Geshelli Labs NEW J2 Dac

[Deleted member 31747]

Wanted to hop on and let folks know that I got my J2. Great piece of kit! Sherri did a great job on the case (Black/Blue Mist is all that...) and the sound by Geno is very nice! I love that we're supporting people that love this like we all do. I had been testing a Schiit Asgard 3 with the 4490 that I picked up a couple of weeks ago and I already have an Arcam rHead as well as the Grace M9XX. Alas the Schiit after blowing me away for a few days with the overall quality and performance for such an entry level price developed a scratching sound that I've yet to isolate. I was hoping to do a broader comparison. For now I'm letting things settle in and really enjoying the J2. Being able to switch from the Amanero USB with Foobar for bit perfect music and then switch over to Optical out from my motherboard for gaming and general computing in combination with an ASIO implementation of voicemeeter has been fantastic. I can't compare the Sabre to Geshelli's AK implementation but I can say that my overall impression is that this is less flat and more open than the other two AK offerings at my disposal. Of course we all know that could be recency bias but I'll keep on it.

Agreed, the J2 (and my Archel2.5 Pro) is great piece of kit. I am really enjoying my HD600’s again after 8 years of non-use. I really can’t believe the quality - build and musicality - that I am enjoying with this set-up sourced from my MacBook Air.

 

[Veri]

but then I remembered you only live twice.

 

[Morpheus85]

My J2 came today. The sound is very, very good. I find it very neutral.

 

[dseong]

Hmm I wonder why mine is taking so long ship. I purchased it along with the Erish. I live in California.

 

[Morpheus85]

My delivery to Germany took 3 days.

 

[mkawa]

probably supply chain issues.

 

[Morpheus85]

all 4 red LEDs on my J2 have been lit since today. Even if I switch it off with the PWR button, they still light up.

 

[adamjohari]

Geshelli J2 or Schiit Modius?

 

[Deleted member 31747]

Geshelli J2 or Schiit Modius?

+1 J2

 

[Morpheus85]

My DAC is broken. It is still playing but the sound is quieter and the rear digital inputs do not work. Geshelli told me that the USB board is probably broken. I received a refund. Many thanks to Geshelli for the service.

 

[2ko]

My DAC is broken. It is still playing but the sound is quieter and the rear digital inputs do not work. Geshelli told me that the USB board is probably broken. I received a refund. Many thanks to Geshelli for the service.

It's happened to mine as well but they sent me the a new one right away. Now, they are working perfect.

 

[Deleted member 13028]

Geshelli J2 or Schiit Modius?

I am looking for a good XLR-capable DAC. These two are on my list. I have a question; am I right in assuming the J2 outputs only 2.5V via the XLR connection?

 

[Deleted member 31747]

I am looking for a good XLR-capable DAC. These two are on my list. I have a question; am I right in assuming the J2 outputs only 2.5V via the XLR connection?

I am reading that the J2 output is 2.5Vrms.

 

[dseong]

On Geshelli's website, they have measurements that show 2.5V on the XLR outputs.

 

[blagadies]

On Geshelli's website, they have measurements that show 2.5V on the XLR outputs.

deal breaker? why even xlr for 2.5? If true it's a deal breaker for me....

 

[dseong]

deal breaker? why even xlr for 2.5? If true it's a deal breaker for me....

Why? You will pair this with an amp anyway.

 

[Deleted member 13028]

It is a dealbreaker for me. I will need more headroom, as I will be doing some heavy EQ-ing and 2.5V is quite far from driving my amp to its maximum.

 

[Veri]

deal breaker? why even xlr for 2.5? If true it's a deal breaker for me....

It is a dealbreaker for me. I will need more headroom, as I will be doing some heavy EQ-ing and 2.5V is quite far from driving my amp to its maximum.

Yeah. I personally think 4V and higher in for more sensitive/medium sensitive headphones, head-amps get too loud too quickly so for people like me a low 2.5V output would work well enough. But other users will expect a normal nominal 4.0V output, for hard to drive headphones or to drive other power amp..

To add extra confusion, their ENOG2 did have 4+ V output so I wonder how they arrived at the 2.5V XLR output in the J2.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-measurements-of-geshelli-enog2-pro-dac.6051/

 

[Swtoby]

deal breaker? why even xlr for 2.5? If true it's a deal breaker for me....

This does appear to be the case. I have the original Jnog and Archel 2.5. I plugged both outputs from the dac into the amp and toggling between the inputs the level sounds subjectively the same.

 

[mononoaware]

Yeah. I personally think 4V and higher in for more sensitive/medium sensitive headphones, head-amps get too loud too quickly so for people like me a low 2.5V output would work well enough. But other users will expect a normal nominal 4.0V output, for hard to drive headphones or to drive other power amp..

To add extra confusion, their ENOG2 did have 4+ V output so I wonder how they arrived at the 2.5V XLR output in the J2.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-measurements-of-geshelli-enog2-pro-dac.6051/

Enog2 Pro had the ability to switch gain level by holding down the button for 3 seconds.
I could not find official Enog2 Pro specifications, but I am guessing Low gain = 2.5v and High gain = 4v (4.3v according to XLR measurements).

And according to Geshelli the JNOG DAC (AK4493) has 3 gain level settings (low/med/high).