Do I still need a DDC in between?

@lanx0003 I went back through these posts and saw Singxer su-6 recommended.  I looked at it and it doesn’t have a clock input.  That doesn’t appeal to me. 

@sls883  Same here, although it already has pretty low jitter and electrical noise at digital out — one of the best. I was more interested in either the U18 or the Micro DDC, since both support a 10 MHz clock, but the U18 offers much better value and it pairs so well with Ultra.
 

@lanx0003 well it took awhile for the uDac to get here so I've only had it in system for 19 to 20 days now. Last Sunday or Monday was the 1st time I noticed the dac adding some harmonic weight to notes..drums falling further back into the stage..some better separation of instruments in space. I was already somewhat happy with it & at the moment I know I'm keeping it. I really like the size & found a preamp that has been a whole lot of fun with the uDac. The Laiv isn't on the level of my Pontus 15th but I was never expecting that. I really had no expectations of the Laiv & I haven't been overly critical about it. I do love its small size. 

I have quite a few preamps but I bought a Schitt Freya Noval off the 2nd hand market. Bunch of people been raving about the Freya Plus for years & I just assumed it's a mediocre product..for whatever reason. I grabbed the Noval because of the enormous amounts of different tubes one can roll...& because I already own a bunch. When I first tried it it was ok. Lacked some resolution & wow factor but good stage & space between the speakers. After listening to it for a couple hours I busted into it & replaced some capacitors & upgraded the output caps. Not even my best caps but you need 4 of them due to the preamps balanced nature & I don't usually buy caps in quantities of 4. But I had four mundorf aluminum oils in a much bigger value than what was in the Freya. They were intended for 2 other projects but I had them on hand...it was destiny. I squeezed some 5.6uF in there & felt that should really help with its low output impedance & slightly rolled off bass. It made a huge difference. No "giant killer" but with the uDac I have had so much fun listening to music the last couple days. 

Soundstage has depth, dark space, & brought a different level of disappearance to the speakers. Dynamics that will make me flinch with certain tracks. Male vocals can get real chesty. I'm having fun listening to certain genres. And then the tubes used can add & subtract certain perceptions & sound emphasis. I'm pretty giddy about this unsuspecting Noval & uDac pairing. I'm only second guessing the output caps I used & probably could have improved it more had I been patient & spent some money. But for the price of these 2 pieces & the enjoyment im getting is pretty cool. 

I do have a question for you. How long til your uDac hit its sweet spot? 

And yeah, I've been eyeing the Rivo Plus since it came out. Heck I wanted the original Rivo. I was curious about the software though. We now have a U.S. Rivo dealer pretty close to me in Orlando. Hifi Boutique I think is the name of their store. They are known for doing trade-ins so if I go that route that could be helpful. 

We just switched to fiber internet & I don't have hard wire LAN near my streamers now. Switching to WiFi & my IFI NEO & ZEN stream both have issues. I'm either going to need to get hard wired again or find a brand that works well on WIFI. The NEO stream i2s output to the uDac was pretty good..bass wasn't the greatest though.  I don't know if it was the uDac or the streamer though. I was kept telling myself the uDac hadn't settled yet. 

@mattw73 My uDac suddenly opened up and delivered all the good stuff at around the 250-hour mark—this was a few days after I connected the U18 to the Ultra and swapped the USB/HDMI cables for a DH Labs Mirage and HDMI 2.1. Its ultimate performance is also due in part to those upgrades. If you’re unsure where the leaner bass is coming from, just swap the uDac with the Pontus while keeping everything else the same—you’ll know right away.  But I understand you probably want to make that comparison when uDac is fully burned in.

As for the Volumio app, it’s disappointing compared to others. Qobuz Connect or UPnP apps such as mConnect are good alternatives. In particular, QC works well with the Rivo Plus—it’s never had dropouts and holds up better than QC on the Wiim. However, Volumio does sound noticeably better than either QC or mConnect. That’s why I tolerate its bugs and still use it for playback.

I just got the LHY LPS yesterday, and it further darkens the background. At lower listening levels, the articulation of both high and low notes has taken a step up. All of its digital outputs—SPDIF (AES & coax) and I²S—sound similar to my ears at this moment.

I don’t have a higher-end preamp yet. When I used the Saga2 with the uDac, I found the sound slightly colored and somewhat restrained—not as transparent as running without it. So, I took it out of the chain and now use the Wiim’s 32-bit processor with its harmless ’relayGain’ for volume control. With that technology, I can no longer criticize digital attenuation in the system, which gives no hint of signal loss even at low volume.

Lastly, It’s my expectation that the uDac will perform well—up to a certain percentage of the Pontus 15th. But please tell me, once it’s fully broken in, how it compares to the Pontus in terms of imaging and soundstage dimensions (width, height, and depth), assuming everything else is controlled.