Looking for a new DAC

I'm so far hearing the Terminator 15th is fine without a DDC, as it already comes with extremely capable Dual OCXO (oven controlled crystal oscillators). Denafrips DACs lower down the line that have lesser clocks (Ares, Pontus, and Venus) do benefit from a good DDC, and part of that is adding I2S input too

I'll be upgrading my DAC this year too, and I would suggest adding the Denafrips Terminator 15th to your list. Initial reviews have been really strong for all of the new 15th Denafrips DACs

Soix

Agreed. In fact I suspect that a great number of DACs from many manufacturers could benefit by adding a DDC, especially those with I2S. Certainly the improved clock (in those cases where that is the case), and if the adding the DDC allows I2S connections. I do know the ASR folks would vehemently disagree, but my opinion only comes from my listening experiences.

The clock upgrade is what comes to mind first when discussing a DDC, and there is a whole load of information there that I'll not go into here.....as I've posted it a half a dozen other times in previous threads. It is important to note which clock is being used in which connection; some use the sending streamer or DDC's clock, and some use the receiving DAC's clock, and some allow you to override those basic ideas.....that's a pretty critical piece of information.

The obvious suspects for DDC use include Denafrips, Musician, Holo Audio, Gustard, Laiv, SMSL, Wiim, Pi come to mind first; but it depends on a bunch of factors.

The quality of the streamer in the first place, and which connections is it optimized for? In my experience value streamers are improved GREATLY with the use of a DDC, because at their affordable price point they just can't offer highly engineered connections. I'm still using a Bluesound Node 130 with a Denafrips Iris DDC to this day, even as the rest of my system has been greatly upgraded over the past 18 months.....and is certainly upper mid-fi at this point.

Something like an Aurender N20 (so too with many high end brands and models) which already has an OCXO and highly engineered connections AES/EBU and USB being two, may not benefit from a DDC at all. My friend prefers his N20 to his Denafrips Terminator Plus (last revision) via AES/EBU, even though he has a Denafrips Gaia in his arsenal....which is relegated to his second system, which is even nicer than my primary system!

Also a DDC can add a host of other connections, that may not be natively present in the streamer. An example of that is would be Bluesound Node which only has a USB output. Add in a DDC like the Denafrips Iris, and you can now connect to your DAC via I2S/AES-EBU/Coax/optical. This too can be important depending on what you are looking for in your DAC. For example the Denafrips Terminator 15th's I2S and USB connections support up to DSD 1024 and 44.1khz to 768khz (1536khz USB), while the AES-EBU/Optical/coax only support DSD64-DoP and 44.1khz to 192khz. Is that important? I don't know, but it should be taken into consideration.

I'm going to be going through this extensively at Axpona this year, as I want an even clearer picture from the manufacturers themselves. If I were going to upgrade today with my current level of understanding, it would be to an Aurender N20 and a Denafrips Terminator 15th.....but that may very well change over the next few months as I dig even deeper into this. Damn I do like the idea of a Lampizator though

devinplombier

Agreed on what your ears tell you. My only issue (pro and con) is just making a blanket statement without having tried it oneself......with streamers, DACs, DDCs, clocks, connections, etc; the true answer in most instances is "it depends".

DAC and streamer experts disagree as well, and usually those are the ones that have spent the time and money to properly design and implement a a proper solution......or didin't, and want you to believe them.

Best to you