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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

Mulder

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Distortion dominates our SINAD score which at 109 dB would have been great two years ago, but not today:

View attachment 169559

I am sad to not be able to recommend the Geshelli JNOG DAC.
Maybe the categories need adjusting for 2 channel dacs. This review does seem more negative than the results (At least to my eye).
Yes. The reviews are completly out of sync with the color-cheme. But the ranking as such is also problematic since it is only SINAD. There are other parameters that is equally important. That is even more important when it comes to amplifiers.
 

Swtoby

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This was my first dac I ever purchased, and honestly I must say I really enjoyed it. Prior to this I tried ESS dac and BB chip, which I had borrowed and I actually preferred the JNOG over both, not sure how either measured but to my dodo ears it actually sounded really good. Clarity and dynamics had greatly improved over the previous two dacs.

Second to that, I would like to add the unit itself was flawed. When I used USB without a driver installed I would get a ticking sound. Then when I install the USB driver the coax input would stop working. I contacted Gishelli and they basically told me to pick my poison, whichever I preferred to use the most, but nothing is wrong with the DAC itself. It's just a software issue, not that it rubbed me wrong, but I think that's kind of nuts. Not sure if anyone else experienced this issue. But grateful to have the JNOG over the J2 cause I didn't like the ESS tone and im sure their unit had the same ess hump or whatever it maybe that I disliked about the ESS chip.

Will not count ess out, one day I would like to try the Aune S8 or Gustard X26pro. Not sure how the Aune S8 measures.. not sure if it was ever measured.
I had the ticking sound from the USB also which the driver fixed. Fortunately all of the other inputs worked no problem after the driver install. I've had the unit about a year now and it has worked without issue.
 

MacCali

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I had the ticking sound from the USB also which the driver fixed. Fortunately all of the other inputs worked no problem after the driver install. I've had the unit about a year now and it has worked without issue.
Yes, well the irony in all this is the software did something to my pc that is strictly affecting the coax input to the dac. Optical still works and so does usb.

Also the only other thing maybe is that the when using both usb and coax the unit is having some kind of malfunction and I just missed it.

When I got my Schitt Eitr, I was able to feed the unit via coax with no issues. Also maybe wrong but to my ears coax did sound the best, possibly just placebo. It definitely got better with the eitr, but this was all pre-eitr
 

Swtoby

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"I don't remember the last time I saw a balanced output that is so low. Medium level was almost 0.5 volt and low was 0.128 or so. What is the purpose of these levels?"
As far as I know it's their answer to a problem they have created themselves - amps they are selling don't have gain switch so in order to change that they.... create a DAC with gain switch. Yes seriously.
I've found it to be a handy feature when using a variety of amps from different manufacturers that may be a bit too high gain for my taste on sensitive headphones. Drop the level down on the Geshelli for a usable volume range on the amp. This worked great on the SMSL SP200, for example, which seemed too loud with everything even with the volume control pretty low.
 

Rottmannash

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Its 2021.
Uber, Airbnb, Lyft,Pinterest, Snap, Zillo,Slack... Do they make Profit?!
Dose Tesla or Space X make Profit?
When did Facebook become Profitable?
not seeing venture capitalists seeking them out
 

Lambda

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You can’t make small scale electronic production in the US profitable if you want to offer Prices comparable to mass produced goods form established Asian manufactures.
You Can't Increases production volume. if you don't sell any products
You wont sell any products if no one knows your company your products and your priced an order of magnitude over the "competition"

This product was not made for scalable production in the first place.
It’s a Hobby DIY project that turned into a one man Company "manufactur".

You know any Better performing DAC "Hand made in USA" that's cheaper?

Don’t know why people seem to hate it?!
Its audible transparent.
Performs Objectively better then 75% of the competitions.
Is made by one man and is wive in his garage (this alone is a noticeably achievement) and still reasonably Priced.
 
Last edited:

ZolaIII

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@Lambda and all of them that come with normal competitive prices do exactly that, big or small. Even Japanese companies moved to other Asian countries for a sakes of better work labour prices and components availability.
Come on people there is no magic there, don't be naive. At best made in USA this day's mean assembled on US soil and sometime not even that.
I really can't and won't comment something which lacks half the gain on start and 75% of it when you play DSD on it (-3/-6 dB depending on DAC IP). Me by I am wrong and that's perfectly fine for you as you all have couple of KW amplifiers of DH class in your pocket and it would have cost them 2$ to make it properly. That's a fundamental flaw. So get a good damn thing out of the market and make a new revision of it with everything mentioned solved and while at it try to improve it future more if you are even a half decent human beings not loving caring self proclaimed manufacturers. When you done that for many many times and with almost all available IP's you will get great at it (like Topping did).
 
