Review of JPLay JCAT Products - USB Card, Battery Power Supply and USB Cable

[ellisdj]

Interesting Review of JCAT - JPlay Products for anyone interested in getting maximum sound quality from an audio PC

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0115/JCAT_USB_Card_Battery_Power_Supply_USB_Cable.htm

 

[pauln]

Google 'hydrogenaudio jplay scam' to find out more about this "interesting" company.

 

[ellisdj]

Always an unessecary negative comment from someone - more and more people are using Jplay all the time. You can demo it for free for as long as you need / want - noone forces you to buy it. Lifetime of upgrades for 99 euros - hardly a big scam.

Better yet the community of people on the forum help turn an awful sounding general PC into something very special with their advice. This has been the best bit for me

Some companies such as J River are openly going against them - at the same time trying to copy them.

All thats doing is losing them customers and its pointless.

I have tried with and without - JPlay all the way for me, I wouldnt listen without it now

 

[pauln]

My comment was not negative, merely pointing the way to some pretty damning criticism of Jplay/Jcat. Why I wonder did they chose that name if not in a clumsy attempt to create a mental association with the totally unconnected and highly regarded JRiver? Why have those connected with JRiver and Foobar completely disassociated themselves with Jplay/Jcat? I feel it only fair that anyone not aware of this be given access to the other side of the argument as it were so that they can then make up their own minds.

 

[iMark]

Here's a quote from the review.

"The JCAT USB cable presents music in a highly detailed, robust, dynamic, and involving manner. This is not one of those delicate, ethereal-sounding cables that have anemic foundation and water-color type of editorialization. Images are center-of-earth solid and dense while not miniaturized or overblown in size. Performers occupy space in a 3-D manner, with image size that falls somewhere between the Wireworld Platinum Starlight 7.0 pure-silver USB cable and Cardas Clear all-copper USB cable which has the largest image size."

Can you explain how this USB cable can make any difference to the sound? If it alters the sound that comes out of the system it's not bit perfect.

To be perfectly honest, this JPlay stuff seems an incredible amount of BS.

 

[fr0g]

Total scam.

 

[ellisdj]

Believe what you want - those who have tried know - this is the best route to go for a digital transport source for audio - and everything counts in this arena.

If you are at the Bristol show this year pop in and see the CAD and Harbeth room (floor 2 I think) and hear an optimised PC with JPlay on a Great Dac on Great Speakers at work there.

 

[cheeseboy]

those who have tried know

what, even the guy in the thread that was being all evangelical like your good self, then carried out the tests that the guys suggested he do, and then he realised jplay was actually doing naff all that it said it would and he realised he'd been conned?

see here http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=92856&view=findpost&p=829916

Serious question Ellis. What do you think of Magic Pebbles and the Magic Clock? Are they snake oil or real?

 

[abacus]

1. USB cable are digital so they either work or they don’t, they cannot alter analogue sounds.

2. Buy a Professional Audio Card (Internal or External) from a professional Music Store, and for a fraction of the price of the complete JCAT package you will have a PC Audio system that makes the JCAT system (Which by the way is only a USB3 interface and produces no sound just transfers digital data) nonsensical.

Bill

 

[pauln]

Believe what you want - those who have tried know - this is the best route to go for a digital transport source for audio - and everything counts in this arena.

If you are at the Bristol show this year pop in and see the CAD and Harbeth room (floor 2 I think) and hear an optimised PC with JPlay on a Great Dac on Great Speakers at work there.

Did you miss my post ellisdj or just choose to ignore the questions I asked?

I'd also like to point out, in case there is any doubt in anyones mind, that the room at the Bristol show you refer to is not the official Harbeth room and Alan Shaw has stated quite explicitly on the Harbeth forum that Harbeth has a "sell/loan and forget" policy towards others using their speakers at shows. I take that to mean that there is absolutely no endorsement of this product from Harbeth. I can't think of anyone less likely to endorse this product than Alan Shaw.

 

[ellisdj]

Well on the show floor plan it says CAD / Harbeth room and the Harbeth room is next door?

You can see why I said listen to that system - I know the CAD room will be an optimised audio PC as I think its Steve (sure thats his name) from CAD who wrote the script for Win 8/8.1 I use and its excellent, I am extremely greatful to him, for doing it. He won best sound at the show 2 years ago using an non optimised laptop. I missed it, hopefully I am going this year as he now has for sale an optimised PC that I would guess it will be his test platform. If so it will be a damn site better than before - if the room acoustics are any good - most rooms there dont sound good at all

There is extreme hatred from certain people on this forum towards certain things they have not tried - at the end of the day people are free to try what they like. I dont see why there is such an attitude towards things.

