• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Review and Measurements of New JDS Labs Atom Headphone Amp

Grattle

Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
88
Likes
62
Location
Planet Earth
Off topic a little , i'm getting another amp called Krell KSA5 (Clone) , does anyone here know it? Or have experienced with it in the past?

I was perfectly content with Atom and had no logical reasons to sell it , but due to this sheer curiosity i had , i ended up selling Atom and i am regretting a little , may have to re-buy it if my new amp sucks .

What do your ears tell you?
 

nyxnyxnyx

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
May 22, 2019
Messages
506
Likes
474
What do your ears tell you?
My ears told me that they were happy with the sound quality Atom brought , but i have this bad habit of wanting to experience new things that i am trying to shake off , i sold it :p . I guess i was audiophooled by my own impulsive curiosity haha
 

magicscreen

Senior Member
Joined
May 21, 2019
Messages
300
Likes
176
My ears told me that they were happy with the sound quality Atom brought , but i have this bad habit of wanting to experience new things that i am trying to shake off , i sold it :p . I guess i was audiophooled by my own impulsive curiosity haha
Who knows, you might like more the sound of the Krell KSA5 (Clone). There is some music that sounds better with the Loxjie P20 than the Atom.
By the way, there will be no Loxjie P20's review by Amir? :)
 

solderdude

Grand Contributor
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
15,891
Likes
35,912
Location
The Neitherlands
He reviewed the D20 (which did not do well)
The P20 also doesn't measure that well.

You meant: There is some music where I preferred the coloration of the Loxjie P20 to the neutral sound of the Atom ;)
 

Veri

Master Contributor
Joined
Feb 6, 2018
Messages
9,596
Likes
12,036
I briefly tried the P20 but had to return it to amazon. The output impedance is quite high (SBAF is currently down but it was like 50ohm) and will mess with most headphones. If there's one thing I detest it's boominess o_O
 
Last edited:

Silou

Active Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2018
Messages
245
Likes
114
Did someone try the preouts of the Atom in combination with powered speakers? I would like to replace my bookshelf speakers with something active, but I am a bit afraid of ground loops :D I use the Tone Board as DAC.
 

Swtoby

Active Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2018
Messages
192
Likes
287
Did someone try the preouts of the Atom in combination with powered speakers? I would like to replace my bookshelf speakers with something active, but I am a bit afraid of ground loops :D I use the Tone Board as DAC.
Not with powered speakers, but I use the Atom as my main preamp into a Crown XLS 1502 driving Vandersteen 2s and I have no ground loop.
 

ripvw

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
281
Likes
450
Location
California's Central Coast
Did someone try the preouts of the Atom in combination with powered speakers? I would like to replace my bookshelf speakers with something active, but I am a bit afraid of ground loops :D I use the Tone Board as DAC.

same setup as you - Tone Board into the Atom, then Atom to JBL 308P MKII via Benchmark XLR/RCA cables:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-monitors-first-impressions.7977/#post-194019

no ground loops:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...power-cord-blind-test.8086/page-5#post-201873
 

maxxevv

Major Contributor
Joined
Apr 12, 2018
Messages
1,872
Likes
1,964
Nice! I was looking at the 308s aswell but they might be to big for my room.

Take a look at the 306P's instead then.

They are a lot closer to the 308p's in spec's than they are to the 305p's. But size wise, they are closer to the 305p's.
Very good option IMO if one desires more power and a lower frequency response than the 305p but can't live with the bulk of the 308p's.
 

Silou

Active Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2018
Messages
245
Likes
114
Take a look at the 306P's instead then.

They are a lot closer to the 308p's in spec's than they are to the 305p's. But size wise, they are closer to the 305p's.
Very good option IMO if one desires more power and a lower frequency response than the 305p but can't live with the bulk of the 308p's.
I saw them but they are actually more expensive than the 308p. The lower frequencies are the main problem in my room at the moment. Maybe I should just get a UMIK1 and tweak the speakers.
 

iazriel

Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2019
Messages
43
Likes
3
Your lights please to a noob. I recently got my Atom along with DT 770 pro 250ohm. If I don't use gain, the volume I get is exactly the same as my onboard sound card and I have to crank it to 2-5 o'clock to be somewhat fine. With gain, it sounds really fine and loud around 12 o'clock and by 3 o'clock is already too loud, but I wonder if gain has an impact to the sound quality. I hope not because without gain I get no difference volume wise compared to my onboard solution.
 

