Streamer only

I can strongly recommend an Innuos PULSE.  The accompanying Sense app is the icing on the cake.  Works flawlessly with Qobuz.

@northbeach does the Innuos Pulse Mini support Tidal Connect? I've been trying to find a good streamer (less than $2K) that has USB outputs so the better clock in an external DAC can take over to reduce jitter.  Someone mentioned the Bluesound Node X has USB output, but I'm not 100% sure connecting it to an external DAC truly bypasses the clock in the Node.  Thanks. 

One thing people seem to ignore (correct me please if I am wrong) is that to use the "better" clock in your external DAC over the one in a "cheap" streamer, you must use asynchronous USB or I2S, otherwise the clock in the streamer is doing the "driving".

@moonwatcher @audphile1 This is interesting and something I’ve wondered about.  I’m using a DDC to feed i2S to my DAC, so does that mean the clock in the DDC is bypassed and the clock in the DAC is the only one working?

@soix sorry, I’ve not yet gone down the rabbit hole of using a DDC but might do that sometime, so I don’t have any first hand experience with using one. I’ve only watched the videos on Vinshine’s website and YouTube channel about the Iris.

My limited understanding is that the DDC "somehow" takes over the clock duties from both the streamer and the DAC, and the DDC’s better clock circuit does its magic to reduce jitter even further. This would happen over I2S and USB but not (if I understand correctly) Toslink Coax or SP/DIF Optical. Perhaps someone else on here can illuminate how this works and if it is in a setting or if it is automatic. Weekend is here. Enjoy the music.

Oh, here is one of the videos I watched regarding using the Iris with a Pontus II:

Best Seller • Iris DDC + Pontus II DAC (vinshine.audio)

@soix I’m going to take a wild guess / make an assumption and say the DDC reclocks the signal before the output if this is your DDC (Hermes).