Review and Measurements of New JDS Labs Atom Headphone Amp

[kprog]

I first connect atom directly to my pc. the sound was not bad. but I got very little power. After using an external dac the power increased a lot. possibly the output voltage of my pc is far from the 2 vrms that needs atom to work well

 

[Veri]

Have u tried my laptop’s audio ? Cause to be calling something ridiculous i guess you should experiment it first.

The bass is just not there. All sound seems congested together.

Even using the fulla2 with my apple cheap iem was night and day compared to the 3.5mm out of this laptop.

But yea... it’s ridiculous to even bother arguing on forum cause we all know how its end ... yea it never ends...

What I found ridiculous was the 'improve the sound by at least 50%'. That is a silly statement to me
You do realise the problems you described were most definitely bad amping phenomena, right? 'anemic bass' etc. We were talking about DACs.

I don't have a DAC yet. I read in another thread that the impact on sound quality in general was:

• 80% headphones
• 15% amp
• 5% DAC

Nothing wrong with cheap 0.25$ dac chip on motherboard. We should all use them. They flawless!! Why spend all this money on my moon audio dac !? Because its pretty

Hey at least you are being honest.

 

[Veri]

Well. Blind test. I was like dac weren't making all the difference, it's much less than amp. But in reality, the difference between dacs are very obvious.
Khadas has a lot of impact in the low end. Sounds like it has bass boost but it doesn't.
Smsl m8 sounds a little bit veiled and over all mediocre.
db magix ac3, a dongle as dac, has roll off sounding highs, but very rounded sounding. Also the imaging and soundstage is much prominent on this, vocal is upfront. I couldn't explain.
Musiland mu2p, sounds like scattered glass, forced sounding, thin flat sounding. Low gain sounds a bit smoother but still shallow sounding.
Also jds ol dac, sounds kinda like m8 but probably a little more meaty and a bit deeper lows.
Jds ol dac wasn't in the blind test. But all others I could consistently point out which is which in the blind test. Measurements showed at least 0.0003% thd.
And frequency response are obviously flat for all of them.

Frequency response doesn't really say anything about the distortion specs. If we only looked at FR for each DAC they would all be more or less the same except for the slow and nos FR ones..

Your anecdotal subjective experience with those devices still doesn't really prove anything if you compared by memory (?). This is Audio Science Review, if we had to believe everyone based on what they think they hear no one would ever agree with each other...

 

[JohnYang1997]

Frequency response doesn't really say anything about the distortion specs. If we only looked at FR for each DAC they would all be more or less the same except for the slow and nos FR ones..

Your anecdotal subjective experience with those devices still doesn't really prove anything if you compared by memory. This is Audio Science Review, if we had to believe everyone based on what they think they hear no one would ever agree with each other...

All of them except ol dac are compared in blind test.
And i later on compared ol dac with db magix ac3 and musiland mu2p without khadas and m8.
I said THD AND FR are almost ideal. But square waves are very different.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Frequency response doesn't really say anything about the distortion specs. If we only looked at FR for each DAC they would all be more or less the same except for the slow and nos FR ones..

Your anecdotal subjective experience with those devices still doesn't really prove anything if you compared by memory. This is Audio Science Review, if we had to believe everyone based on what they think they hear no one would ever agree with each other...

Also i guess you can't even read English. Or just too quick to judge without reading thoroughly. Smh

 

[Veri]

Also i guess you can't even read English. Or just too quick to judge without reading thoroughly. Smh

Yes, I did not fully understand how you started your post to be honest

Well. Blind test. I was like dac weren't making all the difference, it's much less than amp. But in reality, the difference between dacs are very obvious.

You were like dac weren't making all the difference, it's much less than amp. I agree.
But in reality? What reality?

Anyway I'm dropping the subject, you 'subjective opinion bunch' are seriously impossible to argue with. I ask you to prove things and you just rehash the same thing but in a more aggressive manner. You believe that to be convincing?

