Calling all owners - Jasmine LP 2.0 MKII

The obvious question is, are you listening to it with or without that switch in play? If it sounds bad with the switch in play, have you tried the other switch position? Is there any difference at all in sound quality, with vs without the "gain reduction" circuit switched on?

I own one and my best friend also owns one. We love them. I have been through many phono preamps, each time upgrading, and this time I moved up from a KRELL KPE. He moved up from a GCPH. We both thought the Jasmine was not just a little better, but a lot better. Neither of us asked for a gain reduction switch, we just have the stock unit. He has the 2.0SI and I have 2.0 MKII. No noticable sound difference between them. It is so good that i use it for a demo phono stage at audio shows. Maybe you got a bad one.

I have the Jasmine LP SE and it is an excellent phono-stage. I use it with a Denon DLS1. Mine has none of the characteristics that you describe.

Mine has a huge sound stage and fine reproduction of intricate sound.

The sound will change dramatically with time. I left mine on for over two months straight after purchase. After more than 50 hrs of playing time, I noticed a huge difference. I own the 2.0 mk II. Next step up is a new power cord.

While I continue to hear the unit breaking in, I think I may have found the problem. It appears to have been a few things.

1. I have moved the units around a bit. Previously they were side by side and about 3/4-inch apart. I have since flipped them left-to-right and separated 7 inches. Noise level has dropped noticeably. Current left-to-right arrangement: Control unit, Power supply, Turntable.

2. I have been swapping tubes on the Sunrise headphone amp and have possibly addressed the rest of the problems. I believe the (tested) 1956 GE W5751 was the main culprit, along with a Sylvania JAN 5751.

I was concerned that I did obtain a bad one (from Ebayer Salience_Shop aka Salience HIFI Audio) since I have no prior experience buying high end Chinese gear through Ebay.

The only difference I hear between the two switch positions is the expected gain reduction and slightly reserved or constrained dynamics. Otherwise, the distortion remained common.

I have heard some pretty obvious changes along the way and now it sounds much smoother and better definition, reduction in distortion. It continues to expand frequency response (ie digging deeper and improving the top octave) while macro dynamics improve. It still is somewhat constricted in this area.

The only concern I have at this point is the switch they added: if wiggled or lightly bumped, the sound cuts out both channels.

I appreciate the participation.

Thank you Audiogabby for answering my question. I needed to know what other owners have experienced through the break in period.

I am sure I will upgrade the power cord and maybe the umbilical over time.

Comforting to hear owners are thrilled with the Jasmine. I also have a very rare Biotronics Control Systems Gestalt phono preamp. It betters the Jasmine so far.

I got mine last week also, and it sounds fantastic. I owned a Nighthawk but suspected there was more available from my Skala. I ordered Bob's Devices Blue Cinemag which will be here Monday (Thanks for getting it out, Bob!). I am totally stoked about vinyl again since getting the Jasmine. It is like a "musical microscope". Very detailed, still musical. Also more revealing of impedance changes than the Nighthawk was. Not knocking the NH, I really did like it, but I like this even more.

I also have the Jasmine LP2.0MKII. No problems the last 6 mo. at all, sounds mighty fine too. I had been through quite a few Phono Pre's. This replaced a Musical Surroundings Nova also a very good Phono. I had ran a Denon DL103R on the MC High gain side of the Jasmine and it worked quite well.
It's a nice sounding nicely made piece. I am currently playing with a Monolithic PA1 and HCb Phono. Enjoying this one too.

I am thinking of upgrading my Pro-ject tube phono box II to a Jasmine LP 2.0 MKII. Does anyone know how easy it is to tape off or disable the front script lighting?

I plan on using the Jasmine with either an Ortofon MC-3 turbo or an Ortofon MC 25 FL with my Pro-ject Xpression III and Pro-ject speed box.

Opinions / concerns?

TIA,

Scott

Can't weigh in on the Jasmine because I haven't heard one, but I was considering it at one time. Ended up getting the Vincent PHO-8 phonostage which is designed in a similar way (two units with separated power supply and connecting cord). Very happy with the sound coming out of the Vincent. It is dead quiet, projects a large soundstage and is crystal clear. If you're looking to switch, you may want to consider it. Otherwise, enjoy the Jasmine.

@Catama, your Vincent post sparked my interest. Anyone have an A/B comparison to the Jasmine?

It is dead easy to tape off the bright front script by removing the front acrylic plate and cover it on the inside. I just did it few minutes ago to cover all the words except the letter J. I had modded mine with better caps and resistor, only use it as MM stage matched with Audio Techinca AT-700 SUT. It is very good this way.

