Good news for Slam & PunchWeightier low end?
Good news for Slam & PunchWeightier low end?
Don't count on it happening any time soon. John Seaber is not a general in the "watt wars" of this industry.Now I would be pleased if JDS Labs would come out, with a more powerful version of the Atom, something able to push 5 Wpc at 10 ohms... With same performances and reliability
I'd buy it the second it is announced.
Peace.
Yeah, ordinarily I’d think it was a fluke, but two different brand new units both doing it..? Come on.
I find that the reviews here maybe focus too much on microsopic measurements to the point where basic, practical usability is thrown out the window. So it measures great, cool, when referencing audio in a professional studio environment that’s important, but the channel balance is awful* (and so common that it’s specifically mentioned on the JDS site), the wall wart is massive and the unit itself is so light and cheap that it’s prone to sliding around on a desk when simply interacted with. Their 15-day / 15% return policy is a joke, as well.
So, yeah, if you want to spend $99 on an amp that measures perfectly* but is a PITA to actually use then this is the one.
Well, their marketing material praises the "hand-matched volume potentiometer gain"... the main reason why I wanted to buy one, knowing how crappy that volume pot (mechanical/assembly) channel matching is... As expected, no matching took place.... thanks for the feedback.
That is all nice and sweet but despite your rigorous QC, two Atom amps ended with a single customer who dared to complain, and I personally thank him for that... those amps are unusable (unless pots are replaced or bypassed).The potentiometer gangs are hand matched by the OEM prior to assembly in Atom Amp. Our team listens to every Atom Amp at various volume positions during final Q/C. It's true that channel balance of a 9mm pot will be imperfect below about -40dBFS. That said, I take channel balance seriously, and our potentiometers exceed balance requirements of typical Alps RK097 series pots to volumes an order of magnitude lower. Only 1 customer in the past year has reached out for help; he was listening below -40dBFS.
If you are after absolutely perfect channel balance at all levels, by all means, avoid amplifiers with 9mm pots. We created Element III for this reason!
No, I wanted to buy an amp... and did my homework, researched the customer feedback, saw the marketing blurb about hand-matching the channels and realised that was simply not the case. Either OEM did not do their job, or the QC did not do their job...You're taking one guys post over tons of posts from satisfied owners. Smh, you sound like a moron.
To clarify, I agree something does not seem right here. There should never be such unacceptable balance, especially across two samples. Let's get to the bottom of this.That is all nice and sweet but despite your rigorous QC, two Atom amps ended with a single customer who dared to complain, and I personally thank him for that... those amps are unusable (unless pots are replaced or bypassed).
I received the amp today and it's significantly better than before. I really appreciate everything that went into this request.
Because I am starting to feel a bit like I am going insane, I wanted to do some more testing. [. . .]
My conclusion here is that a) the [competitor product] seems to be biased toward the right while the H5's input is balanced toward the left, so they cancel each other out and b) I owe you an apology. Indeed, actually listening to the sine sweep through the [competitor product], it's pretty inconsistent across the frequency range, with the low end having a pretty substantial left bias and the rest kinda going back and forth. I cannot explain why it sounded to my ears like there was a left bias with the JDS units except that maybe my ears aren't so great after all. I mean, looking at your results of the Element, it does seem to have a slight left bias, but I am not foolish enough to think I can hear a 0.01 dB difference. Maybe it was just confirmation bias, I don't know. At any rate, I'm sorry. You have clearly done far more than your due diligence (and I really appreciate that) on this and I think I am just wrong. I would also like to thank you for actually listening to me and believing me even though I ended up being wrong. It's refreshing to not have to explain myself 500 times to a support agent...
The man speaks my language, another reason why I'm a loyal JDS customer. Granted, I've never owned super-inefficient headphones like Susvara. Abyss, HE6se, etc., but I snicker when I see posts INSISTING an Edition XS or an HD600 MUST have 3 or 4 wpc to "reach peak fidelity." That's spec chasing, not reality, at least to my ears.
This is not to discredit anyone. Problems happen even to intelligent people with simple setups. We do our best to help when weird problems arise. Every RMA request is documented for analysis and improvement, with the obvious goal of zero repair requests.
All of that being said, channel balance was essentially solved with the release of Atom Amp+. But hey, mistakes can happen, and we try to help and learn where we can.
"anynameiwish"'s claim is exceptionally unusual, and as far as I can find, he never contacted us. In the event that we fail to fulfill a promise or claim, we cover all return costs. DOAs or otherwise bad audio should never occur. But if something goes wrong, I owe you.
Side note: Support is both a strength and weakness of JDS Labs. We might be a 10x larger company today with different values. Not every customer will be happy, and more often than not, it's better to listen, learn, and move forward.
2 years on and this is still one of the best amps to buy for RCA input only
I wish they make a balanced input version and relay based vol control, obviously cost more - USD200? @jseaber
Or even chip based analogue vol control, if there's a high SINAD one out there
It sounds like you need a bit more voltage gain to compensate for your -12 dB pregain. My HD580 headphones have similar voltage sensitivity to your HD800S. On my Atom, I use low gain despite -6 dB in DSP to correct their bass attenuation. Based on this, the Atom should have plenty of gain and power for your HD800S.I'm considering different options to get more power and better sound for my headphones. My setup today is PC USB>SoundblasterX G6>HD800S, with EQ APO pregain set to -12db. I would add the Atom Amp+ after the SBX G6 (the latter being used as DAC and for virtual surround), connecting them with a 3.5mm cable.
Currently Windows volume 100 is just enough for my ears, but I want to optimize audio quality and have decent headroom (for peace of mind if nothing else). ...