Or avoid the DDC by considering a streamer like the Mercury V2, iFi NEO Stream (faster bit rates than the Mercury, but you're paying for a 2nd DAC), or other streamer that supports I2S natively. I own the Denafrips Pontus II and Iris DDC, and recently moved to the Mercury via I2S over RPI4/RopieeeXL using USB -> Iris -> I2S, because of better sound (more resolution at the high end). I've just discovered the quality improvements of upsampling, and I'm intrigued by the iFi NEO Stream owing to the higher bit rates possible.
