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JCally JM01 Headphone DAC Review

JCally JM01 Headphone DAC Review

Author:Andy.EF

DAC Chip: Conexant CX21988 (Single)

PCM 24bit - 96khz, SNR: -95dB, Power: 1 Vrms, USB Type-C Male, 3.5mm SE (Microphone: Yes), 12cm, Aluminum Chassis OFC Cable

 

Strengths:

  • Neutral sparkly signature, airy timbre, “slender” tonality
  • Intimate mids, neutral sounding vocals, moderate textures
  • Great Treble textures with smooth decay
  • Solid guitar, piano, cello and bass guitar tones, soft edged percussions
  • Bass exhibit acceptable texture definition, so does the Mids
  • Commendable details retrieval, amply nuanced
  • Separation lines are clear, moderate imaging, not as sharp.
  • Great speed handling, able to resolve 250BPM adeptly.
  • For some reasons, JM01 sounds beautiful with Alison Krauss ���

 

Weaknesses:

  • Non-organic timbre deposition, digital-ish
  • Slightly boxed in Soundstage lacking depth
  • Weak output maxed out at 70Ω.
  • Thin sounding dynamics, lacking weight.
  • Mid-Bass exhibited tamed impact and slam.
  • Unlike JA21 which uses the same DAC chip, JM01 can be sibilant.
  • Flat percussions sound, weak vibrancy, and bite
  • Spatial imaging less precise and less holographic

 

VERDICT:

JCally JM01. I will make this one quick. It is a sparkier version of JCally JA21, with better treble extensions and slightly more transparent. A little bit dryer sounding too. Otherwise, they are similar sounding in many ways. Between JM01 and JA21 – the most important lesson I have learnt was that the same DAC chip can sound very  different, determined by how they are tuned especially with the Opamp they are paired with.

 

OVERALL RATING: 75/100

Recommended Pairing: Flexible

 

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