The Jotunheim R is designed to drive 0.2 ohm loads directly. I wonāt be able to hook it up to the interface box since that simulates a 6 ohm load. If I do an AB test, it would have to be with different amps.
Iām planning on trying the headphones with the interface box this weekend, but the amp is gonna be an old 100 Wpc into 8 ohm class D. Itās not ideal, but Iāll leave my impressions. Unfortunately, I donāt own or know anyone with a higher quality speaker amp to test.
gl2000 is under 450 bucks in china. It really isnāt expensive to make
I would guess it is current limiting (that resistor array) and a transformer of sorts (the black box).
What is less than ideal is enameled wires coming into direct contact with the case (and just flapping in the breeze).
vs. about $650 here, so the price difference isnāt large. However, this thread is about the GL1200 ($1399) not the GL2000 ($650). Different animals.
I know, the guy I was replying to said the gl2000 is expensive
Hooked up the interface box to a couple speaker amps. The difference between them and the Jotunheim R are night and day. Granted, all I used was an old Sherwood amp from the '90s and a Fosi Audio chi-fi desktop amp.
The Sherwood is 100 Wpc into 8 ohms. It sounded muddy and undetailed. Bass was elevated and bleeding into the mids. The highs were muffled and very veiled. Overall the sound was just an awful, bassy, smeared mess. Listened to this for about 20 seconds and moved on.
The Fosi Audio amp is 50 Wpc into 4 Ohms. It was much clearer and more detailed than the old Sherwood. The bass was still elevated compared to the Jot, but the mids and highs were much cleaner. Still sounded a bit veiled. The soundstage was smaller, but the imaging was just as good as the Jot.
The Jotunheim R (baffle compensation off) has tight bass with no bloat, crystal clear mids and highs, and is speedy and very detailed without being as harsh as something like an HD800S.
I think itās safe to say that there is some kind of EQ for the bass coming from the interface box. The Jot R has the baffle compensation toggle designed for the SR1a. Itās basically a shelf EQ that lowers everything over 500 Hz so the bass is more accentuated. Using this feature doesnāt sound terrible on the GL1200 if you want elevated bass, since headphone frequency response is so flat. The bass elevation coming from the interface box is more centered around the sub bass region I think, but itās hard to tell exactly where it starts.
All in all, these headphones are extremely amp picky. The sound will change drastically depending on what you are using to power them. I only wish I had a speaker amp that I knew was very analytical and detailed, so I could see if the interface box itself is causing the loss in detail compared to the Jot.
@heavyharmonies I was at 50-60% volume on the Fosi Amp for a decent listening level on most tracks. I went up to 80% for my quietest music. So I think the least you can get away with is 50 W into 4 Ohms, but if you want to mess with EQ, you should go for 100 W.
Well fark. I couldnāt resist, so GL1200 inbound from Linsoul. Sigh.
I think I will configure them with the Denon AVR-2807 for burn-in, and then compare that vs. the 2807 with preamp out to Phase Linear 400 (although thatās somewhat of a noisy amp).
I did the review on head-fi for the GL1200 and the GL2000- the GL2000 for the price is a steal imho for SQ. I can add I am loving both for different reasons but the GL1200 is truly unlike any other hp I ever owned. I use the B&K 125.2 and the Adcom GFA5300 amps and well I am undecided this day which I like best- but using the interface box from GP is likely very important to the tuning they intended. I will say next thing to do is try or consider is a gold ribbon option as I look into that with the two distributors and maybe making some different custom pads - I am still enjoying these like a drug and enjoying music all over again through them- they do not do everything perfectly but do more things perfectly that make listening to music so enjoyable. 3d space like nothing else- including STAX
GL1200 on sale right now on Drop for $1199 if there was anyone waiting on them.
I have to be honest, im very tempted to get those headphones. I have always been very big into vintage hifi, so I have a couple of amps that would be worth trying with these headphones. i do wonder though how much appreciation I would get out of a set like this. Iāve been using HD600ās with a magni2U/modi2 for the better part of 5 years now, and I just dont think I have enough experience with high end headphones to critically examine them. Maybe ill hold off for a another month or two and see some of the additional reviews come in. Saving 200 bucks on massdrop isnāt worth rushing into this type of purchase.
