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Streamer to Denafrips Iris to Pontus need cable suggestions please

I’ve got a Iris on the way to mate to a Pontus and have no idea of the type or brand or the quality/price cable I will need. It’s coming from Auralic g2 which has usb, coax, aes,  tos, lan. L-link. 
 

What type and brand/ model do I go from Auralic to Iris. Then what type cable and then brand/ model do I use fro Auralic to Pontus.

 

There will be a HiDiamond RCA’s going from Pontus to Audio Hungary a50i. Audience au24 se and TG Audio speaker cables going to Joseph audio Pulsar and Reference 3a towers. 
 

I know this is a lot to ask but I am not familiar with digital cables. Only digital cable I ever owned is a spdif. I’m using a JPS Labs superconductor true digital coax from streamer to Pontus now. Can I get away without spending a lot of money since some say it’s just digital, probably not, sure hope so. 
 

 

paulcreed
soix
9,773 posts
 

DH Labs makes good, high-value cables that don’t break the bank.  Here is a good USB cable you can use from the Aurender to the Iris and an HDMI cable you can use from the Iris to the Pontus to take advantage of its i2S connection.  BTW, you want the HDMI cable to be as short as possible as i2S degrades rapidly with distance.  I also have an Iris running i2S into my DAC and noticed a very big improvement over SPDIF. 

https://silversonic.com/products/digital-cables/mirage-usb/

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

Hope this helps, and best of luck. 

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,889 posts
 

Plus 1 for DH Labs.   I’m using the Mirage from my streamer to my DAC.

All the best.

paulcreed OP
565 posts
 

Thanks everyone, glad to hear USB is way to go. Guy that sold me Iris threw in a a DB Labs The Essential USB for $20 extra,retail $300 have no idea if it’s good or not so I’ll use it for now. 
 

The Iris is the 12th so it has the added RJ45 cable, have no clue on this one either. I will look at DH Labs ( like the price) and AES/EBU. What’s the story on the RJ45 since they added it in the 12th does that make it better a better connection?

jaytor's avatar
jaytor
766 posts
 

The RJ45 connection is another way to pass i2s. I don't have experience using the RJ45 connection, but I have used the HDMI connection between the Gaia and Terminator Plus.

I have an early Gaia and early Terminator Plus, and with the firmware update, the i2s connection between these two boxes is no longer compatible, so I have had to switch back to AES. Before the firmware update, I preferred i2s over AES, but I do like the firmware update so I'm living with AES. 

I also like DH-Labs for reasonably priced digital cables. I'm currently using their AES cable. 

fthompson251's avatar
fthompson251
480 posts
 

@jaytor  you can set your gaia to "000" and then try different I2s setting on the Terminator. I had to do this on my Hermes/Venus II and it works again. 

 

>

Please go through the guide detailed here:
https://www.denafrips.com/config-i2s

Suggestion of I²S matching of the Transport & DAC
1. Connect the I²S cable (good quality HDMI cable <3ft/1m)
2. Turn down the volume (audible, minimal)

3. Set Hermes i2s to mode 000.
3. Play a familiar music (PCM first, followed by DSD)
4. Run through the I²S setting of the DAC, 000-111
5. One of the modes should match with the source for both PCM and DSD playback.
000 (1X 2X 4X LED off)
001
011
100
101
110
111 (1X 2X 4X LED on)

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