***Disclaimer: The items are purchased on my own. There is no sponsorship or payment from any firm.***
Specification:
1. Product name: JM50 audio cable
2. Brand: JCALLY
3. Model: JM50 audio adapter cable
4. DAC chip: ES9281AC pro
5. Distortion: 0.0004%
6. SNR: -118dB
7. FR: 0.032dB @ 20 Hz-40 kHz
8. PCM: 32 bit / 768 kHz
9. DSD: DSD512
10. Output voltage: ≥ 30mW (16 ohms)
≥
62mW (32 ohms) ≥ 7mW (600Ω)
11.Length: 10cm ± 2cm
12. Weight: About 7g
Testing Setup:
IEM: UM MEST MK II
Cable: Effect Audio Cadmus 2 pin 3.5mm
Ear tips: Spinfit W1
Source: iPhone 14 pro, MacBook Pro 14
Audio source: Apple Music Lossless 16-bit /44.1 kHz, 24-bit/48 kHz ALAC
Build quality and appearance:
The main points of JM50/L are its lightweight and compactness. The wires are high-purity silver and braided likes most chi-fi cables. It’s hard to test if the material is valid, but it does seem durable. The quality 3.5mm-female termination is pretty good, not loose, without sharp edges. However, the words of the specification on it are useless though. *** Only the Type-C version has the led light to indicate the sample rate. *** The qualities of Type-C and lighting terminations are above average. (BTW, I don’t even know if there are any distinguishably high-quality Type-C and lighting terminations.)
Its weight is about 7g, and Apple’s dongle is about 2.5g. Fiio KA1 is about 10g. The weights of the cable-changeable dongles are ranged from 10-20g without cable. Therefore, I think this is a decent alternative between Apple’s dongle and cable-changeable dongles.
Overall, it’s well-built and durable in a compact structure.
Sound quality
Due to this compactness, it is evident that the output will be just enough. Thus, if you have a high ohm headphone or IEM, you might consider those cable-changeable dongles. (If you need more, you can go for balance.)
The resolution is not significantly better than Apple’s dongle, but the difference is noticeable. It does enhance your listening experience, but it won’t make a $100 sound like $1000. In addition, to utilize the DAC, the audio resource is needed to be lossless or near that.
The tonality is close to neutral, with a bit of emphasis on the treble. I suggest this result might lay on the nature of this is more a DAC dongle than an AMP/DAC dongle. So, it won’t be helpful to tone your IEMs/headphones with it. The silver wires have no effect in this case because the DAC is supposed to be on the 3.5mm-female side.
One significant feature is very little background noise. It is noticeable and therefore lets your IEMs perform their best.
In short, this dongle is more like pure DAC. Don’t expect it to provide tremendous AMP power.
Conclusion:
JCALLY JM50 /L is a decent investment to let your IEM perform better, and it’s relatively compact and light. I recommend getting one if you have an IEM that values above $500 and has a moderate ohm.
I’m not saying that this dongle won’t improve your headphone is inexpensive, but there is a better place to invest your money, such as ear tips. On the other hand, this product might not be suitable for those overhead headphones that need sufficient output.
