[luisdent]

 

Now that I think of it, I kinda want to use it for my laptop or ipad at work... Does the odac work on iOS devices? I'm kinda leaning towards the C5D because I don't need to plug the amp to a wall socket, But if the quality of the dac / amp of o2+odac combo is cleaner and better than the C5D, I will go for the o2+odac and just make it my desktop gear at home.

The O2 amp overall is better but C5D is not far behind. This is actually what I use most of the time. I have not tried the ODAC. I suppose you are better off with C5D since it's more versatile. Given the C5D's size SQ quality is not night and day.

C5D has a few benefits though. Size, even though it's portable it's also a smaller footprint on your desk, this is nice if you have a laptop and limited space. The C5D has better channel balance than the O2 as well...

 

[jjcoolaus]

I'm having an interesting time with the C5D and my HTC One.
 
Sometimes sound will come out of the boomsound speakers instead of through my amp which can be embarrassing.
 
The workaround I have found is to ensure the C5D is turned on BEFORE plugging in the MicroUSB cable. Sometimes this works well, sometimes it results in no audio until you pause your music, disconnect and reconnect the microUSB cable and try again (maybe it's the user in that instance) but so far I have not had tunes or other audio blast out of the phone speakers using this method.
 
Hopefully someone reading this thread might happen to be an audiophile who works for HTC and can implement a bug fix when KitKat rolls out. Ditto to the problem of phone calls going through the phone and not the DAC.

 

[urtv]

I connected my C5D to my pc and after playing music for a while, all sound would stop and I can only hear static. The stock usb cable and the one I got from monoprice did the same thing. Did I get a defective unit?

 

[Varoudis]

  I connected my C5D to my pc and after playing music for a while, all sound would stop and I can only hear static. The stock usb cable and the one I got from monoprice did the same thing. Did I get a defective unit?

Do you hear static from the 'mobile' device that is not connected to the mains? (Laptop?Android phone?iPhone os7?)

 

[urtv]

  Do you hear static from the 'mobile' device that is not connected to the mains? (Laptop?Android phone?iPhone os7?)

Nope.
 
I think I might have solved my problem(for now). Switched to a usb port far away from my other cables and seems to work fine now.

 

[Mix0r]

I also received static equal to my current listening volume after having slightly moved the unit (adjusting amp gain for example)
Don't think it was a cable loose, atleast not the one connected to the "dac end", as I was pushing it further in (suspected it was loose) the loud static sound was still on.
 
This has happened twice so far only on my laptop, I will try to use another usb port and see if that solves anything.
 
edit: Forgot to mention that a few other times (5+), when "slightly moving" it, the sound instead completely died and I have to reconnect the cables for it to work again. Yes, this is on different ports, are the cable and connections really "that sensitive"?

 

[Varoudis]

 
Nope.
 
I think I might have solved my problem(for now). Switched to a usb port far away from my other cables and seems to work fine now.

its the power supply of your pc (or laptop)

 

[miceblue]

^ yeah that could happen
My ODAC kept dying/playing weird sounds when connected to 1 USB input of my MacBook, but the other USB port right next to it was just fine. o.0

 

[palermo]

always same cases on my hrt musicstreamer II, ODAC, Fiio E10 since they have no own power source. 

In C5D case, do all of you switch to the battery mode? it should not happen, battery take over the power source. 

 

 

[f198]

http://www.headfonia.com/jdslabs-portable-dac-the-jdslabs-c5d/

 

[miceblue]

http://www.headfonia.com/jdslabs-portable-dac-the-jdslabs-c5d/

However while A/B testing them you can clearly notice a difference in the amp section. The C5D seems to have less space and air in the music, making it seem like a more congested sound compared to the C5, which sounds clearer and more resolving.

That's weird.

And while I wasn’t a big fan of the C5 amplifier, the C5D as a DAC/Amp combo is now my favorite second to the CypherLabs Theorem.

That's not so weird.

XD

 

[jseaber]

  always same cases on my hrt musicstreamer II, ODAC, Fiio E10 since they have no own power source. 

In C5D case, do all of you switch to the battery mode? it should not happen, battery take over the power source. 

 

 
C5D's firmware reads USB voltage even in self-power mode, so the DAC can potentially shut off when there's a cable or power disturbance. The assumption was that the DAC should remain off to conserve power when a USB cable is disconnected. There's some extra logic to avoid dropouts, but this would not help with large variations in USB voltage.
 
The 2nd batch of C5Ds arrive today and we've updated firmware to force the DAC to remain on even when USB voltage behaves unexpectedly, including complete voltage dropouts. So unless the data drops out, the DAC will not turn off. Please email us if you have trouble again.
 

  http://www.headfonia.com/jdslabs-portable-dac-the-jdslabs-c5d/

 
As Mike mentions, custom OTG cables for C5D have arrived. 
 

 
 

 

[d marc0]

 

http://www.headfonia.com/jdslabs-portable-dac-the-jdslabs-c5d/

However while A/B testing them you can clearly notice a difference in the amp section. The C5D seems to have less space and air in the music, making it seem like a more congested sound compared to the C5, which sounds clearer and more resolving.

That's weird.
 

 
That worries me as I'm planning to upgrade from C5 to the C5D 

I hope more people who's had both can chime in about this matter...

 

[luisdent]

 

http://www.headfonia.com/jdslabs-portable-dac-the-jdslabs-c5d/

However while A/B testing them you can clearly notice a difference in the amp section. The C5D seems to have less space and air in the music, making it seem like a more congested sound compared to the C5, which sounds clearer and more resolving.

That's weird.

 

That worries me as I'm planning to upgrade from C5 to the C5D :blink:
I hope more people who's had both can chime in about this matter...

Seems odd to me. They should, by the engineer's own admision, sound the same. The specs are all well below audible differences and practically identical.

Was this a/b test double blind? No disrespect, but i'd be hard pressed to rely on the results no matter how obvious they may seem to the listener. Especially with a device so close in specs. It's very easy and likely you'll hear differences if you think they are there or if you are listening for differences. The brain can be a pain in the butt sometimes...

Also if this is the same user, he wasn't a fan of the c5 and says the c5d is more congested. So it sounds worse than an amp he already didn't like, but it's good as a dac/amp combo? The combo should only be as good as its weakest link.

So just take that logic into mind. I'll be glad to post my impressions vs. the c5 as soon as i have a chance to hear the c5d. Not sure when that will be as i don't really need a dac at the moment..,

 

[palermo]

   
C5D's firmware reads USB voltage even in self-power mode, so the DAC can potentially shut off when there's a cable or power disturbance. The assumption was that the DAC should remain off to conserve power when a USB cable is disconnected. There's some extra logic to avoid dropouts, but this would not help with large variations in USB voltage.
 
The 2nd batch of C5Ds arrive today and we've updated firmware to force the DAC to remain on even when USB voltage behaves unexpectedly, including complete voltage dropouts. So unless the data drops out, the DAC will not turn off. Please email us if you have trouble again.

Thanks John, glad to hear fast response from you and your team. 
I am assuming battery is the main feature that can explain everything relate to power issue and connecting USB to PC is all about data transfer and ground sharing.