DirectStream Junior Dac

LPS sounds like a cool device. Makes a lot of sense on paper. It would be interesting to see if discerning ears could hear the difference between it and a $50 eBay LPS. Not trying to be snotty - it’s a real question.

After all the farting around I did with getting USB from Mini to DSJr., I became disenchanted with USB generally. I went from one USB cable from Mac to DAC, to a chain of crap costing close to a grand that makes the USB audio delivered to the Jr. fairly acceptable. Seems goofy.

It’s clear, as Ted pointed out, that it’s at the bottom of the digital-delivery food chain. Saves a lot of grief to skip USB altogether. I realize that isn’t the only use for the LPS, but seriously - buying a LPS for a Regen?

I didn’t mine is a uRendu.

I talked to Alex at Uptone and he said the LPS-1 works with the LANRover and benefits it greatly. Interestingly he also made a case for the Regen post LANRover plugged directly into the DAC USB. I ordered the LPS-1 (on backorder) and will think about the Regen.

amgradmd said I talked to Alex at Uptone and he said the LPS-1 works with the LANRover and benefits it greatly. Interestingly he also made a case for the Regen post LANRover plugged directly into the DAC USB. I ordered the LPS-1 (on backorder) and will think about the Regen.
Good to know, not surprised, I sold my Regen when I got the uRendu, maybe bad idea.
rogerdn said I didn't mine is a uRendu.
I was referring to the Uptone website info on it where they suggested getting the $395 LPS for the $175 Regen. Just seemed disproportionate. I would be surprised if you could tell the difference between a $50 LPS and a $395 one when attached to the Regen. (I have a Regen)

All of these add-ons are just chipping away at the issues inherent in a bad means of getting digital audio from one device to another. You end up throwing a lot of money and effort at trying to make a USB connection sound as not-bad as other types.

The reason I’ve been jumping through hoops to get my USB chain up to par with, say the Bridge II, is because up until now, I’ve had the NuWave DAC and USB is the best option from my Mac Mini. So welcome LANRover and expensive USB cables! Welcome Uptone LPS-1. Granted I’m getting the DS DAC in a couple days, but I’m not so sure I’m going to jump on the Bridge II right away anyway. The main reason is that I’ve spent a great deal of time and effort in ripping both my brother’s and my own vinyl collections in, you guessed it, DSD128. These DSD128 needle drops are very, very close to the original vinyl, BTW. As you may know, the Bridge doesn’t work with DSD128, only 64. So I’m left with over 100 LPs of DSD128 and I don’t feel like transcoding them down to 64 at this point. Too much effort, not to mention inferior sound quality (barely, I realize). Plus I’m thinking this USB chain will be competitive with Bridge II. I may be wrong, but I’ll see. Besides, the LPS-1 is very versatile at 5,7, or 9V, so I can use for other purposes if need be after I move on from the LANRover.

Fuses for the Junior?

I see the Sr uses 2 each 1 amp, 5 x 20

My question is about the DSJ input select “auto” behaviour.

DMP is connected to DSJ via I2S. PS4 is connected via optical. DSJ input select set to auto.

With DSJ playing music from PS4, when I power on DMP the DSJ automatically switches to the DMP input whilst it is initialising, then it goes back to PS4. I would have thought that the DSJ stays locked on to an active source independent of whatever is happening at the other inputs?

The feature is designed to switch anytime a new (non-all zero) input starts. When something stops (or goes back to all zeros) the auto select goes back to the last input that was active which is still active. (I.e. it keeps a stack of last active inputs but deletes inactive entries out of that stack.)

If, instead, it kept the old selection when a new input started, one downside would be that the Jr would get stuck on any of the devices that keep putting out non-zero (or, say, low level) outputs all of the time (and there are many such devices out there.)

To me it’s sort of a bug that a device would put out anything while it’s initializing, but it turns out to be fairly common. What’s worse is that some devices put out spikes or even full level DC values while initializing. (I don’t think the DMP ever does that.)

