Should I add a DDC?

Since everyone is having an opinion I want to share mine aswell. 

I don't understand why you got the eversolo if you don't use it as a standalone unit with the internal dac. So I would get a dedicated streamer and the DDC of your choice to feed Pontus over hdmi .

I’ve been debating whether to get an Iris or a Hermes got a while now or upgrade my Pontus ll with a Venus or a Terminator. Don’t they already have better clocks in them?

Number of issues on purchasing ddc for I2S. Very few streamers offer I2S output so in these cases ddc required for using I2S. Another concern is quality of clocks in ddc vs dac. If dac internal clock is equal to or better than ddc clock you're not getting any benefit from clocking with ddc, only possible benefit is the I2S pathway. Greatest benefit with ddc is when it's clock superior to dac internal clock, in this case more likely to be superior to usb. Whether it superior or not depends greatly on the quality of that clock, a high quality OXCO clock with high quality power supply to it is optimal. How these clocks implemented critical, not all clocks created equal, such that a poorly implemented OXCO clock could be inferior to quality implemented TXCO or Femto clock.

And then we have concern of input to ddc, generally this going to be usb, this should also be optimized for highest performance. A noisy or poor quality input to ddc will greatly impact ultimate performance.

My point in the above is don't automatically expect I2S to exceed usb, or in some rare cases other interfaces. Many dacs have sophisticated usb boards, less than optimized I2S will likely be inferior, especially if you have usb chain already optimized. A previous foray into I2S using Singxer SU6 and generic I2S cable proved inferior to my optimized usb setup.

Thank you again, All. Always appreciate folks time and advice😊

@sns thank you for the word of caution. This is why I’m doing quite a bit of research and reading many reviews. I actually posted a while back about is there a point at which we over-tweak to the point that it starts taking away from the sound. I already have an iFi Silencer, ADDPowr Symphony between network, streamer, and Pontus DAC. Now I’m ready to add another piece, a DDC…

All of this said, I have yet to read a review where someone said adding an Iris or Hermes didn’t improve the sound. Every review I’ve read the consensus goes from “audible improvement” to “significant improvement”. I’ve done enough research at this point to be comfortable pulling the trigger…

Now just have to gather the funds and see if I can make it happen. I have decided on the Hermes. Again all signs point toward the Hermes being worth doubling the cost of Iris…

BTW, DH Labs is running 20% off site wide!!! Going to jump on that with HDMI and power cable when I pull the trigger for Hermes😊😊

@kingbr   Thanks for the heads up on the DH Labs sale. I was eyeballing their ethernet cable.