The astonishingly good Schiit Jotunheim stereo preamp/headphone amplifier won’t break the bank.
The Schiit Jotunheim stereo preamp/headphone amplifier.
Build quality of this made in the US component is very decent, and Jotunheim is sold with a five-year warranty. There’s one hitch: It doesn’t come with a remote control, and that might be a deal breaker for some potential buyers.
The front panel has a three position input selector switch, and a low/high gain switch so you can use the Jotunheim with in-ear or full-size headphones, plus two headphone jacks, a 6.3mm and a balanced four-pin XLR one. That’s where the Jotunheim gets really interesting, it’s a fully-balanced stereo preamp-headphone amplifier, with a description from Schiit that says, “Jotunheim’s gain stage is a unique, inherently balanced, fully discrete current feedback topology that provides both balanced and single-ended output without the need for splitters or summers. It provides extremely wide bandwidth and excellent measured performance — together with the advantages of constant, low feedback across the entire audio band.” Translation: The balanced output might sound better with headphones that can be fitted with balanced cables.
One thing is certain, the balanced XLR headphone jack delivers gobs of power to hard-to-drive headphones, up to 7.5 watts for 16 ohm headphones! I used a Hifiman Edition X headphone so I could easily swap between cables fitted with XLR and 6.3mm plugs to evaluate the sound differences. Here’s what I heard on Alt J’s “Relaxer” album: The XLR jack sounded slightly more dynamically alive than the 6.3mm jack. I’m not claiming it’s a big difference, but one you would want to take advantage of if you have a headphone that can be used with balanced cables.
I also listened with my high-impedance (300 ohm) Sennheiser HD 580 headphones, which can sound a little dull and lifeless plugged into a stereo or AV receiver, but here with the Jotunheim the HD 580 were transformed. They rocked and rolled with gusto with the National’s new “Sleep Well Beast” album. That said, the compressed sound is grating and harsh, and the Jotunheim-Sennheiser HD 580 pairing did nothing to disguise the album’s nasty sound mix. With a better recording such as Wilco’s “A Ghost is Born” the harshness was replaced with a smooth clarity. The Jotunheim tells it like it is.
The Schiit Jotunheim stereo preamp/headphone amplifier’s rear panel.
Schiit Jotunheim prices start at $399, £420 and AU$649 for the basic version without the optional digital converter or phono preamp, which each add a moderate upcharge to the price. So if you already have a decent phono preamp or converter, all you need is the basic Jotunheim.