I think JPlay and JCat products are fantastic - my system is not perfect presently because I have made tons of changes and I have not quite got it right yet - but still the level of music SQ I have achieved with an AV system is all down to the advice and help from the forum members and JPlay software and products.

Therefore I whole heartily recoemmend and as you can see from a published review I am not alone in thinking this of these products - they are regarded with the highest respect for SQ from an audio PC.

Its only fair to try and help them by spreading the word - other people might be interested in getting properly into PC audio and its a great place to start.

As I said its free to try - and not expensive either - although I have spent about £5k on my audio PC so its quite contagious upgrade path

 

[ellisdj]

1. USB cable are digital so they either work or they don’t, they cannot alter analogue sounds.

2. Buy a Professional Audio Card (Internal or External) from a professional Music Store, and for a fraction of the price of the complete JCAT package you will have a PC Audio system that makes the JCAT system (Which by the way is only a USB3 interface and produces no sound just transfers digital data) nonsensical.

Bill

The JCAT card is made by adanco - and its designed to filter the noisey pc power from pcice 3v and 5v - it also filters the 5V out to the dac or spdif convertor if power is needed. Its a linear designed card - most other cards - top end asus for example sound truely dreadful by comparison

Its a great product - just read the forum posts on it - some of the users are real sound conousiers, computer experts, forgotten more than I know and still in bed with these products.

You technically think they shouldnt work, same as sata cables - fact is they do - you wont believe that does not bother me at all. I only care about what I get at home. But because i share a link to a review - I should then not have to defend its words.

The people on this forum are getting stupid with acting like this - seriously.

 

[ellisdj]

I think you need to read this an then apologise for jumping on your high horse before knowing the facts.

Maybe Steve from Harbeth has heard the CAD Audio PC and Dac and thinks that will show off his speakers very well - not surprising - proper audio pc's make a mockery of most other kit I have heard in my opinion

And Yes CAD has a patented upgraded USB Cable as part of his package and I dare say will be using JPlay and still in bed with Harbeth - oh the scandal - ridiculous your last comment honestly

 

[Anderson]

Oh god no, you mentioned Sata cables *lol* I think you actually believe what you're posting.

I have a HTPC, I have 1SSD and 2 mechanical drives, I use the mechaniucalk drives for music storage. Do you think I could benefit from better sound if I used a special pixie dust Data cable? On the USB thing, how much do one of these SPECIAL USB cables cost.

 

[Anderson]

 

[ellisdj]

Pop into the CAD Harbeth rooms at Bristol and ask them about it? I am sure they will explain to you and you can probably have a listen - they might do you a cheap generic usb vs CAD usb demo if you ask them I dont know.

 

[Anderson]

I can't. You'll have to try and explain it to me.

 

[Anderson]

I actually have no interest, in case you are in any doubt I am mocking you.

 

[ellisdj]

In case you are in any doubt - I dont care - mocking someone doesnt make you smart in my book it makes you a **** - being polite about it. £10 ticket to Bristol cheap to go and find out

 

[abacus]

1. I have been working with all types of computers since the early 80s

2. I have been building them and using them for music pretty much since Midi came out in 1983

3. I do not just use them to play back canned music, but use them to create music as well, thus I am well aware of what differences are real and which not. (And the JCat system is nothing but a big con)

4. Opinions must be balanced, and just because mine and others do not agree with yours, does not make them less valid.

5. As has been said many times before, do I double blind test if you want to really know the truth.

Enjoy your visit to the show.

Bill

 

[pauln]

I think you need to read this an then apologise for jumping on your high horse before knowing the facts.

Maybe Steve from Harbeth has heard the CAD Audio PC and Dac and thinks that will show off his speakers very well - not surprising - proper audio pc's make a mockery of most other kit I have heard in my opinion

And Yes CAD has a patented upgraded USB Cable as part of his package and I dare say will be using JPlay and still in bed with Harbeth - oh the scandal - ridiculous your last comment honestly

Have a look here and particularly post number 6, 2nd paragraph.

http://www.harbeth.co.uk/usergroup/showthread.php?2488-Computer-Audio-Design-amp-Harbeth-at-The-Bristol-Show-this-year

Oh, and you still haven't answered my questions; I'll remind you:

Why I wonder did they chose that name if not in a clumsy attempt to create a mental association with the totally unconnected and highly regarded JRiver? Why have those connected with JRiver and Foobar completely disassociated themselves with Jplay/Jcat?

http://www.jriver.com/jplay.html

If you choose to spend £5000 on an "optimised" audio PC that's your business but I can't help thinking that you would have done better spending £4000 of that on some Harbeth speakers.

