Schiit Jotunheim 2

Randy Myers

Randy Myers

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Joined
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Location
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Since moving to the new house, I have not been using my headphones much, however I do miss listening to the Abyss. I felt what was built into the McIntosh as a headphone section is simply not good enough for the Abyss. I did not want to sink a ton into a new amp; therefore I have been doing a ton of research. The Schiit kept coming up and has been receiving very high praise in several reviews. A couple even specifically used the Abyss Diana Phi which are the set I own. It was said that it was an excellent match.

I also love that Schiit wrote this on their website: "The Best $2400 Headphone Amp—For $400". So I decided to give them a try.

The amp arrived yesterday, and I am sure it will have some break in period of time. However so far I am fairly blown away. I have previously had some good decent amps; the Dragon Inspire IHA-1, the Simaudio 430HA, the Bryston BHA-1, the Woo WA22, the Headamp GS-X Mini, etc. My memory may be deceiving me, but I would say the Schiit holds its own against any of these. My Abyss have never sounded so good!

Here are a few (fairly bad) quick pictures of my room.
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Jason Stoddard and Mike Moffat are both outstanding audio designers. Among the very best. I’m glad they teamed up and decided to do what they do. Everything I’ve purchased from them performs well above its price point. I never hesitate to recommend their products.
 
W9TR said:
Jason Stoddard and Mike Moffat are both outstanding audio designers. Among the very best. I’m glad they teamed up and decided to do what they do. Everything I’ve purchased from them performs well above its price point. I never hesitate to recommend their products.
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Yes, they are. 👍

Could not agree more. I have their Valhalla 2 tube headphone amp...at one point I plugged it into my main system to function as the preamplifer, and was fairly shocked how competitive it was, sonically, with my C-J CT-5 preamplifier.

They also made a DSD-only DAC, the original Loki, that sold for $179 back in the 2011-2012 time-frame, IIRC, and I used to use it for streaming DSD files from back when you could buy DSD-only recordings from Chad Kassem's Super Hi-Res online store that was part of Acoustic Sounds. The little Loki was a really impressive DAC.

They also made this product for a spell called the Wyrd (pronounced "weird") that was a "USB-decrapifier" because Mike Moffat was, for a long time, NOT a fan of USB as an audio interface specification. You would plug the Wyrd in between your music source computer and your USB DAC, and it would "de-crapify" the data. It really worked well and made an notable improvement to the audio quality. I used to use one with my Loki or my original Bifrost DAC.
 
Randy Myers said:
Since moving to the new house, I have not been using my headphones much, however I do miss listening to the Abyss. I felt what was built into the McIntosh as a headphone section is simply not good enough for the Abyss. I did not want to sink a ton into a new amp; therefore I have been doing a ton of research. The Schiit kept coming up and has been receiving very high praise in several reviews. A couple even specifically used the Abyss Diana Phi which are the set I own. It was said that it was an excellent match.

I also love that Schiit wrote this on their website: "The Best $2400 Headphone Amp—For $400". So I decided to give them a try.

The amp arrived yesterday, and I am sure it will have some break in period of time. However so far I am fairly blown away. I have previously had some good decent amps; the Dragon Inspire IHA-1, the Simaudio 430HA, the Bryston BHA-1, the Woo WA22, the Headamp GX-X Mini, etc. My memory may be deceiving me, but I would say the Schiit holds its own against any of these. My Abyss have never sounded so good!
Click to expand...

Having owned and used a number of Schiit Audio's products over the years, none of this surprises me at all. Their products are consistently amongst the strongest value props in the audio industry.
 
Based on your positive comments and a bit of follow-on research, I’ve ordered a Midgard. Been looking for an excuse to order something from Schiit as I like their style.

And now unfortunately I’m looking side-eyed at the Lyr +, which I may like to try out.

If I really like the Midgard, when bonus time comes I may try the Mjolnir 3.
 
jmusica said:
Based on your positive comments and a bit of follow-on research, I’ve ordered a Midgard. Been looking for an excuse to order something from Schiit as I like their style.

And now unfortunately I’m looking side-eyed at the Lyr +, which I may like to try out.

If I really like the Midgard, when bonus time comes I may try the Mjolnir 3.
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Let us know what you think, J, when you get it. I've really been impressed with their products over the years. I still have the first product I ever bought from them, my Valhalla 2 tube headphone amp/preamp. All the products I've bought from them over the years, including my Bifrost, Loki gen 1 DSD-only DAC, Wyrd, and Gungnir MB DAC have been really excellent and provide superb performance/dollar.
 
jmusica said:
Based on your positive comments and a bit of follow-on research, I’ve ordered a Midgard. Been looking for an excuse to order something from Schiit as I like their style.

