ATOM Dac Coming very soon!

[ta240]

The market is in great need of a new DAC that measures roughly the same as the other 50+ DACs already on the market, so excited.

At this point it, for me at least, it comes down to customer service and the added bonus of supporting a company based in your home country. I've emailed JDS labs on a Sunday evening and gotten a reply in 30 minutes. With the Chinese brands hopefully you bought it from a company in your country that will take care of the warranty; otherwise you have to ship it back to China and shipping that direction isn't as cheap.

And since performance better than these dacs are getting isn't audible with that line of thought why would anyone continue to develop new dacs at all?

If one already has a decent dac then there isn't much reason to get excited about them but for all of those using a low quality built-in dac this is a cheap way to make a real improvement.

 

[wadec22]

They already announced it was coming since January

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s-labs-atom-dac-will-be-announced-soon.11154/

Actually it was even earlier than that, John mentioned it in the comments of their blog back in October.
https://blog.jdslabs.com/2019/10/how-atom-amp-has-improved-in-2019/

I'm hopeful cuz I love their customer service and value proposition but I'm skeptical as well. They seem to refuse to bring certain features to market if they don't see them as scientifically beneficial even if customers really want them (like XLR).

Their latest round of new items lacked anything really worthwhile; display, remote, XLR... And they didn't measure any better than current market leaders in their price bracket.

Really seemed a pointless release....crossing my fingers for some pleasant surprises.

 

[PolkFan]

This logo that JDS Labs shows on their website may make a difference post-corona

View attachment 57309

For $100 we really don't have a lot of choices for non portable desktop dac's not sure why he said that i just checked. I don't want to support Schiit, and i want to get tier 1 level of performance

 

[luggles]

John Seaber

June 1, 2020 at 7:51 am

Fair question! We’re trying to avoid preorders and backorders to the extent possible.
The first batch of Atom DACs will be assembled, tested, and packaged this week. Stock will be available upon announcement.

https://blog.jdslabs.com/2020/03/on-covid-19/

 

[MZKM]

https://jdslabs.com/product/atom-dac/

AKM4490.
Looking at the specs and how it’s USB only, it competes with the Topping D10, though the latter has a screen for sampling rate whereas this has a bit better SINAD. Considering the Topping E30 exists now for $130, it likely remains king; having a stack is nice though.

 

[JohnYang1997]

https://jdslabs.com/product/atom-dac/

Started watching 2 minute ago.

 

[Theriverlethe]

Meh, $100 is a bit steep for USB-only input.

 

[Veri]

https://jdslabs.com/product/atom-dac/

AKM4490.
Looking at the specs and how it’s USB only, it competes with the Topping D10, though the latter has a screen for sampling rate. Considering the Topping E30 exists now for $130, it likely remains king; having a stack is nice though.

In-house measurements https://blog.jdslabs.com/2020/06/jds-labs-atom-dac-official-release-benchmarks/

 

[JohnYang1997]

In-house measurements https://blog.jdslabs.com/2020/06/jds-labs-atom-dac-official-release-benchmarks/

new coming d10s is getting into e30 territory oh no

 

[Veri]

new coming d10s is getting into e30 territory oh no

D10s? news to me I do agree with this JDS labs note

*There has been hyper focus on measurements in recent years, in a race towards Bigger and Better numbers. JDS Labs has benefited due to our longterm focus on honest performance. If the agreed threshold for “transparency” was 0.005% THD+N nearly a decade ago (only 86dB SINAD!), take a moment to consider that SINAD of 96dB is 10x cleaner , and 106dB is 100x cleaner than the previously agreed point of transparency. Whether you’re an objectivist or subjectivist, or somewhere in-between, please remember that our goal is to help you enjoy listening to the world’s best headphones. Audio performance is exceptional today.

Although I wished they used an AK4493 maybe that's asking too much from a product that already had a long development time..

 

[Theriverlethe]

D10s? news to me I do agree with this JDS labs note

*There has been hyper focus on measurements in recent years, in a race towards Bigger and Better numbers. JDS Labs has benefited due to our longterm focus on honest performance. If the agreed threshold for “transparency” was 0.005% THD+N nearly a decade ago (only 86dB SINAD!), take a moment to consider that SINAD of 96dB is 10x cleaner , and 106dB is 100x cleaner than the previously agreed point of transparency. Whether you’re an objectivist or subjectivist, or somewhere in-between, please remember that our goal is to help you enjoy listening to the world’s best headphones. Audio performance is exceptional today.

Although I wished they used an AK4493 maybe that's asking too much from a product that already had a long development time..

I guess humans evolved better hearing since nwavguy disappeared.

 

[Veri]

I guess humans evolved better hearing since nwavguy disappeared.

They're not wrong, though. SINAD shouldn't be the end-all. But, there is fierce competition in the budget DAC market especially with E30, Modius, ... in the end one will compare..

 

[bboris77]

They're not wrong, though. SINAD shouldn't be the end-all. But, there is fierce competition in the budget DAC market especially with E30, Modius, ... in the end one will compare..

Don't forget the good old Modi 3, at $99. In my mind, it still has not been dethroned as the king of value.

 

[Theriverlethe]

They're not wrong, though. SINAD shouldn't be the end-all. But, there is fierce competition in the budget DAC market especially with E30, Modius, ... in the end one will compare..

I have an Atom in my bedroom plugged into a mini-ITX motherboard with Realtek 1220A... I don’t hear anything wrong with it, but I suppose I would get a matching DAC if I were in the market.

 

[Objectivist01]

E30 vs nothing still now. No toslink, this should be priced around 70-100$

 

[ta240]

E30 vs nothing still now. No toslink, this should be priced around 70-100$

isn't 99 considered around 70-100?
https://jdslabs.com/product/atom-dac/

 

[odyo]

This is honestly disappointing product. Not even preferable over now outdated Modi 3.

Modi 3 + Heresy stack is preferable over this atom stack.
E30+L30 preferable over Schiit stack.

 

[Theriverlethe]

This is honestly disappointing product. Not even preferable over now outdated Modi 3.

Modi 3 + Heresy stack is preferable over this atom stack.
E30+L30 preferable over Schiit stack.

Why is E30+L30 preferable to the Schiit stack? That’s likely almost $300. You could get an Asgard 3 with built-in DAC.

 

[VeerK]

I’m glad they released the atom DAC for people who had the amp, I really like when companies release matching stacks. That being said, I’d say the E30+L30 is a better subjective value. Not too sure about the D10s, I’ve heard very little about it

 

[Theriverlethe]

I’m glad they released the atom DAC for people who had the amp, I really like when companies release matching stacks. That being said, I’d say the E30+L30 is a better subjective value. Not too sure about the D10s, I’ve heard very little about it

What’s the price supposed to be on the L30? I guess it will have an arguably nicer aluminum case.