I just noticed now that the Drop units wonāt ship until June 16. F*cking hellā¦ I AM IMPATIENT AND I WANT MY TOYS NOW, DAMBIT!
Sigh.
Soā¦ I was explaining what inverted phase was to a friend of mine. Said he swapped the DAC cables around because he was too lazy to pull his speaker amp out from the wall to switch cables around after mixing up L/R. Told him it was fine as long as the positive and negative leads were in the right spots.
Then I thought, wait a minute, I had to swap DAC channels with the JotR because the headphone pinout was flipped. I had better not have been listening to inverted phase for two weeks! Looked it up, and yessir, the phase is also backwards. So it looks like a custom adapter is a must for non RAAL headphones on the JotR.
Here is a link to a headphones.com forum post about the pinouts in case anyone is going down this route. I ordered a custom adapter from Hart Audio today. Gave them the pinout blurb and asked for some heat shrink around the amp side.
Is your setup essentially running the GL1200 to the front balanced headphone port on the Jot R using that XLR 4-pin female-female connector (ordered with that pinout blurb of course)?
Correct. Iām currently using a standard 4 pin female to female adapter from Nemal. I didnāt research the Jot R pinout too carefully when I bought it. Only looked into it when I noticed the headphone channels were backwards. I should be getting the custom one soon.
So if you wanna run this setup with the GL1200, you MUST get a custom made adapter. But other than that, the amp runs the headphones perfectly.
Awesome, just wanted to ensure I was understanding the setup correctly. Is the pinout in your previous post to the headphones.com forum the correct layout for a custom adapter or is a different layout required for the GL1200?
āRaal Pinoutā
Label Amp EndHeadphone end 4-pin F XLR ā Amp end 4-pin F XLR
Pin 3ā> pin 1
Pin 4ā>pin 2
Pin 1ā>pin 4
Pin 2ā>pin 3
That post has the correct pinout for an adapter. The GL1200 cable uses the standard XLR configuration that all headphones do. The custom cable converts the āRAAL pinoutā on the Jot R output to the standard.
Awesome, thanks a ton for the clarity! I do plan to try this setup. This should guarantee a great sound with the GL1200 in case my current receivers donāt pair well.
Just got a shipping notification from Drop, a bit over 2 weeks earlier than advertised.
Iāve got a listening station already set up next to my bed. Laptop with digital out to a Denon AVR-2807. Iāve been using it as my burn-in and listening rig for my new Harmonicdyne Zeus.
Iām not sure whether the power output will be sufficient. Itās rated at 110w @ 8 ohms, 140w @ 6 ohms; dynamic (peak?) power is shown as 120W x 2 @ 8 ohms and 170W x 2 @ 4 ohms.
If that doesnāt drive it well, Iāve got my old Phase Linear 400 ready to bolt on using the preamp outputs on the Denon. Thatās the nice thing about having full preamp outs on a receiver; can just swap out power amps.
Let us know your thoughts when you get them! I think your amp should have plenty of power as they recommend 100W @ 4ohms. I have a feeling, based on what Iāve read, the GL1200 are picky when it comes to amps. Makes me think the Gl1200 are the Magnepans of the headphone world haha. @Fiorenza It looks like youāve been running the Gl1200 for just over a month now, have your thoughts changed on them or any new opinions form?
I havenāt done a full write up on my impressions yet, because I was swapping pads constantly and the sound kept changing as I listened. Turns out the Jot R needs to be warmed up from a couple hours to a few days before it sounds consistent. From a cold start, the highs are very sharp and I canāt turn the volume up very loud. After about a day of being on, it is much more relaxed sounding. Never had an amp that needed warming up before, so it took me while to figure it out.
I will be getting the adapter next week and Iāll post all my thoughts soon after. Just to give you some quick points:
Very neutral sound signature, more so than anything Iāve tried to date. Bass is a little elevated, and the very high frequencies roll off much later than most other headphones. This will depend on amp selection.
Imaging is the best Iāve heard to date. There is verticality and sounds are pinpoint accurate.
Soundstage is very natural. If a song is recorded live, it sounds big. If it was recorded in a broom closet, it sounds stuffy.
Timbre is good. Nothing weird to report. I donāt think many recordings do live music justice anyway, so timbre is one of those things I gloss over unless I hear something egregiously wrong.
Dynamics are also excellent. This will definitely depend on the amp selection.