JCally JA02 Headphone DAC Review

Author：Andy.EF

DAC Chip: Unspecified DAC Chip (Single)

PCM 24bit - 96khz, SNR: -105dB, Power: 1 Vrms, USB Type-C Male, 3.5mm SE (Microphone: Yes), 5gm 25x138x0.68mm, Aluminum Chassis

Strengths:

• Neutral timbre and tone, balanced.
• Natural sounding guitars, drums, and instruments
• Short smooth Treble decay
• Forward focused Mids, vocals sounded realistic.
• Strong Sub-Bass response
• Surprisingly good with Lo-Fi music
• The tamed nature makes JA02 non fatiguing.
• Good for Pop and modern music

Weaknesses:

• Everything sounded recessed and veiled.
• Dynamics does not exhibit coherence; it is loose as it is weak-ish and compressed.
• Among the weakest 1 Vrms output in the entire tested dongles
• Dull sounding Mid-Bass

VERDICT:

JCally JA02. I have no idea what’s inside. The sound is as average at most as the price suggests. It is simply dull sounding overall even by JCally standard. It sounds like your average laptop headphone out. The usage for this JA02 is when you need ultra-compact and cheap on the go solution that allows for the use of built in Microphone. The uninspiring overall sound makes it difficult for me to conduct further test, the recessed presentation killed my interest in this one.

OVERALL RATING: 60/100

Recommended Pairing: Anything easy to drive below 50Ω

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