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JDS Labs Element III Review (DAC & Amp)

Rate this product:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 4 1.4%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 20 6.9%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 159 55.2%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 105 36.5%

  • Total voters
    288

filo97s

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Feb 17, 2019
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Great question. I downloaded the manual, which says the following, only increasing the mystique:
2nd Harmonic Steps
Default: 0, with a range of -75 to 75
3rd Harmonic Comp
Default: -20, with a range of -75 to 75

Incidentally, it also has a DPLL Bandwidth setting which sounds like the same thing the SMSL SU-6 has. If so (is it?), lower is better; set it to the lowest value that works properly (no glitching or dropouts) with your equipment. The manual says:
DPLL BANDWIDTH
Default: 7, with a range of 0 to 15. This setting directly impacts jitter rejection, with the optimal
value dependent on timing stability of your PC or audio source. Most audio sources produce
stable audio when DPLL is set to 5. We have conservatively increased the default DPLL value to
7 in order to support a wider range of sources, especially modern 4k TVs. If you encounter
stuttering, try increasing DPLL Bandwidth.
Hope that amir can clear the mystery!
Don't know which chip is using for D/A conversion, but maybe is something related to the ESS thd hump compensation.
 

confucius_zero

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Personally I wish it had targeted even higher performance but I can't say that I can justify this in the face of priorities they set.
Can superior customer service become a performance benefit over the competition?
 

Veri

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Can superior customer service become a performance benefit over the competition?
Truly stellar support is worth a lot, I would say.

Hope that amir can clear the mystery!
Don't know which chip is using for D/A conversion, but maybe is something related to the ESS thd hump compensation.
ES9018K2M. The distortion compensation is something the chip offers to compensate/cancel out distortion, deviations on resistors etc. Not sure how an enthusiast should use it though, unless for extra calibration using a high quality D/A which is a little out of scope for the average user :p
 

MadMan

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Jun 27, 2020
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Had to give it a "not terrible" because the screen doesn't really add anything all that useful, just cost, and performance is merely acceptable. I'd rather have an Atom stack and a few hundred dollars to spare than this.
 

confucius_zero

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Digital control of the volume translates into perfect channel matching down to incredibly low output levels:

JDS Labs Element III Measurements Channel Balance stereo headphone amplifier.png
Impressive AF
 
OP
amirm

amirm

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Hope that amir can clear the mystery!
Don't know which chip is using for D/A conversion, but maybe is something related to the ESS thd hump compensation.
I am out but quickly it is a feature of ess dacs to lower distortion. It is rarely exposed as a consumer feature. You can use it in reverse to add distortion as well.
 

PuX

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Joined
Feb 16, 2018
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Years ago I had the original Element. It was a great amp but the DAC occasionally glitched with brief drop-outs or skips in the music. I figured it had something to do with USB audio in adaptive / "push" mode. The Element III says USB Audio class 2 - does that mean async / "pull" mode?
that sounds like you had ASIO latency setting set too low for your PC.

Don't know which chip is using for D/A conversion
ES9018K2M, from their blog post

Can superior customer service become a performance benefit over the competition?
for sure, peace of mind is the reason people buy famous brands vs noname stuff even if it's good on paper.
 

PeteL

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Had to give it a "not terrible" because the screen doesn't really add anything all that useful, just cost, and performance is merely acceptable. I'd rather have an Atom stack and a few hundred dollars to spare than this.
To me perfect Channel Balance is a much more useful performance metric than a few dB of SINAD that nobody can hear.
 

Monk_minor

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Sep 11, 2021
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This looks very nice, would jump all over this if it had balanced out. As it is, it's not enough of an upgrade over my Atom to justify the price.

...but that knob - tempting...
 

Spocko

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Had to give it a "not terrible" because the screen doesn't really add anything all that useful, just cost, and performance is merely acceptable. I'd rather have an Atom stack and a few hundred dollars to spare than this.
But that volume knob can save you hundreds in physical therapy bills - I believe you're paying for that knob not the screen because the EL AMP lacks the DAC but is still $249
 

pseudoid

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I am at a loss as to why JDSlabs is using a transformer (output @16Vac) rather than a wall-wart or an internal power supply w/primary MAINS AC inlet in the rear panel.
Surely it cannot be a cost-savings matter. Weird!
 

Doodski

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Output impedance of Element III is very low per above graph. Can you tell how that can be determined from that?
Take 1/2 of the 12 Ohm voltage swing ~5VDC and then use Ohms law to calculate the resistance and that is the output impedance?
 

PeteL

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I am at a loss as to why JDSlabs is using a transformer (output @16Vac) rather than a wall-wart or an internal power supply w/primary MAINS AC inlet in the rear panel.
Surely it cannot be a cost-savings matter. Weird!
Why would it be more expensive to have the rectifiers in the main unit instead of in the wall wart?
 

Xyrium

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Gee I was the first to comment.
I have a soft spot for JDS, got the headphone amp, Atom
Same here, Atom has been working well for me, even with IEMs.

JDS just keeps it comin'. Nice work, and thank you Amir.
 
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amirm

amirm

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Take 1/2 of the 12 Ohm voltage swing ~5VDC and then use Ohms law to calculate the resistance and that is the output impedance?
Much simpler than that. :)

index.php


If you look at the start of the graph, all the lines start at the same point even though I am changing impedance. If internal impedance was high, as the load goes down, the starting point shifts to left due to voltage drop. There is none here indicating there is no voltage drop of substance and hence, the internal impedance is very low.
 
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