Yes, this seems like it should respond the way you suggest. We’ll add it to Dennis’ list.
I added it to bugzilla for the DSjr, so it is on my list.
Dennis
Just curious as to resources allocation for software development and tweaks.
Software that lives in the FPGA belongs to Ted? and software that lives elsewhere belongs to Dennis?
Yep, I do the FPGA, Dennis does the UI, etc. A lot of the software for the bridge, XMOS processor, USB drivers, etc. is from third parties, but Dennis is usually the fellow that integrates it.
I am loving the pellucid sound of my DirectStream Junior, but was puzzled at first by one detail. When a new source is switched in, the DSJ locks onto it and displays bit count and sample rate—but outputs no signal. A CD, for instance, is playing, and the volume readout is 100, but there is no sound. My first thought was that the unit was broken, until I happened to move the volume control and . . . music! It seems the DSJ starts up in mute mode and needs a twitch of the knob to unmute it. Since this is not mentioned in the manual, I am wondering if it is a feature or a bug.
@valschaffner I don’t see this behaviour with my DSJ.
I have no experience with USB DAC’s. I have connected my MacBook Air to the USB port of the DSJ and I am listening to YouTube music videos playing in the Safari web browser. It’s working! Now for the next step. I don’t want the computer to be tied down on the DSJ in this way.
Is it possible to make a wireless link with the DSJ via Bridge? i.e. instead of using the USB cable for a physical connection is it possible to make a wireless connection?
I have the option to connect DSJ to the local network, however the router does not support UPnP. If the wifi link is not possible, is it possible to play my YouTube music videos over the LAN?
What has stemmed my interest in this is I was listening to my local FM radio station whilst out driving this morning and this song came on:
https://soundcloud.com/haydenjamesartist
So I googled it in the hope of buying the CD (which I often do for songs I hear on the radio that I like), unfortunately the song is only available for download. So now I’ve had to jump in the deep end of getting music downloads working at home.
Ted Smith said Yep, I do the FPGA, Dennis does the UI, etc. A lot of the software for the bridge, XMOS processor, USB drivers, etc. is from third parties, but Dennis is usually the fellow that integrates it.So UI software and FPGA software etc gets packaged up into a single file that we upload to the hardware?
One file if you count the .zip file we release the code in, the release proper is 5 files inside that .zip: a control file, FPGA code, XMOS (the USB receiver processor) code, the PIC (control processor/display processor) code and a file full of graphics, etc. for the PIC. We distribute a zip and the first step of an upgrade is for the customer to unzip the files onto the root of an SD care (for the DS) or a USB stick (for the Jr.)
valschaffner said I am loving the pellucid sound of my DirectStream Junior, but was puzzled at first by one detail. When a new source is switched in, the DSJ locks onto it and displays bit count and sample rate—but outputs no signal. A CD, for instance, is playing, and the volume readout is 100, but there is no sound. My first thought was that the unit was broken, until I happened to move the volume control and . . . music! It seems the DSJ starts up in mute mode and needs a twitch of the knob to unmute it. Since this is not mentioned in the manual, I am wondering if it is a feature or a bug.There's a new auto unmute feature in the Jr - when samples start changing the device will unmute, but I think this might only happen when the volume is at 100. I suspect that although new music was coming into the Jr your unit was muted and the volume was less than 100. Then (perhaps) you changed the volume to 100 which then would engage the auto unmute function.
If that wasn’t the problem, you may have encountered a bug. There are some new features in the Jr that weren’t in the DS - one (or more) of them may be buggy.
There’s the new auto unmute mentioned above.
There’s an auto come out of standby - when samples start changing the device will come out of standby.
There’s an auto input selection - when in auto input mode, when the samples start changing on another input than the one that’s playing the input will change to the new input. When the samples stop changing the input selected will revert back to the last active input.
There’s also the momentary undim when the remote is used like the DS.
Some combination of these may interact in unexpected ways. If you only ever use one input on the Jr the system might display few quirks if you don’t use auto input and explicitly select the input you normally use.
You might explicitly use the ON button to come out of standby instead of relying on the auto “resurrect” function.
You might explicitly unmute before changing the volume, etc. Perhaps you can press the mute button a couple of times until the sound and the M on the display are in sync.
The USB input of my DSJ seems to have stopped working. I have tried rebooting the DAC, disconnected the USB cable, cycled inputs, checked iOS system preferences and it’s showing PS Audio USB 2.0 as the output. But no sound? When I unplug the USB cable the computer automatically defaults to the audio renderer and sound is heard. When I plug the USB cable back in the sound on the computer stops.
