Available Now: The Element by JDS Labs

[oceans22]

  +1

LMAO!!! 
My wife says, "Men will buy anything with shiny buttons & glowing or flashing lights".

 

[punkaroo]

Some women will too

 

[xuan87]

  what color is the glow? I find that a red glow has much better sound stage and bass impact. =P

 
Yea the color of the glow is very important as it impacts the final sound signature, just like different colored lightsabers have different properties!

 

[wega03]

Yea the color of the glow is very important as it impacts the final sound signature, just like different colored lightsabers have different properties!

Yes the sound waves have different interpolation with the light wave, depending of the color. UV light make the sound to bright. ;P

 

[obsidyen]

 

[turnernathniel]

Can you give me some idea of what this item is?  Is it a device that's plugged into other devices and then plug your earphones into as well?  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Can you give me some idea of what this item is?  Is it a device that's plugged into other devices and then plug your earphones into as well?  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 
It is an amp/DAC. You connect it to your computer via USB, then you plug your headphones into it.

 

[money4me247]

  Can you give me some idea of what this item is?  Is it a device that's plugged into other devices and then plug your earphones into as well?  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 
this item is a dac/amp combo unit. you will connect it via usb to your laptop/computer and use its headphone jack to connect to headphones.
 
A dac is a digital to analog converter. you can think of it as a "sound card" if it makes it easier to understand its function. A "sound card" has a dac in it. your computer and smartphone will already have a dac in it as well. The reason to purchase a nicer dac is primarily for sound quality benefits. the scaling up of your sound quality will depend on how nice of a dac is already in your current source device and how nice the external dac that you are adding on. relatively speaking, external components (like dac/damps) generally have a lesser impact on sound quality than headphones.
 
A amp provides additional power for your headphones. the majority of consumer-level headphones do not require additional power. high impedance dynamic driver headphones (250ohm+ to 600 ohms) and most planar magnetic driver headphones will always require an dedicated headphone amplifier. If your headphone's impedance is somewhere around 35ohms with a efficiency at least in the mid-90s or above, you will not need an amplifier. however, there are people who say that an amplifier also improves the sound quality of easily-powered headphones to a degree as well.
 
From my personal experience, YMMV and other people may disagree: for easy-to-drive headphones, I've noticed more sonic improvements with a nicer dac and not much of a difference with amps. with harder-to-drive headphones, I've notice more scaling of sound quality with a nice amplifier but the addition of the dac at the entry-level price point usually makes a bigger sonic difference for me.
 
Hope this information is helpful.
 
ps: was joking about the glowing lights affecting SQ in my previous posts for anyone new around here =P hahah

 

[LajostheHun]

My dog says she can hear the difference, and she's never lied to me yet, so there Mr. smarty-pants.

Mature

 

[DarktoreS]

Mhh question , power USB only or is fonctional with 12v DC ..? 

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Mhh question , power USB only or is fonctional with 12v DC ..? 

 
It comes with a power supply. ("16VAC Power Adapter")
 
Just look at the bottom of the product page: https://www.jdslabs.com/products/151/the-element/

 

[canthearyou]

Glowing volume knob you say.....

 

[neurofone]

This looks nice.  Pre-ordered it today.  It will sit perfectly underneath my iMac at work.

 

[dullknives]

this is just gorgeous and so clean.  any pics of the 'glow'?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I want this. Surprised to see an analog INPUT as opposed to an output which is more common for amp/dacs. That to me is a BENEFIT, not a detriment as I feel one would have more sources to hook up to this.