[MattTCG]

It could be a matter of your ears adjusting to it. For me, it was a comparison between the odac and the bifrost that left me with the impression that the treble was a little hot and somewhat fatiguing. 

 

[chrislangley4253]

your ears adjusting, and the headphones themselves are likely the culprits.

 

[spekkio]

So I'm wondering, even though it's been said not to, does it make a difference if one runs earphones through the odac directly without an amp? Does one really need an amp?

 

[wushuliu]

Quote:

your ears adjusting, and the headphones themselves are likely the culprits.

Nope. Some people find the odac hot for a reason. You must not have read some of the above posts or links related to it. Luckily I found a means to remedy it and am enjoying it now. But with usb-only power from my PC the odac is underwhelming (again I use speakers not headphones).

 

[MikeW]

yes, you really need an amp. No it's not ok to directly drive headphones from the odac.
 

 

[MikeW]

Quote:

Nope. Some people find the odac hot for a reason. You must not have read some of the above posts or links related to it. Luckily I found a means to remedy it and am enjoying it now. But with usb-only power from my PC the odac is underwhelming (again I use speakers not headphones).

I suspect many things may effect this, do you use powered hub? how good is your power supply? Is it a laptop? do you use a power conditioner? how good is the mobo's usb power filtering? on and on and on. an external power solution in some cases may make a dramatic difference, and no difference in others.

 

[mac336]

Quote:

I've been using my ODAC connecting straight to my Active Monitor speakers, I went and connected the ODAC to the O2 amp then to the speakers and the volume level was actually much lower, for instance the O2 colume was at 12:00 and it was still lower than what I was getting through the ODAC. 
The same does not happen when I'm listening to headphones, like the Denons for instance, can anyone tell me why this happens?

why do you have the ODAC hooked up to an O2 then to your active speakers?
 
just hook up the ODAC straight to the ACTIVE speakers

 

[mac336]

Quote:

So I'm wondering, even though it's been said not to, does it make a difference if one runs earphones through the odac directly without an amp? Does one really need an amp?

 
depends on the headphones.  If you have easy to drive headphones, then I don't see any problem running them straight from the ODAC.  You can always do some comparisons to how the headphones sound being driven through your computer headphone jack, ODAC, and amp just to see any possible improvement. 
 
 
 
 
I do not find treble to be fatiguing at all listening through my HE-500 with the ODAC.  I found ODAC very very similar to bifrost; but harshness or fatigue was nonexistent in my tests (and my ears are pretty sensitive to any harshness in the treble)

 

[jseaber]

Quote:

Mine didn't neither. I thought this was really strange coming from JDS Labs since they don't usually cut corners, bearing in mind the ferrite choke was Nwavguy's recommendation.

 
Most ODACs shipped with ferrite equipped USB cables. All future orders will only include gold plated, ferrite equipped cords. We're not trying to cut corners at all. Truth is, we ran out of cables for a few days and decided to ship ODACs with an alternative USB cable that was in stock (unfortunately no ferrite). The cables were provided free...
 
If you ordered an assembled ODAC and received one of these cheaper cables, contact us with your order # and we can ship out a ferrite cable.
 
 
 

 
Depends who you order it from.  The JDS is 3.5mm only.  Someone else was selling on in a larger case with RCAs but I don't remember the company.

 
We'll at least offer DIY endplates with RCA jacks (soon), but ODACs preassembled with RCA's didn't make sense for the first batch.
 
1) RCA and 3.5mm jacks will provide the same performance, since either output method must be wired to the same line output header on the ODAC. If anything, the 3.5mm pads on the ODAC PCB provide the shortest path with lowest inductance. You might want to ask Voldemort, but in my quick engineering opinion, there should be no performance difference.
 
2) RCA jacks would add 5 minutes of assembly time to each unit. Not good when you're trying to ship hundreds.
 
3) Most ODAC users connect the DAC to a 3.5mm equipped headphone amp. RCA is a less popular connection for headphone amps.
 
