothness, drive, body/thickness that you get from the Jotunheim 2.

Here's a short list of amplifiers which I've found sound like they might be around the ballpark based on opinions I've seen and am considering:
Headamp GS-X Mini
iFi Pro iCan/iCan Signature
Violectric V280/V281

Any input is greatly appreciated!

If you've already got a Phonitor XE here's my take:

Phonitor XE - Great for dynamics but can be a bit strained with planars
GS-X - will be brighter than the Phonitor. A bit of an upper mid etch to it. Will be more powerful.
iCan - Will be more powerful and a bit warmer than the Phonitor XE - Won't have the the same resolution as the Phonitor. Won't drive the HE-6se with it's full power, but one of the most powerful headphone amps around

 

[TrumpOrMonkey]

If you've already got a Phonitor XE here's my take:

Phonitor XE - Great for dynamics but can be a bit strained with planars
GS-X - will be brighter than the Phonitor. A bit of an upper mid etch to it. Will be more powerful.
Will be more powerful and a bit warmer than the Phonitor XE - Won't have the the same resolution as the Phonitor. Won't drive the HE-6se with it's full power

I've actually also recently gotten my hands on the GS-X Mini, but haven't had time to really sit down and have a proper listen to it yet. I'll update thread with impressions when I get to it.

By the way, was the third sentence about a different amp or was it about the GS-X Mini?

Thanks for your help.

 

[elwappo99]

I've actually also recently gotten my hands on the GS-X Mini, but haven't had time to really sit down and have a proper listen to it yet. I'll update thread with impressions when I get to it.

By the way, was the third sentence about a different amp or was it about the GS-X Mini?

Thanks for your help.

Ooops! Meant the iCan

 

[TrumpOrMonkey]

Hi guys, as promised I'm going to share my impressions of the GS-X Mini.

Chain is Modius -> GS-X Mini/Phonitor/Jotunheim 2 -> numerous headphones but mainly HiFiMan Arya V2

So after volume matching them fairly closely with a multimeter (within 0.3mv of each other), these were my findings:
So the GS-X Mini seems to have a very slight v-shaped energy to it, but I feel that it has more of a bass lift than a treble lift. But in essence, it sounds less forward in the upper mids/lower treble compared to the Jotunheim 2 and Phonitor XE, comparatively sounding a little bit scooped. It was very apparent to me when I was listening to it with the LCD2, because seemed to exacerbate the inherent issues that Audeze's have in the same range (especially with the older style pads that I have). The Jotunheim 2 in comparison is more tilted towards bass and mids, while having a small recession in the mid and upper treble, while the Phonitor XE has an opposite tilt, more towards mids and treble, with a comparatively tighter and leaner bass.

In terms of tonality, the GS-X Mini isn't as warm as the Jotunheim 2, but it's noticably warmer than the Phonitor XE, which withholds warmth for a more incisive and clean sound - but not hashy, sterile and sharp like some analytical amps can be. It's well tempered timbrally too. The GS-X Mini has a tonality that I would call 'true-neutral', because I don't really feel like analytical stuff is really 'neutral' but rather a color of it's own, while the Phonitor XE leans more on the analytical side and the Jotunheim 2 leans more on the warmer side of things. This was something I enjoyed about the GS-X Mini, because it was detailed and clean enough to hear plenty of microdetail and texture, but also warm enough that I didn't feel much fatigue over a longer listening session.

In terms of detail I found that it was somewhere between the Jotunheim 2 and the Phonitor XE, with the Phonitor being very resolving and the Jotunheim 2 lagging behind. One thing I think the GS-X Mini had over the Phonitor XE was the speed. It was able to really handle fast transients, especially with its microdynamic ability able to highlight them, while the Phonitor felt like it didn't really grip the transients as well, had longer trails on the notes and was just ever so slightly more splashy as a result. Jotunheim just doesn't really compare to these other two, and has a bit more of a haze to everything and isn't quite as fast as the other two.

The strong point of the GS-X Mini is really it's dynamics, being an improvement on the other two. It takes what the Jotunheim 2 is able to do with macrodynamics, and turns it up a notch in impact and quite a few notches in terms of grip. The Jotunheim 2 doesn't really do microdynamics particularly well, but the GS-X Mini can do them very well. The Phonitor admittedly can do clean and tight macrodynamics but it's a bit softer than the other two amplifiers in impact, but the Phonitor can comfortably do microdynamics much better than the Jotunheim 2.

Soundstage wise, the GS-X Mini is somewhere in between the Jotunheim 2 and Phonitor XE again, the Phonitor XE has a noticeably wider stage than the GS-X Mini, and the GS-X Mini has a noticably larger stage than the Jotunheim 2. I don't hear too much layering and depth with these amps compared to something like the Lyr 3, but I feel like it's a similar story, with the GS-X being a step up from the Jotunheim but the Phonitor XE being another step up again.

Overall, while I liked the GS-X Mini, this was a catch and release for me, and I have since sold it after testing it out. The main issue for me was the recession in the upper mids/lower treble. I'm a planar guy, so this matters a lot to me since it seems to be a common issue with planars already having a recession in this area. Had it been more mid forward, like the Jotunheim 2, it could have very well been the amp I was looking for. It drives planars with authority, shown by its grip and control of the dynamics with these headphones - in a way that the Phonitor struggles a bit with, while being significantly better overall than the Jotunheim 2.

Hopefully this helps someone, and if anyone has any questions they'd like to ask feel free!