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Review and Measurements of New JDS Labs Atom Headphone Amp

phrosty

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I'll be curious to see how power compares to O2 and EL AMP.
 

Jorj

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Pairing this with the Khadas Tone board is probably the endgame for me ;)

That kind of performance for $200 is just simply unbelievable. This is unquestionably a value proposition for single ended that won't be rivaled for some time to come. Exciting times! If I was in the single ended market, this is how I'd go, although I'd probably keep my D10, as the sonic improvements the Khadas DAC brings are mostly inaudible and the D10 looks very sharp on the desk.
 

mshenay

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Honestly, aside from how light it is It didn't 100% dawn on me that it's plastic. There's a nice texture to the plastic and all the buttons and knobs feel solid. I suppose if I had to knit pick, I of course like the slight resistance I get from the OL Switchers potentiometer vs that of the Atom
 
OP
amirm

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Could we also get a pic under the hood too:)? Both Magni 3 and Liquid Spark use discrete designs, curious to see if JDS Labs went for the same route as well.
Sure but let's wait for the formal release of the product.
 

March Audio

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Looks like @March Audio will have to drop the projected price on his HPA-1. ;)

:)

Well this is certainly fantastic value for money, but as I said previously I wont be trying to aggressively compete on price, thats a race to the bottom.

We arent really comparing apples with apples here, its built to a price point. If you consider a modest margin of 2.5x BOM you do wonder ($40 to build! ). Plastic V milled aluminium casework, single ended V balanced input, analogue pot volume etc.

That's not knocking the JDS, it's great performance.

JDS Labs Atom Headphone Amplifier Measurement (1).png



Hpa1

1537237019131 (2).png


:)
 
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rajapruk

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Generally speaking, with this kind of preview-review, there is a risk that the manufacturer sends a "golden unit" to @amirm, I think.
Test of a unit bought on the market is a little bit more valuable, to me.
On the other hand, we have also seen manufacturer send in "brown unit", hahahaha :)
 

helloworld

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Generally speaking, with this kind of preview-review, there a risk that the manufacturer sends a "golden unit" to @amirm, I think.
Test of a unit bought on the market is a little bit more valuable, to me.
On the other hand, we have also seen manufacturer send in "brown unit", hahahaha :)
This is also what I am worrying. The best way is forum members in US sending their equipment to amirm for review.
 

rajapruk

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Yes, a raving review here could drive sales extremely, I guess. That is quite some incitament. And should be, if all is fair.
Let's hope we have no Ben Johnson Audio or Marion Jones Audio manufacturers here! (joke).
 
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March Audio

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Generally speaking, with this kind of preview-review, there is a risk that the manufacturer sends a "golden unit" to @amirm, I think.
Test of a unit bought on the market is a little bit more valuable, to me.
On the other hand, we have also seen manufacturer send in "brown unit", hahahaha :)

I think thats possibly a bit cynical, but quality control does take time and therefore money. Although not properly launched, I do have a small number of my dacs out in the wild and each unit I tested for 24 hours to get them (as far as is reasonably practicable) past the "infant mortality" point, followed by an automated performance test. I will be doing this with all the products.
 
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ZULOL420

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This or the DX3 Pro for HD6xx ( I live in Asia so the Atom will probably cost around 150$ as the distributor sells the O2 amp for 150$ in my country ) but I can order the DX3 pro directly from Aliexpress. TY :)
 
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