JCALLY JM20 Headphone Dongle Review

[Billy Budapest]

It is considerably more expensive than the Apple dongle

It’s $15 more expensive. Brown bag it one day instead of going out to lunch and you’ve paid the delta.

 

[bequietjk]

What the hecc!? A gem!

 

[phoenixdogfan]

This stuff is just getting too good. The vast majority buying and using this dongle will probably be oblivious to just how perfect it truly is. Now they just need to make one this performant that sells for $3, and has built in PEQ.

 

[MC_RME]

FWIW, here are some measurements using the Cosmos APU+ADC:
View attachment 409006 View attachment 409007 View attachment 409005

If you plug in your headphones before you power up the JM20, then the dongle will measure the headphone impedance on startup and limit output voltage accordingly:
View attachment 409008

This effectively prevents clipping and is what JCally base their output power specs on (0.95Vrms @32Ω =28mW per channel, same as the US Apple dongle).

You can bypass this impedance sense auto gain mechanism (which Amir likely did by accident) by powering up the JM20 with a high impedance load or an open headphone plug (e.g. headphone adapter), then connecting your actual headphone load.

That way, you can get about twice the output power or +25% perceived volume at 32Ω.

And that impedance detect quirk is the exact reason the Tempotec Sonata HD Pro that I bought after the ASR review, and equipped with said blind connector, has been avoided quickly and no longer used. Too cumbersome, too unreliable. Also I think the JCally uses the H-mode, which then causes the non-linearity seen in the graph (the FOSI DS2 don't use impedance detection nor H-mode, it seems). Makes me wonder if the JCally also suffers from the delayed unmute issue after start, under Windows.

 

[Tell]

Got this JCally JM20 together with the 7Hz Zero 2, so thanks for confirming what I'm hearing; pure awesome reference sound quality for less than 50 euro!

 

[solderdude]

I found this review online..

It has weaknesses would you believe:

Weaknesses:​

• Slightly dry overall timbre tonality, sometimes barren (sterile)
• Average dynamic vibe overall, mild visceral bite and groove
• Less-organic, less-analogue timbre disposition
• Bass rolls off slightly shorter compared on reference grade comparison.
• Can be unforgiving on some songs, dependent on recording quality.
• Moderate layering, instruments sounded spaced closer together.
• Less than spectacular headstage, soundstage cramped in slightly.
• Spatial imaging is precise but less holographic compared to reference samples.

I hate it when something measures well but has a slightly dry overall timbre tonality and sometimes sounds barren (sterile) has an overall average dynamic 'vibe' with just a mild visceral bite and also a mild groove.
I hate to say this but at $24.- is also is less organic and has a (not measured but still present) bass roll-off and can be unforgiving on some (but not all) songs.
Add to that the layering is moderate and does not have a spectacular head/sound-stage and is a bit 'cramped' and not as 'holographic' as reference DACs (whatever those are).

fortunately it also has strengths...

Strengths:​

• Exceedingly crisp, coherent timbre – sparkly neutral and natural
• Clean Treble textures with graceful decays, mild airiness
• Excellent Treble extensions, comparable to Cayin N6ii and Topping D10s
• Commendable Bass extensions and details with tasty textures
• Strong, commanding Mid-Bass with lush decays.
• Bass exhibit solid texture definition, Mids moderately rich
• Moderately strong sounding sub-Bass seismic sensation and impact
• Lively guitars and stringed instruments attack
• Reference grade speed and transients handling
• Neutral, slightly forward, and clear male/female vocals, good depth
• Excellent micro details, almost reference grade
• Great Piano, Violin and Cello tones, attack, and decays
• Commendable sibilance resistance despite being sparkly bright.
• Clean background with zero floor noise

Yes... it does have an exceedingly crisp and coherent timbre yet slightly dry/barren/sterile.
The decays are graceful which is a good thing and the airiness fortunately is mild. I would not want it any other way.
Treble is well extended and has 'clean textures' which is important because it also can be (but only sometimes) unforgiving...
Furthermore is has commendable bass extension, moderately rich and solid texture but at the same time the bass rolls off shorter than it should and the seismic sensation and impact are only moderate ... dang I want the seismic sensation to have impact ...
Fortunately guitars are lively, piano, violin and cello sound great while male and female voices are neutral AND forward at the same time which is weird because they can't both be true but ... it sounds that way so there is nothing to complain. ... except for the weaknesses and the sparkly bright sound. The latter is not shown in measurements but hey... it is still there acc to the reviewer.
And not unimportant.... the sibilance resistance is commendable so far from futile.

