Best Audiophile USB Card ?

[Tatomek7]

On 4/14/2021 at 6:42 PM, Dev said:

Did the ASMedia sounded better than the Renesas is your testing or was there a different reason ?

 

I did recently some tests of Jcat cards on my X99 mb with 10 core Xeon with Euphony/Roon OS.

 

Jcat USB Femto charged with Keces P8 USB 5V got new life powered by Jcat Optimo Duo. Changing LPS for Optimo was eye opener. SQ uptick was really significant and I was, in fact shocked, how big difference comes from this LPS. Everything improved, but what was important, everything was just right, balance, pace, colour. Just pleasure to listen to. Before I had some remarks to my server sound according tonal balance and the sound correctness. With new LPS everything clicked and came on the right place. I didn’t imagine the LPS can have so big difference, particularly I compared Keces P3 with P8 before and the difference between them was not as big, as with Optimo.

 

Then, I changed the card for Jcat USB XE, also with Optimo Duo LPS. The difference is not as big, as changing LPS for Jcat USB Femto, but still is. So, after a while I returned to Jcat USB Femto and yes, the change in this direction is more painful. The sound extension is limited, bass doesn’t go so deep and is less differentiated, the upper frequencies doesn’t shine as with XE card. I perceive most difficult to accept ( for me ) the bass. When you experience something better, it's difficult to agree after for step back. 

 

I compared Dual CPU C621 MB USB output with Jcat USB Femto some time ago and there is change, but I will not call it improvement, more side effect, some could like it, I don't. I liked very much USB Femto with single CPU, but with C621 it doesn't work for me.

 

Following some opinion on this forum I wanted also to check, if XE card will improve sound of the server based on Dual C621 CPU, but still testing. Initial impression is positive, but too early to judge, as I powered it today.

[Tatomek7]

2 minutes ago, prinz said:

Will let you know after few days. 

Maybe I will again swap back to ocxo to double check my impressions

It will be great.

 

JCat XE Card needed, I think 4 days 24/7 play to start to sound correctly and the change was sharp, just after four days it was ready.

 

Nevertheless I'm still astonished how good Femto USB card sounds with Jcat Optimo LPS. Following your description of Ultra PF Card these two can be a dream team :)

[Tatomek7]

On 4/23/2021 at 6:32 PM, Tatomek7 said:

Following some opinion on this forum I wanted also to check, if XE card will improve sound of the server based on Dual C621 CPU,

I didn't complete the test on dual CPU server, due to some issues with this server ( not solved yet ),  but thanks to that I had time to go deeper in comparison of Jact XE card and Femto powered with Keces P8 and Jact Optimo Duo.

 

I can confirm my first impressions described on the previous page. XE gives better resolution and frequency extension bottom to top ( in the good sense of words ). So bass goes deeper, is fuller, differentiated  and trumpets shines better ( not brighter ), you have also more information recorded during the session.

 

In short Optimo LPSU on top, what already XE card delivers; gives refinement, sublime, delicacy, smoothness more air and acoustic musical nuances.  Top first class impression.