Amps + DACs

Element IV

Name: Element IV
Rating: 5.0 (9 reviews)

~~$549~~ $499

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Covered by our 2-year transferable warranty

Simplified Audio, Reimagined

We’ve reimagined our flagship amp+DAC to create a listening experience you will notice and appreciate. Element IV operates on our third-generation XMOS hardware and firmware, blissfully integrated with our latest discrete optical encoder. You’ll hear perfect channel balance down to the black noise floor. Automatic gain helps you focus on listening rather than button pressing, and an auto-vanishing display presents the essentials while you toggle between USB and Optical inputs and headphone or preamp outputs. Element IV's all new Core™ web app allows you to intuitively tweak 10-band EQ profiles and more. Element IV is designed and built in the USA.

Stock Status: Element IV has sold out 4x faster than expected! We’re currently awaiting the next batch of enclosures, scheduled to ship to JDS Labs on December 30th. Reserve yours today for only $499 USD—please note that the price will increase to $549 once stock is replenished.

We've implemented a Rolling Backorder for orders placed after December 18th. Element IVs will ship in chronological order throughout the month of January.

Gallery

Features

3.2 W of Clean Power

While most headphone listening demands only milliwatts, Element IV's tetradeca output buffers provide over 3200 mW per channel of absolutely clean, distortion-free power. Element IV drives all headphones on the market to extraordinary levels, from balanced armatures to planar magnetics.

Parametric EQ Powered by Core™

Crafted for simplicity, Element IV's fully custom DSP engine supports up to 10 EQ bands in realtime, coordinating perfectly with auto gain. Graphically tweak EQ profiles through JDS Labs Core, and your settings reside on Element IV. No downloads. Yes, your settings persist when you move Element IV to another room, PC, or console.

Auto Gain

We regularly hear from customers fretting over when to use gain. Element IV eliminates this confusion by automatically toggling gain for you at exactly the right volume level. As you turn the knob beyond 0 dB, high gain activates and volume is compensated for a near seamless transition to higher listening levels.

Perfect Channel Balance

Element IV delivers audibly perfect channel balance all the way down to -127.5 dBFS. You'll immediately hear and appreciate soundstage accuracy.

Preamp Outputs

Element IV's preamp outputs allow you to control volume of your powered speakers. Toggle between headphones and speakers by pushing the tactile volume knob. Listening volume and EQ profiles are stored separately for each output mode.

Customizable Buttons

The tactile knob button toggles between headphones and speakers, so there's no need to disconnect cables. You can also configure the buttons as you see fit through JDS Labs Core.

OLED Display + Gorilla Glass

The display momentarily presents status information while you interact, then powers down to minimize distractions. While you can adjust all settings through the OLED menu, we've developed JDS Labs Core to give you a vastly better experience! Element IV's display is protected by tinted Gorilla Glass.

DC Protection and Safety

Element IV relies on our proven, analog DC detection circuitry with failsafe relay muting to protect your headphones. Relay muting also eliminates pops and thumps during startup. And for extra safety, independent processors continuously monitor internal communications and verify volume state of the DAC.

USB Type C

Element IV's USB Type C input receives up to 32/384kHz PCM over our third-generation XU316 based UAC2 engine, with ASIO and DSD support. While we claim no measurable benefit of high sampling rates, optional ASIO drivers will satisfy your pursuit of high fidelity listening. 10 EQ bands are supported from 44.1-192kHz and 2-bands are supported at higher PCM rates.

UAC2 or UAC1 for Consoles

You can toggle between UAC2 and UAC1 mode from the options menu to support PS5, Nintendo Switch, or legacy operating systems. This flexibility makes it easy to enjoy Element IV with any operating system.

Discrete Optical Encoder - A Knob like No Other

Element IV contains our second generation discrete encoder, with 50% more fins for faster volume knob response, and a large steel shaft for buttery smooth rotation without wobble. Optical sensors detect motion with a lifespan in the millions of turns. You will not find a better knob on the market.

Mains Isolation and +/-17V Rails

Element IV's amplifier and DAC are entirely powered by its external AC transformer, with 13 regulators ensuring consistent rail voltage, super low ripple, and mains isolation. The D/A stage is powered by a dedicated, ultra low noise LT3045 regulator.

