DDC With I2S in and Out

Like sns, I also had an SU 6 and now have a Gaia 12th.  There is no comparison in my system.  The SU 6 was disappointing and was outperformed by usb, but the Gaia brings something special to the table.

@sns  @car123 

Well said, and I’m in agreement on the Gaia quality. I also run the Aether clock into my unit. I only wish I could run the I2S out from a SACD player into the Gaia. I emailed Denafrips support with this request to have it added to the next version.

I have owned the SU-1 KTE, the SU-2, and the SU-6. All did a great job. I now own a Gaia 12th, it seems like a higher tier than any of those. I'm not sure why one might need an I2S input though. If your streamer already puts out I2S, why not go straight to the DAC that way? Unless it isn't compatible or something.

I said, "...outperforms the Gaia...in terms of electrical noise and jitter," as shown below. I did not mean sonically. It's actually good that the Gaia still holds an edge sonically. The SU-6 was endorsed by several reviewers, including Hans, and I don't expect it to be a level below. Thanks for the feedback.

                                 Jitter(rms)   Electrical(rms)   Jitter(peak)  Electrical(peak)

Holo Red                     73ps           2.97mV                213ps           12.9mV

Singxer SU-6              75ps           3.3mV                  225ps            13.7mV

Singxer SU-2 KTE      85ps           3.2mV                247ps            13mV

Denafrips Gaia           86ps           5.2mV                  243ps            20.7mV

Gustard U18             453ps           5.2mV                1133ps            22mV

@996turbo911 Your omitting the most important advantage of using a quality ddc which is the I2S clock and power supply to the clock, and don't forget optimization of whatever input chosen. I very much doubt any streamer with I2S output has an equivalent clock, power supply to that in a quality ddc. If one is going to all the bother of using I2S they should ensure it's implementation, meaning clock and power supply is superior to master clock in dac. In other words one should hear sound quality improvement using ddc clock vs dac internal clock, this means syncing to ddc clock.