 

[NemoReborn]

I vouch for Veri. Listen to him. He knows

 

[NemoReborn]

Built-in DACs range from serviceable to awful, and for many uses the built-in DAC is perfectly fine. But a consumer computer is a collection of compromises. Between weight, power consumption, heat, and component cost, manufacturers have to make some tough calls in regards to what to include and what to leave out. And since few users will notice high-fidelity audio reproduction, manufacturers don’t bother to include a high-quality DAC chip.
But even low-quality components can do a decent job. The single biggest problem faced by on-board DAC chips is electronic noise. Whether mounted on the motherboard or stuck to a PCI sound card, the DAC is within spitting distance of some very loud hardware. The electronic noise from the CPU alone is significant...

But anyway ... Listen to Veri

 

[kprog]

and what do they tell me about the output voltage? the dac in motherboards seldom takes out the 2Vrms that needs atom to work at 100%.
This was my problem. with MSI 370z gaming plus motherboard.
only for this reason it is already necessary to buy an external DAC. now I have much more power.

 

[Veri]

and what do they tell me about the output voltage? the dac in motherboards seldom takes out the 2Vrms that needs atom to work at 100%.
This was my problem. with MSI 370z gaming plus motherboard.
only for this reason it is already necessary to buy an external DAC. now I have much more power.

Yes. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...eed-an-external-dac-headphone-amplifier.4116/
this example laptop has only 0.6v output, so you are right that could be a problem depending on laptop.

An apple usb-c adapter would already boost this to 1v at $10.

 

[kprog]

1 V is still low. now I have a dac that generates 1.75v (sound blaster) the volume is much higher than the dac of the motherboard.
but I have asked for a khadas tone. I will see if there is a power difference with its 2V. I will also see if there is more quality ...

 

[tired_guru]

As I promised that I will update after getting the replacement .I can certainty say that the replacement atom amp has no noise while adjusting the volume knob, without music or with music.
Update- I told JDS that the replacement has no issues and they ask me if I can send the defective amp to them (they will refund me for the return shipping cost). I accept it and will send it back.
I really impressed with the customer service especially as I recently experience outrageous customer service with minidsp .
JDS told me that they want to know what cause this issue .

This is just crazy - this is how customers support should look like. And this is failure rate for perfect craftmanship. Not like half of items with design flaw or terrible QC but single case. (I think a lot of people here bought atoms, so if there were flaws in them, there should be plenty posts about it already).

 

[Veri]

This is just crazy - this is how customers support should look like. And this is failure rate for perfect craftmanship. Not like half of items with design flaw or terrible QC but single case. (I think a lot of people here bought atoms, so if there were flaws in them, there should be plenty posts about it already).

I don't think the JDS guys ever answered in less than 5 minutes. And I live in Europe ...

 

[AresHarvest]

Amplifier does not turn on
Cause: On rare occasion, mechanical relays can stick Solution: Tap or knock top of enclosure with moderate force to disengage

Ha, I read the manual but I must not have made a mental note when I read the Troubleshooting section. I think this is the first time I've seen documentation that explicitly recommends percussive maintenance.

 

[luggles]

Anybody from the UK, Hifiheadphones got stock back in, only 10 left though. Mines arriving hopefully tomorrow

 

[graz_lag]

Ha, I read the manual but I must not have made a mental note when I read the Troubleshooting section. I think this is the first time I've seen documentation that explicitly recommends percussive maintenance.

 

[Rockfella]

Well if your dac is cheap. As i experienced with my asus laptop. Better dac would improve the sound by at least 50%

What is the Atom is connected to Asus Xonar DX sound card?

 

[AresHarvest]

View attachment 22215

My go-to approach is something I like to call "SPL reconditioning."

... Its where I yell at the thing until it starts working.

 

[luggles]

Does anyone's power adapter create an loud hum, it's like coil whine or something? I can't hear any noise through the amp into my headphones, but when my headphones are off and regardless of whether the atom is on or off, if the adapter is plugged in I get a really annoying noise from it. Have had to unplug the adapter as its in same room i sleep

edit - I have the UK version

 

[JohnYang1997]

Does anyone's power adapter create an loud hum, it's like coil whine or something? I can't hear any noise through the amp into my headphones, but when my headphones are off and regardless of whether the atom is on or off, if the adapter is plugged in I get a really annoying noise from it. Have had to unplug the adapter as its in same room i sleep

edit - I have the UK version

That should be a faulty power adapter. But don't worry shouldn't cause safety issue.
Please contact jds directly, they are nice enough to send you a new adapter.