Denafrips Gaia anniversary edition

@izgmoen The LHY ock-2 has a MCLK output of 10 Mhz which is compatible with the Gustard.  It has a selectable output impedance of 50 or 75.  It outputs sinwave or squarewave. If I'm reading correctly, the R30 will utilize an external clock for the USB input and streamer input.  I'm not sure about I2s.

The R26 was a big improvement over the SMSL in overall sound quality.  The X-30 was an step up.  I think that all three are good at their price points. 

@sls883 are those outputs like flexible? Like can it reach other clocks as well therefore flexible with other dacs clock inputs? 

How you liking the upgrade so far COMING FROM THE D1SE? Like night and day

@izgmoen I don't honestly understand exactly how these clocks work.  I bought the Gustard U18 and LHY ock-2 to use with my Gustard R26 dac.  I had a SMSL VMV D1SE before it.

The LHY has three sine wave outputs and three square wave outputs.  I use one output to my X-30 and one to the U18.  Everything I had read said to use the sine wave output, so I did.  @lanx0003 asked if I had tried the square wave outputs.  I gave it a try and there was a noticeable improvement in sound quality. 

@soix Correct no clock inputs on that but Idk  if that means i can add one to the R30's 10mhz input. Idk if it can work with the current DDC in place. I did order a better i2s cable to see how it fares out compared to this cheapo AQ cinnamon hdmi cable.

@sns Now this is interesting were the blacks even more black and was every audio aspect improved overall? I contacted Denafrips and they said to be patient they're working on a 15th series for their DDC lineup so i'm interested even moreso now.

@sls883 Thats like a master clock? i'm not sure how those work.

Depending on the overall tone of your chain you might not need to. I did because mine leans on the side of neutral with a bit of extension at the top.

As far as how it sounds It sounds almost like the x30 but with that R2R spice. Much better on bad recordings I would say and only slightly behind in transients and resolution. I had the vmv d2 by SMSL prior. Need to sell it.

Don't know about the clock incompatibility, I had Singxer SU6, Gaia is superior in my setup.

@soix the Singxer doesn't have a clock input. 

You’ve got a pretty respectable DDC already, and I think I’d try a good external clock with it and see what happens as it’d be cheaper and no compatibility issues to deal with.  Best of luck. 

I have an X30.  I'm using a Gustard U18 ddc and a LHY ock-2 clock.  It all works well together.  I don't know anything about the Denefrips ddc. 

I've read good things about the R30.  I'm quite happy with the X30, so I'll probably stick with it.

How do you like the R30?  What did you have before it?