Stable rivalry? Usually it's siblings. While Jay's and Denafrips lived under Vinshine's roof, these would have been stablemates. With Jay's now under its own roof, potentially inconvenient comparisons no longer happen in-house; unless—cough—a reviewer double dips. Denafrips took first dibs for its LED display. It correctly showed 88.2kHz with two lights so 44.1 and x 2. The DAC2-Mk3 also had 44 and 48 lights just strangely forgot to use them together. It only showed x 2 which could have meant 88.2 or 96kHz. A similar wrinkle occurred after a hard shutdown of the DAC frozen to max +10 volume. Upon power-up the next morning, the display said 00. Unfreezing volume to return it to 10 caused no SPL increase. This small number's game suggested another fix to the display's processor code. My test session tapped the coax/BNC outs of my SD transport then connected each DAC via XLR to the icOn Pro4 SE. Toggling preamp inputs performed lazy in-chair A/B. With T+ at 4V and Mk3 at 3.8V, I only had to remember very marginal volume trim. By now ol' Murtaugh had moved on. I could hear again; a small difference that is.

Soundaware D100Pro SD card transport next to listening chair usually clock-slaved to Terminator Plus which is then driven I²S over RJ45/CAT8a.

Whilst plainly cut from the same heavier cloth for matched tonality, on tracks sensitive to it the Jay's delivered just a bit more treble energy. Far from outright airy or lit up, it gave the dirty flageolet of Mark Eliyahu's spiked fiddle—a Middle-Eastern bowing technique to tilt a fundamental into its lower overtones and back—a bit more upper-harmonic intensity and cutting power. Staccato Flamenco guitar arpeggios and hammered piano's upper registers also showed a touch more glitter and brilliance. Think twinkle in the eye. Otherwise it was the very same more wholesome organic than hi-rez maximally teased-out gestalt coming from the bottom up rather than the top down.

So this was no T-800 to T-1000 to Rev-9 makeover of the Terminator movies. It just made the Jay's an honorary member of the lineup. And at ~ €6'000 for the Terminator Plus just then, half-priced Jay's became extra lethal in my book. Yet there was still more on that score. Attempting to track offsets between controlling volume with our preamp or this DAC where standard SPL require minus 30-40dB attenuation, I'd again gotten too old to feel tingles over split hairs. What losses? As had Leedh in Lumin's P1 before, for my ears and this rig's resolution, the Soekris digital volume impressed as virtual stand-in for our passive magnetic controller. That's a very big deal when it decommissions another component and actuates without any relay clicks to operate perfectly noise-free.

Jay's set to fixed mode in full blast = 10 = 3.8V out.

Unlike my Polish colleague—and because I had Avatar on hand—I was far more excited by Jay's new DAC than transport. Now I fully appreciated why the honorable Alvin Chee had installed Vincent to split the brand off his Vinshine roster. When I was still into S&M (sales and marketing) so charged to place hifi brands into retail stores, I learnt quickly how beating even just matching competitors for a lot less wasn't attractive to shop keepers. Why buy into my brand only to steal sales and profits from their pricier establishment? Given my high regard of the Terminator Plus, like Alvin's my hand was forced. Jay's far lighter version still added what for all intents and purposes was a lossless amp-direct feature. That clearly demanded an award. And by the way, our archives have plenty of Denafrips DAC data if you need more sonic pointers.

After I reviewed a few Denafrips, a European maker of discrete R2R DACs selling for twice their ask got most sour on me for "promoting unfair competition". It implied that being European ought to prevent me from covering offshore brands with cheap-labor advantages; and by extension shield him from getting compared to them. Yet last time I checked, 6moons was a global publication. The world is our oyster. It's yours too. If you prefer American or Italian made, go for it. We've covered such products since our very beginning; and speakers from India and Bali, amps from South Korea and Vietnam, digital from Taiwan, Japan and mainland China. Missing are products from the Republic of Ireland; but only because I don't know of any. We did cover Titan Audio cables from Belfast across the border. Today belonged to Jay Ho's new models from the PRC. The review was solicited by Singapore's Alvin Chee of Vinshine Audio by way of introducing new partner Vincent Ong. Capitalism and its principle of fierce competition is for adults like them. The dream of designing a better, sexier, cheaper or more multi-tasking mousetrap is alive and well. Jay's DAC2-Mk3 speaks loudly to that. It's the kind of find I love most. Sharing those when they cross our path is the whole purpose of this platform.

The name's Jay's; just Jay's!

Postscript: To see the Chinese tiger show its claws a third time, keep your eyes peeled on Amsterdam. That's where my loaners headed for a Christiaan Punter review on Hifi Advice…