And now unfortunately I’m looking side-eyed at the Lyr +, which I may like to try out.

If I really like the Midgard, when bonus time comes I may try the Mjolnir 3.
Click to expand...

I hope you enjoy it. My biggest issue with the Lyr+ is that it is single ended only. I will not consider a headphone amp that is not fully balanced at this point in time.

I was considering the Midgard but decided on the Jotunheim 2 because it is a fully discrete, truly balanced headphone amp. I also liked the Alps RK27114 potentiometer and that the parts are truly matched. Stuff you simply do not find at this price level.

I am seriously considering the Mjolnir 3 myself. Getting my sick baby Bengal healed is taking up all my funds for now though... but later on.....
 
At this point have both the Midgard and Lyr+. Both sound great but probably will keep the Lyr+ for now, unless I decide on a Mj3 later. I like that I can do a bit of tube rolling and love the remote. Both are surprisingly good particularly for the $.

You read a lot these amps can’t push HPs like AB1266 or Susvara but to me they sound great. Granted I don’t have a real frame of reference - other than knowing what I like to hear based on years of 2-channel endeavoring - and I’m sure higher amps will sound even better, maybe far better. But I have no complaints at the moment at all. Plenty of volume, clarity, and all the usual things we look for, with both amps.
 
jmusica said:
At this point have both the Midgard and Lyr+. Both sound great but probably will keep the Lyr+ for now, unless I decide on a Mj3 later. I like that I can do a bit of tube rolling and love the remote. Both are surprisingly good particularly for the $.

You read a lot these amps can’t push HPs like AB1266 or Susvara but to me they sound great. Granted I don’t have a real frame of reference - other than knowing what I like to hear based on years of 2-channel endeavoring - and I’m sure higher amps will sound even better, maybe far better. But I have no complaints at the moment at all. Plenty of volume, clarity, and all the usual things we look for, with both amps.
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This is my point. It all comes down to what works best for each of our needs and desires. When I give opinions, it is purely based on my wants and desires. I do try to give my reasoning for why I give certain views, both pros and cons. I also love having a remote. It makes it so much more enjoyable. Since I am running my headphone amp off the McIntosh pre-amp the Mc remote does the trick. I usually set the headphone amp's volume control to a level so I have the Mc at the range I am comfortable with when listening to speakers. This is more or less for consistency on my part. The Schiit (and honestly most of the others such as the most recent one, the HeadAmp GS-X Mini) I keep the potentiometer at about the one o'clock position and then use the pre-amp to adjust my listening level.

You definitely have a couple of very very serious set of headphones there. Do you have a preference of the Abyss or the HiFiMAN? Those two are what I would consider the two best on market! It is fantastic that the Schiit can power these to satisfactory levels. It says a lot about Schiit. I am amazed at how good my Abyss Diana Phi sound with my Schiit, and I have used them with most of the other amps that I have mentioned.

There is definitely a point about tube amps and tube rolling. I did get into some serious rolling with the Woo WA22 when I had it. But it felt like I was going down a huge rabbit hole and spending more time rolling tubes then enjoying the amp. Again, there is certainly nothing wrong with that.
 
Randy Myers said:
I hope you enjoy it. My biggest issue with the Lyr+ is that it is single ended only. I will not consider a headphone amp that is not fully balanced at this point in time.

I was considering the Midgard but decided on the Jotunheim 2 because it is a fully discrete, truly balanced headphone amp. I also liked the Alps RK27114 potentiometer and that the parts are truly matched. Stuff you simply do not find at this price level.

I am seriously considering the Mjolnir 3 myself. Getting my sick baby Bengal healed is taking up all my funds for now though... but later on.....
Click to expand...
Hi there - my Drop AAA 789 just died, and was considering the Schiit Midgard as a replacement and a step up into the "balanced" world. It has balanced XLR in and out from what I've seen. What am I missing and how exactly is the Jotunheim "more balanced"? Thank you very much.
 
luckywales said:
Hi there - my Drop AAA 789 just died, and was considering the Schiit Midgard as a replacement and a step up into the "balanced" world. It has balanced XLR in and out from what I've seen. What am I missing and how exactly is the Jotunheim "more balanced"? Thank you very much.
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At one time I did own a 789. The Schiit is a much better machine in my view. The Mjolnir 3 is an end game amp in my view.
 
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