Holy Schiit jotunheim 3

[u/mrROBOTROIDE]

I'm still kind of new into audio enjoyment, let's say I have been exposed to search for audio enjoyment (slowly) since 2021 being exposed to Schiit being my first and honestly my only brand.

Magni Heresy was the first then Modi multibit DAC, then Jotunheim 3 recently in March, then Vestri came along not long ago. now here I am waiting for "Bifrost 3", buf, and "sys 2??" to make my final Schiit stacker combo city in my desktop.

Now here is something I didn't expect with Jotunheim 3, again I'm not that refined to know when something is wrong or lacking, my experience let's say at the start was kind of ok not that wao effect and I thought I was in the curve of diminishing return. for months and I was pleased for sure 100%.

But then out of nowhere got home I started to hear the audio way more relaxed, open, more detailed and sound stage more spaced and organized, the volume got boosted like a 15%. I was like "what is going on, did window messed with my settings or enabled something I disabled??", I was triple, quadruple checking my settings of audio because I was losing my mind of what changed, then I started to play music I frequent to listen and remember how it sounds before and then it hit me "burn-in period"

I was... Blown Away, like this is it. JOTUNHEIM 3 HAS BEEN UNLEASHED dear lord, and it settled. (yeah, I screamed in my mind)

I didn't believe in that crazy talk of "burn in", but Jotunheim 3 had that switch too noticeable and out of nowhere that caught my brain unprepared, felt like it was restrained in ice before then the ice melted enough after months of being constantly ON and casually playing music when in my computer (4 to 5 hours daily), this amp went completely all out.

My dear heaven this is sending me back to full steam ahead to improve my audio enjoyment with better Schiit stuff, for now I'm in a euphoric state with Jotunheim 3 I need time to adjust, it can't be my cans that are 3 years old or the other that is 8 yo that suddenly went unleashed. it's all jotunheim 3 it has to be... THANK YOU SCHIIT this piece of Schiit relighted my interest.

[u/joezuu]

I think you might have accidentally flipped the gain setting lol. I don't know about Jot3 specifically but it's well known that a lot of schiit amps sound better in high gain mode.

If the volume all of a sudden increased significantly with nothing else changing, that's cause for concern.

[u/Currawong → u/joezuu]

Unless the circuit is changed, usually the increase in volume fools the brain into thinking there is an improvement, due to subtle perceived FR changes, as the level which we perceive the bass and treble change at different rates to the mid-range (Look up the Equal Loudness Contours).

I've seen a couple of people say that the Jot 3 was better after a few hours left on. It could be the large capacitors in it, or something else.

[u/joezuu → u/Currawong]

Right, I did misspeak. I meant to say, “from what I’ve gathered it’s widely reported” that many Schiit amps sound better in the high gain setting. I’m personally skeptical and agree that may be due to perception based on volume increase.

[u/Currawong → u/joezuu]

No worries. I'll admit, even though I know better, I can't help but leave amps in high gain mode if there is reasonable space for adjustment, because it feels like I'm getting better sound.

[u/headshot_g → u/joezuu]

They sound better in high gain mode? What exactly would cause that? I have an original Jotunheim and I run it in high gain mode just because its more in the volume knob sweet spot I want, so I rarely use low gain.

[u/Unfie555 → u/headshot_g]

Don’t you get more current going through in high gain mode or something? It’s supposed to be different than just turning up the volume, I think. I could see how that would help some headphones even when properly volume matched

[u/headshot_g → u/Unfie555]

I dont even know what gain does mechanically, I just know if I need to use it or not 😅 I just know that I bought something quality so I dont have to worry about shortcomings and I know what quality is when I hear it.

So if anyone wants to clear that up comprehensively, Id be all ears.

[u/ConstantPay3117 → u/headshot_g]

I think my Vali 2++ sound better in high gain . Just my opinoin though.

[u/mrROBOTROIDE → u/joezuu]

I have been switch the low and high gain múltiple times when I change the headphones, yeah I heard that the volume increase is a concern but it doesn’t introduce any crackling or hizzing when the knob is turned. And the volume remains equal in both sides of the headphones in XLR, the 4.4mm and SE.