Koso

Thanks for info and link to your review. Now I am quite sure I will try Alpha!

Hi Jon, I have noticed that you have “Shunyata Alpha” USB cable. Is it worth money? I have considered this cable as upgrade of usb cable between my Aurender N100H and Denafrips Gaia DDC. I have Siltech Classic Anniversary USB cable now, which is decent cable, but there are great reviews of Alpha online. Have you compared Alpha with other usb cables?

I would prefer Lumin. Great streamer for the money. And these (Lumin or Sonore) are definitely in the category which will benefit from DDC!

I have Venus II + Gaia right now. Venus II is not burned in yet (approaching first 100 hours so far) but I can tell it is great combination. Will post my review after 400 hours of burn in… I had Gaia prior to Venus II connected to Simaudio Moon 380D DAC and it helped there, so naturally when Venus II arrived it was connected to Gaia ready for burning process. Just yesterday I tried to connect Venus II directly to streamer Aurender N100H via USB cable. Well yes, it really is a clear difference. I couldn't stand it for more than ten minutes and I had to put Gaia back on. So in my setup Gaia

Exactly, two, but lower grade (still great though)

GAIA REVIEW UPDATE: I’ve promised that I will report my findings after Gaia settles a little bit in my system. I am only at one third of burn in time period (roughly 300 hours is recommended by Denafrips), but I just can’t resist to share that sound quality of GAIA is still improving. As I wrote before, initial impression was very good, but just after a week of continual using I am really impressed. It is almost unbelievable how big improvement can this DDC bring to already decent digital setup (Aurender N100H streamer + Simaudio Moon 380D dsd DAC). What I wrote before is still

Hi Richard. Frankly, sound is quite good when Aurender goes directly to Moon DAC, but best sounding input on Moon is AES/EBU, and I wanted to use it. I decided to go for Gaia DDC for several reasons. First of all, my budget for sound improvement in my setup is limited. So going for noticeable higher streamer or DAC model is not an option right now (price increase on models I like is too high, way beyond Gaia budget). On my Moon 380D DAC USB is not best sounding input and USB output on Aurender N100H is not best usb output out there (compared to higher Aurender model for example).

Gaia is at home! Gaia has replaced my previous (pretty good for the money) Matrix Audio X-Spdif 2. Mainly use as USB to AES/EBU conversion from Aurender N100H to Simaudio Moon 380D DSD dac. Just first impression (right out of the box, after just one hour of listening): - impressive compared to X-Spfif 2 - sound is more airy, more analog like - deeper, more holographic soundstage - more realistic voices Will update my findings after couple of days...

OK, sounds reasonable. I was just little bit confused by photos online, where there is on/off symbol on some, while “setup” label on others under the same Gaias button. So there must have been some reason Denafrips changed this button.

One technical question. Iris and Gaia has no on/off (or standby) button? If it is so, why? Just waiting for my Gaia (should arrive in few days) and noticed this from the photos.:-)

Thanks for info and teaser, geat news!

As far as I know, there is still no iPhone version of Conductor app (checked on Appstore right now). Just for iPad. Maybe it finally is considered, but I have read somewhere, that this option was not even planned. Any new info? AriMargolis?

N100H is on warm side, thats true. What usb cable do you have? I've tried 5-6 decent cables until I found neutral one. (I have Siltech Anniversary usb cable now). Additional way to reduce warmth is using good anti-vibrating footers, but not soft types. Finite Elemente Ceraball (new version) worked under mine N100H exactly the way you are seeking. It is fine tuning though, but audible difference towards more neutral sound.

Haha, I was just in the middle of replying what to do! Simple, isn't it?

Me too. Who knows, maybe Aurender changed default status for this option then.