Customer Reviews

Dec 21, 2024

My best sounding headphone DAC-amp by a mile

I got the Element IV a couple of weeks ago. It was delivered to London with a remarkably short delivery time (about three days) and no extra import tax added, which was great, as I’ve come to expect and fear this every time I order smth from the US. In terms of design and sound there isn‘t much I can add to the reviews that are already published (e.g. like the one of GoldenSound) - it looks and feels great to use, the new EQ is a game changer (I keep it constantly opened in a browser tab on my laptop), and the sound is incredibly clean and balanced / neutral, while at the same time feeling rich and detailed and warm. It conveys a sense of sound richness and warmth without actually being warm in the sense of favouring bass and lower-mids at the expense of treble and detail. (For reference, I’ve used it so far with a Sennheiser HD 800 S and a Focal Elex - it works beautifully with the HD800S in particular, as that one really needs the richness and warmth to compensate for its otherwise slightly too analytical profile) While I constantly feel the urge to get more headphones, after getting the Element IV it feels like I really don’t need to look for anything else in terms of DACs and amps for the foreseeable future. My only two (very minor) gripes are: 1. a remote control of some kind (e.g. a Bluetooth-connected app or smth) would be really useful to control volume without having to reach out to the amp all the time 2. while the browser-based EQ works really well, I would have liked to use it on other browsers and devices which are not currently supported, i.e. Safari on MacOS and iOS / iPadOS If this DAC-amp had a Bluetooth connection for audio input and remote control (incl. the ability to control volume and update EQ profiles wirelessly), and the ability to use the EQ on iOS devices as well, I would regard it as a practically perfect product. P.S. Btw, don’t worry at all about Element IV not having a balanced output - even though its output is single-ended, it sounds better than any of my balanced output amps even over a 3m balanced cable (which is the longest one I have).

Radu I.

Verified Buyer

Dec 16, 2024

Long-time buyer is happier than ever

I’ve been buying from these guys for a long time. Starting with the original Element, which I loved, I’ve bought every model since! I was about to buy their O2 at the time, but the Element just happened to launch not very long after I discovered them. Figured it was fate so I went for it. But anyway, the only one with a very slight issue for me was the III, but it was nothing that affected quality or regular use. Just needed to be restarted every month or so (which they actually wanted you to do anyway 😂). But now the IV is here, and man, the changes are bigger than ever! Love that we’re using a new chip, USBC (though I wish the cable they have was USBC on both sides), and the webapp software is really slick. I’ve been using equalizer APO on Windows for a very long time, but I think with this new built in equalizer, it might finally be time to put it to rest. I haven’t had a chance to fiddle with it too much yet, so I can’t say for sure it does everything I would want, but my config is relatively basic so I’m sure it can… we also got UAC2, a very important upgrade. If you have an Element or basically anything else, but you’ve been wondering if it’s finally time to upgrade, I’d say it’s absolutely time to pull the trigger. Great products, great customer service, and 100% made in America! They’ve got a customer for life - though that’s been true since the first one, ha.

Bryce M.

Verified Buyer

Dec 14, 2024

Excellent - in perfect balance

Having been a fan of the first Element III, I was expecting good things with the Element IV, and it delivered. The Element IV keeps everything I loved about the III and sounds cleaner, driving my headphones with greater sense of ease. This one ticks all the boxes the sounds is rich, detailed, neutral, with perfect imaging, a silent background, and toe-tapping rhythmic drive. Besides audio enjoyment, I imagine that the Element IV can be used for professional applications. Having owned a number of studio-grade dacs and amps, the Element IV does a better job than all of them (especially now with EQ built in) on my Audezes, at a lower cost. The Element IV is a joy to use.

Stephen B.

Verified Buyer

Dec 10, 2024

Awesome Piece of kit

Love the element 4 and the buying experience and support is second to none. Good honest business people who look after their customers

Dean P.

Verified Buyer

Dec 9, 2024

Beats everything else out there.

Absolutely unmatched performance and usability. You can't beat the big knob. I loved my Element III, but had to get the improved IV with resin knob. The menu system is efficient, and I feel like I'm commanding my voyage through sound when I listening to music. It's such a joy. I haven't even yet dug into the EQ. That's simply a game changer.

Jeremy T.

Verified Buyer

From JDS Labs

Glad you're enjoying Element IV, Jeremy! Before anyone asks: The screen and backlighting are white. Camera white balance is tricky.

Dec 9, 2024

Simply Great

I have had a chance to try and also owned many DACs and AMPs before Element IV came out, but after getting my hands on one - I can safely say that most other audio devices fall short. Great amplifier (which won't have an issue driving majority of headphones on the market other than some edge cases), even better digital-to-analog converter and some additional features, such as built-in DSP or a fantastic knob make for a really compelling value proposition. Simply cannot recommend it enough!

Karol P.

Verified Buyer

Dec 8, 2024

Game changer... literally

I've never had a DAC, closest I ever got were dedicated sound cards back in the day. This Element is treat for the ears. I've got 1,000's of hours in some games, and with this its like experiencing sound for the first time again. Games sound soooo much better now. Now I just need to start tweaking the Core app, what a treat.

Matthew M.

Verified Buyer

Dec 7, 2024

Endgame

This thing is outstandingly built like a tank. Power and sound wise, it got everything you need to drive almost every headphone on the market. Parametric EQ is very easy to use and fun to dabble to fine tune your cans further. Free engraving is a huge bonus, as well as the best customer support in the space.

Stymie G.

