New denafrips DDC (Iris and Gaia)

[Zachik]

The Iris is around 200+ hours and starting to mellow out. Big relief And glad I put faith in Alvin

Keep us posted - I am still debating between the Iris and DI-20 from Audio GD... I might consider the middle tier Hermes, but still waiting for it to be out (and for reviews / impressions).
If Alvin would be willing to ship one to me, I would be more than happy to be the beta tester / guinea pig
In fact, I wish I could compare at home, on MY setup, the Iris vs. Hermes. Too much $ for the Gaia, so out of my price range, and frankly I am disappointed the DI-20 does not have an optical out (I use SPDIF or AES into my main DAC, and optical into my secondary DAC)...

 

[S Crowther]

Keep us posted - I am still debating between the Iris and DI-20 from Audio GD... I might consider the middle tier Hermes, but still waiting for it to be out (and for reviews / impressions).
If Alvin would be willing to ship one to me, I would be more than happy to be the beta tester / guinea pig
In fact, I wish I could compare at home, on MY setup, the Iris vs. Hermes. Too much $ for the Gaia, so out of my price range, and frankly I am disappointed the DI-20 does not have an optical out (I use SPDIF or AES into my main DAC, and optical into my secondary DAC)...

Alvin previously recommended Singxter SU-6. Have you considered that possibility?

 

[Zachik]

Alvin previously recommended Singxter SU-6. Have you considered that possibility?

I did not. Several people on the DI-20 thread commented that the DI-20 blows the SU-6 out of the water... I am assuming the Iris or Hermes should be in the same level (as DI-20) or better...

 

[motberg]

Hi mordicai,

What is the reason for adding the SU1 or Iris DDC to the holo2 dac ? Format change ?

More importantly for available input format in both SU1/Iris and the holo2 dac, kindly share your experience of connecting these DDCs vs directly into to holo2 dac and your thoughts on the reasons of any impact to sound quality at least in your case/system.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers.

Richard
[/QUOTE
I remember a prior discussion on this exact same topic pointing to one possible reason could be that the USB>i2s (or SPDIF) conversion is relatively noisy (electronically) so advantageous to keeping this conversion separate from the DAC electronics. However, some recent DAC's do a very good job with the conversion internally, for example I compared the Audio-GD R1 internal (isolated, Crystek reclocked Amanero) vs, my very well powered SU-1 via i2s and could not hear a difference in output quality. Of course with the conversion separate, more space and resources can be put into isolation, power, clocking, signal integrity, etc.

 

[richardloh]

I remember a prior discussion on this exact same topic pointing to one possible reason could be that the USB>i2s (or SPDIF) conversion is relatively noisy (electronically) so advantageous to keeping this conversion separate from the DAC electronics. However, some recent DAC's do a very good job with the conversion internally, for example I compared the Audio-GD R1 internal (isolated, Crystek reclocked Amanero) vs, my very well powered SU-1 via i2s and could not hear a difference in output quality. Of course with the conversion separate, more space and resources can be put into isolation, power, clocking, signal integrity, etc.

Hi motberg,

Noted and thanks.

Fingercrossed and hope so too when I receives the demo gaia.

However, there is no more space and resources can be put into isolation, power, clocking, signal integrity, etc. since the gaia is also with multiple inputs and not a dedicated usb->i2 converter.

My current thinking is that it will be worse due to the following:

- isolation, psu etc. is superior in flagship T+
- ocxo clock in the gaia which I believe will be needed for conversion is inferior to the sealed ocxo clock of the T+
- exposure of i2s signal to more jitter with added wire and conponents of a non flagship gaia .. best wire is no wire technically if we want neutrality

Other digital signals input however may benefit from the synced clock but usb with different clocking protocol is less likely

To be advised.

Cheers.

Richard

 

[richardloh]

Hi All,

First of all, daisy chain of Avatar and gaia input to oxco clock output of T+ works !! This is really a denafrips ecosystem of digital playback though not advertised as such by denafrips

Secondly, key objective of getting aes-ebu output of my Bel Canto fm-1 tuner to gaia to convert to i2s and synced to oxco clock of T+ sounds so much better .. more detailed and clean with blacker background like veil had been lifted as compared to direct aes-ebu output directly to T+. Asked my dotter as I switch between the 2 and she remarked "you need to ask ? So obvious !"