Ok, no replies for my query of the Vincent PHO-8 vs the Jasmine, so the me phrase it another way. Has anyone compared the Vincent PHO-8 to other phono preamps that are mentioned in this thread that the Jasmine beat?

Sbrownw-

Been away, so I missed your post. Absolute Sound rated the Vincent very highly. It is included in their 2012 editor's choice awards. In their words, "its sound is liquid, the soundstage vivid and dimensional with just a hint of warmth and transient softness compared to reference efforts. You'll need a much bigger wallet to beat it."

Hope to hear the Jasmine one of these days.

UPDATE on the issues I describe above:

The issue was not the fault of the Jasmine. It was several different tubes I was trying in my main amplifier. Cryo'd Russian tube, a few old stock GE's, Sylvania's. A very nasty streak of bad luck. The upshot is the Jasmine reveals all.

I have had a few supreme listening experiences since straightening out the problems. The Jasmine is very balanced, quiet, and refined. No need to upgrade to a different phono pre but I am sure I will try some modifications at some point. Right now I am really enjoying the sound.

@Sbrownnw: To kill the extremely bright logos, you need to remove the bottom panel. That will liberate the front acrylic face plate which the logo is printed on. Use a black wide-tip permanent marker and "black out" a strip of clear, satin finish office tape and apply it over the logo. Repeat to put a second strip over that. Assemble the Jasmine.

@Sbrownnw and others wishing to dim the bright logos - I found a much better way.

Print out a rectangle of black you create with Excel, MS Paint, whatever just to get a printout of black sized 1" x 2 1/2".

Open the case bottom plate, remove the face plate and use office tape to fasten the black paper you created WHITE SIDE FACE OUT so you see the white side once assembled.

I suggest you print out two or three pieces in various shades of black/gray and try out each in a dark room to get what you like.

Well I have the new LP 2.0MKII just got it last week out of China.
Been running it day and night for a week now with the new upgraded silver umbilical cord made by Jasmine, and a well broken in upgraded power cord.I still hear the extra brightness in the highs because the caps are breaking in. when does this stop? No one answered the question, how long is the break in peroid? How much does the sound change from the start of the breakin peroid. When I recapped my pre it took about a 5 weeks. At this point my old basic Lehman black cube was just as good except smoother in the highs
Next how many of you have replaced the coupling caps with the Jantzen superior z caps

I replaced my output caps with the Jantzen Superior z-caps on my Jasmine. I don't recall any brightness. Rather, it was like lifting a veil that resulted in greater clarity and life. I use a Denon DL-S1.

Have you checked the VTA on your tonearm? I use a magnifying glass and observe the angle of the stylus in the record groove and strive for 90 degrees. Then, I move the arm up or down for the best sound. I also lean towards the highest tracking force so the stylus properly tracks the grooves instead of skimming past the tiny undulations. When I lose dynamics, I know it is too heavy.

well I use a Shelter 501 mk II with a origin live silver tone arm on a nice origin live Calypso tt on a Ginkgo cloud. and yes after 40 years I got the vta thing figured out. Man the cloud made more difference then the Jasmine has so far. So I am to believe from your comments this phono sings right out of the box and no break in time is required? the phono's sound does not improve much after a certain period of time break in time? just replace the coupling caps to improve the sound?

Oh! ok Thanks,
Audiogabby

The sound will change dramatically with time. I left mine on for over two months straight after purchase. After more than 50 hrs of playing time, I noticed a huge difference

cool well thats what I was thinking (hoping,praying lol)
I will let you all know my thoughts in about 2 months. Then I will compare the Jasmine to the Lehman black cube.
after that get some superior z's crossing my fingers peace out, Ron

Another consideration on output caps: An Audiogon member told me that Auricaps were even better than the Jantzen Superior Z-caps. He thought the z-caps were only just good. If that is true, the Auricaps must be really remarkable.

If you give them a try, I would like to hear of your experience.

How does on break in a new phono stage as quickly as possible besides leaving it on? I assume trying to play as much vinyl through it in the waking hours. Is there a quicker way?

I use a hagerman Inverse RIAA Filter( $50) and plug a Squeezebox Touch output in and play Internet radio none stop to accelerate the burn in.

I modded mine with Jantzen Superior z caps and a few other caps, power supply cap changed too & Shinkoh tantalum resistor. I only use the MM stage with external SUT ( AT-700 or Uesugi Ubros 5 L) and it is very good this way.

Jaspert, can you provide specifics on the modification to the power supply? If the result was an improvement, I would like to do the same.

@Jaspert, does one have to have a reverse RIAA filter to break in the jasmine or can one run a tuner right into the Jasmine MM inputs?

