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Geshelli JNOG Review (Balanced DAC)

Rate this DAC:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 39 18.4%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 98 46.2%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 69 32.5%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 6 2.8%

  • Total voters
    212

Lambda

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So, you think Geshelli are good to release a product that doesn't come remotely close to what is required to reproduce the full 20-20kHz range of audio, with low distortion, 40 years after Compact Disc was released?
I bet you won’t hear any effect from this filter.
If you like a different filter no none is stopping you from using it at 192Khz and using your own upsampler/filter
 

KSTR

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So, you think Geshelli are good to release a product that doesn't come remotely close to what is required to reproduce the full 20-20kHz range of audio, with low distortion, 40 years after Compact Disc was released?
What's your problem, John?
FR is flat as pancake up to 20kHz, THD is low except for that tiny degradation below 200Hz ... and do NOT judge from Amir'sTHD-N plot as that is disturbed by out of band noise from the noise shaping captured by a 90kHz bandwidth, so THD at any frequency >200Hz is well below -100dBr.
 

Madjalapeno

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So if you think you can make it cheaper, better, in a nicer case and sell it for profit. go ahead and send Your DAC to Amir ;)

CNC'd wood, laser cut acrylic, a Topping D10s, Raspberry Pi.

Probably better performance, and all my own work. (just need to finish wiring it up) However, I'm not trying to make a living making and selling something like this.

249055C1-7811-4A58-AA9B-B54F0232A678_1_105_c.jpeg


If they are selling their device for $250, the COG's with labor should be about half that.
 

Doodski

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CNC'd wood, laser cut acrylic, a Topping D10s, Raspberry Pi.

Probably better performance, and all my own work. (just need to finish wiring it up) However, I'm not trying to make a living making and selling something like this.

View attachment 169616

If they are selling their device for $250, the COG's with labor should be about half that.
I'm sensing some AudioLab 6000A style here with your cOOL cabinet.
lab 2.png

lab 1.png
 

Jimbob54

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This curiosity was to be the 2nd DAC Geshelli released after the ENOG of a couple of years ago. (EDIT- see @dseong post below, it was third after ENOG Pro and ENOG 2)It got a very limited release after they (presumably) designed based on AK chips, bought some then the plant went boom. At which point they decided to build and release what they could then move onto the J2 with ESS going forwards
 
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Lambda

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The only thing that catches my eye wrt to "sub-standard" measured performance is the channel imbalance wrt noise and distortion.
I’m sure he could send in one of his vintage CD players and it would perform way better in every test :p
 

dseong

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@Amir, thank you for your time and effort in publishing these measurements.

@VintageFlanker, it was priced $200 without USB and $250 with USB.

@Lamba, this is a production unit. People paid money for this. It was discontinued early January 2021. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/new-gesheli-labs-dac-the-jnog.18613/

This is Geshelli's 3rd DAC. They made the ENOG Pro, ENOG2, and JNOG, and now J2.

I'm glad to see the Amir's measurements are consistent with Geshelli's own:

THD+N (XLR output):
Ch1: 0.000386% (Geshelli's) 0.000378% (Amir's @ 1.941 Vrms)
Ch2: 0.000340% (Geshelli's) 0.000364% (Amir's @ 1.940 Vrms)

I wish Geshelli would post all the measurements that Amir includes on their website. Eagerly waiting for Amir's J2 review

I included screen shots of Geshelli's measurements for reference:
Original JNOG XLR Output THD+N at -3dbFs.png
Original JNOG XLR Output THD+N.png
Original JNOG XLR Output SNR at full volume.png
J2 XLR Output THD+N at full volume.png
J2 XLR Output SNR at full volume.png
 

Azathoth

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The name Geshelli already sounds nicer than say JDS Labs or Topping, the brand name alone plays into the overall experience of the gear for those more subjectively oriented. At least to English speaking consumers.
 

HiFidFan

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I was going to vote "not terrible" but decided on "poor" based on the awful aesthetics.

Can't buy one anyway.

 

shrimp_dude

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CNC'd wood, laser cut acrylic, a Topping D10s, Raspberry Pi.

