JCALLY JM20 MAX Headphone Dongle Review

[jkim]

No reason to measure multitone performance at different signal levels?

Asking since I've seen a significant amount of CS based products exhibiting peculiar behavior in these tests.

My review included those tests based on your provided information and request

 

[Jean-Paul Petrosyan]

My review included those tests based on your provided information and request

Just finished reading it, in fact, and it's great. Amazing work, thank you so very much!

Now if only there was more interest in testing DAPs here... Well, I guess I might just buy a used smartphone (just gotta make sure the USB port is still in good shape) to couple it with a dongle.

 

[Endibol]

Another question is why some Japanese Pioneer, Denon and Marantz still sound so sweet and musical when directly compared to TPA3255 highest performing amps?

An abundance of harmonics?

 

[Endibol]

My main concern is that we are fighting to get the most refined form of water. But does drinking refined water give same level of Satisfaction that we get from drinking Juice?

Shouldn’t the music be juicy?

 

[Jean-Paul Petrosyan]

Shouldn’t the music be juicy?

But what if it isn't? What if you find that your previously favourite tracks actually sound bad or "meh" (to you, at least), for whatever reason, with your new perfectly neutral and "transparent" gear?

Matching gear to your music is infinitely better than matching music to your gear.

Of course, learning to compensate for that with album specific EQ is a better (more effective and, in some cases at least, much cheaper) solution. But it can be tedious, and even apart from that - it's simply boring.

I reckon it's way more fun and interesting to search for and use "flavoured" gear, if money is no object...

 

[Short38]

Someday I hope to own a dongle….

 

[JanL]

I don't think your comparison is valid - DACs/amps/speakers/headphones etc. are just means to listen to music (or whatever other sound). So, using your analogy, they will be something like cups. E.g. a cup with a taste of orange juice. You drink water from it - tastes like water with orange juice. You drink coffee from it - tastes like shit coffee with orange juice etc. And you can never drink from it anything that tastes like the original beverage. Even orange juice will taste like an orange juice on steroids.

Yes, except in your comparison all music is like coffee and the added flavors are sugar, milk or a sprinkle of cinnamon, nutmeg etc. Some people like their coffee black, some people always add something to it to make it "better". It's all acceptable. I have multiple headphones and IEMs and use them all. I don't listen to the one that's closest to Harman exclusively. I have some planars, some dynamics, some hybrids. If I feel like cranking it, I'll reach for the one with subdued midrange and treble so that I don't get assaulted by the 2-5kHz but still get the impact. If I listen softly, I'll reach for something more V-shaped, etc.

Also, Yamaha hi-fi gear used to have a sound that stood out among other hi-fi offerings back in the 80's and 90's. Maybe others were just crappy and Yamaha offered better specs, but I could hear it and I heard the same impressions from others, unprompted, just talking about gear at get togethers.

 

[wwenze]

So do I now have to feel not-so-smart "lugging" around my Fosi DS2? I too wanna know if perchance power consumption is a drawback, or reliability? ...Man I'm under the weather, stoned, not feeling like reading the thread started by our good-fellow member

Power consumption eats into your phone battery life.

So... should we include this in USB dongle reviews?

It's a USB power meter

 

[xanalog]

Someday I hope to own a dongle….

Are you talking about re-incarnation stuff?

It used to be that you came with one; yet, its etymology is conflicting:

...But maybe your first exposure to dongle was not so neutral, or inclusive. In March of 2013, the tech developer and feminist advocate Adria Richards overheard two men joking about “big dongles” at a programming conference. She was sitting in front of them in the audience, and she fired off a tweet condemning them for making the environment uncomfortable for women.
https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/03/dongle-history-etymology-and-word-and-sound-associations-explained.html

or

...However, the word "dongle" is not new. If first appeared in print in New Scientist, in 1981:
"The dongle is an extra piece of memory that is plugged into the computer, without which the program refuses to run."
But what transpired some 40 years ago to create such a curious new word?
"As for its actual origin, I think it's just a playful alteration of 'dangle'," lexicographer and "all-around word nut" Ben Zimmer told Mashable.
This explanation seems like a plausible answer, as dongles often do dangle. It's also conceivable that "dongle" derived from "dong," which also naturally dangles.
https://mashable.com/article/the-curious-origin-of-the-word-dongle

or

The Atlantic’s Megan Garber has an enlightening rundown of alternative origin myths—including a now-debunked claim that “ ‘dongle’ was a derivation of its inventor, a Mr. ‘Don Gall’ ”—but, wherever it came from, the word woos and jangles in equal measure. “It gives me an uncomfortable feeling,” confessed one colleague in our interoffice chat client. “I do not like dongle.” “I love dongle,” countered a second co-worker. “It is funny. I thought everyone loved dongle.”
https://slate.com/human-interest/20...nd-word-and-sound-associations-explained.html

 

[Millo_jp]

¿Ahora tengo que sentirme un poco incómodo cargando con mi Fosi DS2? Yo también quiero saber si el consumo de energía es un inconveniente, ¿o la fiabilidad? ... ¡Qué mal estoy, fumado y sin ganas de leer el hilo que empezó nuestro querido compa Failure and

Sometimes it fails and the phone stops recognizing it; sometimes I've had to restart it; sometimes it made strange noises, but that stopped happening. Sorry if I don't understand, I use a translator; I don't speak English.

 

[CedarX]

Power consumption eats into your phone battery life.

So... should we include this in USB dongle reviews?

View attachment 445179
It's a USB power meter

First, using these dongles on PCs or Laptops is quite common: whatever power consumption is negligible in that scenario.

For phones (or DAPs ), it’s really about differentiating the worse dongles from the bad dongles—it’s never gonna be good. So, is it that interesting?

