Attenuator IN is the lowest volume setting.
You need output cables attached to a preamp or amp so that the DS is driving a load. Either RCA or XLR are OK.
Great - thanks.
Mr Elkācan I use a torch to help speed up burn-in?
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I have had my my DS Jr around three weeks now. I was happy with it out of the box. I wont dispute the benefits of a break in process, but I think some of that process is you getting used to the new equipment too.
Iāve had the Junior three months nowā¦ play it almost every day and some weekends, it gets maybe 10-20 hours of play time.
I think the sound stabilized at around three weeksā¦ just a swagā¦ ā¦ I donāt think the sound is changing anymore. I will never forget the awful feeling I had the moment I plugged it in and fired it up coldā¦ I was not happy. But all is good, it is a very musical unit as musical as my old Accuphase with more detail and spaceā¦ and plays all the crazy formats.
I play it to a Primaluna Dialoge Premium HP integrated so there is a tube preamp and amp in the chainā¦ very happy.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
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Hi there. So far ~ 50 hours on the DSJ. Initially quite a bit of sibilance. That is starting to fade. However, the soundstage is quite small. Does this expand over time? I have swapped an Ayre QB9 DSD dac for the DSJ, so fingers crossed that I made a wise decision.
Get this. I needed to move the dac to a different position in my rack and had to power it down and unhook everything. Put it all back together and the soundstage has been restored. What gives? Anyone else experience this?
I experienced some odditiesā¦ had some power failures, power bumped on/offā¦ I have it on a Trpplite power voltage regulator and filterā¦ I started getting popping between songs and it didnāt sound rightā¦ I didnāt analyze it, I just powered it off from the rearā¦ waited 30 seconds and rebootedā¦ all is good. A fluke? Was it the power issue? I dunnoā¦ Makes you wonder if you had a power problem while you were out, didnāt know it, and you are not getting 100%ā¦ but for me, the issue was very obvious something was amiss.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
You might want to check the output voltage of the TrippLite unit to be certain it is Ok. Since you mention āregulatorā itās possible something has failed. I mention this since a couple of times in the past I was using a P500 regenerator and the items being powered started acting odd. After much fiddling I decided to check the output voltage, in both cases it was low and was causing operational problems for obvious reasons.
experience from new: hooked it up, turned it on and been smiling since. Not a single hiccup.
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Good idea, I havenāt check the output of the thing in a few years. Iāll just pop my Fluke multimeter into the thing every now and then.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
Itās complicated math done in a significant gate array (FPGA-bitstreams?), doesnāt hurt to restart twice a month or so.
Oh Ted,
What you YOU know about the DS, or the DSJR??? Am I right?
Incredible job BTW
Mine sounded like everything was wrapped in cardboard when I first plugged it in. I was feeling a panic attack coming on.
Ive been running it straight for 120 hrs and it is sounding completely different and QUITE amazing.
I was a vinyl nut, now Im a DS Nutā¦sounds like vinyl to meā¦I would have thought anyone that said that was stupid, deaf, or crazy, and here I am.
Whatā¦?
The long run in time of the DS is real and I say at least 700hrs of music play. I am currently at 780hrs and started changing fuses in the equipment of my system!
With my DS Sr. I am at around two weeks of continuous standby (say 200 hours) and probably 20 hours of playing time. Its gotten really smooth and much better. I āthinkā that if you have any brightness or sibilance after that many hours is due to either: 1) RF noise on the AC input or 2) RF noise on the USB input. I use USB and have 15 clamp-on ferrites to squash any real (or hypothetical) noise from the laptop. I used to have an Intona but Ted said this injects as much RF downstream as it cancels RF from upstream sources ā¦so it got pulled. For cleaner power, I have two ferrites on my Nordost AC cable (at each end) and I also have other Nordost power and noise products ā¦which i believe help a lot.
I am so pleased with my DAC situation that its finally time to focus on other aspects of my system ā¦
My experience is power products such as conditioner, power cable and fuse do get run in with the equipment on standby. However, the equipment itself needs a signal passing through to run in, especially the audio circuity part of the DAC. So IMHO 20hrs of play time is far from what the best the DS is capable!
How have things progressed in the last few months? Still listening to the DS?
One thing the DS has never stopped doing from the start: hitting me over the head with a cd that was poorly recorded or mastered. Ouch!
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Still listening to the DS and decided to keep it. The staging and physicality of the imaging is still astounding, and the potential for future updates convinced me. The former really is on par with the kilobuck DACs. I find it much more engaging to listen to now. However, one of my earlier issues remain: there still seems to be an emphasis on a certain frequency in the upper registers that I find irritating on specific tracks. For example, on some songs with guitar it seems as if I hear more of the āclickyā sound of the pick strumming the strings rather than the tone of the strings and the instrument itself. The latest album by the War on Drugs is a good example of this, and Iāve barely listened to it lately as I donāt enjoy it as much with the DS doing the conversion. Part of that is the engineering/mastering of the album, but itās not a particularly harsh or bright mastering either. TL;DR the DS creates a sense of greater detail and clarity but doesnāt have the tonal richness and weight that I feel is natural. The level of detail is great, but Iām missing that last level of richness that would make this DAC perfect for my personal taste.
Overall itās an impressive DAC, and while Iāve decided to keep it for now, I do think itās lacking in that one specific area and that aspect of my initial impression hasnāt changed. However, the aspects of music reproduction that it does well, it does them spectacularly well.
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So what is the easiest way to break in the DS? Iāve been streaming internet music to it from an aurender server for a few days now. Usually my preamp is left off - does it matter.