Hermes added, question

You know I hate inconsistency! Like if the static was there all the time, great. The intermittent inconsistent stuff is what keeps me up at night🤦🏼‍♂️😂

Thank you @painter24! Very helpful! Were you getting the noise on all tracks or just some? That's why I'm a little perplexed. I know the I2S can be quirky...

I can certainly play with the settings on Pontus and see if that eliminated it, but before going down that rabbit hole I wondered if anyone had similar..

Thank you @fthompson251! Also very helpful and a good read. It didn’t say anything about any negative side effects, but I totally am on board with the “too much of a good thing”. Makes sense. And I had thought of bypassing the USB as I also run my Ethernet cable through the Symphony. Maybe I’ll go direct from Eversolo USB to Hermes and see…

Very helpful! Appreciate the responses😊

Thank you @gkelly for the link to the article! 

Thank you @soix! Another vote for less is more - definitely going to start there. USB cable (DH Labs Mirage) direct to Hermes..

Thanks @gkelly I always leave the Symphony on high setting. I have never switched it to low or medium. Are you thinking that maybe a low or medium might help?

@gkelly Thank you! Good info. That is awesome you met Bill. He seemed great, answered every question/email right away!

@audioman58 Thank you for the info. I did set Hermes to 000. I never set Ontis as everything seemed to be playing fine and the test tones for left and right, and phase all seemed fine. I am using DH Labs 2.1 HDMI/I2S. This cable specified I2S on their website.

I think I’m going to try going direct with my USB to Hermes and bypassing ADD Symphony. See if that helps then go from there…

Thank you All for taking the time to respond. So hoping it’s just a fluky thing and maybe USB bypassing will work as I’ll still have my Ethernet cable going through Symphony…

@cforsythe Thank you! That is super helpful as it sounds exactly like what I am getting! That is great to hear and I’ll try that first actually. Alvin from Vinshine also thought it was the I2S settings. What HDMI cable are you using?

Thank you again @cforsythe. I also use DH Labs 2.1 HDMI...Very helpful indeed. I'll start with 001 on Pontus and go from there.

Gotcha @fthompson251! Ok, I will try that first. Thank you so much for all the support. Appreciate it my friend. It just sounded like maybe it was the config with the advice above. But you’re right USB re-route would be super easy, so I’ll def start there…appreciate you👍🏻

@fthompson251 the good thing is I have 2 USB cables. I have a Synergistic Foyndation and DH Lab Mirage. I have the Foundation from Eversolo streamer in to Symphony and the DH Lab Mirage from Symphony out to Hermes. So if it is a bad USB I can always try the other. Sticking with DH Lab Mirage first though😊

Thanks @fthompson251. I am away and won’t be home until tomorrow. That’s when I’ll try the config on I2S and/or go direct with USB cable…I initially didn’t think it was the config due to it only happening on certain tracks. Kinda quirky which is why I was so confused. 

I haven’t touched the system in over a week, and when I noticed the noise (I had been listening for a while before I noticed it which is why when I did it threw me for a loop), I played a couple of other songs and only heard it on 1 or 2 of them. I then played a couple songs on CD and Brennan and did not notice it…Even Alvin from Vinshine thought it was I2S, but like you said I didn’t notice it on Coax or Optical. 
 

Tomorrow I’m going to dive in head first and get to the bottom. I’m going to start by going direct with USB and then go from there and replay the same song(s) I noticed it…

@curiousjim you’ll need an I2S cable to go from Pontus to Hermes. All other components go direct to Hermes.

Here is my setup:

Eversolo DMP-A6 Streamer (USB cable to Hermes)

Elite CD Carousel (Coax cable to Hermes)

Brennan B2 (Toslink cable to Hermes)

I2S (HDMI cable from Hermes to

Pontus)

Pontus set to I2S

If you go with a DENAFRIPS DDC you’ll also need a power cord as they do not come with one.

@curiousjim the connections are very straightforward and easy. It gets a little complicated as some HDMI cables require settings adjustments between DENAFRIPS DDC and DAC. There’s a great video from Alvin from Vinshine on how to adjust settings. I posted last week asking if it was worth adding a DDC and got overwhelming yes responses. The sound improvements are significant from all replies and all reviews I’ve read. That’s why I did it. I have the Pontus II 12th and just added the Hermes. I did have a slight noise issue but thanks to the good folks here I may have figured it out. 
 

I’ll post my thoughts this weekend after I sit down for some serious listening. 

@mosler666  Thank you! I removed the USB connection from ADD-POWR Symphony and went straight to Hermes. I also changed the setting to 001 on Pontus. Whilst this seemingly did the trick, I heard the damn static again. It's only there on certain tracks not all. I am going to try removing the ADD-POWR as you did. Thank you so much! I'm hoping this does the trick. I too can move it to a second system I have as well. I don't know why I even suspected the ADD-POWR was maybe the culprit. But I have tried everything including going through all the settings on my Pontus a couple of times...So frustrating because the static only pops in occasionally and seemingly so randomly...

Thank you, my friend. Not gonna lie this has weighed on me a bit. It's the randomness of it that had stumped me. I'm going to move the Symphony and see if that does the trick. Fingers crossed...