Yes i meant audio research corp. That was a great summary, thanks!
For those anxiously awaiting the release of Jotunheim R, it seems the production boards have arrived at Schiit, so assuming they’re correct things are very close now!
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I’m wondering if they were able to source appropriately sized caps that fit under the hood. That was the latest hold-up I remember seeing Jason post about.
I believe they just got new boards … at least based on a comment from Jason yesterday afternoon:
Jotunheim R boards are here. Give us a few days, and we’ll be shipping!
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Nice design. 
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Somebody has to ask…
What would happen if one connects, say Abyss 1266 Phi TC to Jotunheim R?
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Welcome, @JonL and @stoN_Cold 
Not sure about the JotR and Abyss pairing.
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Nothing special, as long as you wired it correctly (the 4-pin female XLR of the SR1a does not have the same pin-out as a 4-pin balanced cable, even accounting for the gender inversion).
I think the rails on the Jotunheim R allow for about a 15V p-p swing. How much current you’d see depends on the specific impedance of the headphone in question, and the overall power capacity of the unit.
It’s usually not much of a problem to have an amplifier feed a higher impedance load than its design criteria, excepting that you may not have sufficient power to do anything useful.
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“4-pin female XLR of the SR1a does not have the same pin-out as a 4-pin balanced cable”
Wonder why RAAL did that. Anyone know the pinout RAAL uses?
Probably to keep people from plugging regular headphones into it
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Exactly.
When RAAL released the SR1a there was no Jotunheim R. And the implications for plugging conventional headphones into the SR1a interface box are not the same as for plugging them into a Jotunheim R.
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Yep, since I build cables for them (and other headphones).
Don’t have it to hand at the moment, but I can post it when I am home.
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I’ve been checking this thread periodically about updates on the Jot R release, hoping to catch a glimpse of it on the Schiit site.
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The wait is almost over.
Given the recent status updates, I’ll be surprised if something doesn’t happen this week.
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Nice! I’m still in the market. I hope to hear this at Canjam in a few weeks.
Welcome, @JonL and @stoN_Cold
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It’s up!
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Anyone notice the $100 discount on the Bifrost 2 if you buy the JotR + Bifrost 2 as a combo?
$600 for BF2 + $799 for Jotunheim R sounds like a pretty great setup for the RAAL.
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The Jotunheim R has proven to be a fantastic way to drive the SR1a. Both with the production-qualifier unit that I’ve been using and also with the final production unit that is now live and available to buy!
For provenance, here is the production unit, that Schiit kindly sent me just ahead of the formal release, to ensure that it sounds and performs the same as the production qualifier I had been evaluating (and on which my review was initially written):
One of the most interesting things to me is how this little unit delivers a clearly better end result than more of the much more expensive speaker amplifiers (via the interface box) I’ve tried with the SR1a. This is, I assume, down to the active (Jot R) vs. passive (RAAL box) compensation profile, and the slightly different profile that the two approaches employ.
And the end result is a more natural signature from the Jotunheim R, without resorting to EQ, and clearly improved resolution/detail and micro-dynamics.
I should have my SR1a review, which includes comparisons with the Jotunheim R, as well as a number of other amplifiers, out later (late) today. And I expect to have a dedicated Jotunheim R review up by the end of the week (which includes the multi-bit DAC module and some Bifrost 2 pairing details).
Though you really don’t need to wait for either … unless you already have an excellent, high-end, 2-channel amp to spare, this little guy is the way to go (and even then, it may be better overall). And if you’ve been on the fence about jumping in on the SR1a (you’re missing out, by the way), this is the perfect way to do it.
I’d say I’m looking forward to getting mine, but I’m going to buy the one I have here so I can run the SR1a in more than one location. I might pick up a 2nd one too, though the Jotunheim R is compact enough that it’s a very viable transportable, one-box, solution (with the built-in DAC, or taking an external feed).
Congratulations to Jason/@schiit on an excellent, and game changing, bit of kit!
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Looking forward to both reviews.
Great photos, @Torq.