[LintHart]

This really does seem like the future of iem's. But remember guys, this is the first generation and Jerry
just opened the floodgates you know that UE will copy this concept as fast as they can and I'm betting that this time next year, Jerry will unveil something far more pocket friendly. I won't be surprised if the next version is the
same size as a rsa protector or the likes.

I adore my 16s like no other purchase, and I'm sure this would be mind blowing, but it's just looks too damn big
to warrant not being able to use the iems indepenantly. Quite happy to sit back for a while and save for the next (hopefully smaller) generation.

Well done Jerry, you are a true pioneer.

 

[tommysolh]

An extremely interesting product indeed...

 

[monsieurguzel]

It really seems like there would be no need for a DAC at all with this thing.  I don't know of any DACs out there that output digital out, not even my PWD.  This means you can do a straight feed of toslink from your laptop to the JH3A and let it do all the decoding of music.  Since the DAC on the JH3A is custom tailored for the JH13/16 I'm sure it will sound much better than other general purpose DACs out there.  The only problem is that for a portable setup you would feed it the line-out of the ipod unless the DAP has a digital out (Hifiman 602?).  Anyways, to me this is much more interesting than all other portable amps out there, even if it is slightly bigger. 
 
I find this solution to be an ideal setup to have at an office during the day or even as a bedside rig not to disturb your significant other.  I'm thinking Squeezebox Touch > Toslink > JH3A > JH13.  Tiny footprint with awesome sound and your entire music library streamed digitally (24/96) straight to your ears
 
On a side note, would there be much of a need of the JH16 now that there is a bass boost function on the JH3A for those occasional times you want a little extra oomph?

 

[moonboy403]

Two DACs that I owned or currently own have digital out: Electrocompaniet ECD1 and Accuphase DP57. I have no idea if they're a straight pass through of the original digital signal though.

 

[warp08]

Quote:

I love the idea of an amp specially designed for the IEM and vice versa!! I don't know why others haven't done it before?   I can't wait to try this out at Canjam and am glad I held off on my purchase of customs until now

You mean tightly coupled one with the active crossover circuitry migrated over to the amp instead of being housed in the shell?  Definitely the first one at that, but lots of amps have been designed to be used primarily with low-impedance IEMs in mind.  An example of that would be the RSA Shadow.  Still miss that little fellow and that battery life.

 

[monsieurguzel]

The Accuphase DP57 is a CD player which means you have the option of offloading the signal to an external DAC.  As for the Electrocompaniet ECD1, it is just a pass-through for more flexibility in a system.  The definition of a DAC is Digital to Analogue Converter, meaning that it will either output as RCA or Balanced analogue signal.
 
Quote:

Two DACs that I owned or currently own have digital out: Electrocompaniet ECD1 and Accuphase DP57. I have no idea if they're a straight pass through of the original digital signal though.

I was referring more to the DAC / DSP portion of the amp which is custom tailored to sending a signal to each of the balanced armatures in the IEMs.  As for the amplification portion, it is also very interesting that there are actually 3 amps in this thing!
 
Quote:

You mean tightly coupled one with the active crossover circuitry migrated over to the amp instead of being housed in the shell?  Definitely the first one at that, but lots of amps have been designed to be used primarily with low-impedance IEMs in mind.  An example of that would be the RSA Shadow.  Still miss that little fellow and that battery life.

 

[moonboy403]

Quote:

The Accuphase DP57 is a CD player which means you have the option of offloading the signal to an external DAC.  As for the Electrocompaniet ECD1, it is just a pass-through for more flexibility in a system.  The definition of a DAC is Digital to Analogue Converter, meaning that it will either output as RCA or Balanced analogue signal.
 

 
The DP57 can also be used as a DAC since it has 2 digital inputs. But I think you might be right that the digital outputs can only be used when you use the transport section of the DP57. I shall test it in the next few minutes.
 
Edit: I just tried the DP57's digital outs and have confirmed that it only outputs a digital signal when I use the transport section. Thanks monsieurguzel for clearing that up!

 

[SHADYMILKMAN]

quoting facebook there are some pertinent questions:
 
"the price however is something that will keep me away for now till this business gets cleaned up and the JH-5A gets announced. also the proprietary nature of the combo is an interesting approach, and may be viewed as a pill for some, one reason being that if you dont want the amp, for whatever reason how do you sell it? do you sell it with the buds to be refit by a 3rd party? does JHA step in? can you just sell the amp, then what happens to your buds, does it cost another $4/500 to be re-modified? this is a very absolute purchase."

 

[manaox2]

Right now, I'm wondering can I input 6-channel SPDIF digitally?

 

[freeride1685]

so when does Whiplash come out with a TWAG replacement?  har har..

 

[El_Doug]

this would be a grand opportunity for UE's products to utilize the same wiring and pinout, thus we could all use UE IEMs with JHA crossovers, and vice-versa. 
 
i sure hope this catches on, so that Fang creates a transport-only portable

 

[freeride1685]

putting things in perspective...the lack of necessity for a seperate DAC and expensive 1/8"-1/8" cable will help to even out the cost of this setup.  going straight into one box is so much nicer, and yes...when will my droid come with a SPDIF out?  haha yea right

 

[blessingx]

Do we know if the S/PDIF is coax or TOSLINK?

 

[monsieurguzel]

I'm guessing Toslink since it's probably shared with the line-in jack (like on the Apple MBP). I've never seen a shared coax / line-in jack before but I could be wrong
 
Quote:

Do we know if the S/PDIF is coax or TOSLINK?

 

[blessingx]

Yeah, I guess it comes down to what if anything is on the back.