Solo streamer

"Reality only exists because we invented Time"...Oppenheimer 

So, thanks 

jazzman7 for sending me down a Tech rabbit hole of "clocks" for 3/4th of my day... lol.  

   Back in the good ole Air Force pre-GPS, analogue days (1970's for me) we always did a Time Hack during any mission brief with multiple airships to insure coordinated actions...easy!  The transition to digital requires a lot more brain power.

   Denafrips has been notorious for not being fully transparent with their signal processing, eg "real NOS"... ref GoldenSound reviews.  I'm totally guessing here but it seems on the Pontus II, their PCM FPGA module acts on all? incoming signals.... that could allow a synchrous slaved DAC clock to accept I2s data which is then stored and buffered, resampled?,... then re-clocked with the DAC clock and sent to analogue out.

   As a side issue, I was unaware of,  but thoroughly explored by Amir at ASR is HDMI (I2s) is a poor audio source connection, cause it just sticks audio in the spare video spaces of the synchronous stream, and is very susceptible to jitter.  He goes on to show async USB can have very well controlled jitter and low noise flour= better. Hmm, maybe, yrmv.  

   I do notice a slight improvement in sound from my OPPO 83 playing a cd/sacd if the "pure audio" button is used...it shuts down most video processing.  Maybe that lowers the noise floor and shifts the OPPO clocks from video sync to the OPPO DAC clocks?  Regardless of which clock is in-play,  I2s does sound better than any USB or SPDIF source...    

   My ears still LOVE the Pontus II (with the 3rd FPGA firmware upgrade) however it works!

OPPO 83, Pontus II, Holo Bliss KTE amp, Susvara HPs   

As a side issue, I was unaware of,  but thoroughly explored by Amir at ASR is HDMI (I2s) is a poor audio source connection, cause it just sticks audio in the spare video spaces of the synchronous stream, and is very susceptible to jitter. 

From what I have observed over the years, the key to good sound in one's own system is to do exactly the opposite of what Amir recommends. 

@old_ears 

Your welcome  

Glad to be of service.

On a more serious note. The advantage of I2S via HDMI is that the clock signal and the data are maintained in separate lanes within the same cable, and that I2S speaks more directly to what is native to the DAC (i.e. less conversion required).

By contrast, with AES or digital Coax the clock signal and data are multiplexed, and more translation is required on the DAC end.

That being said, so much is system dependent. What is your DAC best optimized for, and how best does it play with the source. And quality of the cables and system synergy are also very important pieces of the puzzle.

You can buy off the shelf components build a single board computer, get an operating system  and save a ton of money, And have a nice server/streamer.  Will it be as good as a 23,000 Aurender or a 35,000 Taiko extreme? I seriously doubt it. It would be a fun project and could save you a lot of money to upgrade another component! 

Just about any streamer under 4,000 is nothing but a SBC  with $500 worth of parts.   Ask to look inside the streamer first before you buy.  Add up  the value of the parts? You'd be shocked. You can buy  some high end parts from Pink Faun and  Jcat and improve your streamer also as funds grow. 

There is more to Aurender than the fact it is a PC that's hot rodded. It is,  BUT for me it takes the computer out of computer audio.   As I type this with two fingers. I have to say that's worth something to me .....

Ever pick up an Aurender ?   They're heavy.   They reek of quality inside and out compared to any computer.    Support is great.  There's a lot to like.   You can also say that about Innuos. Auralic, Lumin too , they are more than just a PC.  

You are also buying into a slick user interface and real support with most companies that only do dedicated streamers .    

I started streaming with a Vault and I could not consume enough music.   I stream all day at work,  if I work from home it's going on in the background.   It absolutely made sense to me to buy a N200.   I can justify it when. I see buddies spend the same amount on a week doing their favorite thing, skiing,  golfing , whatever.