[naka9]

I use several DAC with a streamer (Auralic Aries Femto) and several CD transports and I’m curious if there could be a real improvement by adding something like a Denafrips Hermes to my Pontus II?
More than improve the streamer (witch I use less) it is the CD reproduction my main focus, and I wonder if any user out there uses a DDC between CD transport and DAC?

 

[tesarpa]

I don’t think so. Main purpose of DDC is to isolate PC source and convert from USB to S/PDIF or I2S. Your CD player most likely outputs S/PDIF natively. iFi did produce some coax “cleaners”, though.

 

[tesarpa]

https://ifi-audio.com/products/spdif-ipurifier2/

 

[shogo33]

I’m curious if there could be a real improvement by adding something like a Denafrips Hermes to my Pontus II?
More than improve the streamer (witch I use less) it is the CD reproduction my main focus, and I wonder if any user out there uses a DDC between CD transport and DAC?

The answer is - depends. Yes if you're using a dedicated streamer, chances are no and improvements would be subtle/different at best. If you're using a noisy source, like a PC or laptop, then yes.

Since you're using a CD transport, i'd caution against adding a DDC, because adding another component and cable in the path is just unnecessary.

 

[b0bb]

I use several DAC with a streamer (Auralic Aries Femto) and several CD transports and I’m curious if there could be a real improvement by adding something like a Denafrips Hermes to my Pontus II?
More than improve the streamer (witch I use less) it is the CD reproduction my main focus, and I wonder if any user out there uses a DDC between CD transport and DAC?

Denafrips Pontus uses a FIFO buffer based reclocker. This is effective for handling modern CD transports, anything built in the last 20 years.

The early 2000's saw the introduction of improved SPDIF transmitters for the DVD market, modern CD transports are built using DVD SPDIF transmitters.

If you have a transport from the 80's and 90's it may require additional help, jitter and bit error specs of the SPDIF transmitters would have degraded with age and parts from that generation barely made the specs even when they were new

(DVD's Dolby Digital multichannel audio output raised the bar on the required bit error rates of the SPDIF transmitters, missing data could cause loud cracks in the audio output, the old school CD transports merely covered this up using interpolation, no longer possible as Dolby Digtal stream is compressed data and not audio samples)

 

[IvanE92]

Denafrips Pontus uses a FIFO buffer based reclocker. This is effective for handling modern CD transports, anything built in the last 20 years.

The early 2000's saw the introduction of improved SPDIF transmitters for the DVD market, modern CD transports are built using DVD SPDIF transmitters.

If you have a transport from the 80's and 90's it may require additional help, jitter and bit error specs of the SPDIF transmitters would have degraded with age and parts from that generation barely made the specs even when they were new

(DVD's Dolby Digital multichannel audio output raised the bar on the required bit error rates of the SPDIF transmitters, missing data could cause loud cracks in the audio output, the old school CD transports merely covered this up using interpolation, no longer possible as Dolby Digtal stream is compressed data and not audio samples)

What about a computer as a source? I have a Mac running HQPlayer.

 

[kumar402]

What about a computer as a source? I have a Mac running HQPlayer.

DDC is specifically there to provide galvanic isolation between DAC and computer along with using better clock to feed DAC with SPDIF or I2S. Recommended if you use USB to connect to DAC directly.

 

[b0bb]

What about a computer as a source? I have a Mac running HQPlayer.

Check if your Mac has Optical SPDIF output, Mac optical output quality is usually good.

Direct USB connection from computer to DAC is an option, Macs use USB UAC2 protocol for audio which lets the DAC control the flow of data from the host.
This is an advantage over SPDIF.
Downside of USB is potential issues with noise coming from the computer and other devices connected to the USB bus such as wireless mouse dongles, external USB disks etc.

HQPlayer offers an additional option of the NAA (Networked Audio Adapter), this provides a dedicated audio endpoint to use with the DAC outside of the computer. Holo RED and SOTM SMS200, are examples. It can also be made using a RaspberryPi, this requires work to be done to keep the noise from the RPi from getting to the DAC, the commercial offerings mentioned deal with this. Holo RED is based on the RPi

I use HQplayer as well with the NAA, this allows me to avoid using USB on the host.