I’m not aware of any efficiency standard that would be applicable to these devices. If we have to develop a standard, how do we come up with a meaningful measurement, or a small number of measurements that are good proxies of the dongle efficiency and correlate well with “typical use”: Measured at what load impedance(s)? How loud? Should the—not uncommon—power saving features be dismissed (even if they reduce battery drain)? If the dongle has DSP features, how do they affect the measurements and how to assess them?

Maybe a “bad”/ “terrible” / “awful” rating would be enough!

 

[wwenze]

First, using these dongles on PCs or Laptops is quite common: whatever power consumption is negligible in that scenario.

For phones (or DAPs ), it’s really about differentiating the worse dongles from the bad dongles—it’s never gonna be good. So, is it that interesting?

I’m not aware of any efficiency standard that would be applicable to these devices. If we have to develop a standard, how do we come up with a meaningful measurement, or a small number of measurements that are good proxies of the dongle efficiency and correlate well with “typical use”: Measured at what load impedance(s)? How loud? Should the—not uncommon—power saving features be dismissed (even if they reduce battery drain)? If the dongle has DSP features, how do they affect the measurements and how to assess them?

Maybe a “bad”/ “terrible” / “awful” rating would be enough!

Nobody said any standards. We just measure idle current. Reasons are already covered in "amplifier efficiency" threads.

 

[CedarX]

Nobody said any standards. We just measure idle current. Reasons are already covered in "amplifier efficiency" threads.

Idle current with nothing connected to the dongle? What would we conclude from that?

 

[BossBunos]

Great review! Good to see that the max has the same or better performance compared to the base model. Gives me good hopes that my JM20 PRO should also have similar performance. Chose the pro for the PEQ capability it provides. For IEM's I don't need all the power in the world but really like to have the EQ.
The EQ can be saved to the dongle which is really nice!
JCally JM20Pro + Truthear Gate = perfection for $50

 

[MC_RME]

Power consumption eats into your phone battery life.

So... should we include this in USB dongle reviews?

View attachment 445179
It's a USB power meter

[Updated with more measurements and Jcally standby]

That one has no USB-C output - and sucks, I have that one. I used the FNIRSI FNB48P, the only one in my collection that would work (for various power and USB-C related reasons). Its display works much too quick, numbers jumping all the time, so here are some values averaged by human vision. First: my USB source was at 5.17 V on a Windows computer.

The Apple dongle draws 1 mA with nothing connected (nc), and 17 mA when active. At full level output, that is 0.5 V (EU version, don't have US here) and 2 x 32 Ohms load it's about 43 mA or 222 mW. At 300 Ohms a harmless 22 mA or 114 mW. So that's a reference to compare.

The Jcally JM20 Max makes no difference for nc/connected, but has some little scheme of energy saving (maybe the SGM charge pumps). It draws 66 mA aka 340 mW with no audio playing, and 97 mA aka 501 mW when playing very low level signals. To compare with the Apple dongle I set volume to 0.5 V output level (again 2 x 32 Ohm load), then it's 118 mA or 610 mW. The basic power consumption here clearly ruins energy efficiency compared to the Apple dongle, but one doesn't buy it for that output level. At 1 V I measured 150 mA or 775 mW. 1.4 V -> 170 mA, 879 mW. And at full power aka 2.5 V it's 240 mA or 1.25 W. Wowza - no wonder it's getting hot then...

At 300 Ohms it is only a fraction more than the basic power consumption: 0.5 V -> 99 mA, 511 mW. 1.0 V -> 100 mA, 520 mW. 1.4 V -> 102 mA, 530 mW. 2.5 V -> 109 mA, 560 mW.

 

[pavuol]

That one has no USB-C output - and sucks, I have that one. I used the FNIRSI FNB48P, the only one in my collection that would work (for various power and USB-C related reasons). It's display works much too quick, numbers jumping all the time, so here are some values averaged by human vision. First: my USB source was at 5.17 V on a Windows computer.

The Apple dongle draws 1 mA with nothing connected (nc), and 17 mA when active. At full level output, that is 0.5 V (EU version, don't have US here) and 2 x 32 Ohms load it's about 43 mA or 222 mW. So that's a reference to compare.

The Jcally JM20 Max knows no standby and no nc/connected. It's always fully powered, drawing 66 mA aka 340 mW. To compare I set volume to 0.5 V output level (again 2 x 32 Ohm load), then it's 118 mA or 610 mW. The basic load here clearly ruins energy efficiency compared to the Apple dongle, but one doesn't buy it for that output level. At 1 V I measured 150 mA or 775 mW, at 1.4 V 170 mA or 879 mW, and at full power aka 2.5 V it's 240 mA or 1.25 W. Wowza - no wonder it's getting hot then...

Would you measure 300 Ohm load as well? Happy Easter

 

[Eddie]

Incorrect information. These are the specs of the standard JM20, not the JM20 MAX.

Correct specs from the product page:
View attachment 444935

I cannot find the product page on jcallybd.com. The product is simply not listed there.
Could you give me the link to the specs above?

 

[mc.god]

The Jcally JM20 Max knows no standby and no nc/connected. It's always fully powered

This probably explains why it doesn't suffer from the ramp-up issue, making it much more suitable for pc usage scenario.

 

[MC_RME]

Not fully. I updated my post #95 with the 300 Ohms results. Doing that I noticed the Jcally does have some kind of 'standby', but maybe here it is not the CS that goes into that state but the driver op-amps...

 

[lucian]

Jcally does have some kind of 'standby',

whats the impact on power consumption on idle - still 66mA. Which I think is cracy high for modern audio device.