Probably better performance, and all my own work. (just need to finish wiring it up) However, I'm not trying to make a living making and selling something like this.

If RME were into hustling money out of audiophiles, I imagine they could sell something like yours as an RME ADI-phile edition for $3k or something ridiculous.
 

shrimp_dude

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@ the Geshelli website it appears they have improved the legibility of the text on the front and rear panels. Or is this the same difficult to read text with better lighting and maybe photoshop'd?

I think the one Amir has is the 'blacked out' version, where everything is intentionally made to be dark/black. It's not made to be easier to read.
 

ousi

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I'm ordering the J2 and let's see how it measures. I'm surprised they didn't use ESS 9038PRO but instead went with 9026PRO which was from early 2016 (the one on my Yamaha CX-A3070 back then).

I totally agree that the "blinking led long-short press" user interface from Geshelli is not user friendly and confusing. It's one of the few products that I had to read the user manual to see how to use. I would rather they drop the feature to change the LED lighting (kinda remind me of the "mood lighting" in my cars, which is kinda pointless) and design a better UI. Or... maybe that's how they differentiate themselves from others, together with the metal case with acrylic front and back?
 
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ousi

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I think the one Amir has is the 'blacked out' version, where everything is intentionally made to be dark/black. It's not made to be easier to read.
Not sure, but it says "Matte black" and "Smoked Black" just like the current J2 version available option. BTW, the JNOG was a bit cheaper than J2 at 249.99 with USB. I just found the receipt so no more guessing :) (P.S. It did arrive right before Christmas)

jnog_order.png
 

ZolaIII

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I chopped his head off (panther's) and that's becoming environmental problem.
Sorry I want my equipment to have positive headroom over the established output measurement standard and even if it had stellar performance and other fundamental lacks are tied only to mesured unit (2V balanced output obviously isn't) I would never ever recommend it to anyone.
 

TK750

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I'm ordering the J2 and let's see how it measures. I'm surprised they didn't use ESS 9038PRO but instead went with 9026PRO which was from early 2016 (the one on my Yamaha CX-A3070 back then).

This was the explanation of the choice they provided a while back:

We tested out a variety of brands and choices including the higher end 9038. The 9038 is expensive, runs really hot, isn't very stable, and quite frankly we were not impressed with it. There is no point using something we didn't like, just to have a newer chip. Price-We don't feel the price is high. Actually, we were thrilled we could introduce a new product under $300.00. The ESS DAC chip price is much higher than AKM. Everything is harder to get and more expensive. There is a massive shortage of electronic components and the prices we pay have gone way up. Aluminum is at an all time high, shipping prices have skyrocketed and just about every component including the circuit board cost more than last year.
 

sarumbear

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ousi

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whatever, to everyone taste.. spread peace and tolerance for Advent Season.. ;)

View attachment 169640
Yea literally. That tube DAC might be worse than the first generation Creative Sound Blaster 1.0 at 8bit 22.5kHz :D It was cutting-edge now becomes "art" :) That did gave a pretty bad impression about anything tubed which in reality tube DAC can still measure pretty well... given the right implementation and likely $$
 

H-713

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My goodness, you guys are being so nice about how absolutely sh#t this so-called commercial product looks, tests and presents. It's just utter crap. The LPF at -10dB@22k is the giveaway.

At what point does someone call out this "PCB-in-a-can grade 10 science project" for what it is?

At least Topping try- a little. This thing is emabrassing. :facepalm:

As I mentioned before, this DAC has distortion and noise that is outside of the range of the HP 8903B and (if I remember the specs correctly) the first generation Audio Precisions. It's also better than the lower-end Audio Precisions from the 90s and 2000s. It's also outside of the measurement range of the Keithley 2015 THD and the QuantAsylum QA401. It is probably better than the oscillator in the QA402. I suspect it is also pushing the limits of Keysight's current U8903A.

Maybe I'm an idiot, but to me that isn't a failure. The case design is a little goofy, but at least they're trying something different rather than yet another generic extruded aluminum box.
 
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