Popular Post Marcin_gps Posted April 9, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted April 9, 2020 USB CARD XE XTREME EDITION USB AUDIO OUTPUT WITH GROUND-BREAKING PERFORMANCE The pinnacle of JCAT’s engineering and experience. State-of-the-art linear power supplies combined with latest generation high-precision Emerald OCXO offering ±5ppb stability deliver unmatched performance and set a new benchmark in USB Audio playback. THE USB AUDIO OUTPUT FOR HIGH-END USB DACS The USB Card XE provides extreme sound quality improvement for any USB DAC or USB-DDC. Just Plug & Play in any PC or mini PC equipped with a PCIe slot and experience music to the XTREME. ±0.005 (±5 PPB) STABILITY EMERALD OCXO State-of-the-art ±0.005 (±5 ppb) stability Emerald OCXO (oven controlled oscillator) delivers the most stable timing in the presence of environmental stressors such as airflow, temperature perturbation, vibration, shock, and electromagnetic interference (EMI). THE LOWEST NOISE LINEAR POWER SUPPLIES Industry's best LT3045 linear regulators and filters eliminate noise interferences from a PC. Truly linear design: no switching power supplies anywhere. LOW LATENCY USB CHIP Next generation low latency & low noise ASM3142 USB 3.1 host controller generates a clear USB Audio datastream. EXTERNAL PSU OPTION External PSU option eliminates computer as the source of power for lowest noise & best sound quality (requirements for the PSU: 5V/1A min). The OPTIMO 3 DUO power supply is highly recommended for absolute best sound quality. ‘DRAMATICALLY BETTER’ AVAILABLE NOW IN OUR ONLINE SHOP! SPECIFICATION: PCI Express USB Card for High-End Audio Plug & Play in any PC or mini PC with a PCIe slot Extreme sound quality improvement for any USB DAC or USB-DDC State-of-the-art LT3045 linear regulators and filters eliminate noise interferences from a PC No switching power supplies anywhere State-of-the-art ±0.005 (±5 ppb) stability Emerald OCXO (oven controlled oscillator) delivers the most stable timing in the presence of environmental stressors such as airflow, temperature perturbation, vibration, shock, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) Highest quality industrial grade components with operating temperature range from -40*C to +85*C Next generation low latency & low noise ASM3142 USB 3.1 host controller Gold plated high durability EMI shielded USB connectors Two High-End USB Audio outputs supporting Low Speed (1.5 Mbps), Full-Speed (12 Mbps), Hi-Speed (480 Mbps) and Super-Speed (5 Gbps) data rates Supports all lossless formats and sample rates External PSU option eliminates computer as the source of power for lowest noise & best sound quality (requirements for the PSU: 5V/1A min) 5V PSU can be supplied via 2.1/5.5mm center-positive DC jack connector or via LP4 molex connector (Linear Power Supply recommended for best SQ) Both full-size and low-profile laser cut PCI-e brackets included All x1-x16 lane PCI Express 2.0 slots supported Supported operating systems: Windows (all editions), Linux, Mac OS (10.16 or later) FelipeRolim, Nenon and romaz 1 2 JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
Marcin_gps Posted April 9, 2020 Author Share Posted April 9, 2020 There is a review coming with A/B demo. Here is the preview: Early feedback from @romaz is here: ‘DRAMATICALLY BETTER’ FelipeRolim 1 JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
zerung Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 There was a noise about this being priced at $600. But that was full of jitter, which the new card seems to cleaned up and a new clearer, cleaner, (Chinese) luck number Euro 800 is now available to us. Is this a fair price. I would love to hear your views. Marcin_gps 1 Qnap NAS (LPS) >UA ETHER REGEN (BG7TBL Master Clock) > Grimm MU1 > Mola Mola Tambaqui /Meridian 808.3> Wavac EC300B >Tannoy Canterbury SE HP Rig ++ >Woo WES/ > Stax SR-009, Audeze LCD2 Link to comment
Marcin_gps Posted April 10, 2020 Author Share Posted April 10, 2020 It was a typo in romaz post. I asked him to edit the post, but it was no longer possible to adjust. JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
Popular Post Marcin_gps Posted April 13, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 13, 2020 There is one important thing I discovered about the USB card XE that I think I should mention. I used to underclock my RAM to get more 'analogue' sound. Now, with the USb card XE this is no longer needed. in fact it is much better to keep the CPU & RAM on maximum performance settings - you get much better resolution, dynamics and air without any downsides. There is more clarity, but without digital trace. Nenon, Elberoth, FelipeRolim and 1 other 4 JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
guiltyboxswapper Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 @Marcin_gps how much current does the card use once its "warm" ? Link to comment
Marcin_gps Posted April 14, 2020 Author Share Posted April 14, 2020 19 hours ago, guiltyboxswapper said: @Marcin_gps how much current does the card use once its "warm" ? Approximately 1A. I will give you the exact number once I hear back from my engineer. guiltyboxswapper 1 JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
