Searching For Good Sound at AXPONA Chicago 2014

Chris Connaker, Computer Audiophile • Published on 04-28-2014

 

"...I had fun at the show and found some real gems. My favorite room featured exaSound DACs and JansZen loudspeakers. George from exaSound was running the room with his laptop and JRiver Media Center connected to both his stereo and multi channel DACs. George played a piece of music for me and a colleague that sounded so much better than most of the other rooms combined... "

 

Chris Connaker,
Computer Audiophile

JansZen and exaSound's Superb Sound

By Jason Victor Serinus, stereophile.com • Posted: Apr 30, 2014



I've reported on this pairing before in show reports, but this was, by far, the best and most transparent sound I've heard from JansZen and exaSound. The top was nice and alive, the height and openness quite lovely, and the sound very natural and musical. Doing the honors were the brand new JansZen zA 1.1 single-panel loudspeakers ($4495/pair), JansZen za 2.2 loudspeakers ($9400), exaSound flagship e22 native quad-rate DSD DAC ($3499) with "the world's first and exclusive support for DSD256 on Mac" and third-generation headphone amplifier.

Read the rest of this blog post by Jason Victor Serinus at stereophile.com

AXPONA 2014 Show Report – Digital Products

by Steven Stone, theabsolutesound.com • Posted Apr 29th, 2014



Exasound had their newest DAC, the E-22 256 DSD DAC ($3,499US), on active display in the Janzen Loudspeaker room. Capable of handling 384 kHz/32 bit PCM, 12.28 MHz DSD, and 352.8 kHz/32 bit DXD, it employs an ESS 9018 Sabre DAC chip with a 0.082 pico-seconds (82fs) master clock, three quartz oscillators instead of PLL, and proprietary high-performance drivers for both PC and MAC.

AXPONA 2014: JansZen and exaSound

by Scot Hull,  parttimeaudiophile.com, Posted May 4, 2014

JansZen and exaSound are two brands doing their darndest to confuse my ability to capitalize. Ahem. Anyway, if you’ve heard of these brands, it’s because they both tend to do what they do extraordinarily well. Given how well they work together, and how satisfying their show-demos are, I’m hoping these two become household names. Quite simply, they do excellent work.

...exaSound was showing a new flagship DAC, the $3,500 e22 which supports up to quad-DSD (DSD256 at 12.8MHz)

 

...The e28 multi-channel DAC has a few new-to-me options, too, including the $3,650 e28 FC, which includes a new extremely-high precision femto-clock.

Also in the rack were amplifiers from Audio Van Alstine and Emotiva.

In sum, I just wanted to offer that “I love it when a plan comes together.” What was due to the big amps or the excellent decoders or the delightful speakers was impossible and unhelpful to judge. I didn’t care. What I heard was a powerful and delicate system.

Nice work.

AXPONA 2014: Loudspeakers and Electronics Under $15k—Part 2

Show report
by Spencer Holbert, theabsolutesound.com, Posted May 05, 2014

JansZen teamed up with exaSound in room 454 to produce some really wonderful sound from the electrostatic hybrid zA2.1 ($8750)... Powered by the Van Alstine Fet Valve 600R 300W hybrid power amp ($3199) and fronted with the exaSound e22 DSD DAC ($3500), this system sparkled with electrostat clarity, and avoided (most) of the top-end brightness. Oh, and guess what, room acoustics weren’t an issue, one of the rarities of this show. 

Show Report: AXPONA 2014 - Digital Audio Blog

by Chris Martens, hifiplus.com | May 07, 2014

Teaming with hybrid electrostatic loudspeaker maker Janszen, exaSound was demonstrating several of its high-performance, high-res DACs, including, in particular, the e22 DAC ($3500) and the multichannel e28 DAC ($3,300 - $3,850, depending on configuration). The e22’s claim to fame is that is one of the first, if not the first DSD256-capable DAC, while the e28 is arguably the first DSD-capable DAC to support multichannel...