So I have got the Jnog and spent some time with it and its a very impressive dac I must say. Very nice take on the AKM āVelvet soundā. ITs XLR outputs keep the positive traits of the AKM style of sound and patch some of its weaknesses. I find AKM dacs typically sound slightly warmer, airier and vocals more distant when compared to other chipsets like SAbre. The vocals being slightly more distant sounding often makes people say the AKM dacs have a āWide soundstageā but I find them to be typically quite diffuse sounding.
The Jnog doesnt have this issue, vocals have a very nice sense of depth to them. They are neither right in your face or very distant. Depth is general is the strongest point of the Jnog to me, I find instrument separation and imaging to be exceptionally good as well. I have been playing a lot of Pathfinder KIngmaker and some of the background monster noises and ambient sounds just stick out more to me than they did with the Modius as their placement seems better and more separated from the BGM.
Compared to the Modius RCA outputs, I think the Jnog xlr is just straight better. I find the Modius RCA to be similar but its more diffuse, has less depth and there is a kind of airy sheen over some things that just sounds fatiguing compared to the Jnog, not that the Modius is very fatiguing, its just that the Jnog is super pleasant sounding, one of the least fatiguing DACs I have ever used.
The Modius RCA tends to make everything sound more distant than is actually accurate I find (common issue with AKM dacs IMO)., the JNOG sounds more accurate. i also find the JNOG to sound more detailed mostly because the seperation is better which makes it easier to notice some of the smaller background noises.
The big question is how do the XLR modius outputs compare to the Jnog XLR and then matters get challenging. The modius XLR has a much more in your face wall of sound effect, its quite exciting for things like metal or when you are just looking to listen without thinking too deeply. Whereas the Modius RCA tends to make everything sound more distant, the XLR sounds really accurate, if a bit congested at times. The Jnog adds just a touch of that AKM width which can trick you into thinking music has more depth than the recording has (in a good way :))
The Modius XLR makes pops, hisses, clicks and other oddities pop more, wheras the Jnog tends to cover those up, they are there but very quiet. The Jnog adds a touch of sweetness or pleasantness to vocals whereas the Modius XLR is quite dry and brutally honest with them. In very simple terms I think the Modius XLR sounds extremely accurate to the recording while the Jnog makes them sound better than they actually are.
The one thing the Modius XLR does far better is subbass, its XLR has some freaking slamming subbass. Generally sounds like I have a larger bass boost on when I compare it to Modius RCA or JNOG. If you are a basshead who craves the slam above all else, Modius XLR is a great dac. Everything else I tend to prefer the Jnog for, I love the depth, and just how pleasant it is to listen to. I can put on a crap 256kb quality Mp3 and it still sounds really great on the Jnog, whereas not as much on the Modius.
Basically if you are doing mixing,mastering or other very critical sound work I would look at the Modius using its XLR outputs, if you just want everything to sound awesome Jnog is a solid choice.
All of my comparisons were done with a EQed Audio Technica AD2000 and I only used the Jnogs XLR outputs. Havent bothered with the RCA yet as I am not planning on using them since I use Archel 2.5.
