WHAT constitutes a bargain in high-end audio? Well, PS Audio has it all worked out. Use a highly-regarded, award-winning piece of gear as the benchmark, deliver similar (or close to) performance levels and make sure it costs considerably less. Which is exactly what is coming your way now with the DirectStream Junior DAC.
At the heart of the Junior is the same FPGA (field-programmable gate array) technology used in the original, which accepts and decodes both PCM and DSD signals up to 24-bits/384kHz and DSD128 sampling rates respectively. The Junior, however, is different as all PCM signals are upsampled and converted to DSD before they are decoded.
Naturally, some redesign was needed to make the Junior more affordable to all, and to that effect, modifications have been made to its power supply, output circuitry, display and user-interface.
PS Audio says the Junior delivers 85% of the original’s performance and will cost just US$3,999. But that’s just part of the bargain – the Junior also incorporates the Bridge II network card into its design and will only cost a mere 59% of the combined price of those two products!
A bargain? Check it out and decide for yourself!
