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Review and Measurements of New JDS Labs Atom Headphone Amp

graz_lag

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I have an Atom, used in one of my 2 desk setups. 2 questions:

1) For my 2nd desktop setup, for the sake of not having 2x the same thing, what is a good alternative? I am not particularly cost sensitive, but I won't buy something in the several k range. (the Drop THX AAA 789 is not really available in the UK).
2) What is 'in between' the JDS Atom/ 789 (which seem very similar) and say the Benchmark HPA4 ? It is not clear what 'up' from the Atom would even be to go beyond. For 100 GBP it is awesome. It seems - for any price - pretty great. For say 500 GBP is there anything measurably 'better'?

Tx

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...f-neurochrome-hp-1-high-performance-amp.5324/

You can check with Tom his current - or best price, he's willing to offer.
 

mt196

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Any of your replaced the Atom's volume knob? How can I detach it? Should I open the unit? I just want to change the front plastic cab of the knob, not the potentiometer.

Moreover, what is the right diameter to buy?
 

THW

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It's not really available in the US either ;) lol. It still is the best "bigger" Atom right now though, best you can do is hit up the next pre-order window. Plenty of us ordered one to the EU.

if March’s HPA1 is released any time soon, it is likely it will fill that position very nicely imho, for those who want a high performance, well built headphone amp with a reasonable amount of power (it isn’t a power machine but from what I’ve seen it will drive most headphones to loud volumes and will handle most peaks without clipping)
 

Azeia

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I am not particularly cost sensitive, but I won't buy something in the several k range. (the Drop THX AAA 789 is not really available in the UK).
The 789 is only more powerful than the Atom in balanced output, not in single-ended headphone output, so unless you're using balanced, the 789 actually outputs less clean power than the Atom, so I'd say the Atom is superior. (If you're not sure what balanced is, then you're not using it.)

As someone else suggested, I think Tom's new amp is probably a good candidate, but it's not out yet, you'll want to go to the last few pages of the HP-1 thread that you were linked to, where Tom discusses his new HPA-1 amp that he's working on since the original HP-1 isn't available anymore. He expects the new amp to start shipping around November or so. If it's similar to the original in power output, then it should have enough clean power to drive any headphone ever made to painful levels. =)
 

Get a hearing test

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then it should have enough clean power to drive any headphone ever made to painful levels. =)
Doing "ze researsh" i've come across a lot of people saying that if you want a different signature just get another headphones\speakers. Most amps and dacs dont make that big of a difference if they sufficiently power the gear at the volume you listen to. Although amir said that there is a difference in something like atom vs thx cause its a high power amp. In what way though. Since atom supposedly beats thx in unbalanced. Is it richer low ends at lower volume or something like that?
 

Azeia

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Doing "ze researsh" i've come across a lot of people saying that if you want a different signature just get another headphones\speakers. Most amps and dacs dont make that big of a difference if they sufficiently power the gear at the volume you listen to. Although amir said that there is a difference in something like atom vs thx cause its a high power amp. In what way though. Since atom supposedly beats thx in unbalanced. Is it richer low ends at lower volume or something like that?
I dunno how you managed to get thomasjast's name in the quote with my text in it, but anyways... =p

Can you show me where Amir says this, so I have context? Generally if you have more power, you should have more headroom at higher volumes, and also more juice for low-end (bass) which to my understanding requires more power than other frequencies.

The THX AAA 789 does have more power for balanced, just not unbalanced, so it's possible they were just talking about the extra power in balanced output.
 

milw50717

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Any of your replaced the Atom's volume knob? How can I detach it? Should I open the unit? I just want to change the front plastic cab of the knob, not the potentiometer.

Moreover, what is the right diameter to buy?

It's friction fit. It just pulls off.

When sizing a replacement knob you need to look at the diameter of the shaft and the length of the shaft protruding from the case. You can use the search functionality - top right of screen - to find the diameter and some knobs that people have used. The length of the exposed shaft is important as you need to make sure that the knob can be affixed. Some of the knobs people have tried have a hollow back and the hole for the shaft is recessed. There was a link to some knobs on Amazon that worked.

Edit - Link to the knobs on Amazon. I keep meaning to get some. If you buy maybe let us know if they fit as indicated. Looking at the Amazon reviews there are other people reporting that they fit.
 
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milw50717

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See my post above about knobs that are hollow and have recessed holes for the shaft. You will have to break out the ruler to check there is sufficient length of exposed shaft to fit into the hole and additionally to allow the knob to be fixed in place by the set screw.

