[ostewart]

It seems these are heavily underappreciated DAC's, I own both.

These are 2 pieces of equipment I bought straight after reviewing, the OL DAC is used for my main computer setup, and the EL DAC as the DAC for my Hifi system.

I have soldered the DIP switches to my OL DAC, and have another DIP switch on it's way for the EL DAC.

 

[jseaber]

Hey, Oscar.

OL DAC v1.10 began shipping earlier this week. A small number of customers suggested adding power on/off muting, so we did:

 

[ostewart]

Hey, Oscar.

OL DAC v1.10 began shipping earlier this week. A small number of customers suggested adding power on/off muting, so we did:

That's a neat little upgrade, but I tend to try and turn the amp off before the DAC.

I don't think damage can be done by the tiny noise of switching the DAC off first right?

Also added the DIP switches to my EL DAC yesterday, same filter setting as the OL DAC, Short Delay, Slow Roll Off

 

[jseaber]

Right. It's more convenient when the DAC drives a set of powered monitors, which are rarely turned off. I tend to leave my amps and DAC on 24/7, but hey, it's a nice touch.

 

[ostewart]

Right. It's more convenient when the DAC drives a set of powered monitors, which are rarely turned off. I tend to leave my amps and DAC on 24/7, but hey, it's a nice touch.

This is true, and the OL DAC never gets hot anyway.

Whats the best way to clean the PCB of the EL DAC, as it is matte black and shows up every finger print, I clean flux away with alcohol but it shows up smears in some places.

 

[jseaber]

When I've manually cleaned flux in the past, alcohol and an old toothbrush has worked. It takes several passes. A final rinse and scrub with distilled water helps eliminate smearing. Dry thoroughly.

 

[Haris Javed]

Hello - I ordered a B stock fom JDS Labs, It will be paired with JDS Element + a Yamaha Z9 (pure direct mode) - I really liked the Element, but needed more inputs.
Headphone setup will be usb > EL DAC > (signal will be split here for the Element, and Z9) Element
Speaker setup will be usb > EL DAC > Yamaha Z9 (pure direct mode)

will let you know my thoughts

Thank you

 

[CharlesC]

Received my EL DAC yesterday. It sounds very good and I expect to enjoy it for a long time to come. Interestingly, running in USB mode off a Raspberry PI (Volumio installed) it produced much lower volumes than USB from my Mac. Not obvious to me why that would be. By this evening I should have a SPDIF board for the RPi. I'm not expecting any issues.

 

[Oscar-HiFi]

Glad to finally see some owners of the EL DAC, it is a severly underrated DAC here on Head-Fi.

@CharlesC odd about the volume, be interesting to see if SPDIF fixes the issue

 

[Haris Javed]

Received my EL DAC yesterday. It sounds very good and I expect to enjoy it for a long time to come. Interestingly, running in USB mode off a Raspberry PI (Volumio installed) it produced much lower volumes than USB from my Mac. Not obvious to me why that would be. By this evening I should have a SPDIF board for the RPi. I'm not expecting any issues.

Received my EL DAC yesterday. It sounds very good and I expect to enjoy it for a long time to come. Interestingly, running in USB mode off a Raspberry PI (Volumio installed) it produced much lower volumes than USB from my Mac. Not obvious to me why that would be. By this evening I should have a SPDIF board for the RPi. I'm not expecting any issues.

maybe I can help. is your PI powered with battery or a DC adapter? try a usb port on pc and see what happens - usually the issue should be at the RCA outputs of the DAC, they are probably not sending 2v out and you amp might have low input sensitivity. usually USB 3.0 ports on a pc have a max rating of 2.5w (5+/-.3)v, and .5A. Maybe the USB is attenuating the digital signal so the amplitude is lower, sorry to confirm these things you would need some sort to testing tools, but I think try it with a different pc with USB ports, and other inputs, and see what happens. You can also measure the output voltage at RCA outputs (again tools needed, oscilloscope needed) and play test tones, this is super useful, as it also displays distortion / clipping, and if your signal is too hot or not. good luck! I will be getting my unit tomorrow - excited!

thank you
Haris

 

[Haris Javed]

I am happy to inform that I received my unit today - the sound is very good! however my unit has an issue. I will update once I contact JDS labs, and get it resolved

 

[CharlesC]

Glad to finally see some owners of the EL DAC, it is a severly underrated DAC here on Head-Fi.

@CharlesC odd about the volume, be interesting to see if SPDIF fixes the issue

I'm very happy with the sound of the EL DAC over SPDIF from the RPi and my Mac. It's a great sounding device. I don't have a lot of confidence in my ability to compare but this seems like a worthy upgrade from my Dragonfly Black. In the past I have had both Modi and Modi 2 Uber and never cared for the sound of these thru my stereo. I was considering going with the Modi multibit this time but decided it was time for something different. I have no regrets. BTW, I became aware of the EL DAC because of your post in the "Under $300 Dac" thread. I was already aware of JDS because of the Odacs and their portable devices which have always gotten good reviews. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Haris Javed]

-

 

[Oscar-HiFi]

I'm very happy with the sound of the EL DAC over SPDIF from the RPi and my Mac. It's a great sounding device. I don't have a lot of confidence in my ability to compare but this seems like a worthy upgrade from my Dragonfly Black. In the past I have had both Modi and Modi 2 Uber and never cared for the sound of these thru my stereo. I was considering going with the Modi multibit this time but decided it was time for something different. I have no regrets. BTW, I became aware of the EL DAC because of your post in the "Under $300 Dac" thread. I was already aware of JDS because of the Odacs and their portable devices which have always gotten good reviews. Thanks for the tip.

No problem, I feel they are underrated here on Head-Fi, I have been a supporter of JDS Labs since the early days when I won a C421 amp, then had an O2, C5, C5D, Element and now both the EL and OL DAC, every device they make is excellent value for money with no BS marketing.

 

[Haris Javed]

Hello people!

Got my DAC last week, and some pictures!
- IF JDS labs is looking at this post, I would like to say THANK YOU to them for all of their assistance (Jimmy and John assisted me with my issue). The Folks at JDS labs are phenomenal. I was having some Usb dropout issues (Windows 10 creators update issues) and they assisted me over the WEEKEND! - and all is good now! - So far I have done about 18 - 20 hours of listening via EL DAC (headphones + speakers)

and now for more good news! In a nut shell the EL DAC sounds very good. It's not the best thing since sliced bread, but it is a clean / natural sounding DAC. A very good piece of hardware to get your HiFi journey started. I do wish you could turn off the led (its too bright)

let me know if you have any questions

Haris