Here are some quick impressions / comparisons of the Jotunheim & Asgard 3 (and Blackwidow 2).
Asgard 3 - Compared to the Jot, this is a less intense amp, for lack of a better term. Notes don’t have as hard of an edge, impact/slam is a little softer, and it’s the more musical and easy to listen to. Its class A sure, but not the gooey warm Class A of the old Asgard 2. It’s more of a liquid and smooth sounding neutral-ish sound. It pairs very well with headphones that already have a bunch of slam or emphasis, and helps tame high frequency spikiness, like in the TH-X00 line. Probably why it’s my favorite for the E-mu Teak. It doesn’t help the Empyrean push through its velvety mellowness so you get both smooth and crispy flavors, especially using the suede pads. That’s why I bought the Jotunheim.
Blackwidow 2 - Extremely engaging amp to listen to. Has more staging, impact, and excitement vs the Asgard 3. It does this without sounding hard or sharp. Helps the HD650 and Auteur pick up more spice without ruining what makes those headphones great.
Jotunheim - It sounds warmish and definitely emphasises the impact of every note - not just in the bass, but all across the frequency range. It’s not easing any peakiness (if already present in a track) like the Asgard does to a small degree, but I don’t hear any overemphasis in the treble either. Bass slam is impressive. Stage isn’t bad, but could be better. The amp seems to like to highlight string plucks, piano key strikes, and kickdrum thuds. For example, listening to Rebecca Pidgeon’s Spanish Harlem, when the piano first starts to play, my attention was drawn to the very subtle sound of the key being pressed and the quiet hammer strike that precedes the note being played.
Here is where things take a twist. All of the above is with the Jot in high gain mode. Turn it to low gain, and the above mentioned emphasised characteristics get tamed a bit, and it sounds a bit more mellow. It kind of falls into line a bit. This is quite nice as the Jot has plenty of power and volume knob range on either setting to provide ample volume to any of my headphones.
Jotunheim’s unashamedly in your face kind of presentation won’t work for every headphone, but for the Empyrean + suede pads it gives it a kick in the shorts to overcome the smoothness. There is no doubt it has absolute grip on the transducer here. If you paired this with most Focal headphones or HD800, I think the harder edges and emphasised dynamics would be a bit overbearing, especially in high gain mode. Jot would probably pair very well with Aeolus and Atticus, and maybe the more mellow/warmer sounding Audeze/HFM cans. I haven’t tested it for long, but it did bring a little more of the fun out of the Auteur too.
Synergy is everything though. The Jot + Empy is really quite good. Asgard is still my favorite pairing for the Teak. The Blackwidow 2 works very well with all my headphones though, and if I had to pick one amp to keep and sell the rest, the BW2 would stay. It’s an unobtainium amp, unfortunately.
So, leaving the BW2 out of the picture for a second, which is better: Asgard 3 or Jot?
As I described above, I would pick the Jot for headphones that need a kick in the ass, and the Asgard for already excitable headphones that need a more organic and cohesive sound. If in doubt, I would lean towards the Asgard as being the better all-rounder.
Thanks for reading.
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