Review and Measurements of New JDS Labs Atom Headphone Amp

[tired_guru]

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

I have EU version and mine is completely quiet. Looks like your transformer has some kind of mechanical vibration. Maybe it was dropped and now something is loose inside thus vibrating and being hearable.

 

[or965]

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

I have the power adapter with EU plug and it does not make any sound. It probably defective.
I can recommend you to contact JDS, they have very good customer support .

 

[luggles]

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.

I have EU version and mine is completely quiet. Looks like your transformer has some kind of mechanical vibration. Maybe it was dropped and now something is loose inside thus vibrating and being hearable.

I have the power adapter with EU plug and it does not make any sound. It probably defective.
I can recommend you to contact JDS, they have very good customer support .

Thanks, contacted support and they've sent out a new one.

 

[Megatronic]

Hello. Recently ordered atom and now i do not know which DAC to choose. Is khadas tone board good choice or is there something better?

 

[Veri]

Hello. Recently ordered atom and now i do not know which DAC to choose. Is khadas tone board good choice or is there something better?

Khadas is superb and probably the best single ended DAC you can get value- and performance wise. Just need a case for it.

 

[Megatronic]

Khadas is superb and probably the best single ended DAC you can get value- and performance wise. Just need a case for it.

Thanks. Is the case necessary for it? Can I use it without a case?

 

[Veri]

Thanks. Is the case necessary for it? Can I use it without a case?

Sure you can. It is to keep interference like wi-fi/MRI/... outside of it. You can use the khadas as-is for as long as that works out of course. But the thing is still naked and I personally would not use it this way really long-term.

Audiophonics sells a case for it, and the khadas diy case thread has some thingiverse designs to 3D-print.

 

[soundwave76]

I got the Khadas to go with the Atom and here they are on top of each other. The case is from Audiophonics (14€) but mine is also with the error that the texts are the wrong way around on the top plate. I should probably get a new one from them. If better quality Khadas cases emerge, I might upgrade. The same with the Atom amp, which has a quite plastic feel.

 

[Roen]

So all the performance, none of the build quality for $200 USD?

 

[maxxevv]

I got the Khadas to go with the Atom and here they are on top of each other. The case is from Audiophonics (14€) but mine is also with the error that the texts are the wrong way around on the top plate. I should probably get a new one from them. If better quality Khadas cases emerge, I might upgrade. The same with the Atom amp, which has a quite plastic feel.

View attachment 22358

Come to think of it, would a flush fitting Khadas case sitting atop the Atom be appealing ?

 

[soundwave76]

So all the performance, none of the build quality for $200 USD?

I am not complaining - the quality/price ratio is outstanding with these two. I personally would pay extra for better build quality, especially since I had the sexiest device I have ever owned, the RME ADI-2 Pro Anniversary Edition before these two

 

[tired_guru]

I am not complaining - the quality/price ratio is outstanding with these two. I personally would pay extra for better build quality, especially since I had the sexiest device I have ever owned, the RME ADI-2 Pro Anniversary Edition before these two

The only thing I am really afraid of is this small, cheap pot. The feeling when using volume knob is like it's gonna break any moment. The axis looks very weak and easy to bent every time I change the volume. When this happens I am gonna solder 2 wires instead of pot (making 0 ohms short - having the pot like maxed out). Since I mainly use this amp maxed out in low gain for high imp, low sens HPs.

Think about having no impact at all for sound and perfect channel balance + infinite reliability

Then if I need high gain, will use dac volume control / system volume control with at least 24 bits to avoid dynamics degradation and lower dac's output level to reduce power output of atom. Sound like a fast DIY, easy plan.

The only thing is about this switch/relay that is controlled via volume knob. This ruins the plan. Maybe I will just leave the pot not soldered, only to turn it off/on. Not sure how it works yet inside.

 

[tired_guru]

Khadas is superb and probably the best single ended DAC you can get value- and performance wise. Just need a case for it.

Yeah, I don't get it. Khadas could easily have much more income if they designed the CASE for this amazing DAC. I get that this was part of big system at the beginning, but now, after such boom how great it really is and how it sounds, having still bare board is just crazy from my point of view.

They could probably focus on designing mid-prices dacs with this level of research & audio engineering instead of designing anything else and earn much more $$. But not with selling bare boards, this is just ridiculous. A lot of people will never buy this as the dac, no matter how good it is by hanging around with only PCB with risk of short-circuits or physical damage, not even talking about how it looks when stacking all elements of audio rig. If they put it in nice aluminum enclosure, they would probably not keep up with the production, even if the price of final product was like 3x the price of bare board.

 

[Veri]

They could probably focus on designing mid-prices dacs with this level of research & audio engineering instead of designing anything else and earn much more $$. But not with selling bare boards, this is just ridiculous.

It's actually cool we can just buy the bare board for "little" money. The OEM board for khadas actually turned up on mouser as an actual "part" for big time manufacturers to buy, so you can count on it to appear as the dac in certain products in the future if they care about high quality audio

So no, Khadas just has a total different kind of product plan than the average DAC reviewed here. They made a very respectable board for others to use.

 

[tired_guru]

It's actually cool we can just buy the bare board for "little" money. The OEM board for khadas actually turned up on mouser as an actual "part" for big time manufacturers to buy, so you can count on it to appear as the dac in certain products in the future if they care about high quality audio

So no, Khadas just has a total different kind of product plan than the average DAC reviewed here. They made a very respectable board for others to use.

That's why this is BIG NO for me and lots of my friends with the same opinion. I just don't like "tinkering". Love complete product but a bit angry they won't step in into this world of crappy dacs for big $$ with their state of the art engineering. Maybe in the near future ? Who knows Fingers crossed.

 

[milw50717]

That's why this is BIG NO for me and lots of my friends with the same opinion. I just don't like "tinkering". Love complete product but a bit angry they won't step in into this world of crappy dacs for big $$ with their state of the art engineering. Maybe in the near future ? Who knows Fingers crossed.

Well, there is always the https://www.marchaudio.net.au/dac-1 which is a KTB in a nice case. USB only though. There is a thread with result tests elsewhere on this forum.

 

[tired_guru]

Well, there is always the https://www.marchaudio.net.au/dac-1 which is a KTB in a nice case. USB only though. There is a thread with result tests elsewhere on this forum.

Completely forgot about this, thanks !

Edit: well it's much more than "up to 3x price of tone board". Too much for me - 398$ with shipping, then +30% extra for custom and VAT ~520$ for 99$ board ? Very nice looking, but too much IMHO unless the enclosure is made of gold. I'd rather wait for proper design of audiophonics for about 15E and still being in EU, so no extra fees except for about 15E shipping cost.

 

[Megatronic]

Is other dacs like smsl su-8 or topping d50 will be better than KTB for atom? I just can not make a choice. Is it worth overpaying for topping or smsl?

 

[Veri]

Is it worth overpaying for topping or smsl?

No. The very few DACs actually better than KTB are in $1000+ range. Not worth it for just a DAC.
Image: (possibly slightly outdated), where March Audio = KTB performance when in a very good case.

 

[AresHarvest]

I got the Khadas to go with the Atom and here they are on top of each other. The case is from Audiophonics (14€) but mine is also with the error that the texts are the wrong way around on the top plate. I should probably get a new one from them. If better quality Khadas cases emerge, I might upgrade. The same with the Atom amp, which has a quite plastic feel.

View attachment 22358

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can remove the screws on each side, swap them, and reassemble with the silkscreened labels oriented correctly, can't you?