šŸ”· Geshelli Labs JNOG DAC

Jnog and Erish arrived today. Jnog is purple and the Erish is blue/black mist.

The build quality is very nice and the paint job impressive. I think one of my favorite things about them is the ability to set all the LED’s to red. I think just having the red LED’s makes the Geshelli stack my favorite of all audio equipment I have.

Great work @geshelli_labs !

I also have an Enog which is equally wonderful.

Also happy it works out of the box with Arch Linux. The included cloth with each device matches the color I chose for the metal body; nice attention to detail.

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Looking pretty sweet there @SandboxGeneral !
I sorta see an ā€œFM Attackā€ album art theme happening… :thinking:

Also see you piled the Schiit out back, lol

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Ha! That made me lol for real - ā€œpiled the Schiit out backā€ :rofl:

Yeah, I guess I do have a bit of synthwave theme going on there. :sunglasses:

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Anyone know where to get the USB driver that works with the JNOG for ASIO playback and/or DSD playback? Does it need to come from Amarano?

I think it’s here: https://www.amanero.com/drivers.htm

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Website says they’re included.

@zeze That was it. Thanks!
@SandboxGeneral They are but only WASAPI was usable. I had to down the ASIO drivers. Wanted to put the JNOG though it’s DSD paces and see what I could push though it between PCM and DSD. This is really a hell of a dac.

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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 ā€œVelvet 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 ā€œWide 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.

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Very interesting review! I will take some time to digest this.

I’ve spent a good part of the day with the Jnog paired with the Erish and using the HD650’s. I don’t have all the fancy adjectives and nomenclature to describe what I hear, but this is what I can say.

The pairing is warm (but not too warm), clean and smooth.

What I reference the Geshelli stack against for comparison is a stack of Schiit. I like Schiit. I have the Modi multibit, Magni 3, Loki and a Jotuenheim with the multibit DAC module. With Schiit I would say it is neutral, almost cool, clean and even sterile.

It’s difficult for me to articulate what I am hearing as differences, but I like the Geshelli stack a bit more than my Schiit stack. It’s a different sound, not better or worse per se, but different in a way that I like it better.

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Your description seems pretty clear to me. Well done and keep it coming!

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Anyone else paired this up with an RNHP ? Or any rough comparisons to the Bifrost2 (I know that’s kinda an apples & oranges story)
I’m very tempted by the JNOG (or Modius) as a stepping stone from E30/Modi3 to the ā€œendgameā€ Bifrost2 / RNHP pairing.
The Bifrost2 cost is just a bit too far right now.

You and I are in the exact same boat friend. I’m curious about pairing this with the RNHP. I can’t quite swing for the BF2 but I want to know if the JNOG is worth spending to move past the entry level DACs and if it has good synergy with the RNHP. The Allo Revolution is also on my list at a similar price point and I’ve been told it pairs well with the RNHP.

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Ha! From the in depth descriptions on the JNOG above I am leaning towards yes. Thank you btw @Raimei-Templar for the in depth writeup.
However! it’s always good to have a few descriptions to cross reference, although at the same time FOMO, limited edition and all that shite…

Yea the ALLO Revolution came recommended to me too but is out for me as it’s USB only.

sooo…what differentiates the JNOG from the ENOG, aside from it adding USB input?

Feck it, just ordered a JNOG, It’ll take a while to get here, but I’ll post notions about it & RNHP when I get it.

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Sorry for the late replies guys. I’ve been working on the reviews. The Erish review is at 1,600 words, but I’m just about done with it. The JNOG is next. I’m listening to them both now…lol

To answer your question the RNHP sounds absolutely fantastic with the JNOG, even better than the ENOG. As a single-ended combo, I think it will rank with some of the best, especially for the price.

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Unicorn Tears… or Pixie Dust…

$hit something magical…lol

Ok, I’ve told this story before and it is in the reviews as well.

I’ve had the Erish for a few months and my initial thoughts were that it was good but nothing special. Not what I was expecting from Geshelli especially compared to their other amps. I tired different headphones etc but something still sounded off.

I contacted Geshelli and Geno recommended that I test the Erish against the JNOG. The ENOG just wasn’t enough for the Erish, it was out running the ENOG…

I know that sounds nuts, if you own an ENOG you know just how amazing it really is. Anyway a few days later the JNOG arrived for testing.

What in the actual #^$(#&%
How could a DAC make such a huge difference. Jaw dropping good.

FLAC> JNOG> ERISH> Focal Clear = the most transparent combo I’ve ever heard. It sounds just like what I imagine the artist and sound engineer intended.

I love the ENOG 2> RNHP> focal clears but the JNOG> Erish might have it beat.

Of course one is a single ended setup and the other is balanced.

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I just realized I didn’t explain the actual difference…lol

I’m not super versed in all the technical details from that I understand the DAC chips are a slightly better model and the circuit design is more focused on the balanced output and the single-ended is a completely different circuit on the same board. The USB is a separate module optional module from Amanero. Looking at the cost on their website I think Geshelli is adding/ selling them at cost or really close to cost.

Had some time so tried comparing the RCA outs of the JNOG to the RCA outs of the Modius and well…I cant tell them apart lol. I would say they are effectively identical, so if you are only going to use RCA just pick the one that looks cooler to you!

Personally I would recommend just getting a Modi 3+ if you are only going to use RCA though as now that it has the Unison USB its roughly 99% as good as the Modius RCA.

JNOG and Modius XLR outputs are a solid upgrade to something like the Modi though IMO, so they are a great value as long as you have a amp that accepts XLR.

AS for the difference with the ENOG and the JNOG, the main difference is the output stage now uses the much better OPA 1656 op amps as opposed to the 1642 the ENOG used. These are the same op amps used in the Erish and Archel 2.5. The JNOG also has separate single ended and XLR output stages which should improve performance. I had a ENOG last year but its been so long I cant say how much better the JNOG is unfortunately.

I do have some minor nitpicks with the JNOG, the biggest one being that the xlr outputs do not match the XLR inputs of the Archel 2.5, the Left and right are reversed, so I must cross the xlr cables to connect them. Its not anything that is a serious issue but I would prefer that they match since they are intended to be a stack. The other minor gripe is that the connector on the Amenero USB board is a little wobbly. This isnt Geshellis fault as they didnt make it and I havent had any issues with dropouts but would have preferred it be a more snug connection.

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