Received my Denafrips Venus 15th

Venus 15th owner here.  Definitely upgrade the Wiim Streamer; I saw big improvement upgrading to Auralic Aries S1 over the Wiim Ultra.  Also, using the lowest model DDC from Denafrips (Iris) or Musician (Pisces II) slaved to the Venus 15ths DAC and outputting I2S (HDMI or RJ45) will provide big improvement in sound at low cost (no need to get higher DDC models as their better clocks will not be used when slaving the DDC to the OCXO in the Venus 15th).  Same thing applies if you got the cheapest Denafrips streamer (Arce); no need for the more expensive Arcas (nor a DDC if you get the Denafrips streamer); just slave the Arce to the Venus 15th clock (use the correct setting and i2s pinouts as described by others earlier and in Vinshine's video for other Denafrips DACs).

@skasundr   The Iris is only useful if you only have a need to a single USB input. If you have more sources you want connected than the Hermes is the way to go. I use USB, Coaxial and AES/EBU connections.  Clock sync feature too.

@fthompson251 True, that is definitely a reason to at least upgrade to the Hermes if you have that need (the Gaia does not offer anything more in that regard).  My Auralic Aries S1 gives me those same extra inputs. If I had not gotten the Musician Pisces first, the Auralic Aries S1 would have been able to serve as a high quality streamer, galvanic isolator, and a reclocker for all those sources (albeit no I2S output). It is able to reclock, resample, and isolate allow of those sources just like a DDC. I think just pairing the Aries S1 to any Denafrips DAC is a great match for only $2000 (without the extra Auralic linear power supply which is $1000 extra).  The I2S from my Pisces sounds great, but I tested Aries straight to Venus from its USB without the Pisces in the middle, and it also sounds just as good.  Just another option for those who don’t want to buy both a new streamer and a new DDC at a higher cost.

If additional inputs are needed and you don’t need a new streamer or you just want to have a DDC for the I2S output (and you don’t care to slave the DDC to the Venus), I would get the Laiv uDDC at a lower cost of $849 vs $1299 for the Hermes.  The uDDC has a good clock (not as good as the Venus, but likely not a huge sonic penalty), and also offers an I2S input.  It, however, only has I2S output.

ejspain2020

Sorry for the slow response, damn work has gotten in the way of my hobby.

I appreciate the input, and I did go back and read that article. The first thing I noticed is the article is from January 2022, before Vinshine/Denafrips had even introduced their firmware updates; of which many were released; and three years before the 15th series were released.

Three years is a LONG time ago in the DAC and streamer world, and I'd venture to say USB implementation has come a long way in three years too. Before I'd get rid of anything, why not try things out to see how they sound? My DAC and streamer will be upgraded this summer, and I'll try all options to see which SQ I like best.

As I always say on this subject "It depends", and the depends only comes from listening in my system, or a system that I know well. If I were to make a decision today, I'd likely end up with an Aurender N200 or N20, and a DAC from the Terminator 15th (or upcoming Terminator Plus 15th), Lampizator, Weiss, T+A, etc. group.

Whether I'd add a DDC depends on where I end up sound wise, but I do have my own Iris DDC; and access to a Gaia and Hermes DDCs that my friends own.....and I will try them all. The Denafrips DACs hold a VERY dear place in my heart, because to my ear they are extraordinarily musical and fun.....but I will keep an open mind as well.