 

[cheeseboy]

fact is they do

correction, there are absolutely no facts that they do. Everything that may say they are merely subjective reviews. If you can actually find me some facts that they do and show me them, then I'll eat my hat.

We've already had this discussion before, and I explained to you in laymens terms why your beliefes would actually cause the internet to stop working, and I also explained to you a very very easy way you could test this for yourself without having to tinker or change anything in your system. You didn't take me, or more prudently, yourself up on the offer, so in short, we're left with you talking about beliefs like it's some kind of religion, which is odd, because it's just some hifi kit. (for those that want to know, Ellis is under the impression that every cable affects the sound, even when you copy stuff from an external hard drive to a internal hard drive - if this were the case I suggested that he plugs in an external hard drive, copy a music file from his internal hard drive to it and then run audiodiffmaker on the two files in their respective locations - this would prove if the file is, or is not being changed as he believes.)

this isn't about being nasty, awkward or anything like that, it's about you making a claim, with nothing to back it up, and when you get challenged about said claim, you start harping on about how people are bullying and being awful. We're not, we're just asking you to back something up, which time and time again you can't/won't do. If you choose to believe the opposite of the actual facts that have been presented, that's fine, but don't expect an easy ride if you try to tout them around a public forum as if they are gospel when they are not.

 

[ellisdj]

Several posts above I will try and cover them.

I have no idea why its called JPlay - I am relatively new to using it only since windows 8 - however I think when it first started it was a stand alone basic programme with no link to any other software such as jriver so I dont know if the name is linked at all or just coincidence. The name is irrelvant you can use the software with several other players - or use jplays own mini software.

I use it with jriver becuase I like J Remote that is the only reason - this works similar to Meridian sooloos I had before, bit buggy lately with not all the features but better visuals and much faster - sooloos was very slow.

I read the posts on the Harbeth site - that particular post or the one after mr Harbeth says he will chose what source, cables etc are going in his room, as the other rooms with his speakers have not asked him for his opinion on music etc - he has chosen the CAD Transport by the sounds of it because they are in both rooms - work that one out? He Says

"Scott's DAC and CAD (room 234) are amazing pieces of digital technology and we look forward to using them to their full potential at the show"

What do you think is inside that CAD Transport?? I bet I could tell you 90% of it

It wont be all generic pc bits I can assure you, but he wont say for 2 obvious reasons, copying and because people have negative attitudes towards certains aspects such as digital cabling and that could be negative towards his product, without even hearing it - a demo would change that instantly - an optimised audio PC is a serious digital source - you have to hear one to undertsand - its very different to a normal pc - its much cleaner with far greater scale and insight.

That transport (Audio PC) and the optimizing he has done is solely to get the full sound from his DAC. he could use a Wadia or Moon Cd Player or any streaming setup or any platform but he has chosen an audio PC I would bet with JPlay. Enough on that.

I dont think all cables have a sound - but affect the sound in different ways.

PC Audio is largely about internal (power) and external noise and reducing this to a mimimum - this is no different really to other audio but the amount of noise in the PC environment is very high = bad sound quality

- I have been working on and with / building PC's since I was a kid as well, so have a lot of people that now use these systems and products. The digital cabling in a PC works because it screens noise from the inside i.e. its own power lines from the data lines and from external noise emi etc- the better designs do this from plug to plug not just along the cable.

I dont think the fairy dust on the silver plated copper inside my jcat affects the sound - its not about that - its the screening of the noise. I could explain a lot more but its pointless.

Go to Bristol and hear the system and ask them questions - you have to hear it as always, seeing and hearing is always believing - but you wont so lets leave it

 

[ellisdj]

I forgot to say - there is nothing wrong with my speakers thank you very much...

 

[cheeseboy]

an optimised audio PC is a serious digital source - you have to hear one to undertsand - its very different to a normal pc - its much cleaner with far greater scale and insight.

I have heard one, it was no different to a normal pc. I'm not disputing a PC as a serious source, heck they use them to record the bloody music, it should be good enough for playback.

- you have to hear it as always, seeing and hearing is always believing - but you wont so lets leave it

no, lets not leave it, it's a cop out saying that. Are you honestly saying that everything you hear or see is "real"? I'm really interested to know.

[/quote]