This is a review and detailed measurements of the JDS Labs Atom DAC+ desktop USB DAC. It was sent to me by the company and is an early production sample. The product was just announced at a retail cost of US $109. I accepted the sample in the interest of getting this information to you early. Company has promised me a production sample to come soon which I will test to verify the performance.
The Atom DAC+ makes a valiant attempt to make its plastic case look like nice metal!
It is a bit light to so don't go connecting garden hose cables to it as it my tip or drag it a bit.
The back side is simplicity itself:
An external AC transformer powers the unit (15 volts).
Company is very open with its development plans and this one is definitely worth a read in their blog. In a nutshell, they moved away from AKM AK4490 to ESS ES9018K2M chip due to much better availability. At first blush you may think that is a lower performance DAC chip and indeed it was in their first prototype. But with very careful design and register optimization they managed to create a highly competitive design. Combined with their investment in a new Audio Precision APx555, they managed to not only solve their parts availability issue but also squeeze a bit more performance.
JDS Labs Atom DAC+ Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard:
Distortion is below -120 dB relative to our signal which makes it utterly inaudible. Combined with some unavoidable noise SINAD which is the combination of the two reduces to a competitive 112 dB:
Since that graph has become an eye chart for quite some time, here is a zoomed version:
That's 2 dB better than the older design.
Speaking of noise, here is our dynamic range:
That is about 3 to 4 dB better than older version.
IMD test reflects the lower noise floor but ever so slight signature of ESS DAC:
The front-end of the DAC (USB interface) was not changed so overall jitter test remains the same:
Multitone test shows good performance:
Linearity is a hair off in a correlated manner:
The DAC reconstruction filter is the typical slower than ideal but it has very good attenuation once it kicks in:
THD+N versus frequency shows one channel to be a bit noisier above audible band:
Conclusions
The combination of the pandemic (causing part shortages) and AKM fire have made life pretty miserable for hardware companies. It is good to see them taking action though to reduce their risks even if it retards development of new products. With Atom DAC+ JDS proves once again that is the design that matters, not the selection of DAC chip when it comes to total performance. And that optimizing the performance of these DAC chips can be non-trivial.
While my testing is almost entirely focused on performance, I need to comment on the superb customer service and support that JDS provides to potential and actual customers. So when you look at the above measurements, keep in mind that you have a solid company behind the production that you can talk to and get quick answers and support.
I am happy to put the JDS Labs Atom DAC+ on my recommended list. It shows that engineering and skill matters and matters big time!
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The Atom DAC+ makes a valiant attempt to make its plastic case look like nice metal!
It is a bit light to so don't go connecting garden hose cables to it as it my tip or drag it a bit.
The back side is simplicity itself:
An external AC transformer powers the unit (15 volts).
Company is very open with its development plans and this one is definitely worth a read in their blog. In a nutshell, they moved away from AKM AK4490 to ESS ES9018K2M chip due to much better availability. At first blush you may think that is a lower performance DAC chip and indeed it was in their first prototype. But with very careful design and register optimization they managed to create a highly competitive design. Combined with their investment in a new Audio Precision APx555, they managed to not only solve their parts availability issue but also squeeze a bit more performance.
JDS Labs Atom DAC+ Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard:
Distortion is below -120 dB relative to our signal which makes it utterly inaudible. Combined with some unavoidable noise SINAD which is the combination of the two reduces to a competitive 112 dB:
Since that graph has become an eye chart for quite some time, here is a zoomed version:
That's 2 dB better than the older design.
Speaking of noise, here is our dynamic range:
That is about 3 to 4 dB better than older version.
IMD test reflects the lower noise floor but ever so slight signature of ESS DAC:
The front-end of the DAC (USB interface) was not changed so overall jitter test remains the same:
Multitone test shows good performance:
Linearity is a hair off in a correlated manner:
The DAC reconstruction filter is the typical slower than ideal but it has very good attenuation once it kicks in:
THD+N versus frequency shows one channel to be a bit noisier above audible band:
Conclusions
The combination of the pandemic (causing part shortages) and AKM fire have made life pretty miserable for hardware companies. It is good to see them taking action though to reduce their risks even if it retards development of new products. With Atom DAC+ JDS proves once again that is the design that matters, not the selection of DAC chip when it comes to total performance. And that optimizing the performance of these DAC chips can be non-trivial.
While my testing is almost entirely focused on performance, I need to comment on the superb customer service and support that JDS provides to potential and actual customers. So when you look at the above measurements, keep in mind that you have a solid company behind the production that you can talk to and get quick answers and support.
I am happy to put the JDS Labs Atom DAC+ on my recommended list. It shows that engineering and skill matters and matters big time!
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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