JCALLY JM20 MAX Headphone Dongle Review

[sikamikaniko]

If I run the audiocheck.net tests using a pair of Crinacle Zero:2 and the JM20Max, I get fairly noticeable distortion even above 60 Hz. Is this normal?
With a GraveAudio DA06 CX31993, I get zero audible distortion even at 10 Hz.

Low Frequency Harmonic Distortion Subwoofer Sound Test

Checks whether audible Harmonic Distortion is present in the lowest frequency range of your audio equipment.

www.audiocheck.net

 

[jkim]

If I run the audiocheck.net tests using a pair of Crinacle Zero:2 and the JM20Max, I get fairly noticeable distortion even above 60 Hz. Is this normal?
With a GraveAudio DA06 CX31993, I get zero audible distortion even at 10 Hz.

Low Frequency Harmonic Distortion Subwoofer Sound Test

Checks whether audible Harmonic Distortion is present in the lowest frequency range of your audio equipment.

www.audiocheck.net

Something wrong with your setting. The JM20 Max does not distort with pure single-tone sine waves. Recorded audiocheck.net's 64 Hz and 70 Hz tones played by the JM20 Max:

No distortion shown in the spectrogram.

Just like the Qudelix 5K's playback:


But it distorts with multitone low-frequency signals when the level is monotonically increasing. See Part II of my review.

 

[yo!]

But this kind of distortion is not audible, and never ever in sub 100 Hz region.

Maybe simply driven the inears to hard? With around 200 mW it has way more power than typical inear phones can handle (3-30 mW)

 

[sikamikaniko]

Something wrong with your setting. The JM20 Max does not distort with pure single-tone sine waves. Recorded audiocheck.net's 64 Hz and 70 Hz tones played by the JM20 Max:
View attachment 462486
No distortion shown in the spectrogram.

Just like the Qudelix 5K's playback:
View attachment 462485

But it distorts with multitone low-frequency signals when the level is monotonically increasing. See Part II of my review.

Yes, I had seen your tests too—that's actually what convinced me to buy it. I know it's not the best choice for IEMs, but since I also have some over-ears that need a bit more power, I went with the MAX version.

My chain: Xiaomi 13t + jm20max+7hz Zero2. Click at frequency link on DuckDuckgo browser. Comfortable volumen.
Honestly, I’m quite lost. I suppose mine must have some kind of problem, considering the complaints here about quality control—it wouldn’t surprise me. The other day, I did the tests and I heard distortion all the time. I switched back and forth with the GraveAudio several times, matching the volumes, and every time I went back to the JM20 there was distortion. Yesterday, after your post, I repeated the tests and there was no distortion at all; I kept the same chain and conditions.

I don’t know if it’s due to warming or what, but it’s true that sometimes this dongle acts erratically—there are sound dropouts, then they disappear for a while, and then come back again.

 

[CedarX]

sometimes this dongle acts erratically—there are sound dropouts, then they disappear for a while, and then come back again.

Erratic behavior is likely coming from the more “complex” HW/SW side. There are reports of USB audio compatibility issues with the Xiaomi 13T. Have you tried the JM20-Max with another source (other phone, PC, Mac…)?

 

[sikamikaniko]

Erratic behavior is likely coming from the more “complex” HW/SW side. There are reports of USB audio compatibility issues with the Xiaomi 13T. Have you tried the JM20-Max with another source (other phone, PC, Mac…)?

No, I´ll try with Windows.

 

[Chowchilla]

Which Jcally/alternative supports mic and UAC1? Looking for a dongle to slap in my PS5. PEQ would be great

 

[fws]

Which Jcally/alternative supports mic and UAC1? Looking for a dongle to slap in my PS5. PEQ would be great

If you want something on par in performance and 2Vrms output, but free of the CS431xx issues, then give FiiO KA1 some research. Here is a pic from firmware 1.2 release which shows app support, UAC mode switching, and also the dongle was advertised as having mic support, but requires switching it on in the app

https://nwzimg.wezhan.net/contents/sitefiles3600/18000638/images/6149603.jpg

The caveats to research are
1. I recall reading a topic where people said they had to use 1.21 firmware to get the mic working, instead of the 1.3 which still seems to be the latest, link below

https://www.reddit.com/r/FiiO/comments/1fal31f/fiio_ka1_inline_mic_not_working/

2. I have never used the FiiO app so I have no idea if EQ stays saved on, or does it require the app to be on

Here is the download for the firmwares

https://forum.fiio.com/note/showNoteContent.do?id=202207091700461182644

The FiiO app is to be used on Android, while firmware update is on Windows, I think I saw a mention of a web app, but no idea how it is or if KA1 is supported

KA1 was measured by Wolf from L7AudioLab who was also a user here and is a respected source
https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/fiio-ka1/
The output clarity is on par if not marginally better than CS431xx dongles if we ignore their DRE trickery padding the numbers in measurements. The output power is not as limited by impedance sensing either. At the end you will find there THD+N vs Power and vs Voltage, certainly a bit more higher impedance friendly, and 16Ohm is somewhat limited to 1Vrms, but that is still much more than 0.5Vrms below 20Ohm for the non-Max JM20.

The dongle runs on ES9281AC Pro, so while there is a bit of an ESS hump, there are no Cirrus Logic shenanigans going on. The main downside would be it being a "pendrive" sized device without detachable cable, but that would be mostly a consideration for handling in portable use in like a pocket.

 

[CedarX]

If you want something on par in performance and 2Vrms output, but free of the CS431xx issues, then give FiiO KA1 some research.