Marcin_gps Posted April 14, 2020 Author Share Posted April 14, 2020 The first batch of USB Card XE is on the way. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do. Please give the card up to 200 hours burn-in before forming your final opinion - the LT3045 LDOs on the card need time to open up. Please share your feedback here on the forum or leave a review and star rating on the Polestar platform: https://audiophilestyle.com/polestar/computers-networking/jcat-usb-card-xe-reviews-r293/ The card has an external PSU option which eliminates computer as the source of power. The OPTIMO 3 DUO power supply is highly recommended for absolute best sound quality: https://jcat.eu/featured/optimo-3-duo-linear-power-supply/ Looking forward to your impressions! Yours sincerely, Marcin Ostapowicz JPLAY & JCAT Founder JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
Marcin_gps Posted April 15, 2020 Author Share Posted April 15, 2020 On 4/13/2020 at 10:04 PM, guiltyboxswapper said: @Marcin_gps how much current does the card use once its "warm" ? 730mA is the exact number when the card is warm. guiltyboxswapper 1 JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
Marcin_gps Posted April 20, 2020 Author Share Posted April 20, 2020 We are currently accepting pre-orders for the next batch of cards available in June 2020. Current batch is sold out!!! In case you wonder if it's worth the wait: JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
matthias Posted April 26, 2020 Share Posted April 26, 2020 @Marcin_gps Hi Marcin, would like to use your new USB CARD XE with a new MacBook Pro with TB3 output to this device: https://www.sonnettech.com/product/echo-express-sel-tb3/overview.html Does the XE work with this device and can you recommend such a configuration when using a HQPS for the XE? Do exist devices which are superior to the Sonnet, maybe passive cooled without fan? Thank you Matt "I want to know why the musicians are on stage, not where". (John Farlowe) Link to comment
Gavin1977 Posted April 26, 2020 Share Posted April 26, 2020 @Marcin_gps When powering USB XE with a really high quality linear power supply, do you still find that the host computer power supply is as important? For example, some people here are spending large amounts of money on linear power supplies for their server builds (7700k, 8700k, AMS 3900x - all 95 watts)... high core count, large cache all sound better. With JCAT USB XE would using a standard high quality ATX SMPS for the motherboard and CPU no longer be a compromise? I ask because >8A of 12v linear power supply is very expensive and rare. Link to comment
Marcin_gps Posted April 28, 2020 Author Share Posted April 28, 2020 On 4/26/2020 at 5:58 PM, matthias said: @Marcin_gps Hi Marcin, would like to use your new USB CARD XE with a new MacBook Pro with TB3 output to this device: https://www.sonnettech.com/product/echo-express-sel-tb3/overview.html Does the XE work with this device and can you recommend such a configuration when using a HQPS for the XE? Do exist devices which are superior to the Sonnet, maybe passive cooled without fan? Thank you Matt Hi Matt, In theory this should work, but I haven't tried this device, so can't be sure. The USB Card XE works under Mac OS. (This is new, because USB Card FEMTO is not compatible with Mac OS) On 4/26/2020 at 9:23 PM, Gavin1977 said: @Marcin_gps When powering USB XE with a really high quality linear power supply, do you still find that the host computer power supply is as important? For example, some people here are spending large amounts of money on linear power supplies for their server builds (7700k, 8700k, AMS 3900x - all 95 watts)... high core count, large cache all sound better. With JCAT USB XE would using a standard high quality ATX SMPS for the motherboard and CPU no longer be a compromise? I ask because >8A of 12v linear power supply is very expensive and rare. Yes, host computer PSU will always be important IMHO We're designing our own no compromise ATX iinear PSU, but, as you already noticed, it will be very expensive. Best regards, Marcin Ostapowicz JPLAY & JCAT Founder matthias 1 JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
Gavin1977 Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 On 4/28/2020 at 9:40 AM, Marcin_gps said: We're designing our own no compromise ATX iinear PSU, but, as you already noticed, it will be very expensive. Actually I didn't notice - any further infromation / link? Link to comment
Marcin_gps Posted April 29, 2020 Author Share Posted April 29, 2020 43 minutes ago, Gavin1977 said: Actually I didn't notice - any further infromation / link? There are no further information yet. I just mentioned what you already observed about the high price of such power supplies. Regards, Marcin JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
Marcin_gps Posted May 6, 2020 Author Share Posted May 6, 2020 Our USB Card XE gets a 'SPECIAL PERFORMER' award from Pursuit Perfect System "remember the sonic benefits from the FEMTO USB card, the XE card does that all over again but improving every area" Full review available here: https://www.pursuitp...-xe-review.html JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
