Image courtesy of Jadis
I have an amazing memory of my first experience with Jadis which proved to be mind-bending. While I was visiting Seoul, Korea in 1990 I was invited to meet Mr. J. Y. Woo. He introduced me to the world of high-end audio and Classical music. When I visited him in Seoul, I was floored and fascinated by his system. It was all Jadis electronics, and as a source he was using a work of art, the Thorens Prestige turntable driving the majestic Tannoy Westminster Royal HE speakers. I was just getting into high-end audio and it was overwhelming to see all these goodies. It was something totally new to me. But it was the gorgeous looking Jadis that captivated me. The JA200 four-chassis design was stunning, with ten KT88 tubes per channel paired with the JP200, a four-chassis design preamplifier. Listening to Mozart and Beethoven was out of this world. The music flowed effortlessly. It was the best sounding system I ever heard.
I have heard Jadis many times over the years at audio trade shows and, more recently, with Bob Visintainer at Rhapsody Audio. His Jadis setup consisted of the JA120 monoblocks with the JP80 preamplifier driving the Alsyvox Caravaggio XX loudspeakers. It was fabulous. The Jadis drove the Caravaggio’s with power and authority. The sound was detailed, transparent and with great emotion and it projected a huge three-dimensional soundstage that was exceptional. I liked the sound so much that I showed an interest in reviewing the Jadis. Visintainer arranged with the Jadis North America distributor, Jay Rein of Bluebird Music Limited, for me to receive the DA88 Signature for a review. Finally, after all these years, I was given the opportunity of reviewing the Jadis DA88 Signature integrated amplifier in my system. I wondered what took so long?
Jadis was founded in 1983 with a passion for making audio equipment that would faithfully reproduce the emotion of a live performance. Jadis output transformers are highly specialized, entirely handmade at the Jadis factory in Villedubert, France. Jadis transformers are world-renowned for their superior quality and the contributions to musicality is only one of the secrets of the famous Jadis sound. The output transformers are hand wound then poured into a special resin which guarantees extremely low noise and thermal stability. Jadis output transformers are known to be indestructible in service, and give their amplifiers maintain absolute stability regardless of load. (“In fact the maximum allowable power is 2500 Watts before saturation!”) Jadis are no-compromise, hand-built one at a time. They feature all point-to-point wiring and use the very best components and materials available.
In 2025 Jadis was acquired by Jeremie Malfroot from Jean Christophe Calmette. Malfroot spent over two decades in international business development and manufacturing with the Austrian industrial group. Six months later, Jeremie Malfroot announced a lifetime warranty for the company’s output transformers and ten-year warranties on all other parts. He explains “I did it to differentiate ourselves and to explain to the customer that at Jadis, we care for the next generation.”
The DA88 Signature was hand-delivered to me by Visintainer this Spring. Setting up the unit was straightforward. It came in double boxes with a separate smaller box for the tubes. It was packed nicely and but it’s still a job for two persons to unpack. It weighs a whopping 88 lbs and it is back heavy due to the placement of the output and power transformers in the rear of the real estate.
The DA88 Signature is gorgeously finished in true Jadis tradition, featuring a polished chromed chassis with a stunning gold transformer top and a gold front face plate. The connectors are in the back of the unit. On the front left there is a power switch on/off and standby switch. To the right there are three beautiful gold rotary knobs: the volume control, balance control, and the source selector. Brilliantly, it comes with a volume remote control which operates both volume and mute. There are two pairs of speaker binding connectors for biwiring. It accepts RCA inputs and there are five inputs and a tape output. When connecting the speaker cables make sure to invert the cables, plus to minus and vise versa. It’s a Class-A push-pull amplifier delivering a powerful 60 watts per channel. The review unit came with four KT-120 tubes per channel, though it can be fitted with both the 6550s and the EL-34s. It utilizes two 12ax7 and three 12au7 input tubes. Finally, the unit is self-biasing, making it simple to use.
I used my new reference EnKlein SHT cables throughout the system. The DA88 Signature drove my Lorenzo Audio LM1 beautifully. I was told that the DA88 Signature was burned-in already, so I could evaluate it right away.
After an hour of warm-up, I began to listen. Right from the get-go, I was impressed with the gorgeous midrange that one expects (especially from Jadis); it was neither euphonic or syrupy and produced a rich harmonic palette. The rendering of classical music, jazz, and vocals was outstanding. Listening to symphonies and concertos was exceptionally rewarding.
The DA88 Signature’s drove the LM1s with power and authority and great ease. I put on one of my favorites, (Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano in C Major, Op. 56 (Qobuz) with maestro Herbert Von Karajan conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker.) The virtuosos David Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Sviatoslav Richter, conveyed the music wonderfully. It was truly compelling with great emotion, immediacy, and dimensionality and beautiful tonality. There was no etch, sharpness or hardness, making the performances spectacular. It was delicate, highly resolved, and rendered music with liveness, fullness and solidity
Next I put on the Dvorak’s Cello Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B minor, op. 104 (Qubuz) performed by the master Mstislav Rostropovich, and the maestro, Herbert Von Karajan, conducting Berliner Philharmoniker. The DA88 Signature produced an enormous size and scale on a soundstage with convincing dynamic swings without losing any of the integrity of the music. The DA88 Signature captures the full warmth, sweetness, and complexity of the orchestra’s dynamic range. Rostropovich’s playing was rendered superbly and emotionally and revealed layers of small detail and nuance that were special.
The Jadis’s midrange is fabulous in timbre, tone color, liquidity, and freedom from grain and hardness. The DA88 Signature renders instruments and voices with the rich harmonic palette expected from tubes, while it delivers an outstanding transparent window and purity. It didn’t matter whether I was listening to Jazz or a female vocalist. Listening to Jacintha’s “Here’s to Ben” and “Georgia On My Mind” proved spellbinding. Her voice was rendered beautifully and the sense of clarity, detail, and underlining emotion was impressive. It conveyed feeling, and moods were presented with a great sense of musical realism and emotional involvement.
Listening to Keith Jarrett’s Live at The Blue Note (Tidal) was outstanding. The longer I listened to “Don’t Ever Leave Me,” the more involved I became. Keith Jarrett’s piano was portrayed superbly, and the music had emotion and moved me in a special way. Jack DeJonette’s cymbals had life, weight, and gracefulness. They were detailed, transparent, and open, also free of edge and grain. The cymbal magic was effortless and vivid. Gary Peacock on the double bass was harmonically and texturally convincing. The sound of the plucks had a properly stringy, pitch, and weight. The DA88 Signature’s transient balance was truthful and consistent from the lowest to highest notes.
I enjoyed my time with the Jadis DA88 Signature immensely. The Jadis DA88 Signature worked flawlessly during the entire listening period, and it is a super quiet amplifier. There is no hum or any tube noise to speak of. I put my ears up-close to my super tweeter and it was dead silent. When an integrated amplifier sounds good at this price, I ask myself “Do I really need the separates?”
The DA88 Signature is truly a remarkable integrated amplifier that I could easily live with.
DA88 Signature integrated amplifier
Retail: USD $21,700
US Distributor
Bluebird Music
Tel: (416) 638-8207
E-mail: [email protected][email protected]
Website: BluebirdMusic.com
Manufacturer
Jadis Electronics
Chemin du Pech
11800 Villedubert
France
Website: Jadis-Electronics.com