Can someone measure the actual voltage out from the power supply unit? I am still running into troubles and I believe the 21.8V I measure may be a contributing factor. I've had to replace the entire phono main board due to a failed MC section left channel. Long story. So I have yet to replace caps, etc.

I have been having troubles from day one, as seen from my earlier posts. The issues I thought were caused by other things may have been the Jasmine all along.

BTW, I put a new Vincent Pho-8 up against a new Pro-ject phono tube box II (my demo one was replaced under factory warranty after 1 channel got noisy) this weekend. The Pro-ject won out with better sound stage, realistic instrument sound and just overall more musical. I hope to upgrade the wall wart for the Pro-ject tube box. Would this one be a higher quality less noisy power supply?:

http://www.powerstream.com/EA1050.htm
EA1050A-61 16V 4A 5.5x2.5x11mm $57.50

Thanks everyone,

Scott

Got a LP 2 mkII today. Was you user manual photo copied? Mind says Salience instead of Jasmine in blue. What does that mean?

Wow a Chinese copy of a Chinese product, now I've seen everything!

Sbrownw, The product sells under both Jasmine and Salience. My guess is that it depends on the initial marketplace and the US customers get what filters through. Salience means prominent and Jasmine means climbing.

What should be most important to you is how faithfully does it reproduce music?

Redglobe, I think you are correct. I stated a mini review and side by side comparison of phono preamps I've had in this thread:

pro-ject tube box 2, vincent pho-8, jasmine LP2mk2

Has anyone put a Jasmine 2.0 up against a 2.5? I don't need the additional inputs but I wonder how much better the internals sound on the 2.5?

I own both of them and will be using both of them at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest with the VPI Classic 4 (2 tonearm) turntable. Anyone is welcome to stop by and hear the difference. Personally, I can't hear any difference. Interesting thing about the 2 inputs. In mine, I can hear crosstalk. If I am using input 1, I can hear it very slightly when switched to input 2.

Just installed Jasmine LP 2.5 in my system driven by a Shelter 901 p.u. At first I was disappointed. But it turned out I`d dislocated my tt arm + didn`t care enough about placing the power unit, resulting in severe hum. After sorting those things out, i e resetting my tt arm and placing the power unit farther away from the phono unit, everything fell into place. Immedately outperforming my Nighthawk 117 on all parameters. So far I`m really impressed and the Jasmine might even gain in performance after some brake in..

Hi All,

I thought I would relay this information from Salience for all those confused as I was as to the issue of Salience being a copy of Jasmine and which is the authentic product.  I have done a lot of research into this including contacting both manufactures and researching the beginnings of both companies. Here is a letter from the Salience company and my findings below;

Dear friend,

Thank you for you sincerity.

Two years ago,the Salience and Jasmine are the same products,they are just logo is different.The Jasmine is OEM's product from us ,and the Salience is our brand from factory directly.

We are in charge of design and production.Because the interests,they are plagiarists our design.

You can investigation of their products,because they didn/t understand technical things,a lot of problems are cropping up.The quality of some products has dropped away since 2 years.

Salience is less well-known than Jasmine in the world. We guarantee the quality of our supplies, and continue improvement production process.

Please refer to the attached picture.This is our honor certificates in 2007.

And please refer to the following other producte, they are our designing products.Please believe in our professionally.

If you have any question, please contact to us anytime.

Best regards.

[email protected]

Apparently Salience is the company that has designed and manufactures this phono stage and Jasmine purchases a similar unit from Salience and markets it under their own name. This is similar to the practices of say "Shop Vac" or "Maytag" producing a special unit for only Home Depot.

The two units although cosmetically look identical, they are not identical internally. The the unit made for Jasmine is made to a price point while the Salience has much higher quality parts and internals. For example the Salience uses Nichicon KZ audio capacitors while the Jasmine uses the lesser Rubycon capacitors. The Salience uses silver film resistors and the Jasmine does not. Internal wiring is not the same, the RCA connectors are a higher conductance etc. etc.

This is the same practice that takes place in the US at the big box stores where say "Maytag" produces a washer to a price point for only Home Depot. Even though the washer may look identical to the authorized dealer's washer, it is of less quality and thus a lower price.

Thought you guys would want to know whats up with this.

Jeff

That is great info Jeff!

A lot of people on other forums are implying that the Salience is a knockoff of the Jasmine, and seem very defensive of their position.

They paid their money and expected the bees knee's I guess?

Anyhow, over at Audiokarma i started a post about my Salience 2.5, and I directly quoted your comments above to verify these facts to other users defensive of the Jasmine.

However, if this is not to your approval I will promptly delete the quote?

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?conversations/salience-lp2-5-mkii-phono-preamplifier-mods-upg...

Cheers, Karl.