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Review and Measurements of New JDS Labs Atom Headphone Amp

milw50717

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msuts

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Right now I have a Modi and Magni 3 with the HD 6XX. Starting to wonder if the Atom is a worthwhile investment. I'd be correct in thinking that Magni 3 to Atom isn't really a big upgrade?
 

JohnYang1997

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Right now I have a Modi and Magni 3 with the HD 6XX. Starting to wonder if the Atom is a worthwhile investment. I'd be correct in thinking that Magni 3 to Atom isn't really a big upgrade?
Magni 3 is very good with high impedance load. So won't improve much.
 

luggles

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Right now I have a Modi and Magni 3 with the HD 6XX. Starting to wonder if the Atom is a worthwhile investment. I'd be correct in thinking that Magni 3 to Atom isn't really a big upgrade?

I changed over from a Magni 3 even though I knew it probably wasn't economically sensible. I originally justified it by telling myself i was going to re-use the Magni 3 for my PS4, but now I'm thinking about just using the Atom's 3.5mm line in for that.

So far it seems better to me, i thought the plastic would bother me but it looks and feels pretty good irl. It's probably just new purchase bias, but it sounds cleaner on lo-gain and i only find myself turning the dial to 1 o'clock where Magni on low i was turned to more like 3-4 with my K7XX.

I also like how it doesn't get hot my Magni got pretty warm. Do wish the Atom had a power switch like the Magni, as I don't like having to turn the dial to power it on/off.

If you have the money to spare go for it, it's just probably not the best use of that money.
 

Roen

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Don't forget.....SINAD differences are going to be inaudible at this level.

DAC1 at 111 will sound functionally the same as a D50 at 109.

You'll be fine at 100 SINAD and up, features and cost are more important IMO. The D10 at $69 is a steal.
 

noobie

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Well if your dac is cheap. As i experienced with my asus laptop. Better dac would improve the sound by at least 50%
At least 6 different studies have shown that 73% of statistics are made up...


:) Sorry a little levity. Back to lurking.
 
D

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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.

$300 (300% increase) for a simplistic case, and the awfully easy work to get the khadas in it? Are you being serious, dude? That's probably one of the closest things to a scam that isn't a scam.
 

Roen

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$300 (300% increase) for a simplistic case, and the awfully easy work to get the khadas in it? Are you being serious, dude? That's probably one of the closest things to a scam that isn't a scam.

If it was that easy to make money selling a case for $50, one should try doing it commercially and report back on the results.

The price point is what it is, and it's (currently) very transparent as to what the product is.

It would be a scam if you didn't know what you were getting, but right now, it's (arguably) just a poor value.

Not all poor values are scams.
 

Veri

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$300 (300% increase) for a simplistic case, and the awfully easy work to get the khadas in it? Are you being serious, dude? That's probably one of the closest things to a scam that isn't a scam.
It's a very pretty case in person, and the board is individually tested before it ever makes it into that case. Besides that you get support etc which is harder when you buy from China. yes, still not 'cheap' but I guess march is not trying to overtake that market.
 
D

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If it was that easy to make money selling a case for $50, one should try doing it commercially and report back on the results.
Not all poor values are scams.

It's literally the Khadas DAC with an added case, and a completely normal case at that. There is NO reasonable justification for that price. Khadas is already making money selling their own board for $99. Let's assume that March Audio are buying them in droves for the consumer price (which they clearly aren't when purchasing from the supplier). Now, add the cost of the case itself (which, can't reasonably be close to $50, or over it; Khadas' own case, albeit mor simple, is being sold for $15 -- again, with a profit), and the work to put it together (which can be done on a fast and large scale, even individually), and that's still ~$170 at best. Add another $30 for profit per unit, and we're at $200. And remember, that's with me giving the benefit of the doubt, as well as exaggerating the price in every way. So if you want to argue here, I would be happy to speculate on how much the price goes down for ordering the DAC from a supplier; the case itself goes under this.

March Audio is selling this for an additional $200 of what I said. That's pretty insane. Normally, this is completely normal in many industries, including the audiophile one. It would be here as well, given the product's performance (at least relative to other stuff out there). But when that very same board is being sold for $100 without a case, it ends up being a very arrogant act of greed. It's a Khadas DAC + a $300 case. No more. No less. If you want to convince yourself that it takes $300 to make that case, and put the DAC in it, fine by me (though it begs the question what the worth of producing the DAC chip itself, a far more complex job, is in comparison). Have a happy experience wasting your money on their product.