I could understand the “auto” design point if all the inputs had no signal, DSJ would lock on to the first input that was detected with a signal, and remained locked on to that signal, irrespective of what happens at the other inputs. The way it is now, if I’m listening to a particular source, if I turn on any other component that is connected to DSJ, playback is interrupted. To my way of thinking, once that 2nd input comes active, it should be a manual choice switching to the new source. DSJ is wrongly anticipating that I want to immediately listen to a new source the moment it is switched on.

While I prefer manual control over almost everything, the design Ted describes makes the most sense. Plus, it is easy to avoid switching on what one does not desire to listen to by simply avoiding turning on a new source.

What are the circumstances where you need to turn a new source on, but not listen to it?

Elk said ...

What are the circumstances where you need to turn a new source on, but not listen to it?


I turn a new source on to listen to it when I’m ready, not when DSJ thinks I’m ready.

Elk said What are the circumstances where you need to turn a new source on, but not listen to it?
To warm it up for some length of time prior to listening; I do this all the time.

I typically have multiple sources on and which ever I hit play on plays. Also I often have background music playing and when I start something new it plays and when it stops the background music starts again - I got in this habit when I used multiple jukeboxes being controlled by my computer - with things like random play the computer would never play two songs back to back on the same jukebox so each song was always queued up and the auto input select meant that the computer never had to do an input select. Everything just worked.

magister said To warm it up for some length of time prior to listening; I do this all the time.
My curiosity continues . . . do you have multiple sources to which you listen critically?

Yes: my TT power supply, DS DAC, DMP, and computer with a high-end USB card. The computer is normally off since I listen to it least often. If I anticipate not using the system for more than 24 hours the other sources go off along with the preamp. (Off = rear switch, not standby.) This is my personal compromise between energy efficiency, avoiding equipment stress by powering down/up too frequently, and getting good sound quickly. I may turn on only one source if it’s all I anticipate using in one evening, so the others would need warmup the next time I use them.

Makes sense.

I also dislike leaving things on for an extended period of non-use. i know this is not the audiophile way, but just using electricity to use electricity bugs me. I also turn off all lights expect for the room I am in.

Out of curiosity, should the two sets of outputs on the Jr (balanced and unbalanced) be used at the same time? Is there a common video op amp driving both sets?

In contrast, does the Sr use a single transformer to drive both balanced and unbalanced outputs?

There are times when I’ve been tempted to use a slight amount of sub-woofer (sub 40 Hz), hence these questions.

I should add that my DS DAC has a Bridge, which is what I listen to most frequently, so the DMP and TT often stay off for 2-4 days.

My parents, raised during the Depression, made sure that I always turned off unused lights (as I still do cool).

mwaustin said Out of curiosity, should the two sets of outputs on the Jr (balanced and unbalanced) be used at the same time? Is there a common video op amp driving both sets?

In contrast, does the Sr use a single transformer to drive both balanced and unbalanced outputs?

There are times when I’ve been tempted to use a slight amount of sub-woofer (sub 40 Hz), hence these questions.


The opamp in the Jr is in the same place in the circuit as the transformer in the DS: they are both upstream from some filtering, the attenuators, the mute circuit, etc. Adding separate drivers for each output would require duplicating more than just the transformer or opamp in either case.

Still, I’d use my ears to see if using both in your system at the same time is a real problem or not. You certainly won’t hurt anything in the DAC. The two biggest theoretical problems are unbalancing the balanced connection will loose some noise immunity (which may not be a problem for you) and since the capacitance of paralleled cables adds, if either pair of interconnects has too much capacitance you might notice a change in the HF response of the system. (Ironically too much capacitance on the Sr can tip up the top end when the attenuator isn’t used and if the attenuator is used it can roll the top end off a little. In the Jr it rolls off the top end either way.) How much capacitance is too much? Say > 3 to 10 nF.