Azeia

Active Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
123
Likes
297
Your lights please to a noob. I recently got my Atom along with DT 770 pro 250ohm. If I don't use gain, the volume I get is exactly the same as my onboard sound card and I have to crank it to 2-5 o'clock to be somewhat fine. With gain, it sounds really fine and loud around 12 o'clock and by 3 o'clock is already too loud, but I wonder if gain has an impact to the sound quality. I hope not because without gain I get no difference volume wise compared to my onboard solution.
I haven't checked all the pages so I dunno if there is a graph that compares low and high gain, but it's generally understood that for the Atom, you get no additional audible distortion at high gain. If you measured it however, it would probably be a bit higher on the graph for high than low gain, but again, this shouldn't be audible at all. The Atom is regarded to be one of the cleanest amps out there, in the same league as THX AAA 789.

The main purpose of the switch is that different headphones need different amounts of power to drive; on a sensitive headphone, the high gain would be way too strong and the volume knob would therefore be somewhat annoying to use as you'd only ever have it slightly turned up and it would already be too loud. So the gain switch lets you deal with that by giving you different settings for hard to drive vs easy to drive headphones.

I'm pretty sure the 250 Ohm DT 770s are difficult to drive; slightly easier than my 250 Ohm DT 990s which are the open-back version of the 770s, but still. These seem to be pretty difficult to power, my DX3 Pro just barely gets my 990s to a comfortable listening level at high gain, but with zero headroom for quiet tracks; I'm definitely going to need a better amp in future for them. =)

(FYI, the DX3 in high gain has about half the power as Atom in high gain, if you're curious for comparison purposes)
 

iazriel

Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2019
Messages
43
Likes
3
Ah I see, really helpful. So, as long as there aren't any audible differences I will keep using it to get to comfortable volume levels. Thanks for your answer!
 

Silou

Active Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2018
Messages
245
Likes
114
Ah I see, really helpful. So, as long as there aren't any audible differences I will keep using it to get to comfortable volume levels. Thanks for your answer!
Use low gain unless you really need more power. The Atom measures a lot better in low gain than it does in high gain. There is a little study on ASR about gains which compares the Magni 3 and the Atom in their different gains. To lazy to link it now but you will find it anyway
 

iazriel

Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2019
Messages
43
Likes
3
Use low gain unless you really need more power. The Atom measures a lot better in low gain than it does in high gain. There is a little study on ASR about gains which compares the Magni 3 and the Atom in their different gains. To lazy to link it now but you will find it anyway

The problem is that with low gain I get nothing more compared to my onboard built in dac/amp, that's why I bought an external amp in the first place. Plus in games, with full windows volume and Atom on low gain and max volume it sounds really low still like my onboard solution. I don't know if it a headphones' thing, that they are difficult to drive but high gain is the only way to listen loud and comfortable without cranking the volume to max (with low gain)
 

Lt_George

Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2019
Messages
16
Likes
11
The problem is... ...with low gain)

You're using the analogue line out from the computer? Atom low gain is × 1.0, it will be the same volume as analogue out from the PC. I suspect you need to change the connections to use either USB, or S/PDIF via optical or coax to an external DAC to get a true line out signal to the Atom.
 

iazriel

Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2019
Messages
43
Likes
3
You're using the analogue line out from the computer? Atom low gain is × 1.0, it will be the same or lower as analogue out from the PC. I suspect you need to change the connections to use either USB, or S/PDIF via optical or coax to an external DAC to get a true line out signal to the Atom.

Ah really useful. Yes I use the 3.5mm green out of the motherboard that's why I get the same result volume wise as you say. Is there a USB to rca or optical to rca to use or an external dac is the only way?
 
Top Bottom