Should I add a DDC?

@kingbr The connection between my ddc and dac is very simple because they are both Gustard and they have the same pinout.  My dac will work with other I2s pinout connections, but I didn't have to figure out which one.

Since you're going Denefrips ddc to Denefrips dac, I would think the pinouts are the same. 

Thanks again @sls883. Apparently even though both will be DENAFRIPS you still have to adjust settings on both units using I2S. Weird. At least I can use his video as a guide while doing it. And apparently not all HDMI cables will work, Alvin mentioned that some do not so it’s trial and error. Pretty sure the DH Labs 2.1 will work. Hope so😬

@kingbr My DH Labs cable is an older 2.0b and it works fine. The Wyred for Sound cable doesn't even say what it is, but it's supposedly optimized for I2S.

I'm sure you'll be able to get the ddc to work with the dac. There's surely plenty of people that have connected those two devices. 

The shorter the cable the better.  I think mine is 1m.  I bought my Hermes used and the pin settings worked perfectly when I connected it to the Pontus.  Denafrips has a section in the setup guide for the DDC about configuring the pins.  I beleive it’s trial and error but I don’t believe there are too many combinations to try.

Re the DH Labs Ethernet cable (the Reunion). Really great. I put it in about six months ago, in lieu of a Chord Clearvue cable. It goes into an Eversolo DMP A6 and from there into an MSB Discrete DAC. I still don't understand how this happened but as soon as put in the DH Labs the sound volume went significantly up (along with becoming clearer). I'm thinking of getting the Reunion raw cable now and stringing it in the wall from my telecom router to the ethernet port near the audio setup.