I connected the computer to my Ayon Stealth DAC and audio is normal.
One thing I noticed when the DSJ was working I get a “gapless” audio experience between YouTube songs playing in the web browser. Now that I am using the Ayon DAC there is a gap of a few seconds between songs. I must say, the sound quality of streaming YouTube songs is quite good, it’s come to me as a surprise. Although I wish the Ayon behaved like the DSJ with the gapless streaming.
What else can I try with the DSJ? The first time I used it today it was so simple, it just worked first go. Now it’s proving to be somewhat frustrating.
Your problem may also be caused by the auto unmute feature, perhaps interacting with auto input select. Try explicitly unmuting the USB input, perhaps try explicitly selecting the USB input instead of using the auto input. You might have changed the volume from 100 causing slightly different behavior with these features than you are used to. (More details in the post just above your question.)
“auto-mute disable” would be a nice option to offer in the setup menu for those her prefer the dumb-mute behaviour.
brodricj saidTed Smith said Yep, I do the FPGA, Dennis does the UI, etc. A lot of the software for the bridge, XMOS processor, USB drivers, etc. is from third parties, but Dennis is usually the fellow that integrates it.So UI software and FPGA software etc gets packaged up into a single file that we upload to the hardware?
No it is packaged into several files which are zipped together. One for PIC code, one for the FPGA and one for XMOS code, and on devices with graphics displays the graphic code.
Dennis
brodricj said "auto-mute disable" would be a nice option to offer in the setup menu for those her prefer the dumb-mute behaviour.Not that's it's obvious or an ideal solution, but I think if you run the volume at 99 instead of 100 the auto-unmute will be disabled. (I don't have my Jr in the system right now so I can't verify this. Dennis may have to correct me here.)
Ted Smith saidbrodricj said "auto-mute disable" would be a nice option to offer in the setup menu for those her prefer the dumb-mute behaviour.Not that’s it’s obvious or an ideal solution, but I think if you run the volume at 99 instead of 100 the auto-unmute will be disabled. (I don’t have my Jr in the system right now so I can’t verify this. Dennis may have to correct me here.)
I will look into this tomorrow when I am back at work, as I don’t have a DSjr at home.
Dennis
A new day finds normal operation restored to the USB input of my DSJ. I have no idea why it wasn’t working last night.
I still have some unanswered questions from an earlier post.
Q1. I take-it that Bridge2 does not have inbuilt wifi capability (but Bridge1 did)?
Q2. The router does not support UPnP. If I connect DSJ to the local network (instead of USB) how do I configure the hardwares to play my YouTube music videos in the same way I’m currently playing via USB?
I’m pleasantly surprised how good DSJ is. I owned DS (pre-Yale) for over a year and I didn’t find it very engaging at all, so I sold it. For me DSJ with Yale is better than DS pre-Yale, it’s unfortunate that Yale was released only a month after I sold DS otherwise I might have kept it.
brodricj saidI’m pleasantly surprised how good DSJ is. I owned DS (pre-Yale) for over a year and I didn’t find it very engaging at all, so I sold it. For me DSJ with Yale is better than DS pre-Yale, it’s unfortunate that Yale was released only a month after I sold DS otherwise I might have kept it.
Paul and Ted,
Do you share this opinion on the sound of the DS Jr.? If so, that’s and incredible accomplishment as the DS was all the rage even before the Yale upgrade…
I think the DS Jr has the features of the DS sound that I appreciate - engaging, effortless, detailed without being harsh, … The Jr has a little less black background, a little less precision in the soundstage, etc. If you walked into a room and didn’t know which was playing I don’t think you’d instantly say “this sucks” or “this is obviously the DS”. But hearing them back to back the differences are fairly obvious IMO. As to whether the DS to Jr differences are bigger than the Pike’s Peak to Yale differences I think depends on your listening preferences. The soundstage shape changed a little from Pike’s Peak to Yale and tho most liked it a few didn’t. I don’t think the sound stage change is as big from the Jr to the DS. I wasn’t fond of 1.2.1 or Pike’s Peak and definitely liked Yale better, but to me those changes seem to be just different than the DS to the Jr changes so I can’t really answer your question directly.
Ted, what is your opinion of adding two DS Jr to an existing DS for a 5.1 surround system when the new Transport comes out? Is there enough of a difference where that wouldn’t work or do you think that using the DS Jr for the surround ambiance channels would be ok?