Your Gustard U18 mitigates jitter to as low as 38fs according to the specs. Have you seen anything in the other DAC or source that says they beat that?
Do I still need a DDC in between?
This is my current rig:
Wiim Ultra (DH Labs Mirage / Cardas Clear USB, 0.5m) → Gustard U18 (DH Labs HDMI 2.1, 0.5m) → Harmony μDAC (Mogami quad XLR) → Parasound A23 (Belden 5T00UP) → Wharfedale Linton
The sound is very good to my ears—excellent tonality, detail, and especially soundstage, with impressive height and depth. However, I’m considering trying the Volumio Rivo Plus released recently, which offers an I²S-over-HDMI connection.
My question is: would I still need the DDC (i.e., Gustard U18) in between, or would a direct I²S connection from the Rivo+ to the Harmony μDAC deliver comparable or even better sound quality? Have you had any direct or similar experience with this kind of setup? Any advice would be appreciated.
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@lanx0003 when I went to the last audio show in Florida the DH Labs guys were there. I literally had the Mirage USB in hand to purchase & we started talking cables & equipment. He ended up telling me if I was only going to buy one cable he recommended his Ethernet cable. Saying it would give me the better result over switching my USB cable. Unfortunately for him I ended up not buying either cable because I wasn't exactly sure what exact length I needed in Ethernet form. I still haven't committed to buying the best I can afford as I know my current streaming set up will be moving. But I did go to LanShack & get custom length 23awg solid copper conductor Cat8 for now. Individual twisted pair shielding with outer braid shielding as well. An improvement over my basic cable & didn't cost much. Connectors are not as nice as the DH Labs Reunion cable. |
@moonwatcher The 38fs is the jitter rms level in the femto CO (crystal oscillator). The jitter level at outputs can not be that low. Here are some measurements taken from coaxial output of various DDCs by Goldensound for their RMS electrical noise and jitter noise at 48khz. Jitter(rms) Electrical(rms) Jitter(peak) Electrical(peak) Holo Red 73ps 2.97mV 213ps 12.9mV Singxer SU-6 75ps 3.3mV 225ps 13.7mV Singxer SU-2 KTE 85ps 3.2mV 247ps 13mV Gustard U18 453ps 5.2mV 1133ps 22mV You could see U18 jitter and electrical noise performance is lagging. That is why I mentioned I could pick up better DDC like SU-6 or micro DDC later on if needed.
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@mattw73 Thank you for the recommendation. I like that the cable is affordable, and Cat 6a is more than sufficient for audio applications. I’ll gladly take a $15 cable as long as it works. For the same length, a DH Labs Ethernet cable would cost ten times more (around $300). I’ll definitely give it a try. |
@lanx0003 ah, that Singxer SU-6 looks a lot better...Thanks. Just wonder what numbers the OP would end up with going directly from his Volumio Rivo Plus to the LAIV Harmony DAC via I2S? Would they be helped by the Singxer SU-6? |
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