331 replies to this topic

[Marcin_gps]

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)
•  

[Chanh]

Many thanks to Marcin for this innovation. I am among the luckiest fews with this first inline purchased.
Definitely, am exciting about this card... Can’t wait for its arrival.....

Will provide the feedbacks...

[Marcin_gps]

 

There is a review coming with A/B demo. Here is the preview:

 

 

Early feedback from user romaz is here: ‘DRAMATICALLY BETTER’

[Berdugo]

 

There is a review coming with A/B demo. Here is the preview:

 

 

Early feedback from user romaz is here: ‘DRAMATICALLY BETTER’

 

Hello Marcin,

 

In his review, he says that with the XE card, the Jcat USB Isolator is no longer needed and even that SQ is better when it is removed from the chain, why is that ? I hope that's true, this way I will be able to sell my ifi igalvanic

[Marcin_gps]

The thing is that with the USB Card XE you get the USB signal so pure that I'm afraid any USB 'conditioner' plugged between the card and a Usb DAC can only degrade sound. I recommend going straight to USB DAC.

 

There are only 2 important variables:

- PSU

- USB Cable

 

Obviously I recommend the Optimo 3 Duo as the PSU. It is spectacular. 

[Thuan]

Wish list: a sweet deal of JCAT XE trio (2 XE net cards & 1 XE USB) for dualPC JPLAY Femto users

[Chanh]

Wish list: a sweet deal of Femto XE trio (2 Femto net cards & 1 Femto USB) for dualPC JPLAY Femto users

Hi Thuan,
I was too, had similar setup. One network femto card in my ControlPC with Roon Core only. Another network femto and USB femto in my audioPC with only HQPlayer. It sounded amazing... So I can’t wait til this XE....

I hope it’s ok for me to share with you guys my current setup. Have tried to upload a video captured for the sound but File format not permitted.

Attached Files

•  9E336898-5384-4A63-BBB7-D6E396ADC5EF.jpeg   258.44KB   18 downloads
•  658AEDFE-DB51-4F22-8C69-23B08DDC7577.jpeg   262.82KB   11 downloads

[Marcin_gps]

Wow,that's an amazing setup and the legendary Eames chair  

[Mellowman]

Nice room and great system.

Hats off, Chanh!!!

[Chanh]

Many thanks...
Finally able to use YouTube to show the current computer setup with USB FEMTO card... I have high hope in this XE card.....

Nice room and great system.
Hats off, Chanh!!!

Many thanks...
Finally able to use YouTube to show the current computer setup with USB FEMTO card... I have high hope in this XE card.....
https://youtu.be/KKVmIU-o3QY

[Thuan]

Nice room and setup, good sounding system. I'd like to hear large scale orchestra on this. Congrats! Thank you for sharing. Please keep us posted once the JCAT XE arrives and plays.

[Marcin_gps]

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. 

[OctavianH]

The thing is that with the USB Card XE you get the USB signal so pure that I'm afraid any USB 'conditioner' plugged between the card and a Usb DAC can only degrade sound. I recommend going straight to USB DAC.

 

There are only 2 important variables:

- PSU

- USB Cable

 

Obviously I recommend the Optimo 3 Duo as the PSU. It is spectacular. 

 

USB cable length should not be a factor? For example many PC users including me are keeping the case under the desk, therefore an USB cable of 3m is something normal.

[Chanh]

USB cable length should not be a factor? For example many PC users including me are keeping the case under the desk, therefore an USB cable of 3m is something normal.

My findings is otherwise for both ethernet or USB cable. Better and shorter length made noticeable SQ improvement vs longer and poorer quality cables. But hey it’s one man observation and subjectively related to my setup only. Not universal for sure.

[Marcin_gps]

From my experience the optimal length is between 1 and 2m.

 

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://audiophilest...e-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/feat...r-power-supply/

 

Looking forward to your impressions!  

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Marcin Ostapowicz

JPLAY & JCAT Founder

[Chanh]

Thanks Marcin. I have been drumming up this card in Australia StereoNet forum. Received lot of interests. Pity this pandemic minimize the get together event for which I often hosting at my place for local passionate audiophiles.

[Marcin_gps]

Thanks Marcin. I have been drumming up this card in Australia StereoNet forum. Received lot of interests. Pity this pandemic minimize the get together event for which I often hosting at my place for local passionate audiophiles.

 

 

thanks Chanh, 

 

Hopefully the pandemic ends soon

[Marcin_gps]

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:

 

https://audiophilest...comment=1044472

[Mellowman]

 

Well...

 

The new JCAT USB XE card arrived this afternoon.

 

Honestly, having worked for years on the development of various music servers, the latter by implementing colossal means (especially in terms of dedicated power supplies), I thought I had reached a kind of  "Nirvana" sound, and did not really know how I could go even further, the listening results being already superlative.

 

Also, my curiosity was piqued when Marcin O announced the release of a new USB card, adding to the range of excellent JCAT products, of which I have happily used several elements for many years.

 

So I was one of the first to order it, eager to check for myself if it was able to further improve my system, and if so, how?

 

Once integrated into CARUSO (http://jplay.eu/foru...double-chassis/), replacing the excellent FEMTO, I start the machine in order to finalize the software installation, update the dedicated driver (via Snappy Driver), relaunch Audiophile Optimizer 3 and particularly, check that I all audio settings have not changed.

 

Finally, I can listen to a first track!

 

The card is cold, has no burn in. Despite this, the result is already higher than the one obtained by the FEMTO USB card coupled to the JCAT USB Isolator:

 

• What first jumps to my ears: the sound stage is further back!

• This is accompanied by better placement in depth, combined with better precision in the placement of instruments.

• We can hear even better the information concerning the room where the recording was made

• The quality of the tones, already excellent before, is also progressing, especially in the grain of the strings (cellos and double basses).

• The benchmark pieces are linked and confirm that the gain is noticeable on very different musical styles!

 

 These first impressions confirm that Marcin O is a leader in the dematerialized music field, and one of the very few working in both the software and hardware fields.

 

 

Thinking of getting the most out of your DAC? Well... you will have to revise your judgment, because the JCAT XE USB card still pushes the limits away.

 

This confirms that it is essential to take care of its source, as far upstream as possible, because what does not come out at this level can never be recreated downstream, whatever the quality of your DAC.

 

 

So yes, in my opinion, the JCAT XE USB card is an almost essential purchase, and its price seems largely justified, in view of what it brings.

 

PS: My tests having been made with a very high-end linear power supply (proprietary and not marketed) I strongly encourage you to feed it with the new OPTIMO 3 DUO, from JCAT of course, since it was developed for make the most of JCAT cards

 

 

[Thuan]

Quick question: is the USB Isolator still in the loop while running in the USB XE card?

" These first impressions confirm that Marcin O is a leader in the dematerialized music field, and one of the very few working in both the software and hardware fields."

I agree.

"Thinking of getting the most out of your DAC? Well... you will have to revise your judgment, because the JCAT XE USB card still pushes the limits away."

This is a love and hate situation. Love because SQ doesn't stop but keeps moving forward. Hate because I'll keep spending the $$ 😔

"This confirms that it is essential to take care of its source, as far upstream as possible, because what does not come out at this level can never be recreated downstream, whatever the quality of your DAC."

Yes!

Thanks for sharing the good and "bad" news . Enjoy!