Been listening for a few hours now. This is going to be a little unfair since I immediately paired it with my Bifrost 2 which also came (why wait?).
First impressions:
Immediately noticed a difference. Coming from the Grace SDAC / Liquid Carbon X, I had been worried about spending this much on a new DAC/amp only to feel like there wasnāt that much of a difference; there definitely is!
Totally get what people are talking about now when referencing impact, soundstage, separation. Iām not sure how much is the Bifrost2 and how much is the Jot2, but there is noticeable impact on the low end and the Clears bring it out beautifully. I have a Loki for EQ but thereās really no need for it anymore and I havenāt even messed with it.
Maybe someone can help me with the right way of expressing this, but the biggest change I hear is how instrumentsā¦ swell. Dynamics maybe? There is a noticeable change in how instruments crescendo and then quiet back down. Listen to Annie Lennox - Into the West from the LOTR soundtrack and you will be moved to tears.
Putting the Clears down for a minute, I am really surprised with how well the 6XX scale here. I put them on thinking Iād just give them a minute and was really surprised at how well they sounded on this stack.
Okay more to follow for sure but those are my initial thoughts so far, and thatās only on the XLR / balanced output! Will listen and come back with more later.
Break in/warm up, and it should improve some more. I got the Bifrost first and it added bottom and separation. The Jotunheim added more bottom and fun, itās the best way I can describe itā¦ I was coming from a 789
What kind of improvement do you think Iād get with the Bifrost 2? Iāve currently got my Jot2 paired with a Modius and Iād been wondering if I should be thinking about stepping up to the B2 later. Theyād mostly be used with the Clear Mg, if that makes any difference.
I ordered my Jot2 last Tuesday and they shipped today which is a week later and they said it would be 7-10 days, I did the cheapest shipping as well so it will be here by next Tuesday.
Very much looking forward to hearing the Jot2 with my favorite headphones and to hear how it pairs with my iFi Neo, I think it will be really good. The Neo is quite a balanced natural sounding Dac so the warmth of the Jot2 so they should work well together.
anyone used a tube pre with the JOT 2? im using a vali 2 for a pre amp and its incredible and i dont even have the JOT 2 yet. also its my knowledge that the JOT 2 can convert RCA to balanced internally. would be nice to use JOT 2 with some nice NOS tube sound.
WOW, just got the JOT 2 with my he6se and WOW. was using only 1 watt tube hyprid (vali 2) which i am now using as a tube pre amp and its light years ahead of my ananda which was the previous best headphone id tried but ananda on JOT 2 improves it a lot over heresy. so suffice to say this amp is wild in comparison. spacial cues are insane i dont know if thats from the tube or the grill mod i did with the aluminum ebay grills. but its wild.
i blew my friends minds yesterday and they were making fun of me for being into audio so much and speakers all over my house but i think i converted them they said āit feels like im thereā " i cant believe how crisp this sounds" put on some chocolate chip trip by tool and they thought i had my speakers on lol so ananda on this amp to make the power irrelevant does the same things as i said the he6se does just less good. could easily blind A/B and pick JOT 2 every time. amazing amp. and can really elevate a headphone that is āgood enoughā into āwowā . yes some will say i need more power for he6se but i really dont think so at least its good enough for me. my ears are vibrating at half volume on high gain. took over 2 weeks from order to door.
So Iāve changed my mind on purchasing the Magnius/Modius combo today after more reading. If Iām being 100% honestā¦it also has to do with the backorder issue that has caused me to probably overthink things.
Anyway, would you recommend the Jot2 with the Multibit card or the Jot2 with the Modius? Basically the same price and honestly convenience is not a big deal to me. Iām fine with a stack or no stack. Iāve read that generally it is better to have separate AMP/DAC when possibleā¦however I also know that Schiit does their add-on cards very well.
I simply canāt afford to go Jot2 and BF2, so looking for the next closest thing to it but staying with Schiit - love their products and service.
Thatās what Iām currently running, and while I do plan on moving to the Bifrost 2 before long, I canāt say that I have any complaints about running the Jot2 with the Modius.
well schiits add on cards have actually measured almost half as good as their separate versions if measurements mater to you at all. the modius is a great DAC. crystal clear with XLR. zero noise one of the best measuring DACS out there.
Generally it is better to buy separates for sure! What Dac are you using now? The Jot 2 with Multibit card measurements aside still sounds very enjoyable. If they are the same price you may want separates though.
For those who have the Jot 2 and the Bifrost 2. Was the upside down XLR outputs on the Bifrost 2 a pain to deal with? I was thinking about picking up Snake Oilās 10 inch XLR cables for when I go balanced with the Bifrost 2 and a Jot 2 (eventually).
No, not problem at all. Iām using Worlds Best Cables XLR 3ft, 1ft, and 6" as needed to suit my needs.
Well made easily obtainable and donāt break the bank. Iāll just link 1 for example.
