i2s Cable for Denafrips Iris -> Pontus?

However, there seems to be a very slight muffling to the sound overall vs the DAC alone. The sound is less holographic and it took some of the sparkle off. To me, currently, it sounds like a slight downgrade vs the DAC on its own, which shouldn’t be the case.

This is polar opposite to my experience adding the Iris, but I bought mine used and was already broken in so maybe just give it some more time to burn in. Incidentally I’m using a $7 6” HDMI cable from Monoprice and still got excellent results. I’ve read from other folks that they didn’t hear big improvements with significant HDMI cable upgrades so that might explain my results, so I think you’re right to not stretch too far for one.

@soix I'm using some cheapies that I had laying around from other things. The HDMI is an anker HDMI cable - probably cost less than $10, I'd assume. The USB was something I bought for something else at one point - maybe a printer? I don't recall. Who knows how cheap that thing was. Probably just the cheapest one off Amazon.

I just ordered some DH labs cables since I've typically felt they were good value for money and they just announced a 25% off sale, so might as well!

I'll see how they adjust in the meantime with some burn in time as well. I know with the i2s, supposedly the cable makes a big difference there, so we will see!

Either way, the difference currently is very slight. I only notice it on vocals and some specific types of music (like classical). Minor, but it was a little bit odd! I'll report back once they've had some more time and I swap out the cables and see if there's any change from either or both.

Funny, given your price point I was gonna recommend this DH Labs HDMI cable (BTW, your HDMI cable should be as short as possible and preferably 1 foot or less as i2S don’t do distance well)…

https://silversonic.com/products/digital-cables/hdmi-2-1/

Not sure if you ordered a USB cable, but especially give your initial impressions I’d say this one’s worth a look given its silver DNA and high-end features like physically separate data and power legs at a very reasonable price

https://www.lavricables.com/cables/ultimate-silver-dual-usb-a-b-interconnect-cable/

Anyway, very interested in what you find as things progress.

@soix I actually went with the DH Labs Mirage USB for the USB cable. Has a lot of the same features of the Lavricables. Slightly more expensive, but with the 25% off sale it's in the same neighborhood.

Good choice — DH Labs obviously makes good, high-value stuff, and at 25% off it’s hard to go wrong.