Photo courtesy of JDS Labs.
INTRODUCTION
I've been looking around for a pair of full-size cans, and one of my Head-Fi buddies was raving about his new pair of ZMF OMNI. In fact, he's so in love with them that he wanted to share the love and ended up loaning them to me for a couple weeks. In addition to the pair of ZMF OMNI, he also threw in the JDS Element for me to try. He said that was a good pairing, so I thought I'd relate my experience with that combination to you in a "quick review". In addition to the Element, I also paired the OMNI with the Apogee Groove, Aune X1S, and iFI Micro and will provide some brief listening notes on those pairings.
ABOUT ME
While I'm primarily a portable audio enthusiast, I've been getting more interested in desktop gear recently. I mainly listen to classic rock, electronic, and metal these days, but I do throw in some alternative rock, jazz, and modern/minimalist composition from time to time. And as with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues. I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which can affect hearing in my right ear. I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears. That said, I've been listening to audio gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing gear. I just wanted to be transparent up front.SPECS
- Frequency Response 20Hz-20kHz +/- 0.1dB
- THD+N 1kHz, 150 Ω 0.0009%
- IMD CCIF 19/20kHz 150 Ω 0.0004%
- IMD SMPTE 150 Ω 0.0005%
- Noise, A-Weighted -108 dBu
- Crosstalk @ 150 Ω -67 dB
- Output Impedance 0.1 Ω
- Channel Balance +/- 0.56 dB
- Max Continuous Output, 600Ω 140 mW (9.4VRMS)
- Max Continuous Output, 150Ω 505 mW
- Max Continuous Output, 32Ω 1.1 W
- Peak Output Power, 32Ω 1.5W
- Frequency Response 20Hz-20kHz +/- 0.15dB
- THD+N 100 Hz -0.15 dBFS 0.0023%
- THD+N 20 Hz -0.15 dBFS 0.0016%
- THD+N 10 kHz -0.15 dBFS 0.0019%
- IMD CCIF 19/20 kHz -6.03 dBFS 0.0011%
- IMD SMPTE -6.03 dBFS 0.0012%
- Noise A-Weighted dBu 24/96 -102 dBu
- Dynamic Range (A-Weighted) >112 dB
- Linearity Error -90 dBFS 24/96 -0.02 dB
- Crosstalk -10 dBFS 100K RCA -100 dB
- USB Jitter Components 11025Hz -113 dB
- Maximum DAC Line-Output, 100K 2.10 VRMS
- File Format Support PCM up to 96/24
Price: $349 for the standard configuration or $369 with RCA output (LINK)
PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES
The JDS Element comes in a simple box just big enough to hold the Element and USB cable. The power adapter is included in an extra box. You can download the user manual here: LINK.
BUILD & ERGONOMICS
Simple is the word that comes to mind when thinking about the Element's design. It looks like a black Mac Mini with a giant knob on top. Doesn't get much more simple than that. I'll go over it in a little more detail in pics below.
Photo courtesy of JDS Labs.
Looking at the front of the Element, two elements caught my eye. The first is the big, black volume knob. The second is the 1/4" headphone jack. If you look hard, you can even see that the bottom of the Element has a different finish. The top of the Element is aluminum, while the bottom is grippy soft-finish rubber to keep it from sliding around and scratching your desktop. Nice!
Of course the 1/4" jack means you'll need an adapter if you want to use headphones with a 3.5mm plug. No worries, just add one to your cart for an extra 99¢ making your purchase an even $350 (or $370 if your want RCA input). Or if you're like most of us, just grab an adapter from your audio junk drawer. That's what I did while testing the OMNI, which are terminated with a 3.5mm plug.
Photo courtesy of JDS Labs.
Looking at the back of the Element, from right to left we see the USB input, RCA input, vents, gain button, power button, and adapter jack. Simple, simple, simple...
Connect up via USB for DAC/Amp, turn the volume knob down, push the power button, and a white LED lights up inside the Element, giving the volume knob a soft white outline. Okay, we're all ready to go. Start playing some music, turn up the volume, and start jamming. If the Element doesn't get loud enough, you can always engage high gain.
The only nitpicks I have from a design / functionality standpoint are that there is no visible gain indicator. Personally, I'd be happier with gain and power switches instead of buttons, although this would disrupt the Automatic DAC Line-Output functionality (where you press the power button to toggle between Headphone vs. RCA output). And I'd love to see coaxial input, so I could use one of my DAPs as a transport instead of being tied to my computer. JDS Labs has the option to add RCA output for a measly $20, but there's no option to add coaxial input which is something I really like about my Aune X1S and the iDSD Micro I've been testing out.
COMPUTER
I’m a Mac user, so for me the Element (as with pretty much every DAC/Amp I try) was plug n play. Easy peasy!
SOUND
I’m the first to admit that describing sound isn’t an easy thing to do, so I’ll try to describe this as clearly and concisely as possible. As mentioned in the introduction, I was lucky to be able to listen to the Element + ZMF OMNI pairing for a couple weeks. At the end of that time, I broke out some other gear I had around to see what I thought of those vs. the Element. The other gear was the Apogee Groove, the Aune X1S, and the iDSD Micro.
BASIC SOUND SIGNATURE
I found the Element to have a warm sound signature meaty bass, warm lower mids, forward upper mids, crisp treble, and good soundstage and spacial cues. It's an analog-ish, easy to get along with sound that I really enjoyed with the OMNI, but don't go in expecting a linear sound signature.
Element vs. X1S: Element is warmer, with more bass emphasis and impact. Element's bass feels meatier. Element's lower mids are a bit warmer. Element's upper mids are more upfront and can get a bit more forward than I'd prefer. Element's upper end a bit crisper. X1S has tighter, more neutral bass. X1S mids are are more linear. X1S upper end sounds more present and extended but smoother. Element has slightly larger soundstage and better separation.
Element vs. Groove: Again, Element has meatier bass and that makes the Element feel more ponderous. Mids are comparable. Groove has more forward treble that gets a bit hot for me. Groove has larger soundstage and with more air and better separation. Out of this gear, Groove sounds the most digital to my ears.
Element vs. iDSD micro: iDSD micro is falls between X1S and Groove. It has tighter bass vs. Element. Mids are a bit more forward vs. Element. Highs are a bit more forward than X1S but not as much as Groove. Good soundstage and separation but not as expansive as Groove. Bass boost doesn’t do too much with OMNI. 3D makes the sound more holographic but can make upper mids a bit bright for me.
SUMMARY
I enjoyed my time with the JDS Element and encourage you to check it out if you're looking for a warm yet engaging all-in-one DAC/Amp solution. I could easily see this being a good piece of gear for my office at work. I can't find much to fault with the Element. Sure, it only decodes up to 96/24 PCM files, but I don't typically listen to files with higher resolution and bitrate than that. JDS has a great blog article that explains the choices they made while designing the Element. It's an interesting read, and if you're interested in picking up the Element I suggest you head on over and take a few minutes to read the article (LINK). The major nitpick for me is that I'd really like to see a coaxial input, so I could use one of my DAPs as a transport for those times I don't have my laptop around. I'd also like to see a switch instead of a button for the gain setting to give me a tactile and visual indicator of what state the device is in. Other than that, the Element is a well-designed piece of kit that has a nice, engaging sound. Thanks again to my Head-Fi buddy for letting me take a listen to these. I appreciate it!
Photo courtesy of JDS Labs.