That auction doesn't give any measurements as to how recessed the hole is. It would be a crap shoot as to if it will fit or not. I'd hazard a guess that it wouldn't as I think there is at most 6mm of exposed shaft on my Atom and that set screw looks to be more than 6mm from the base of the knob based on it being 22mm deep
 
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Get a hearing test

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Can you show me where Amir says this, so I have context? Generally if you have more power, you should have more headroom at higher volumes, and also more juice for low-end (bass) which to my understanding requires more power than other frequencies.

The THX AAA 789 does have more power for balanced, just not unbalanced, so it's possible they were just talking about the extra power in balanced output.
I cant find the specific comment and im worried that it might be a figment of imagination or merely a combination of eveyrthing i've read. I cant comb through both thx and atom amp threads would take a good hour but quick search brought up these
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s-atom-headphone-amp.5262/page-56#post-178159
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...drop-thx-aaa-789-amp.5001/page-43#post-149739
If i recall thx one didnt get tested with balanced output.
 

direstraitsfan98

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One thing to point out, the listening loudness is stupid. There is absolutely no chance that you listen louder than 100dB. 105db is good enough for all the dynamic headroom. And you should listen no higher than 96db average. Quite frankly, you should really listen at 85db only when you doing critical listening. And for casual long session listening less than 80db is ideal. Every 6db in loudness is 4 times the power.
It should be
73db quiet
85db critical
96db loud
105db maximum instead.
This is pretty accurate to my listening levels. The loudest I’ve ever drove my speaker was a 114db peak during some LFE in a movie. Edge of Tomorrow, I think it was. Some sound engineer was having a laugh that day when he mixed that Blu-Ray disc. There are moments when the bass is so hot you’d blow out your sub if it was set too high.
 

AnalogDE

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I'm thinking of getting the atom to improve my setup. Currently using an original Benchmark DAC1 (circa 2004?) and using the built in headphone amplifier -- will I hear a noticable improvement with the Atom? I am connecting a Beyer DT770-250 headphone.

Thanks
 
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Veri

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I'm thinking of getting the atom to improve my setup. Currently using an original Benchmark DAC1 (circa 2004?) and using the built in headphone amplifier -- will I hear a noticable improvement with the Atom? I am connecting a Beyer DT770-250 headphone.
Thanks
I would honestly expect the DAC1 headphone output to be fine. If you're satisfied with the sound there's no real reason to get an external amp.
 

BDWoody

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I'm thinking of getting the atom to improve my setup. Currently using an original Benchmark DAC1 (circa 2004?) and using the built in headphone amplifier -- will I hear a noticable improvement with the Atom? I am connecting a Beyer DT770-250 headphone.

Thanks

Are you having volume or distortion issues? If it easily gets as loud as you want and sounds good (no noticeable distortion for example), a new amp likely won't make much of a noticeable difference.
 

AnalogDE

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Are you having volume or distortion issues? If it easily gets as loud as you want and sounds good (no noticeable distortion for example), a new amp likely won't make much of a noticeable difference.

No noticable volume or distortion issues... Thanks...
 

trashken

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I'm thinking of getting the atom to improve my setup. Currently using an original Benchmark DAC1 (circa 2004?) and using the built in headphone amplifier -- will I hear a noticable improvement with the Atom? I am connecting a Beyer DT770-250 headphone.

Thanks

DAC1 is only 24/96 (i have one). Depending on your source material, upgrading the DAC might be a better decision.
 

Azeia

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I'm thinking of getting the atom to improve my setup. Currently using an original Benchmark DAC1 (circa 2004?) and using the built in headphone amplifier -- will I hear a noticable improvement with the Atom? I am connecting a Beyer DT770-250 headphone.
It depends how powerful the built-in amp is in it's power output. @Silou seems to have done some calculations in the DAC1 review thread as to what the power output might be, but this hasn't been confirmed by measurement, as Amir didn't test headphone output when he measured it, only the DAC section (which didn't seem to measure well).

If yours doesn't have USB input though, then it might be a different model than the one that was reviewed in this thread, since this one does in fact have USB input. If Silou's guess is right though, then it would be about the same power output as the Atom, so not really worth the upgrade.
 

SPARK

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In high gain, my DAC outputs 4Vrms on XLR , i see that on high gain the ATOM can only accept up to 2.10vrms input before it starts distorting.
Use an XLR to RCA cable Converts a balanced audio signal into an unbalanced signal to Atom。
Will there be overload and distortion?
 
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