Considering the above, a 3.5mm to RCA cable is the easiest solution: Same performance, no production hurdles, and therefore lower cost.
 
 

Hmmm.  My JDS Labs ODAC, which I received on Friday experienced something similar where it appears the USB cable connection cut out for a second or two until I touched and wiggled the connection.   I hope we didn't receive a bad batch.  I need to utilize it more if it rears its ugly head again.
 

 
It's not a bad batch. We've tested every unit and only identified 1 bad ODAC board (defective R channel). So far, all other issues have been caused by operating system glitches or cable/power problems. One customer in Norway reported that his ODAC produces odd distortion when another digital audio device is connected to the same USB hub. If you're having trouble:
 
-Try a different USB cable, with ferrite
-Try a powered USB hub
-Switch to a different USB port on the computer
-Unplug other DACs from the computer
 
 

So I'm totally sold on getting the ODAC with the exception of the case; it's not the correct size and it has a few inches of empty space inside it? As much as I hate waiting, I'd prefer to wait until these revised enclosures come out so the ODAC doesn't have to be unnecessarily larger than it should. Is there an ETA on when these new enclosures are expected to be used for the ODAC?
 

 
Samples of the custom length ODAC case arrived last week. The production batch should arrive alongside the second batch of ODAC boards, 2-3 weeks from today.
 
The item page will be updated with case information once we have a firm ship date, and we'll send out an email to give you guys a choice (49mm or 95mm length).

 

[0o0o0o]

Something quite strange I've noticed the last two nights: My JDSLabs ODAC seems to emit a high pitched sound after I power down my PC. I initially thought the sound was coming from my screen, but putting my ear up to the ODAC's enclosure the noise definitely becomes louder.
 
Yes, if you didn't pick it up yet the sound is coming from the actual ODAC, not the output signal.
 
The sound disappears if I remove the USB cable and returns when I plug it back in. I honestly haven't done much testing with different ports/cables but will do some troubleshooting soon. 

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

Something quite strange I've noticed the last two nights: My JDSLabs ODAC seems to emit a high pitched sound after I power down my PC. I initially thought the sound was coming from my screen, but putting my ear up to the ODAC's enclosure the noise definitely becomes louder.
 
Yes, if you didn't pick it up yet the sound is coming from the actual ODAC, not the output signal.
 
The sound disappears if I remove the USB cable and returns when I plug it back in. I honestly haven't done much testing with different ports/cables but will do some troubleshooting soon. 

 
Sounds like your PC is putting out some odd frequency over the USB power when it's turned off and it's making the ferrite in the ODAC's power filtering circuit vibrate.

 

[0o0o0o]

Quote:

 
Sounds like your PC is putting out some odd frequency over the USB power when it's turned off and it's making the ferrite in the ODAC's power filtering circuit vibrate.

Possibility of it blowing up in my face? 

 
I'll add testing it on another PC to the troubleshooting list. 

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

Possibility of it blowing up in my face? 

 
Not really.  It's just AC plus something ferromagnetic = mechanical vibration = noise.  It's not any different from why monitors can make noise.

 

[audionewbi]

Just a random question, does the RCA output makes a difference in terms of SQ? I am thinking of buying an ODAC stand alone to use with the Bravo ocean. Thanks guys

 

[willmax]

Quote:

 
Most ODACs shipped with ferrite equipped USB cables. All future orders will only include gold plated, ferrite equipped cords. We're not trying to cut corners at all. Truth is, we ran out of cables for a few days and decided to ship ODACs with an alternative USB cable that was in stock (unfortunately no ferrite). The cables were provided free...
 
If you ordered an assembled ODAC and received one of these cheaper cables, contact us with your order # and we can ship out a ferrite cable.
 

 
Thanks John, that is my case I'll contact you via email soon. BTW congrats on the new office and for all the hard work put into producing great products for the community.