People in here are overtly apologetic and naive sometimes. Don't forget that this forum made its name from instances just like this, where producers (Schiit being the main one) were heavily criticized for providing inadequate products. One of those inadequacies is selling a product that is easily matched in performance at a far lower price tag. Pulling no punches on shit like this is literally the trademark of this site.

It would be a scam if you didn't know what you were getting, but right now, it's (arguably) just a poor value.

Not all poor values are scams.

Correct. Which is why I said it wasn't a scam. Did you even read what I wrote?
 
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JohnYang1997

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Give me a break. People in here are overtly apologetic and naive sometimes. It's literally just a fucking case, and a completely normal one at that. There is NO justification whatsoever on that price. Khadas is already making money selling their own board for $99. Even assuming that March Audio are buying them in droves for consumer price (which they clearly aren't when purchasing from the supplier). Now, add the cost of the case itself (which, can't reasonably be close to $50, or over it; Khadas' own case is being sold for $15 -- again, with a profit), and the work to put it together (which is probably fast and easy, and can be done on a large scale), and that's still $150-170 at best. Add another $30 for profit per unit, and we're at $200. And remember, that's with me giving the benefit of the doubt, as well as exaggerating the price in every way.

March Audio is selling this for an additional $200 (or rather, an additional $200 in profits). That's pretty insane. Normally, this is completely normal in many industries, including the audiophile one. And would be here as well, given the product's performance (at least relative to other stuff out there). But when that very same board is being sold for $100 without a case, it ends up being a very arrogant act of greed. It's a Khadas DAC + $300 for an enclosure. No more. No less. If you want to convince yourself that it takes $300 to make that case, and put the DAC in it, fine by me (though it begs the question what the worth of producing the DAC chip itself, a far more complex job is). Have a happy experience wasting your money on their product.
Well, the thing is, it's his choice. Selling for more expensive is not greedy. If you have learned a little bit from economy, we should shoot for highest profit not the single unit price.
At the end of the day, if the performance matches 300 dollars, it's his choice to sell it at that price and will accept much less sell.
 

daftcombo

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Well, the thing is, it's his choice. Selling for more expensive is not greedy. If you have learned a little bit from economy, we should shoot for highest profit not the single unit price.
At the end of the day, if the performance matches 300 dollars, it's his choice to sell it at that price and will accept much less sell.

That's what we call a "shark".
 
D

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It's a very pretty case in person, and the board is individually tested before it ever makes it into that case. Besides that you get support etc which is harder when you buy from China. yes, still not 'cheap' but I guess march is not trying to overtake that market.

By that logic, the Schiit Magni 3 is a far, far, far better value than the JDS Atom. Even if it had cost $150-200, and not its original $100. After all, the Magni 3 is in a much better-looking and more "premium" metal housing. And while not as clean, it still is fairly clean and well within audibility. In any case, it makes up for it by providing up to 50% more power too.

Of course nobody believes that, as it's a really irrational way of thinking. Most notably because there's a certain value people are willing to put on a case (especially when one can make price comparison to said product without case). $150 I can swallow (the Khadas board itself doesn't cost those guys $100 to get in, but much lower than that, when importing it en-masse). Anything over that is simply stupid.
 
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JohnYang1997

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By that logic, the Schiit Magni 3 is a far, far, far better value than the JDS Atom. Even if it had cost $150-200 it would. After all, the Magni is in a much better-looking and more "premium" metal housing. And while not as clean, it still is faily clean and well within audibility. In any case, it makes up for it by providing up to 50% more power too.
That totally depends on what you like. For the performance, magni 3 is really not bad especially for higher impedance load.
Also atom doesn't look any worse than magni3 to me. I like black and the clean edges.
If you think the case is worth it or want to support march audio go ahead. If not, just don't bother with it. Simple.
 

