New: "Jotunheim R" for Raal headphones

[Veri]

This just came out: https://www.schiit.com/products/jotunheim-r

Includes AP testing from Schiit hence the thread. It says it can deliver up to 13A which seems insane. But, the distortion looks actually pretty bad at 1A already? I'm really puzzled by the AP report. Doesn't look very good at all...?

Any comments? Insights?

 

[majingotan]

Nah If I’m gonna spend 3.5K on headphones, I’d get a SOTA amp such as a benchmark AHB2 in bridge mode instead

 

[solderdude]

If we are to believe the distortion numbers by Marv (Have reason to doubt because all his measurements show way to high distortion levels)
then the distortion of the Jotunheim R will be dwarfed by that of the driver itself.

about 5% 3rd harmonic distortion, indicating non linear compression alike in the important 300Hz to 1kHz range. That may be audible with music.

 

[Fluffy]

I would consider this whole thing with the ribbon headphones and special gear to be another audiophile crazy-ride… if I haven't heard them at Canjam. Seriously, those were the best thing I've heard there. Forget electrostatics, this is the real deal – if only it could be commercialized and sold at descent rates, and not require all sorts of special amps/conversion boxes.

This amp shows there is actual interest and maybe economic potential in this technology, at least as far as Schiit is concerned. But that price tag still puts it way beyond what the casual budget audiophile can afford. I will patiently until someone has the wits to come up with an 1.5-2k$ total cost for an amp+phones system. Maybe than I'll bite.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Nah If I’m gonna spend 3.5K on headphones, I’d get a SOTA amp such as a benchmark AHB2 in bridge mode instead

Bridge mode will do only more harm. One single unit will perform better than in bridge mode.

 

[cjfrbw]

I guess the new Schitt unit was manufactured with the Raal Sr1a ribbon headset specifically in mind (ribbon earspeaker, no earpads). In its previous standard form, the headset is both incredibly inefficient and incredibly current hungry using 'regular' high power amplifiers ( in order to impedance match, almost all of the amp power is burned up in a resistor farm and 100 watt amp is recommended). Some listeners claim they can actually hear high power amplifiers clip into these headsets with the included resistor farm.

The Raal Sr1a ribbon earspeaker seems like a long run for a short slide, but I guess people like it, at least as a new expensivo FOTM commodity for the high rollers, anyway. I would personally find the ergonomics a bit awkward.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Anyone knows the impedance and sensitivity of these? If specified I don't see how difficult to make a paring amp with high performance.

One thing I found interesting is that the heatsinking on this is only good for a few watts maybe 10. So if you think about it, the headphones either don't require that much power or schiit under-engineered the heatsink. I think I lean towards the former. If that's the case a simple 50W amp with lm3886 or lm1875 even should be able to power it just right.

 

[Fluffy]

If I remember correctly, the guy at Canjam said they where something like 0.5 ohm. That's why you can't just connect them to a normal amplifier. They have this special interface that presents a 6 ohm load to the amplifier so it can drive them.

 

[JohnYang1997]

If I remember correctly, the guy at Canjam said they where something like 0.5 ohm. That's why you can't just connect them to a normal amplifier. They have this special interface that presents a 6 ohm load to the amplifier so it can drive them.

What about the sensitivity? Are they deliberately lowering the sensitivity (and thus lowering distortion performance) to connect to power amp?

 

[Veri]

One thing I found interesting is that the heatsinking on this is only good for a few watts maybe 10. So if you think about it, the headphones either don't require that much power or schiit under-engineered the heatsink. I think I lean towards the former. If that's the case a simple 50W amp with lm3886 or lm1875 even should be able to power it just right.

I believe this Jotunheim R only pulls 4W for the Raal. But as been said it's been optimised for a current hungry low impedance load.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Good!
To me the a good amp would be single ended output stage with multiple N devices in parallel and controlled in opamp feedback loop.
The driver itself is quite sensitive and does not take high voltage at all. You can get away with unity gain with 2V input and never have the need of more gain. This way the heat can be largely reduced. And distortion will be taken care by the opamp. The cable will be a huge issue even more so than electrostatics.
Normal poweramps will be way too noisy for these hence why they reduce the sensitivity and increased the voltage need in order to be used with speaker amps.

 

[JohnYang1997]

I believe this Jotunheim R only pulls 4W for the Raal. But as been said it's been optimised for a current hungry low impedance load.

Yeah when I plug the impedance into the spec it all makes sense. The voltage output is incredibly low for that amount of current. And normal testing condition only has 0.5 and 1 A. 13A is overkill in current itself but it may just be an byproduct of pursuing low physical output impedance.

 

[cjfrbw]

So, I gather this amp is designed for ultra low impedance load and bypasses the huge resistor network with direct drive, thus high current with lower power?

That would make the ergonomics of the headset much better if it works out.

 

[JohnYang1997]

So, I gather this amp is designed for ultra low impedance load and bypasses the huge resistor network with direct drive, thus high current with lower power?

That would make the ergonomics of the headset much better if it works out.

Yep.