The World’s Most Musical DACs
While Jadis is renowned worldwide for their amplifiers and preamplifiers, many accomplished audiophiles are unaware that the company also makes some of the most musical and best sounding digital products in the business.
Jadis DACs deliver state-of-the-art resolution along with a density of tone and image that are unsurpassed. Only the fullest expression of vibrant tonal shades and colors combined with sublime layering and textures of music can truly convey music’s essence and with Jadis, the emotionally convincing result is nothing less than a spine-tingling performance with authenticity and musicality most digital components can only dream of.
Bluebird Music is proud to announce, for 2025, the availability of the new Jadis JS5 and JS2 SL vacuum tube digital-to-analog converters.
The JS5 is the ultimate Jadis DAC, a two-chassis unit with processing in one chassis, and an elaborate power supply in the other chassis. The single-chassis JS2 SL is second in performance only to the JS5, and is an extensive refinement of the highly successful JS2 series of DACs.
Both models utilize triode vacuum tubes in the signal path, along with separate DAC chips for each channel and multi-stage power supplies. The JS5 is the Reference, but the JS2 SL inherits much of its big brother’s technology in a simplified form, and is still able to provide a wondrous musical performance.
Inside the hefty chassis there are premium-quality components and point-to-point wiring. Even the wiring was especially selected following extensive listening tests, and point-to-point construction eliminates the limitations in current flow and potential for crosstalk inherent in printed circuit boards.
The JS5 utilizes four dual triodes in its signal path, and two pentodes for regulation in the outboard power supply; much of the Jadis “flavor” can be attributed to tube circuitry. The JS5 utilizes transformers that are wound in-house at Jadis, as they have been since the company’s founding in 1983. In doing so, transformers can be made with precise values for each application—not the approximations of off-the-shelf units.
The power supply utilizes separate custom-wound transformers for the digital and analog stages, to eliminate the possibility of induced noise and provide maximum headroom.
Processing is performed by 8-channel Sabre ES9038PRO 32 bit DACs with Hyperstream technology. There are four digital inputs, and both balanced and unbalanced outputs.
The JS2 SL is clearly related to its big brother, but in a somewhat simplified form. The power supply is inboard; the tube complement consists of four dual triodes; an ES9038PRO is also utilized. There are four digital inputs, and both balanced and unbalanced outputs.
What Jadis manages to do admirably is to give recorded music that palpable and present sound that makes all the difference. The JS5 is the worthy heir of several DAC generations and is by far the most advanced and neutral.
Laurent Thorin, VUMETRE Magazine, VU METRE Remarkable Award, November 2024
I think the vast majority of folk who manage to get themselves in front of this DAC will absolutely love it as much as I did. This would be top of the list.
Stuart Smith, HiFi Pig, Five Hearts Award Winner, February 2025
