One-owner, purchased from factory in April of 2017, PS Audio DirectStream Junior DAC in excellent condition.  Unit is fully loaded with latest Windom software and all (full MQA, Tidal (including Masters), Spotify, Qobuz, VTuner and Roon Endpoint) available upgrades!  Aside from a couple of minor scuffs <see photos> on top gloss-black lid, unit is like new.  Conservatively rated 8.5/10 only for the very slight scuffs on top lid.  Fully tested with the PS Audio Memory Player / D'Agostino electronics / Magico speakers for several days.  This digital to analog converter's sound is excellent.  Includes an upgraded Pangea AC-14SE power cord ($69 new), remote, batteries, owner's manual, and original factory double box, with air spring suspension inner box system.  Also included is the PS Audio I2S cable ($459 new).  Price includes PayPal and/or AudioGon Express Checkout fees, shipping, insurance - everything to your door.  I have over a decade and hundreds of 100% positive feedback and ship the same day I receive payment.  Herndon Audio can accept AudioGon Express Checkout, PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, check in the mail, etc.

DirectStream Junior 

An affordable state of the art DAC 

DSJ is a technological wonder that builds on the same architecture awarded Product of the Year in both Stereophile and TAS, Darko Knock-Out award, Editors’ Choice and Golden Ear awards. DSJ is an extraordinary performance instrument–handwritten and uncompromised–a pure DSD Digital to Analog Converter uncovering all the missing information long hidden in your audio library, from both PCM and DSD sources. CD’s, high-resolution PCM, or DSD based media, are expertly upsampled to twenty times DSD rate and output as pure analog directly into your amplifier or preamplifier. DSJ is one of the few, true, fully analog DSD devices, that’s setting the industry on its ear and reshaping the landscape of music and high-end audio.

Now, full MQA, Tidal (including Masters), Spotify, Qobuz, VTuner and Roon ready.

More Product Details »

• Product
 
• Features
 
• Reviews
 
• Rear
 
• Specs
 
• Questions?

Whatever the format, whatever the sample rate, DirectStream Junior (DSJ) provides a pure DSD based solution that fulfills the promise of high-resolution analog performance from digital audio. If you know the sound of music and instruments, are unwilling to compromise sound quality, and want to hear what’s been missing on your discs, then this DAC is right for you.

DSJ provides remarkable performance that uncovers all that buried treasure in your digital music collection. In fact, we’re confident enough to suggest you haven’t really heard what’s on your CDs and SACDs until you hear them reproduced through the DSJ. Connect DSJ to your NAS, computer, or favorite internet streaming station through its built-in Bridge II, I²S through an HDMI cable to the PWT (or upcoming DirectStream Transport playing your favorite SACD), or any digital output source, and sit back and relive musical performances few have enjoyed at any price.

This product qualifies for our risk free in-home trial in the continental United States when purchased directly from PS Audio. And, trade in and save. Let us repurchase your old equipment at its full and original retail price. We’ll give it a good home and make sure you have the best power in the world. Just click the green Trade Up and Save button above these words to take advantage.

Now, full MQA, Tidal (including Masters), Spotify, Qobuz, VTuner, and Roon ready.

• Pure 100% DSD-based D to A Converter
• Fully upgradeable through software releases
• Built in Bridge II Network streaming Audio input
• Resolution perfect volume and balance controls built in
• Upsamples PCM and DSD to 20x DSD rate
• DXD support
• Passively filtered high speed output stage
• Improves imaging and soundstage
• Simple, direct signal path with one master clock
• Handwritten filters, processors and upsamplers
• Immune to incoming jitter problems from different sources
• Increased digital headroom
• No off-the-shelf IC DAC chips used
• FPGA-based circuitry
• Uncovers musical details masked by typical PCM based processors
• 6 digital inputs
• 192kHz 32 bit compatible
• PCM or single rate DSD
• Gapless Playback
• High speed, low jitter architecture
• Built in Digital Lens
• Decodes all popular formats
• Connect via Ethernet or WIFI (with a commonly available Wifi Ethernet adapter)
• UPnP compatible
• MQA ready
• Tidal ready
• Spotify Connect
• VTuner