Thirdly, on this main query if usb input directly to T+ or via gaia to convert to i2s that is synced to the oxco clock of T+, there is no miracle for the usb of my Antipodes ex and sounded less detailed and less engaging.

Speculative but the usb output from my Antipodes is no slouch and does not benefit from going via gaia but a lesser usb source may.

Similarly, the aes-ebu of my Bel Canto tuner benefitted very much via the gaia after conversion to i2s and synced to the ocxo clock of T+ but perhaps a higher quality aes-ebu or other digital source of say esoteric k series transport may not ... Avatar that I tested for sure benefits when synced to T+ .. more solid imaging and prat.

Hope this helps and YMMV since system dependent, personal preference and past experience ... I am still enjoying my Bel Canto fm 1 (this betters previous Accuphase T1000) for the last 2 hrs and it is unbelievable that fm radio can sound this good

Cheers.

Richard

PS: Black gaia with customised blue leds ordered as with a 0.75m Argentus hdmi cable

 

[richardloh]

Speculative but the usb output from my Antipodes is no slouch and does not benefit from going via gaia but a lesser usb source may.

Hi All,

For completeness of the abovementioned, I connected my allo's usb bridge to the gaia and behold the needed validation ... the sound quality improved to more detailed, dense and musical presentation !

Believe this final update sums up the outcome of my planned venture with gaia with synced clock to T+ and i2s and should help bros here to consider the digital source quality if gaia will improve the sound quality of your system if you have the T+.

Cheers.

Richard

 

[edwardsean]

The internals of the Gaia look amazing, way more complex than the Innuos Phoenix I own and love. It would be great to get a comparison between these two. If anyone finds one please link it.

Nevermind, I just saw that neither the Gaia nor Iris has a USB out. These are very hard to implement properly and so for USB it seems like Phoenix is still the way to go. However with other connections this looks amazing, esp. I2S for Denapfrips DACs.

 

[richardloh]

I2S and synced sealed ocxo clock of T+

 

[richardloh]

Hi,

Just listened to the allo's usb bridge signature via the gaia and T+ and compared the Antipodes directly via the T+ with various same tracks on both

Without the gaia for both allo's and Antipodes to the T+nthat I am very familiar with, it was like subjectively 60-70% for the allo's if Antipodes is at 90% ....

With the gaia for allo's, it gets to 75-80% of the Antipodes which is quite impressive and nice as a backup server but it also tells me just how nice the Antipodes is .. crisp, clear and extended in comparison.

Again ymmv and this helps further ... 4am and really to shower and sleep but no worry of listener fatigue to have messed up the subjective comparison.

Cheers.

Richard

 

[yyzSB]

Can the Gaia be used to output to 2 different DACs. That is stream by USB into the GAIA input and then output to 2 different DACS. The one that is used would be the DAC that is powered on?

 

[richardloh]

Can the Gaia be used to output to 2 different DACs. That is stream by USB into the GAIA input and then output to 2 different DACS. The one that is used would be the DAC that is powered on?

Hi yyzSB,

I believe all outputs of gaia or any ddc are active and you can leave both dac powered on to select which one to use as input to your preamp to amp or integrated amp when both are connected dac are connected to it.

Cheers.

Richard

 

[jazzbug]

I'm in the same boat, need a good HDMI cable between my DCC and PS Audio DSD.
It's RAL, Phasure or Tubulus I'd choose from, hope someone has the experience and comparison...

 

[mordicai]

I'm in the same boat, need a good HDMI cable between my DCC and PS Audio DSD.
It's RAL, Phasure or Tubulus I'd choose from, hope someone has the experience and comparison...

Blue Jeans Cable

 

[richardloh]

I'm in the same boat, need a good HDMI cable between my DCC and PS Audio DSD.
It's RAL, Phasure or Tubulus I'd choose from, hope someone has the experience and comparison...

Hi Jazz,

I only had my friend's tubulus argentus to try which clearly sounded better than my pangea and hence argentus it is .. plus friend gets 10% off as repeating customer or sgd708 for the 0.75m length.

No intention to spent beyond that and try to keep sanity as well as cabling 20-25% else equipment/technological upgrade always make more and obvious improvement to me like Terminator+ that I dun have to stay after midnight or close my eyes to hear any difference if any.

Cheers.

Richard