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Completely Blown Away--Geshelli JNOG3 with SparkoS Dual SS2590 Op-amps

Sparkos Labs had a 30% off holiday discount on everything, so I couldn’t resist picking up a pair of their dual SS2590 op-amps with DIP-8 adapters (fully assembled since I’m lazy). With those op-amps on hand, I knew I just had to go to Geshelli’s web site and order up a lovely JNOG3 DAC in charcoal to match my Space Gray WiiM Ultra. After some critical listening, I've this much to report so far:

Absolutely comprehensive list of previous DACs I’ve owned in general ranked order prior to getting this DAC:
Topping D90 III Discrete
Denafrips Ares II
Musician Draco
Topping E70 Velvet
HiBy R6 Pro II (simultaneously as streamer and as DAC)
FiiO K11 R2R
Cayin RU7
Cayin RU6
SMSL DO100
WiiM Ultra (simultaneously as streamer and as DAC)
Hidizs S9 Pro Plus Martha
Hidizs S9 Pro

Up until recently, I felt the D90 III Discrete was tops under $1,000. After adding it to my system, I was convinced that a proper 1-bit DAC is as good as it gets (the RU7 is decent, but nowhere close to the D90 III Discrete, almost certainly due to all of the compromises made for it to be compact, portable, and able to run off cell phone power), especially with DSD recordings (which is only a very small portion of my actual listening, at the end of the day). Well, after buying the WiiM Ultra streamer, which converts all DSD to PCM anyway, I decided to return the D90 III Discrete (thanks for the amazing service, Apos!!!) and switch back to the E70 Velvet since everything I was now decoding is PCM and the 1-bit DAC no longer had the same benefits given the cost. I had heard all along that the implementation is more important than the chip, and SparkoS had a 30% off sale, so I decided to go ahead and test that theory by buying the JNOG3 and equipping it with the vaunted SS2590 op-amps. Would it prove to be better than the E70 Velvet, which uses the same delta-sigma chip?

Yes. Oh yes. In fact, I didn’t even receive my upgraded power supply yet (not sure when Teddy Pardo will get my Mini Teddy SE to me from Israel), but I literally didn’t even know my system could sound this good. The soundstage depth and layering are just so holographic now, stunningly holographic, we’re talking better than when I had a Schiit Freya+ preamp in my chain with Linlai E-6SN7 tubes holographic, with even greater air from instruments (like cymbals) and detail extraction than the E70 Velvet while still being so smooth and completely un-fatiguing to listen to. The notes now have this incredible roundness to them, with soft sounds being softer, yet hard sounds attacking harder. The texture, oh the texture…I can sense the strings vibrating inside the piano now on recordings like Dave Brubeck’s Take Five.

The JNOG3 with SS2590s is, at least for me, finally an end-game DAC. Can’t wait to see what effect the Teddy Pardo power supply has (if any…I don’t just believe everything has an effect or benefit, one has to truly be critical when listening critically, especially when an item costs this much, need to be honest and return for refund if it doesn’t deliver as promised) when it comes in.
 

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-Ed
eddnog
eddnog OP
58 posts
 

@lanx0003 your room is probably in much less need of correction than mine. With 4- and 6-year-old kids, I don’t have the luxury of a special listening room or even speaker placement, so room correction is my only option to get the sound as I want. I also do not know how you tried to utilize the room correction in the WiiM—it takes proper setup. Tune the bass management first as good as it will get, then limit room correction from the subwoofer crossover point up to 500Hz max, and then switch off bass management temporarily to run left vs right room correction (a feature that only came out a week ago or so—and this feature is absolutely key if your listening setup is not symmetrically placed in the room, such as in my situation), then run it, and I don’t use the crappy iPhone microphone, I use a MiniDSP UMIK to do it. The final result is several levels better than any other thing I have ever done on this system.

-Ed

lanx0003
852 posts
 

If the room is not that ideal, room treatment first. Over-correcting it messes sound. Good luck.  EQ could help you tweak loudness / SPL / dispersion at certain frequencies but won't change or enhance the quality / definition of the sound notes.

eddnog OP
58 posts
 

@lanx0003 room treatment again not an option with the kids. Point is that farther down the line (a few years from now), the entire system will find a final place somewhere more ideal in my home, so blowing a ton of money on room treatments for a temporary room placement is pretty wasteful. The software room correction is a generally zero-cost bonus feature (UMIK cost not included).

-Ed

lanx0003
852 posts
 

Just to clarify the point about over-correction: In my living room, the PEQ corrections were kept within ±4dB, which corresponds to a ±32% change in the perceived sound level. Beyond this range, I would consider the adjustment to be an over-correction. The actual measurements were fairly close to the predicted results. However, even with this, the Wiim still sounds noticeably softer.

I can tell you’ve spent a significant amount of time and effort pursuing a good DAC. With the enhanced Geshelli, I believe you could achieve much better results with a more refined streamer. I’ve been in a similar situation, and I can confidently say that the quality disparity between streamers is often more pronounced than that of DACs. Recently, I picked up a $170 SMSL D6s and found its sound quality to be nearly indistinguishable from the $1,400 Gustard R26. However, the difference between the $270 Wiim Ultra and the $399 MXN10 is easily noticeable.

Here’s a suggestion: Since the Wiim Ultra has both line-in and Toslink inputs, try connecting it to the analog line-out or Toslink output of a better streamer. This way, you can take advantage of the streaming quality while still using the PEQ/RC features of the Wiim. It’s a win-win.

eddnog OP
58 posts
 

My Teddy Pardo Mini Teddy SE power supply arrived today (two days early—thanks, DHL!) and right off the bat improved transparency and presence in the mids, which feel subtly richer. Was not sure if there would be any benefit, but it’s there even if subtle. My first experience with Teddy Pardo, but now I get it—this thing is a keeper!
 

-Ed

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