Positive Feedback

Gary L Beard

I enjoy all kinds of music, but I am unabashedly in love with great rock and roll from the 60's and 70's. I still get goosebumps when Lynyrd Skynyrd asks me to "turn it up" (it's a law in my house), or when Led Zep plays "Black Dog" like there's no tomorrow. All those bands and all that music. The DSJ has a remarkable ability to recreate the great recordings of my favorite era with incredible resolution, detail, and passion, while not just retaining, but enhancing the emotive enjoyment, I've gotten over the years since hearing them for the first time. 

And that, my audio-friends, is the highest praise I can bestow.) Highly recommended for your audition.

Read More

Home Theater Review

Steven Stone

Anyone who has been considering the PS Audio DirectStream DAC because of its sound and features might also want to look at the DirectStream Junior. If I had to go out on a limb, I'd say the DirectStream Junior offers 90 percent of the performance and functionality of the original DirectStream. It is simply that good. Then you can apply your savings toward the new PS Audio DirectStream Memory Player ... 

Read More

Digital Audio Review

John Darko

the DSJ, like its Father, still delivers on the three Rs: rich tonality, robust dynamics, revealing of low-level detail, textural information and spatial cues. What a winner! This is a high-end audio solution that our parents could use. Stupendous sound, fuss-free, intuitive and highly relatable.

Read More

AudioStream

Michael Lavorgna

the DSJ offers up a musical image that is rich, fluid, and full. There's a nice dimensional quality without a hint of digital flatness that plagues, well, lots of digital reproduction. There's also no sense of the overly-etched or hyper-detailed presentation that my reference Auralic Vega can lean toward. I'm not saying the Vega is overly-etched or hyper-detailed as I've enjoyed it for years, but compared to the DSJ, it does sound a tad forced; as if it's trying too hard.

Read More

Blown away!

Scolley

Blown Away.
That bears repeating… Blown Away.
That’s my first, best attempt to describe my reaction to the sound coming from my new DirectStream Junior DAC. Sure, I could go into specifics: detail, imaging, transients, soundstage, and the big surprise for me – tighter bass. But it’s really about the sound. Wow.
Granted, it’s replacing a DAC that’s a fraction of the cost – but still a real nice DAC. And it allowed me to bypass my preamp – a wonderful preamp IMO. Then there’s the elimination of my USB connected Roon endpoint with the I2S connected Bridge II endpoint. Regardless of the root cause of the huge SQ improvement (or combined causes), I’m hooked.
Hooked.
So, the thirty day trial period? Mr. McGowan, if you need this DirectSteam Junior back… you’re just going to have to build more. I’m keeping this one. ;-) Sorry.
Blame Ted Smith. smile
Me? I’m delighted, and grateful to PS Audio for making such an outstanding component available at such an excellent price. Thank you folks!
If others have strong, positive feeling about their DSJ, please feel free to share
PS – I had not yet told my wife about the change, since I was still hooking everything up and listening. But she walked by the listening room, stopped, came in, sat down, listened, and then began telling me what music she wanted to hear. Then continued that for a couple hours. She was hooked too.
The point is… someone who did not even know to be listening for anything different was just passing by, and heard it. And it sucked them in. Compelled them to listen. It’s not subtle.

Read More

AV Magazine

Deon Schoeman

Music delivered by
the DSJ sounded real
and enthralling, with a
fullness of texture and
an extended tonality
that made the music
come beautifully,
viscerally alive.