 

[Old_School_Brad]

Interesting! So, how can we persuade the traditional subjectivists that achieving transparency doesn’t require spending $1,000 on a DAC?
You can't even change the opamp..

 

[Tell]

I found this review online..

It has weaknesses would you believe:

Weaknesses:​

• Slightly dry overall timbre tonality, sometimes barren (sterile)
• Average dynamic vibe overall, mild visceral bite and groove
• Less-organic, less-analogue timbre disposition
• Bass rolls off slightly shorter compared on reference grade comparison.
• Can be unforgiving on some songs, dependent on recording quality.
• Moderate layering, instruments sounded spaced closer together.
• Less than spectacular headstage, soundstage cramped in slightly.
• Spatial imaging is precise but less holographic compared to reference samples.

I hate it when something measures well but has a slightly dry overall timbre tonality and sometimes sounds barren (sterile) has an overall average dynamic 'vibe' with just a mild visceral bite and also a mild groove.
I hate to say this but at $24.- is also is less organic and has a (not measured but still present) bass roll-off and can be unforgiving on some (but not all) songs.
Add to that the layering is moderate and does not have a spectacular head/sound-stage and is a bit 'cramped' and not as 'holographic' as reference DACs (whatever those are).

fortunately it also has strengths...

Strengths:​

• Exceedingly crisp, coherent timbre – sparkly neutral and natural
• Clean Treble textures with graceful decays, mild airiness
• Excellent Treble extensions, comparable to Cayin N6ii and Topping D10s
• Commendable Bass extensions and details with tasty textures
• Strong, commanding Mid-Bass with lush decays.
• Bass exhibit solid texture definition, Mids moderately rich
• Moderately strong sounding sub-Bass seismic sensation and impact
• Lively guitars and stringed instruments attack
• Reference grade speed and transients handling
• Neutral, slightly forward, and clear male/female vocals, good depth
• Excellent micro details, almost reference grade
• Great Piano, Violin and Cello tones, attack, and decays
• Commendable sibilance resistance despite being sparkly bright.
• Clean background with zero floor noise

Yes... it does have an exceedingly crisp and coherent timbre yet slightly dry/barren/sterile.
The decays are graceful which is a good thing and the airiness fortunately is mild. I would not want it any other way.
Treble is well extended and has 'clean textures' which is important because it also can be (but only sometimes) unforgiving...
Furthermore is has commendable bass extension, moderately rich and solid texture but at the same time the bass rolls off shorter than it should and the seismic sensation and impact are only moderate ... dang I want the seismic sensation to have impact ...
Fortunately guitars are lively, piano, violin and cello sound great while male and female voices are neutral AND forward at the same time which is weird because they can't both be true but ... it sounds that way so there is nothing to complain. ... except for the weaknesses and the sparkly bright sound. The latter is not shown in measurements but hey... it is still there.
And not unimportant the sibilance resistance is commendable so far from futile.

I'm always amazed how people can "hear" all those differences between DACs when even my list of differences between speakers would be quite a bit smaller.

 

[NHL99]

Imagine a double-blind study with DAC's in range
$ 30, 100, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000
Is there some measurement that current tests are missing, and only the golden ears detect?

 

[horias2000]

Darn, I went and bought one. Actually I bought the JM30 as it was a few dollars cheaper than the JM20 and as far as I can tell it's the same thing. It certainly has the same DAC IC. I will definitely measure it with the cosmos when I get it. Thanks @amirm for another great review.

 

[Boobisha Chodhankar]

All these SINAD numbers mean nothing when you hear clicks and pops. I won't buy another CS43131 product after bad experience with Tempotec Sonata HD Pro

 

[solderdude]

That could merely be an issue with implementation.

 

[Boobisha Chodhankar]

That could merely be an issue with implementation.

This appears to be a common issue across multiple devices that use this chip

 

[Koeitje]

This appears to be a common issue across multiple devices that use this chip

So multiple devices have implementation issues. That's not uncommon.

