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New D/D Converters from Denafrips


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On 11/30/2020 at 3:50 PM, Jazzman7 said:

@Blake Noted that you have experience with both an Iris and a Gaia and have used both together with a Chord Qutest.  I currently have a Chord Qutest in my main rig being fed via USB from a Roon Nucleus.  I'm considering inserting a D/D converter inbetween the Nucleus and Qutest.  Over at Audiogon you can see my rig here:  https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8156

Trying to decide which of the Denafrips D/D converters is most appropriate to my use case.  Reaching out to you to get your take on the subject.  Thanks.

 

I have a very similar set up and have been wondering the exact same question.  As you probably know, the Qutest designer has stated that the Optical input is its best - with the galvanized USB "almost as good" - whatever this means. Perhaps the Iris is all we need? I'll probably mull over this for a while and wait for the Hermes.  Looking forward to your report if you decide to go ahead with either Gaia or Iris.

Tidal / Qobuz--> Roon--> Fios Gigabit--> Netgear Prosafe GS105 --> Supra 8-->EtherRegen --> Fiber--> opticalRendu / CI Audio LPS --> Curious Evolved Link --> Chord Qutest--> AQ Water --> Belles Aria Integrated--> AQ Robin Hood--> Kudos Super 20's

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5 hours ago, Jazzman7 said:

@OldBigEars Only issue with the optical input on the Qutest is that its ceiling is 96kHz.  Prior to acquiring the Nucleus a Node 2i was my principal source, and an AQ Vodka Toslink was my preferred input.  At the time I was only streaming Tidal and my own ripped redbook CDs, so 96kHz limit was all I needed (96kHz was all that was needed to support first unfold of MQA, and that's where things topped out at the time).  Year ago Qobuz became my preferred streaming service, and then a month ago began ripping SACDs, so now I very much require more bandwidth than the optical input allows.  As to Iris, Hermes or Gaia ... still cogitating ... at the moment still going back and forth in my head ... can make a case for any of them.

 

@jazzman Point about upsampling well understood.  Not an issue for me 'cause I use 96 or redbook almost all the time (Qobuz streaming). Very occasional 192 files, although the difference I truly cannot hear. For some reason, I thought Qutest allows up to 192 by Toslink but in any case this would be a minor consideration for me. I'll also be cogitating about this through the holiday season...meanwhile enjoying some fine jazz/blues/soul with straight USB feed (Curious Evolved).  

Tidal / Qobuz--> Roon--> Fios Gigabit--> Netgear Prosafe GS105 --> Supra 8-->EtherRegen --> Fiber--> opticalRendu / CI Audio LPS --> Curious Evolved Link --> Chord Qutest--> AQ Water --> Belles Aria Integrated--> AQ Robin Hood--> Kudos Super 20's

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The Iris sounds very tempting.  Thanks for doing the comparison.

Tidal / Qobuz--> Roon--> Fios Gigabit--> Netgear Prosafe GS105 --> Supra 8-->EtherRegen --> Fiber--> opticalRendu / CI Audio LPS --> Curious Evolved Link --> Chord Qutest--> AQ Water --> Belles Aria Integrated--> AQ Robin Hood--> Kudos Super 20's

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/14/2020 at 7:56 PM, Blake said:

I'd focus on the DAC first and not worry about the DDC.  You can always experiment later if you get the itch to experiment.

 

EDIT:  I'd like to be clear, DDC's are not mandatory to the performance of any of the Denafrips DAC's.  I only responded like I did because it seemed you had either owned a DDC in the past or were very open to trying one. 

 

It appears that is not the case and I don't want to give you the impression you must get one. Absolutely not.  The vast majority of reviews you will read, the reviewer didn't have a DDC in the chain with any of the Denafrips DAC's.  I think it is best to get the DAC and live with it first.  Only experiment with DDC's later if you are curious and budget allows.  You might also consider jumping in with the cheaper Iris to see if you like it.  If not, I suspect you could sell it without too much loss... or wait for a used one to pop up.

 

 

 

Blake, sounds like lots of us are super-fascinated by your experience of various DAC/DDC combinations.  I certainly am, so thank you for your time and energy (and investment...). One last question from my side....assuming I add a DDC (Iris or Hermes) to my humble Qutest, how d'ya think that would stack up versus your impressive-sounding Venus 11, by itself?

Tidal / Qobuz--> Roon--> Fios Gigabit--> Netgear Prosafe GS105 --> Supra 8-->EtherRegen --> Fiber--> opticalRendu / CI Audio LPS --> Curious Evolved Link --> Chord Qutest--> AQ Water --> Belles Aria Integrated--> AQ Robin Hood--> Kudos Super 20's

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  • 5 weeks later...
7 hours ago, richard_crl032 said:

 

Think dun need Taiko SMG Extreme or newer Antipodes K series ....

 

My Antipode CX and EX sounded worse via Gaia and Hermes ... direct USB to TP sound obviously better.

 

Allo USB bridge signature and Nuprime Omnia S1 both sounded better via Gaia/Hermes after another sgd3-4k of the ddc, zonotone shupreme pc and argentus hdmi/i2s.

 

Cheers.

 

Richard

Could you write that again in English?

 

Tidal / Qobuz--> Roon--> Fios Gigabit--> Netgear Prosafe GS105 --> Supra 8-->EtherRegen --> Fiber--> opticalRendu / CI Audio LPS --> Curious Evolved Link --> Chord Qutest--> AQ Water --> Belles Aria Integrated--> AQ Robin Hood--> Kudos Super 20's

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  • 4 months later...
59 minutes ago, Cortes said:

 

I compared half a year ago a Mutec MC3+usb with a Gustard U16 with a cheap DAC (SML SU-8 v2), headphones SR007mkII and amp Stax SRM 727mkII. All feed through a vaio Z laptop, I used different combinations of BNC cables (cheap from Amazon), expensive Toslink (Wireworld), expensive AES (Wireworld) and couple of USB cables (generic and accoustic revive). Basically I found no meaningful difference, I was not able to distinguish the Gustard from the Mutec. 

 

 

 

 None of this answered the question from @tylerhk

Tidal / Qobuz--> Roon--> Fios Gigabit--> Netgear Prosafe GS105 --> Supra 8-->EtherRegen --> Fiber--> opticalRendu / CI Audio LPS --> Curious Evolved Link --> Chord Qutest--> AQ Water --> Belles Aria Integrated--> AQ Robin Hood--> Kudos Super 20's

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