Denafrips Ares ii

I just picked up one used and it's sounding great.  Currently listening to it on NOS mode.

Curious if anyone has thoughts on the best input to use?

Given that the dig signal is stored in memory first b4 being processed , does it really matter if usb or coax is used?

@vsrrr

initially I was only using digital rca (blue jeans cable) and I was quite happy with it .

the ZS has some filtering or purifying circuitry on the spdif output

after I got the Iris ddc I changed my setup

now I go into the Iris out of the Zen Stream via USB (Curious cable) and then out of the Iris into 2 dacs connected to 2 different amps. In one case I go out optical to my Ares ii with a nice glass cable … I also simultaneously output coax into my Border Patrol dac which feds my set amp

i feel the output of the zen stream (usb or spdif) made less of a difference in my system than the input of the Ares ii did.
I felt that the coax input into the Ares had a bit more weight than the glass input.

but now that’s a moot point since I’m using the Iris to feed both dacs as described above

I believe there is a perceptible difference in sq when using a reclocker like the Iris but that difference is small and subtle ... and the rest of the gear down the line would need to be able to display the differences as well

I think most people would be happy with ZS into the Ares via spdif

It’s a good sounding coax output on its own.

There are two other side benefits of using the Iris beyond any perceived quality differences :

1) I can run two systems off my Zen stream

Was harder to do that before … it required going into the ifi app and turning on or off the correct output 

2) the buffering of the fpga in the Iris has eliminated all wifi signal glitches 

they weren’t happening often but every now and then there would be an audible click or a dropout before.  That hasn't happened since adding the Iris (it could also be the result of the high quality usb cable though, so unclear about the root cause of that benefit)