OP
amirm

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Thank you for correcting me I guess but your sentence is very vague, who is "they" what is "them". On the "same" what? You say "Jason" I assume you are talking about Schiit?
No. I am talking about Geshelli Labs. Jason is our member that does interviews with them. See: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ellectual-people-podcast-geshelli-labs.27001/

Watch the video and you will get better insight on how they are very vertically integrated as far as design and manufacturing. They have a side plastics business which helps (and why they use plastics in their audio products).
 

PeteL

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No. I am talking about Geshelli Labs. Jason is our member that does interviews with them. See: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ellectual-people-podcast-geshelli-labs.27001/

Watch the video and you will get better insight on how they are very vertically integrated as far as design and manufacturing. They have a side plastics business which helps (and why they use plastics in their audio products).
Interesting, as they states in the interview, as far as they know they are the only ones, I wouldn’t argue against facts, Instead of “no one” I should have said pretty much no one. They are not representative of the industry. I didn’t get who you where talking about.
 

jtwrace

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No. I am talking about Geshelli Labs. Jason is our member that does interviews with them. See: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ellectual-people-podcast-geshelli-labs.27001/

Watch the video and you will get better insight on how they are very vertically integrated as far as design and manufacturing. They have a side plastics business which helps (and why they use plastics in their audio products).
And having visited their operation, I can for sure they do it all in house. They even have pick-n-place machines. Truly all done in house. Heck, even their packing is done in house. OH, and yes, I did see their APx555 too.
 

Jimster480

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By all reports, the people behind the company are very nice, and they have made some very good products. This just is not one of them in comparison to other products at a similar price that measure better and often offer additional features, like the Schiit Modius,Topping E50, SMSL M200MKII, etc. Even the Topping D10 Balanced measures better at a much lower price, although it is USB input only. All have 4V outputs.
True, I have one of their original Amps's and it is wonderful! The people from the company have been very nice on every forum that I have seen them on.
I was thinking I had a DAC, but then realized its actually the Amp. Technically its the best performing device I have...
 

pseudoid

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Personally I am happy that we have smaller players, If the only valid way of doing this is to be big enough to compete in pricing, none of these small brands would survive and we'd be left with just a handful of companies dominating the market, because you simply can't be as cheap as they do in China, the numbers don't add up.
...and...
If we are still talking about the North-American market, no one can afford to do that in audio. It
Please keep in mind of the following, which provides a bit of leverage to non-Chinese electronics manufacturers:
U.S. trade with Taiwan is booming, as the self-governing island cashes in on surging demand for its computer chips and lures factories back from China, where many exports to the U.S. including electronics are subject to 25% tariffs.

From <https://www.wsj.com/articles/us-china-taiwan-trade-11638663970>
 

Fleuch

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No. I am talking about Geshelli Labs. Jason is our member that does interviews with them. See: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ellectual-people-podcast-geshelli-labs.27001/

Watch the video and you will get better insight on how they are very vertically integrated as far as design and manufacturing. They have a side plastics business which helps (and why they use plastics in their audio products).
Amir, do you have the current status of Geshelli Labs, as there is a red bar warning and message on Google Search:

"Geshelli Labs Services is permanently closed. If that's wrong, you can suggest an edit."

URL used: https://www.google.com/search?q=geshelli

Real pity if another artisan manufacturer has closed the doors.
 

Lambda

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If they are not closes and someone has direct contact to them maybe ask nice if they can send in there new DAC and amp for measurements.
I think they relay deserve the publicity from ASR.
 

dseong

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They are not closed! They have a website… They also have an profile on this forum I believe.
 

Fleuch

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That’s their old location. They’re open. Go their website or use the thing called a telephone.
Just an example, then, of not believing everything that is written on Google. It might not be the same Geshelli Labs even, but it is better to be cautious than to send $$ into the wrong pot. A web site is not evidence that the company is still alive and well in Melbourne, Florida. The Geshelli web site prefers not to declare a bricks and mortar address, there is a telephone number and an email address but by now paranoia is kicking in.

The sensible thing is for Geshelli to note ""Geshelli Labs Services is permanently closed." is wrong and take up the offer from Google to "suggest an edit."

The ESS chip in the new J2 DAC is the ES9026PRO which is at least two iterations behind the ones now used by Topping et al. (eg 9028, 9038 and recently 9068)

The reason given by Geshelli is

We chose the PRO series because of the 4x2 current based configuration. This means, you can tie four independent channels together as one therefore lowering noise and distortion levels. We also chose to run the DAC analog output in current mode.

Noise is usually additive so tying four channels together would tend to increase the noise floor, not reduce it, particularly if the same data is streamed through all four channels . . . . . . .
 
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