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JVC AX-Z1010TN - Review (part II)

A nice amp - unforced and sounds good even at low volume. All the 'extras' - Phono stage, DAC and headphone output are all very good.
 
Taff63 said:
A nice amp - unforced and sounds good even at low volume. All the 'extras' - Phono stage, DAC and headphone output are all very good.
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A very important feature of the amp is subtle bass lift which really helps when listening late at night when you don't normally want the sound level too high. Its the only amp I have come across that has a bass control but not a treble.
 
Still feeling the love for my JVC. It’s making stupendous music with my Reference 3a MM De Capo i. I have other great amps including a Sonneteer Orton, but I’m just enjoying the JVC’s music making. The bass it delivers is perfect. Reminds me of my former KSA50. It’s becoming the best bargain I’ve had yet and I owe it all to the PFM threads.
 
It’s made me stop thinking about box swapping/tweaking/upgrading and allowed me to relax and listen to music.
I can’t think of a better compliment.
 
If you nip over to Germany there's a nice one for sale: "JVC AX-Z1010 Digifine Series, near mint, Digital Reference Integrated Amplifier" and only £1700!
 
...which is ~1200€ too much.
It's at audioscope, which we in Germany call the audio 'pharmacy' because of it's rediculously high prices.
Mostly like 3 times as much as you pay elsewhere.

Look here instead, more reasonable:
https://www.marktplaats.nl/a/audio-...4679963-jvc-ax-z1010tn-super-digifine-k2.html

600€, which is what I got mine for.
Not connected, that one is Netherlands, I'm German.

You may perhaps even negociate it down another 50 or so € bc the remote is missing &
probably someone around here can educate a universal remote for you for on/ off and faster/slower function and send it to you.
 
And while I'm here...has anyone done anything about the scratchy noises of the volume knob?
I heard some spray something in there to solve this, but others said that's a no-no
as basicly the solvent is building up even more gunk over time or can even harm the tracks in there.
So it basicly would be best to open, completely clean & stick together again ?
Anyone done that...opinions, solutions..?
thx
 
torstoi said:
You may perhaps even negociate it down another 50 or so € bc the remote is missing &
probably someone around here can educate a universal remote for you for on/ off and faster/slower function and send it to you.
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Will any universal remote do the job? I only want to adjust the volume from my couch.
 
Many thanks Andrew,
just ordered one of those...you just spray from the outside w/o opening anything..and that's it..?
 
gassor said:
Will any universal remote do the job? I only want to adjust the volume from my couch.
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Well...I think a universal remote you can buy will do..I think Andrew did this,,,not sure, maybe ask him ?
If I got it right you need perhaps someone with the original remote to 'train' your one the right frequency...after which it works the same as far as I know.
 
torstoi said:
Well...I think a universal remote you can buy will do..I think Andrew did this,,,not sure, maybe ask him ?
If I got it right you need perhaps someone with the original remote to 'train' your one the right frequency...after which it works the same as far as I know.
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I've got an original remote and two JVCs!
 
torstoi said:
Many thanks Andrew,
just ordered one of those...you just spray from the outside w/o opening anything..and that's it..?
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When you remove the top cover you will see the volume control. The actual control is near the front, there are a few holes in the casing. Spray a bit in there and then rotate the volume control from left to right fully about 20 times.
 
Thx a lot ! The spray should arrive next week & then I'll do just that. :)

@gassor ..well a universal remote should give you an RC for each amp then.
Usually there's some instruction sheet with the universal remote & considering the people I've seen using them it shouldn't be rocket science ?

I also should add the value of the JVC in terms of sq and the DAC and phonostage that's in it would be quite higher, so in absolute terms 1800€ would not be too much.
If you compare the amp itself within say the Naim universe, it should be around 1000€ at least, the phonostage isolated I'd estimate in the range of at least up to a ~400ish stage
and the DAC imo the best bit of the package, also at least 400, rather closer to 500€.

It's just I've seen those go for around 600ish here typically, and so..with a bit of patience, it's just a case of 'why pay more'.
An absoultely great alrounder, this..no doubt.
It's possible to better the amp, but you'd probably need to go class A or class AB then.
 
Dowser said:
Or just buy a Logitech Harmony remote? The 1010 appears in its database
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Hi all, happy owner of z1010 here as well, might be that I got to discover it through this thread a long time ago. The Logitech harmony remote actually included it in its database by my request a few years ago, quite amazing service they offer.

I was wondering if maintenance / checking is a good thing to do as a precause. Is it possible to check the capacitors while they are connected?
 
Glad you like the ten ten! It still puts a smile on my face when I play music through it.

I found checking and setting the bias correctly improved the sound. I also found leaking caps on the regulation and phono boards, both 220uf and Nichicon muse iirc. Replacing the phono ones first made an improvement, i then did the regulation ones and they made no difference but nice not to have leaking caps.
 
flatpopely said:
Glad you like the ten ten! It still puts a smile on my face when I play music through it.

I found checking and setting the bias correctly improved the sound. I also found leaking caps on the regulation and phono boards, both 220uf and Nichicon muse iirc. Replacing the phono ones first made an improvement, i then did the regulation ones and they made no difference but nice not to have leaking caps.
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Are you sure they were leaking? A lot of brown glue is used in these JVC amplifiers..
 
Has anyone compared it’s dac performance to any modern dac or cd player? Something like the chord 2 qute or qutest. The K2 should be good but the dac inside is still an ancient PCM56p.
 
Upgrading the PCM56 chips to the PCM56P-K grade may be worthwhile. Just don't buy them from ebay!
 
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