Veri

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By that logic, the Schiit Magni 3 is a far, far, far better value than the JDS Atom. Even if it had cost $150-200 it would. After all, the Magni is in a much better-looking and more "premium" metal housing. And while not as clean, it still is faily clean and well within audibility. In any case, it makes up for it by providing up to 50% more power too.
-Schiit magni has a poor knob that tends to get scratchy
-Schiit support is a total shitshow
-Schiit has the same price as the Liquid spark and the Atom in order of performance..
-Monoprice support is very slow and overall rather poor...
-Atom has world class support, JDS Labs deserves a freaking award for their friendliness and speed, really impressed me
But yes, it is a decent device if you like the looks of the magni and would not call someone crazy to buy one, not at all;

To call it "much better value" than the JDS Atom though? Doubtful
 

Roen

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It's literally the Khadas DAC with an added case, and a completely normal case at that. There is NO reasonable justification for that price. Khadas is already making money selling their own board for $99. Let's assume that March Audio are buying them in droves for the consumer price (which they clearly aren't when purchasing from the supplier). Now, add the cost of the case itself (which, can't reasonably be close to $50, or over it; Khadas' own case, albeit mor simple, is being sold for $15 -- again, with a profit), and the work to put it together (which can be done on a fast and large scale, even individually), and that's still ~$170 at best. Add another $30 for profit per unit, and we're at $200. And remember, that's with me giving the benefit of the doubt, as well as exaggerating the price in every way. So if you want to argue here, I would be happy to speculate on how much the price goes down for ordering the DAC from a supplier; the case itself goes under this.

March Audio is selling this for an additional $200 of what I said. That's pretty insane. Normally, this is completely normal in many industries, including the audiophile one. It would be here as well, given the product's performance (at least relative to other stuff out there). But when that very same board is being sold for $100 without a case, it ends up being a very arrogant act of greed. It's a Khadas DAC + a $300 case. No more. No less. If you want to convince yourself that it takes $300 to make that case, and put the DAC in it, fine by me (though it begs the question what the worth of producing the DAC chip itself, a far more complex job, is in comparison). Have a happy experience wasting your money on their product.

People in here are overtly apologetic and naive sometimes. Don't forget that this forum made its name from instances just like this, where producers (Schiit being the main one) were heavily criticized for providing inadequate products. One of those inadequacies is selling a product that is easily matched in performance at a far lower price tag. Pulling no punches on shit like this is literally the trademark of this site.



Correct. Which is why I said it wasn't a scam. Did you even read what I wrote?
As @amirm said, if people are so convinced that this is absurd, and that it would not be difficult to sell this at $200 for a complete tone board + case, thus generating a $100 profit, they are welcome to do so.

But I doubt there will be any takers. And until there are, there really is no argument for the state of the retail market, since no one else seems to want to make easy money.

The argument isn't that $350 is for the price of tone board + materials + reasonable markup. It's that there's no other competition, and there probably won't be, because no one is willing to spend the money to become the competition. Unless someone undercuts March Audio, all this is, is just whining about capitalism. TIL greed is charging as much as the market will let me. You seem to conflate being able to build a DIY product at a cost much cheaper than an assembled product sold at retail with infrastructure, support, warranty and a brand name attached to it. If you're a business that's only going to sell at cost + fixed markup, you're not a very good business.

You know what I did? Bought the board and a DIY case. Because I talk with my wallet and find that product overpriced for what its worth to me. But I don't, in 100 years, think that it's close to a scam. It's just priced for someone who doesn't want to assemble it, wants a good looking case, and wants the convenience of it shipped to them, and is willing to pay for that convenience. And there exists a market for such a convenience.
 
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Roen

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That's what we call a "shark".
No one is forcing you to buy it.

If I were to get into a business, I'm definitely charging as much as I can for a product or service, not just cost + markup, in order to maximize my long term profit. I'm leaving $ on the table otherwise.
 
D

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Well, the thing is, it's his choice. Selling for more expensive is not greedy. If you have learned a little bit from economy, we should shoot for highest profit not the single unit price.
At the end of the day, if the performance matches 300 dollars, it's his choice to sell it at that price and will accept much less sell.

I have learned more than a little bit from economy, thank you. Not that you are right literally ("greed is good" is literally the encouraging argument of modern market philosophies) at all, or even semantically. You literally defined greed yourself. The issue here seems to be your problem with the word "greed", which has negative connotations (for obvious reasons). He IS being greedy. But lucky for him, greed isn't outlawed. Only frowned upon, which is what we're doing by criticizing him now.

Well, the thing is, it's his choice. Selling for more expensive is not greedy. If you have learned a little bit from economy, we should shoot for highest profit not the single unit price.
At the end of the day, if the performance matches 300 dollars, it's his choice to sell it at that price and will accept much less sell.

Performance only matters relative to other products on the market. Products like, you know, the Khadas DAC.

Also, it costs $420, not $300. Though it needs to be said that the really ever so generous and 100% non-greedy March Audio are currently providing it for an introductory price of $350. What a bargain!
 
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