Hermes added, question

I’ve been thinking about getting a DDC to go with my Pontus ll and I was wondering what will I need to connect a Hermes to my system?

@curiousjim When buying an HDMI cable for i2S it should be as short as possible as the i2S signal degrades quickly with distance. I’ve read a foot or less is best, so the closer you can get to that the better. There is someone else here who added an Iris to his Pontus II using a DH Labs 2.1 HDMI cable and reported a significant performance increase. I also added an Iris — bought it used in case it didn’t do much but it’s not going anywhere.  Just fyi.

Thanks @soix 

I never knew that. Which ever DDC I get, it will sit on top of the Pontus, so a short cable is all that would be needed.
FYI, I’m currently using a DH Labs USB from the streamer to the Pontus ll.

@curiousjim  I started with this HDMI cable because it’s cheap and in case the Iris didn’t do much and wanted to sell it I wouldn’t be out much, plus it’s available in 6” length which is what I got.  It sounds so good as is I haven’t bothered to upgrade although I probably will at some point.  Some people who have significantly upgraded sir HDMI cables for i2S have reported very marginal performance increases, which leads me to believe the signal isn’t very cable sensitive and may also explain why I’m getting such good sound with such a cheap cable.  Anyway, just fyi…

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=13574

@kingbr  Any idea what could be causing this? Is the ADD-Powr possibly the culprit? The static/noise was never there before Hermes and I had ADD-Powr Symphony connected as above only direct to Pontus...Music still plays but on higher volume the noise is audible...

It took me months to solve this same problem I experienced. I had an ADD-Powr (non in/out version) installed in my main system with the antenna only a feet away from my equipment rack, and I hear occasional spikes and noise on certain recordings. This happened with both my Berkeley/Esoteric and Terminator/Hermes chain. After going around in circles with wrong diagnostics, I finally removed the ADD-Powr and the noise is eliminated.

Now I’m using the ADD-Powr in my secondary Khama based system with unit and antenna 6 feet away from all equipments. Improvements are still heard. Our systems may differ and so will the results.

@mosler666  Thank you! I removed the USB connection from ADD-POWR Symphony and went straight to Hermes. I also changed the setting to 001 on Pontus. Whilst this seemingly did the trick, I heard the damn static again. It's only there on certain tracks not all. I am going to try removing the ADD-POWR as you did. Thank you so much! I'm hoping this does the trick. I too can move it to a second system I have as well. I don't know why I even suspected the ADD-POWR was maybe the culprit. But I have tried everything including going through all the settings on my Pontus a couple of times...So frustrating because the static only pops in occasionally and seemingly so randomly...

Thank you, my friend. Not gonna lie this has weighed on me a bit. It's the randomness of it that had stumped me. I'm going to move the Symphony and see if that does the trick. Fingers crossed...