The review for the Uptone JS-2 has been delayed multiple times due to issues beyond my control. A series of unfortunate events that included my primary DAC developing a fault at the worst possible time. The fault turned out to be a dry joint in the high voltage transformer. Kudos to the Don for the diagnosis and fix!

Unfortunately this long run of bad luck means my perspective on things will be cloudier than usual - any positives I write in this post will be over amplified, likewise the negatives under amplified. The JS-2 was also modified during the system down time. I have spent more time listening to the modified JS-2, and way less time with the stock JS-2. Most importantly, I havn’t auditioned all the PSU that’s available out there - the only PSUs I have tried are an ebay 12V5A SMPS, the HDPlex and this Uptone. Therefore please make sure you take all these into consideration when reading this article.

First up I’d like to show what modifications are made. Local DIY guru Don cut up the top plate of the JS-2 with his trusty CNC machine: 

Here is different angle with the cut outs up close. The cuts are not as clean as Don’s previous CNC projects, but this is immaterial in my opinion because the rough edges will be covered by the Hashimotos and be hidden from view anyway. You can see my lazy trait here as I did not bother to clean up the edges . Just made sure to remove all the burrs so that no stray aluminium will fall accidentally and short circuit something.

The modification effectively is to gut the JS-2 - remove the R-core, choke and the 2 capacitors (all expensive stuffs), and replace them with even more expensive parts - Hashimotos and Jensens.

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