Gavin1977 Posted May 23, 2020 Share Posted May 23, 2020 I have preordered mine now! What’s the present ETA for June, early/mid/late? Also, I will be powering my motherboard with a linear power supply (Sean Jacobs)... I would imagine that this would largely remove the need for using an external dedicated linear power supply... any feedback on this? Link to comment
Marcin_gps Posted May 27, 2020 Author Share Posted May 27, 2020 NEXT BATCH UPDATE I'm afraid I have unfortunate news. I've just received an email from Digi-key regarding availability of the OCXO oscillator we use on the USB Card XE. The original shipping date when we placed the order was June, 6th. Now the date is June 30, 2020, with an additional, approximate 6 business days transit from the manufacturer to Digi-Key. The SiT5711 is popular and SiTime has not been able to get ahead of the demand. Regardless, we are pushing to get the oscillators sooner, but it seems that the USB Cards XE will not ship sooner than in July. I know this is disappointing, but there is very little we can do. I will keep you updated. On the bright side: Sorry I ordered already and canceled 3 days ago cause of my already great sounding server but I heard it at a friends server and it’s a musthave…. Best regards, Marcin Gavin1977 1 JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
Marcin_gps Posted May 27, 2020 Author Share Posted May 27, 2020 On 5/23/2020 at 8:13 AM, Gavin1977 said: I have preordered mine now! What’s the present ETA for June, early/mid/late? Also, I will be powering my motherboard with a linear power supply (Sean Jacobs)... I would imagine that this would largely remove the need for using an external dedicated linear power supply... any feedback on this? linear PSU for the motherboard is certainly good, but a separate LPS for the card is a different story. I'd strongly recommend a LPS just for the USB Card XE Regards, Marcin JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
Gavin1977 Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 Thumbs up for the good communications - many thanks @Marcin_gps Marcin_gps 1 Link to comment
Marcin_gps Posted May 27, 2020 Author Share Posted May 27, 2020 10 minutes ago, Gavin1977 said: Thumbs up for the good communications - many thanks @Marcin_gps Thank you, Gavin JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
Gavin1977 Posted May 28, 2020 Share Posted May 28, 2020 Have you ever thought about undertaking J-Test measurements and publishing them? Seems like a worthwhile objective measurement of performance. For example: https://www.stereophile.com/content/innuos-statement-music-server-measurements and https://www.stereophile.com/content/roon-labs-nucleus-music-server-measurements I'm just thinking that a test such as this might also show what can be achieved using USB XE used in different server configurations. Link to comment
Marcin_gps Posted May 28, 2020 Author Share Posted May 28, 2020 Thanks for the suggestion. It's interesting, but a USB Card is only one piece of the music server puzzle. I think the results may vary quite drastically depending on motherboard, power supplies etc. Regards, Marcin JPLAY & JCAT Founder Link to comment
Gavin1977 Posted May 28, 2020 Share Posted May 28, 2020 40 minutes ago, Marcin_gps said: Thanks for the suggestion. It's interesting, but a USB Card is only one piece of the music server puzzle. I think the results may vary quite drastically depending on motherboard, power supplies etc. Regards, Marcin Very true - I would paint it in a very positive light as it could give the DIY community more information on how to maximise the performance of USB XE if different senarios where tested. That way (a bit like what I am trying to do) people can make their own judgements on where to prioritise spend on the other aspects of their server. It's pretty safe to say that without USB XE being available I would not be building a custom music server, I'm building the server around what USB XE offers. Marcin_gps 1 Link to comment
Gavin1977 Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Appologies, more questions along the same theme of optimising my approach.. If using bus power only (no dedicated linear) then what voltages is the card using through the PCI express connection... 12v (stepped down internally by LT3045?), 3.3v or both? JCAT Website states "State-of-the-art LT3045 linear regulators and filters eliminate noise interferences from a PC" Would you be able to explain a little more about what filtering and noise reduction actually occurs at the PCI Express connection? If powering USB XE using an internal/external linear power supply, then is it true that the only source of electrically transmitted noise through to the USB XE will therefore be just the SMDAT/SMBus data collection pins? Do you know which voltage rail the SMDAT/SMBUS data tranmision pins are powered off? Thanks Link to comment
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