 

[solderdude]

All these SINAD numbers mean nothing when you hear clicks and pops. I won't buy another CS43131 product after bad experience with Tempotec Sonata HD Pro

A Thread Dedicated to Cirrus Logic CS43131

The USB-C Dongle Market Apparently CS43130 was a Wolfson chip. It was Hidizs / Tempotec / Meizu that first drew my attention to CS43131. Later in 2020 products with dual CS43131 such as iBasso DC03 began appearing. We’ve had these pages...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Boobisha Chodhankar]

So multiple devices have implementation issues. That's not uncommon.

It's not important to me as a consumer

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I found this review online..

It has weaknesses would you believe:

Weaknesses:​

• Slightly dry overall timbre tonality, sometimes barren (sterile)
• Average dynamic vibe overall, mild visceral bite and groove
• Less-organic, less-analogue timbre disposition
• Bass rolls off slightly shorter compared on reference grade comparison.
• Can be unforgiving on some songs, dependent on recording quality.
• Moderate layering, instruments sounded spaced closer together.
• Less than spectacular headstage, soundstage cramped in slightly.
• Spatial imaging is precise but less holographic compared to reference samples.

I hate it when something measures well but has a slightly dry overall timbre tonality and sometimes sounds barren (sterile) has an overall average dynamic 'vibe' with just a mild visceral bite and also a mild groove.
I hate to say this but at $24.- is also is less organic and has a (not measured but still present) bass roll-off and can be unforgiving on some (but not all) songs.
Add to that the layering is moderate and does not have a spectacular head/sound-stage and is a bit 'cramped' and not as 'holographic' as reference DACs (whatever those are).

fortunately it also has strengths...

Strengths:​

• Exceedingly crisp, coherent timbre – sparkly neutral and natural
• Clean Treble textures with graceful decays, mild airiness
• Excellent Treble extensions, comparable to Cayin N6ii and Topping D10s
• Commendable Bass extensions and details with tasty textures
• Strong, commanding Mid-Bass with lush decays.
• Bass exhibit solid texture definition, Mids moderately rich
• Moderately strong sounding sub-Bass seismic sensation and impact
• Lively guitars and stringed instruments attack
• Reference grade speed and transients handling
• Neutral, slightly forward, and clear male/female vocals, good depth
• Excellent micro details, almost reference grade
• Great Piano, Violin and Cello tones, attack, and decays
• Commendable sibilance resistance despite being sparkly bright.
• Clean background with zero floor noise

Yes... it does have an exceedingly crisp and coherent timbre yet slightly dry/barren/sterile.
The decays are graceful which is a good thing and the airiness fortunately is mild. I would not want it any other way.
Treble is well extended and has 'clean textures' which is important because it also can be (but only sometimes) unforgiving...
Furthermore is has commendable bass extension, moderately rich and solid texture but at the same time the bass rolls off shorter than it should and the seismic sensation and impact are only moderate ... dang I want the seismic sensation to have impact ...
Fortunately guitars are lively, piano, violin and cello sound great while male and female voices are neutral AND forward at the same time which is weird because they can't both be true but ... it sounds that way so there is nothing to complain. ... except for the weaknesses and the sparkly bright sound. The latter is not shown in measurements but hey... it is still there acc to the reviewer.
And not unimportant.... the sibilance resistance is commendable so far from futile.

Reminds me of the time James Ramey showed a picture of a man to a group of Russian psychics and asked them to foretell what was portended for his future. After a bunch of the typical bs they fed to him like he was an important man who would one day make a great mark, Ramey showed the picture to the camera and revealed it was the long ago electrocuted Ted Bundy. Apparently those "psychics" never got the memo over the spirit ether in Moscow and Petersburg on that one.

Same thing here. These subjective reviews are what con men call "cold readings"--descriptions so ambiguous and qualified to the point of internal contradiction that they allow the individual receiver to decide it means exactly what they want with different individuals reaching contradictory conclusions. Works exactly the same with the description of personality types for various horoscope signs. And, of course, when something can mean just about anything, it truly means absolutely nothing which is kind of what you would expect from a group of people (subjective audio reviewers) who have all the powers of discernment of a Russian psychic.

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

Is there a lighting version, now that Apple will no longer sell the Lightning to Headphones adapter?


Pece.

 

[Tell]

This appears to be a common issue across multiple devices that use this chip

Never had any issues whatsoever with my JM20 fyi.

 

[solderdude]

Hi

Is there a lighting version, now that Apple will no longer sell the Lightning to Headphones adapter?


Pece.

USB-C only