Interesting video on cables

Sorry man.  I feel like I’ve been a bit of a preachy jerk here.  I’m surprised you didn’t hear an appreciable improvement with the HiFi Rose streamer, but I’m also a huge believer in following and trusting your own ears and if you heard what you heard then that’s all that matters.  I might suggest trying something like this used Innuos Zen Mk3 that offers great performance and also comes with its excellent Sense app that some people even prefer over Roon.  If it doesn’t work out you can always sell it for little/no loss so very cheap to try.  Incidentally, not sure what Denafrips DAC you have but I have a Musician Pegasus that’s got some similar DNA and adding an Iris DDC and using the i2S connection was a big sonic improvement and maybe something to keep in mind as a potential upgrade going forward.  Anyway, FWIW. 

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650041804-innuos-zen-mk3-streamer-black-roon-server/

I can’t wait to get my hands on one of those $130 cables and do some performance mods. Better caps. Beefier power supply, etc. The end would be the size of a toaster oven and couldn’t plug into anything, but imagine the possibilities.

@soix, it’s all good.  I did hear a significant improvement when I switched from my MA8900 internal DAC, connected to my Mac via USB, to the HiFi Rose.  The Rose was a little glitchy so I returned it and bought the Pontus II 12th Anniversary DAC.  The Pontus II connected to my Mac sounds every bit as good as the HiFi Rose.  I have considered purchasing the Gaia DDC for the IS2 connection to see where that takes things.

I have considered purchasing the Gaia DDC for the IS2 connection to see where that takes things.

Nice DAC! I think that’s a great thought but not sure you need to go all the way to the Gaia. You could pick up a used Iris for $400 (that’s what I did) just to dip your toe in the water and can just turn around and sell it if you don’t get a meaningful performance bump. That was my plan, but after hearing it my Iris ain’t going anywhere. @vthokie83 did the same thing and he also has a Pontus ll and maybe he’ll chime in here with his impressions that were basically identical to mine. There’s also a Hermes available for $750 if you wanna kick it up a notch and/or can use the SPDIF input in addition to USB. Anyway, here they are just fyi…

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650042588-denafrips-iris-usb-digital-to-digital-converter/

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650042607-denafrips-hermes-digital-to-digital-converter/

Again, FWIW.