Not for nothing but...I don't know of any high end DACs that rely on or optimized for I2S. The top brands have some new connection technologies in development and none of them are I2S.
DDC or Better Streamer?
I’m trying to decide which would provide greater reward, adding a DDC or moving up to a better Streamer. What am I looking for? Just better everything including bang for the buck.
DDC – I’m a LAIV fan, but the Denafrips Hermes has optical inlet and would allow me to use it with both my OPPO (toslink) and Bluesound (digital coax).
Streamer – Am I better off just cutting to the chase and looking for used $3k Streamer (which would be more than twice the price of the Hermes)?
Will the better $3k Streamer be the better value over the $1.2k DDC?
Thanks for your input.
Room - Essentially 18'x18'x18' (ugh)
Power - Furman Elite 15i
Transport - Oppo UDP-203 with Glass Toslink
Streamer - Bluesound Vault 2i with Ice Age Ulitmate C7 Power Cable, Nordost Silver Shadow Digital Coax
DAC - LAIV Harmony with Shunyata V10 NR Power Cable, Kimber Cable Silver Streak RCAs
Amp - Music Fidelity M6si with Shunyata Black Mamba HC CX C15
Speaker Cables - Cardas Quadlink 5-C
Speakers - Martin Logan Motion 60XT
Subwoofers - Dual SVS SB-2000 with Blue Jeans LC-1 Cables
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- 35 posts total
@rick_n I have building cables all my life. I2S had provided the best sound improvement in my journey. Lets see how Laiv, Matrix, ES plays this out. As an engineer, clocking and signal is a no brainer. Funny that some people think you know what you are talking about.... |
As a Laiv DAC owner, I’m trying to figure out my stack. Just sold the Hifi Rose RA180 integrated (actually don’t know why..) I have a couple other GaN amps and will miss the Rose. The TT-1 (with LPS) is crazy amazing. I’ll probably settle on the Laiv streamer eventually. Please don’t quote me on the upcoming EverSolo T8.... I never thought a connection could be that good.....I2S |
@sns Interesting concept. I'm not currently using Roon, but if I add a different Streamer and want to continue to use my other Bluesound products, I may have to. Adding a Hermes is indeed intriguing as it appears that in addition to it being the low cost option, multiple sources will benefit from it. @rick_n I see that Innuos Next Gen series is now offering i2s options, but $$$! I would love to see LAIV bring the Harmony NET2 Streamer to market on time and at the price and delivery performance of their DAC. This would make for the cleanest solution. But this assumes that their i2s module would be on par with the Hermes performance.
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You said that I don't know what I'm talking about but I do. The point I made was that the high end DAC companies optimize their units for digital connection other than I2S. So please tell me, since I don't know what I'm talking about, which of the high end DACs are optimized for I2S. Is it MSB, Lampizator, DCS or Esoteric? |
- 35 posts total