Does the KA1 have a setting to switch between UAC 1.0 and 2.0? If it cannot be set to UAC 1.0, it won’t work with a PS5…

 

[fws]

Does the KA1 have a setting to switch between UAC 1.0 and 2.0? If it cannot be set to UAC 1.0, it won’t work with a PS5…

They advertise it and show the render as switchable in the app, no physical switch, so that would require running the app on an Android to set it first, and only then connect to PS5. I think they even mentioned users have to do it that way somewhere (either in FAQ or one of the firmware pages).

Edit: Quote from the firmware download page/changelog:
"USB 1.0 and USB 2.0 mode could be switched via FiiO Control App. (The function will be set after reconnect.) USB2.0 is set as default. When using with device like switch, you could switch to USB 1.0 mode first."
They use "USB" 1.0/2.0 here, but the render pic shows it under "UAC Version".

 

[Chowchilla]

They advertise it and show the render as switchable in the app, no physical switch, so that would require running the app on an Android to set it first, and only then connect to PS5. I think they even mentioned users have to do it that way somewhere (either in FAQ or one of the firmware pages).

Edit: Quote from the firmware download page/changelog:
"USB 1.0 and USB 2.0 mode could be switched via FiiO Control App. (The function will be set after reconnect.) USB2.0 is set as default. When using with device like switch, you could switch to USB 1.0 mode first."
They use "USB" 1.0/2.0 here, but the render pic shows it under "UAC Version".

Thankyou

I'm somewhat apprehensive about buying this mind, I picked up the fiio JA11 Which used the fiio app and had UAC1 support. It worked on the PS5..BUT it was very quiet. There's something with PS5 that some dongles, like FiiO ones don't have good volume.

Unless the KA1 doesn't have the issue

 

[lewdish]

Is there any notice over microphone input? Trying to find a reasonably powerful dongle w/ microphone support as an alternative to apple dongle.

 

[Palladium]

Is there any notice over microphone input? Trying to find a reasonably powerful dongle w/ microphone support as an alternative to apple dongle.

With power output as strong as the JM20 Max? AFAIK, none.

 

[mc.god]

Is there any notice over microphone input? Trying to find a reasonably powerful dongle w/ microphone support as an alternative to apple dongle.

Jm20 Max doesn't have mic input
Jm20 Pro has mic input but not as powerfull as Max but still much more than Apple dongle.
Fiio KA15 has mic input and same power than Jm20 Max.

 

[PiedroPieretto]

I have a love-hate-relationship with the dongle and wonder if anyone else has the same issue (sorry if it was already addressed in this thread).

I found that the dongle's usb-c plug is very finicky. Sometimes I have to plug the dongle in twice or even three times to "wake it up" and work. Other times, when keeping it plugged in, it will just go to "sleep" und not play unless I plug it in and out again.

It's a shame, as I bought it to circumvent the issue with Apple's USB-C dongle being bogged down in Europe. The JM20 Max has lotsa power to drive even my HD 650 to comfortably loud levels and I love it for it.

It doesn't have the aforementioned erratic behavior of sound dropping in and out. When it works, it works splendidly.

I'm completely in the Apple ecosystem, so using it with my iPhone and MacBook.

Wonder if I received a broken unit or if that's generally a problem with the dongle.

 

[Ahmonge]

I have a love-hate-relationship with the dongle and wonder if anyone else has the same issue (sorry if it was already addressed in this thread).

I found that the dongle's usb-c plug is very finicky. Sometimes I have to plug the dongle in twice or even three times to "wake it up" and work. Other times, when keeping it plugged in, it will just go to "sleep" und not play unless I plug it in and out again.

It's a shame, as I bought it to circumvent the issue with Apple's USB-C dongle being bogged down in Europe. The JM20 Max has lotsa power to drive even my HD 650 to comfortably loud levels and I love it for it.

It doesn't have the aforementioned erratic behavior of sound dropping in and out. When it works, it works splendidly.

I'm completely in the Apple ecosystem, so using it with my iPhone and MacBook.

Wonder if I received a broken unit or if that's generally a problem with the dongle.

I'm not experiencing these problems with my iPad Air M2. There, the dongle works flawlessly every time i plug it in. I would test your JM20 Max with other devices if possible; perhaps the unit is defective.

 

[PiedroPieretto]

It might be. I’m using it on my iPad Pro, iPhone and my work MacBook and it has the same issue on either device.

Will probably write the reseller and see if there’s something they can do.

 

[TheEverydayNightmare]

I really don't know if anyone else has this sort of issue, but I feel as if it gets very hot. I'm not sure if this is even supposed to happen lol. Is this normal? It get hot just plugged in without sending any signal :/

 

[staticV3]

I really don't know if anyone else has this sort of issue, but I feel as if it gets very hot. I'm not sure if this is even supposed to happen lol. Is this normal? It get hot just plugged in without sending any signal :/

That's the price you pay for 200mW @32Ω in such a small package.

Same deal with the FiiO KA11. Both use the SGM8262 Amp. Both run hot, even at idle.

 

[Somafunk]

I really don't know if anyone else has this sort of issue, but I feel as if it gets very hot. I'm not sure if this is even supposed to happen lol. Is this normal? It get hot just plugged in without sending any signal :/

I noticed similar with my JM20max along with battery drain so I now use a HiBy D1 with only 65mW of power which is more than enough for anything i own/use (in signature), it comes with the added bonus of having volume up/down buttons

HiBy Digital D1

The HiBy Digital D1 is a miniature USB audio dongle that may be connected to smartphones and computers alike! Best match: HiBy Digital D1 + HiBy Yves 6mm Micro-dynamic Ti-plated HiFi Earphones

store.hiby.com