Yggy... Gumby... Joty?

[robfine]

I am the proud new owner of a Schiit Jotunheim. Another one of those long names that can be a hassle in long messages or late at night. Until someone screams a loud objection, I am going to go with ‘Joty’. More to come...






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[robfine]

Just to preempt a potential comment, I do know that the “-by” abbreviations are on DACs that are multi-bit and the “Joty” is delta-sigma based. I could have gone with Jody (or Jodi) but... I didn’t. At least for now Joty it is.












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[Puma Cat]

Enjoy! Let us know what you think...

[PHC1]

Call it whatever you want as long as you are enjoying it. Looking forward to your impressions.

[robfine]

I had some delays in getting things up and running which I will talk about later. In the meantime, Joty is now up and running. For the time being, I have it using a Venom 3 PC. It is connected to a Mac Mini (also with a Venom 3) that got sent to the closet by a BDP-2 I got from Ivan a couple of years ago with a Wireworld Silver Starlight USB. I updated the Audivana that was already on it and downloaded the Audirvana Remote App.

I went with the Joty because of the heat output of the Asgard (Class A), Lyr 2 (tubes) and even the Moljnir 2 (tubes). This is for a bedroom night table system so significant heat would be an issue in any event but I often fall asleep with headphones on to wake up when the music ends and I would need to reach over half asleep to turn off a tube amp and I can just imagine what those burnt fingers would feel like. I was surprised when I plugged in the Joty and within a couple of minutes through the ventilation holes in the top I could see 2 dim orange lights. Notwithstanding this, the heat output is very manageable— much more so than the Asgard or Lyr 2 would have been.

I have now had a couple of short listening sessions with my Audeze LCD-CX and Focal Elear but not really critical listening. For that, I decided to pull out my HiFi-Man HE-500 which have been gathering dust for a bit but really sound great when fed enough juice. My Centrance Dac Mini did a nice job with the HE-500 but it really didn’t have the chops to grab those drivers by the throat and take control at any about medium volume (fortunately, most of my listening doesn’t exceed medium volume).

The Joty has been plugged in and on for about 48 hours and I put on a relatively new aquisition that I think is a great auditioning piece of music and a really great (Hi-Res) album generally.
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This album is just piano and acoustic bass— and has some great music. it is also a Chesky recording so it has been recorded “right.” The piano was light and airy where the composition was such and full-throated where that was appropriate. I have a yamaha grand in my house so I know what a piano sounds like. The piano sounded like a piano is supposed to sound, both higher and low notes, and of all volumes. But the bass... oh the bass! One of my favorite jazz clubs is Dizzy’s Coke-a-cola in NYC. When I have the chance to go there I an usually sitting at the first or at most second table from the stage. You can really hear what instruments sound like. The acoustic bass through the HE-500 was so close to being there. When you are sitting near live music with a good or great base player, each plucked note is a composite of sound- like the string is a composite of several strings that you can hear being plucked at the same time. I was hearing this through the Joty. Not exagerrated, pretty much as I remember it from hearing similar music live. It’s hard to explain in words but you know it when you hear it. Picture the bass (or other string instrument) being played with a pick. The tension in the string is released instantaneously and you get a sharp quick sound with the trailing vibration. When a string is plucked by a finger, however, the softer surface of the finger tip is momentarily indented by the string which then sort of rolls off so that the resulting sound of the note is not as sharp at the leading edge but the sound is more complex (made up of more parts). That’s what I was hearing through the Joty and the HE-500. I had not really heard this through the HE-500 with the Centrance.

With the Elear (which takes less “oomph” to drive it) I could hear some of this complexity through the Centrance. The Joty, however, grabbed the Elear and brought it down deeper, more controlled in the bass, and at the same time time showed off the complexity in the bass I just described. What an amazing $500 unit (including the optional fully balanced Dac). The mids and the high just sang. I would tell you more but you know when you get to that magical point where the music just transports you from your chair, from the room... Well, I fell into some of that so I will have to give you further details later— for now— I’ll just say they transported me.

There are a number of pieces of audio equipment these days that provide unbelievable performance for the price. I planned on getting the Joty to be the amp for a Gimby. When the option of a fully balanced dac board for $100 showed up I couldn’t resist. I decided to buy the Joty with the Dac (399 + 100) and then after working it in for a couple of months and get the Gumby. I thought it would take the Gumby to get me where I am now (and it’s not even broken in yet). I can only wait to hear it as it breaks in and then to be transported again when it’s Gumby time.

[jdandy]

Robert.......Very enjoyable description of your new Schiit Audio Jotunheim headphone amp/DAC. There seems to be a recurring theme of premium performance being trumpeted in the many testimonies about Schiit Audio components. Now that I own the Yggdrasil DAC I have a complete understanding of your enthusiasm and excitement. There is no discounting the exceptional performance designed into each Schiit Audio component. The price points totally belie the astonishing level of high-end sound being delivered for what I consider pennies on the dollar. Schiit Audio is clearly challenging the audio industry's penchant for ever ballooning prices. I am happy for you.