Audio Performance

I could not take the Element II apart, so I am happy a PCB image on the JDS Labs website for the Element II shows the hidden side we could not take a look at before. The DAC in the Element II is the AKM AK4493EQ, a 32-bit 2-channel DAC capable of 768 kHz PCM and 22.4 MHz DSD playback, even though these resolutions are never experienced in practice. Typical SNR is rated for up to 123 dB with a THD+N of -113, which might be a small bottleneck compared to other DACs from the past couple of years offering higher dynamic range. The digital input of the DAC comes in the form of an XMOS XU208 USB bridge with the xCORE 32-bit multi-core microcontroller that has been used successfully for USB audio Class 2 implementations, though it now passes 32-bit, 384 kHz PCM playback to the DAC itself. The provided cable works in conjunction with a SiTime MEMS oscillator for lower signal jitter, one of the improvements over the original Element.

Amplification comes in the form of multiple power stages directly from the AC power supply. The 16 VAC, 1 A input/transformer goes to a 15 VDC rail fed to capacitors with plenty of spare room to even run the DAC off the direct DC coupling. This means the USB cable is only used for data, which does help keep things cooler for the DAC itself. I suppose this is as good a time as any to mention that the metal body gets slightly warmer than the human body. However, this is not a DAC/amp that needs a heatsink beyond the factory casing. Going back to the amplifier section, the voltage gain power stages are handled by unnamed NJR op amps, with all JSA Labs providing in terms of information being that these are highly noise tolerant. What this leads to is a DAC with a 2 Vrms rating and an amp capable of 2.2 Vrms at the 4.73x high gain setting, which has the two pair well enough.


Ultimately, what matters is how clean the signal output is and how much power can be provided to drive headphones, or the RCA out. The most useful metric in this regard is the 1.3 W (6.53 Vrms) continuous power rating at 32 Ω, which is plenty to drive any portable device, especially with an output impedance of under 1 Ω. This is 656 mW (9.9 Vrms) at 150 Ω and 165 mW (9.9 Vrms) at 600 Ω. You can find a very handy power calculator for headphones here, which confirm that the amplifier section aboard the JDS Labs Element II is more than capable of driving pretty much any retail set of stereo headphones. Indeed, it handled everything I had to throw at it, including some desktop 2-channel speakers. I did not even use the higher gain setting. That said, don't expect this to drive full-size speakers, as those come with their own power supply for a reason. As seen in the flowcharts above, RCA out bypasses the DAC to allow the amp to run off the source directly. The two modes are mutually exclusive, hence the switching action, although the same volume control mechanism works for both. I do wish we had a digital volume readout, especially at the price the Element II goes for, since the single indicator doesn't do much for finer control without having the volume change notification on your monitor as well.


Given the use of the XMOS USB audio bridge, the Element II is compatible with the generic XMOS drivers, whose installer is hosted on the JDS Labs website. This is because with Windows 10 and macOS 1.6.4 and onward, there is native USB audio Class 2 support. There is no need to install these drivers if on Windows 10 or the appropriate macOS thus, but it is a must on Windows 7/8.1, etc., for ASIO playback. These are generic, royalty-free drivers from 2019, and it is more a matter of having them available if needed for the source of your choice. I can't really think of a scenario for first-party drivers here, but feel free to let me know in the comments section if one comes to mind and I will pass the feedback along.


Custom firmware builds are part of the reason the enthusiast and modding community has taken to JDS Labs well, with a whole page dedicated to these builds on the company website. Some of these pertain to the implementation of UAC1/UAC2, especially with the compatible cable for consoles. There are also some features being tested as we speak, and this is where the company seems quite receptive to community ideas as a whole. The shipped sample was already on the latest suggested firmware, but I went through the process again to see whether it was easy (or not). Figuring out where the firmware flash tool is located took me awhile; the location is indicated on the page linked above, and updating itself does not take long, which is a good thing.


The Element II is a plug-and-play device on Windows 10, which has native XMOS decoding support. If you do download the generic XMOS drivers, you can enable WASAPI exclusive mode in the player of your choice and not just ASIO. JRiver had no issues detecting both output means here, and you can always check the status of the drivers as it pertains to the controlled hardware to make sure it is indeed the Element II being configured. My default setup was 32-bit audio over JRiver, with volume in Windows 10 set to ~95% and me using the volume wheel of the Element II to change the volume, which has the DAC get the highest-quality input. I then set the sampling rate to an integer multiple of the source-file quality itself. JDS Labs suggests as much; for example, using 192 kHz playback with 48/96/192 kHz audio files. Once set up, I used the Element II with a few different headphones, including the Audeze LCD-XC shown above.


To better illustrate my point, I have randomly chosen a set of headphones to use with the Element II and my laptop. Testing was done similar to how I test other headphones, which you can read up on in an another review. The headphones I used here are extremely well-tuned to begin with, with multiple cross-over segments, too. It helps easily discern any output/drive issues, and I know exactly how it should sound on my reference sound card as well. The graph above compares the headphone out on the Element II to the same on my laptop via an adapter, with the Element II also connected to the laptop via USB. Using the Element II was done as described in the previous paragraph, with different quality files playing as a control before doing this test in ARTA and REW. There are obvious improvements in comparison to the laptop's own Realtek ALC3266 chipset throughout the frequency range. Gone is the boosted bass that loses clarity on a whim, whatever the mids response is with poor imaging and soundstage, and gone also is thankfully the bad treble roll-off that makes my ears ring at times. The Element II cleans it up and provides for a fantastic listening experience. Note that I also tested this with some motherboards, but could not easily get my PC near the noise-dampened chamber where testing is done. With some higher-end motherboards that boast great onboard audio, I was not really able to discern the difference using the integrated audio circuit vs. the Element II on many files, but orchestral music recorded in FLAC still showed an improvement with the Element II. I also acknowledge that testing a DAC/amp requires an oscilloscope, among other things, but I do not have access to one personally and wasn't able to "borrow" an expensive set from work.