Read More

Positive Feedback

Mark Pearson

I think that PS Audio hit a homerun with the DSJ. It's beautiful to look at, it's simple to use, it has all of the digital inputs a reasonable person could hope for, and it helps protect your investment by being software upgradable. I'm a fan of FPGA chips because of their functionality and how they sound. For those of you (like me) who have never enjoyed your CD collection much or your hi-rez digital files, the DSJ just might put a smile on your face like it did mine. I found that PCM recordings that I just wouldn't play before I could now play and enjoy through the DSJ. For me, that aspect is the icing on the cake, because being a DSD fan, I love how the DSJ sounds with native DSD files. If you get a chance to hear the DSJ and see and hear what it brings to the table, I think you may just be smitten too. 

Read More

SoundStage!

Philip Beaudette

With their DirectStream Junior DAC, PS Audio has managed to offer the technology developed for the DirectStream “Senior” for only two-thirds the price. What makes the DSJ special isn’t merely technological, but that that technology is used in the service of outstanding sound quality to make it among the best-sounding DACs I’ve heard. The DSJ is an incredibly detailed- and wonderfully transparent-sounding component whose fluid, natural sound is musical and highly addictive. During my time with it, I enjoyed revisiting many discs and files, simply to hear how they’d sound through the DSJ. It never failed to impress. If you’re in the market for a new DAC and want topflight sound, it would be a mistake not to hear it.

Read More

Suono Italy

Giulio Salvioni

I'd say it’s pretty hard to do better, at least for now. The machine has all the features you should expect from a modern DAC: it’s upgradeable, and compatible with all formats; it can be used without excessive loss of quality by connecting it directly to a power amplifier; and you can use it as a network streamer. Mostly I would say it has its own well-defined personality, which is reflected in really good sound.

Read More

Physical

Unit Weight18 lbs [8.1 kg]Unit Dimensions14” x 17” x 2.75” [ 36cm x 43cm x 6.98cm]Shipping Weight27 lbs [12.25 kg]Shipping Dimensions20.5”x 24” x 10” [52cm x 61cm x 25cm]

Power requirements

Input PowerModel specific 100VAC, 120VAC, or 230VAC 50 or 60HzPower Consumption30W

Digtial audio inputs

I²S, Coax, XLR Balanced, TOSLINK, USB, Ethernet

Sample Rates

I2S, and USB -- 44.1kHz to 352.8kHz 16bit, 24bit, DSD 64, DSD 128
TOSLINK – 44.1kHz to 96kHz 16bit, 24bit
XLR (AES/EBU)S/PDIF (coax)-- 44.1kHz to 192kHz 16bit, 24bit, DSD 64

Analog Audio Output

Connector RCA/XLR Unbalanced /Balanced (X2)Output level (Low)170mV (-15.5dBV) Single Ended 
340mV (-9.5dbV) BalancedOutput level (Normal)1.3 Vrms(+2.25dBV) Single Ended
2.6V (+8.25dbV) BalancedOutput Impedance100Ω/200ΩFrequency Response20-20KHz +/- 0.25dBTHD&IM @ 1KHz (full scale)<0.03%Output StageActive high current, high speed analog amps producing double rate DSD.

Data Handling

FormatPCM or DSDSample rate (PCM)44.1kHz, 48.0kHz, 88.2kHz, 96.0kHz, 176.4kHz, 192kHz, 352.8kHzWord length (PCM)16b, 18b, 20b, 24bData rate (DSD)Standard (2.8MHz) or Double (5.6MHz) DoP on all inputs as well as raw DSD on I²S inputs, not including the built in Bridge IIInput jitter reductionEffectively 100%, residual immeasurable. No input PLLs, FLLs.Input Processing170MHzSignal Processing50MHzSynchronous Upsampling, all inputs28.224MHzDigital Processing S/N ration>146 dBDigital Volume ControlZero loss of precisionAnalog Conversion methodDelta Sigma (DSD) Single-bit double rate

I²S Digital Input

ConnectorHDMI FormatPCM or DSD. DoP as well as raw DSD on I²S and USB inputs

USB Digital Input

ConnectorUSB “B” TypeFormatPCM or DoP v1.1 (DSD over PCM)Transfer modeAsynchronous