Verified Buyer

Dec 7, 2024

Just Buy It

I have owned tons of aidio gear at this point, everything from the humble atom stack or dx3 pro all the way up to a burson composer reference and an rme adi-2. The element IV is everything you need and more. Its got enough power for any headphone that wasn't designed to shut down the power grid, its got peq, perfect channel balancing, free engraving, and the best customer support in the industry.

josh S.

Verified Buyer

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Specifications

Performance

Frequency Response 20-20kHz +/- 0.1 dB
SINAD, 1kHz Low Gain 117 dB ^1.
SINAD, 1kHz High Gain 118 dB
THD+N Sweep 20-20kHz < 0.00025 %
IMD CCIF 19/20 kHz -6 dBFS -118 dB
IMD SMPTE @ -20dBFS -95 dBFS
Signal to Noise Ratio 120 dB
Noise (low gain) 2 uV
Dynamic Range (A-Weighted) 123 dB
Linearity @ -90 dBFS +/- 0.02 dB
Crosstalk @ 0 dBFS, 100k RCA -127 dB
Jitter Components – USB @ 12kHz, DPLL 7 -126 dB
Channel Balance, -∞ to 0 dBFS +/- 0.01 dB
Output Impedance < 1 Ω
Max Continuous Power @ 600 Ω 174 mW (10.22 VRMS)
Max Continuous Power @ 150 Ω 692 mW (10.19 VRMS)
Max Continuous Power @ 32 Ω 3.2 W (10.18 VRMS)

Dimensions

Enclosure Dimensions 5.8 x 5.8 x 1.6 in
Weight 1 lb 4 oz (0.57 kg)

Data Support

USB Interface UAC2 and UAC1 Fallback ^2.
Operating Systems Windows XP/7/8/10/11, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, PS5, Nintendo Switch ^3.
USB Sampling Rates PCM: 16, 24, 32-bit @ 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192, 384 kHz; DSD64-128 ^4.
S/PDIF (Optical) Sampling Rates 16-24 bit @ 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 192 kHz ^5.

Connectivity

Headphone Output 6.35mm (1/4") ^6.
Preamp Outputs RCA
Inputs USB Type C and TOSLINK

Configuration

Gain Auto Toggling 1.0x and 5.0x (+14dB)
Volume Attenuation Discrete Encoder, 255 steps

^1. All measurements observed via USB C @ 48k with Synapse
^2. UAC2 or UAC1 can be selected in the Options menu
^3. Appropriate cables are required for Android and iOS. Must use UAC1 mode with Win XP/7/8, PS4, or PS5.
^4. 44.1-192k supports 10 EQ bands, and 2 EQ bands are supported beyond 192k
^5. Some TOSLINK sources are unable to reliably transmit at 192kHz.
^6. 4.4mm Headphone Output available upon request, same 3200 mW output! Custom build may delay order by ~1 week.

Packaged Items

JDS Labs Element IV
17VAC 1.4A Power Supply
USB A to C Cable - 3ft (1m)
JDS Labs Core™

Drivers

XMOS Driver v5.72 for Win 10/11
XMOS driver v5.70 supports Windows 10/11 under x86/x64/arm64 and is optional. No drivers are required for macOS, Linux, or Windows 10/11.

This driver enables ASIO support, provides the ability to view and adjust Buffer Settings (latency), supports 16/24/32-bitrates, and adds full DSD64-128 support to Atom DAC+, Atom DAC 2, EL DAC II+, and Element III (MK2), and Element IV.

All XMOS based JDS Labs DACs are supported, including:
- Element IV
- Element III (MK2)
- Atom DAC 2
- Atom DAC(+)
- EL DAC II(+)
- Element II
This driver is developed and maintained by Thesycon, and licensed to JDS Labs. Please find the full change log at TUSBAudio_history.txt.

Instructions & Guides

Element IV Instructions (EN)

Element IV

Simplified Audio, Reimagined

Gallery

Features

3.2 W of Clean Power

Parametric EQ Powered by Core™

Auto Gain

Perfect Channel Balance

Preamp Outputs

Customizable Buttons

OLED Display + Gorilla Glass

DC Protection and Safety

USB Type C

UAC2 or UAC1 for Consoles

Discrete Optical Encoder - A Knob like No Other

Mains Isolation and +/-17V Rails

Customer Reviews

My best sounding headphone DAC-amp by a mile

Long-time buyer is happier than ever

Excellent - in perfect balance

Awesome Piece of kit

Beats everything else out there.

Simply Great

Game changer... literally

Endgame

Just Buy It

Specifications

Performance

Dimensions

Data Support

Connectivity

Configuration

Packaged Items

Drivers

Instructions & Guides

Related Products

Synapse

Adapter - Basic Stereo 3.5mm to 6.35mm (1/4in)

Optical (TOSLINK) Cable

Short, Red USB C-C Cable

Youkamoo 4.4mm to 6.35mm (1/4in) Adapter

Bryce McDowell

Radu Iliescu

Karol Piotrowski

Stymie G

Matthew Mumpower

Stephen Buzdugan

Dean Perry

Jeremy Tocher

josh smith