DS Junior Vs SGCD

I’m contemplating a purchase and have some questions about these 2 units.

  1. How does the SQ of the volume control in the DSJ compare to that of the SGCD? I would love to eliminate an extra piece of equipment from my signal path (currently Bel Canto PRe3/VB). I would prefer the DAC capabilities of the DSJ depending on the volume control.

  2. Is there a plan to enable MQA on the SGCD?

  3. Are there upgrades/updates planned for the SGCD, or is the configuration locked “forever”?

Just trying to make the most informed decision possible. Thanks in advance!

The SQ on the DSJ is excellent and you’d have no worries going direct. That said, you can get a touch sweeter sound inserting the SGCD in the path.

There are no plans of adding MQA capabilities on the SCGD. The DAC’s fixed and we only implement MQA in our network devices. At some point, we will launch a low-cost Octave streamer which can be added to the GCD and that will be capable of MQA decoding. Hopefully sometime in 2018.

There are no upgrades planned for GCD.

The GCD is one hell of a great product, one we’re quite proud of.

Hi Paul,

I own the GCD/S300 and have a DSJ for eval currently. I was hoping to drive the S300 from the DSJ and eliminate the need for the GCD as I only use it as a preamp. Unfortunately, neither the normal or low settings on the DSJ drive the S300 at a usable gain. High creates a ton of hiss audible anywhere in the room, and low barely gets the volume to background listening level. My speakers are 87db sensitivity.

Is the DS Sr. a better match with the S300 direct?


Can you check to see if Redcloud ius installed on the DSJ?

Can you check to see if Redcloud is installed on the DSJ?

Yes, it sure is, and Bridge II came updated as well.

The DS Sr has 6dB less noise than the Jr. Not all systems work ideally without a preamp. Some people have had good luck with various outboard devices like a 2:1 (or whatever) audio transformer as a boost for the low setting or cut for the high setting, but understandably not everyone wants to bother with experimenting to see if something like that will work adequately…

Well, I’ve bet the 6dB reduction will be enough to run the S300 directly; I just made a deal on a new DS. I’ll try it with and without the GCD, of course. I very much appreciate the eval time with the DSJ. It’s sonic character is exactly my tastes, after 150 hours that is…not looking forward to the first few days with the DS but confident it will exceed the DSJ after a few weeks of processing heat.

Ted, would a xlr attenuator degrade the signal significantly? A 10dB would be just about right, I think. They are cheap enough to try and toss if they don’t work.

Some people like the results with an inline attenuator (I’ve used them happily with other equipment in the past.) Another connection isn’t ideal, but too much noise is clearly worse :slight_smile:

I received a brand new DS today and hooked it up the same way I had the DSJ, thru the GCD to S300. I must say that cold out of the box the DS slays the DSJ (that has 150 hours on it); to my ears in my room etc.

The DS came loaded with Red Cloud, I had to update the BridgeII that came separate from the DS. No issues.

I can’t wait for the next few weeks to realize what the DS is really capable of. Fantastic gents, simply fantastic!

The ace up Sr.'s sleeve is its analog output stage. It’s much nicer than the Jr.'s (hence the big cost difference) but boy, oh boy does it make all the difference in sound quality.