Denafrips Iris DDC Review 

In ten minutes, you managed to explain the basics of jitter, electronic noise, galvanic isolation, an asynchronous connection, data buffering, the SPDIF, USB, and I2S formats, coaxial and optical connectors, master and word clocks, and temperature compensated and oven controlled crystal oscillators in a way that even a technically illiterate audiophile as myself could easily grasp. That was, hands down, one of the best technical presentations that I have ever listened to.

The Iris paired with the Pontus 2 is a big upgrade, voice , instruments , lower noise floor , etc. Way above my expectations. I use the Jays Audio I2S cable. Willsenton R800i , Rel T5X combo. Yes to get max benefit from the Iris , the ancillary equipment must be there. I was quite shocked by the improvement, was very discernible. Thks Arun , great review.

Thank you sir for another entertaining, interesting review. Always appreciate your technical explanation and especially that you compare the sound of the component you are reviewing with similar products. By far the best reviews on YT.

A fantastic explanation of the wizardry of digital audio. A great review Tarun, thanks for the time and effort you put into making these videos. Invaluable to anyone interested in gaining knowledge about improving their listening experience.

I thought this was a good video the first time I saw it. But I was new to a lot of those concepts back then and I’ve seen it twice since. Not a lot of RU-vids that warrant being viewed several times. Very informative, thank you very much, amazing work.

Brilliant review Cheers Tarun, the day you mentioned DDC I was waiting for your take on this product.

Fantastic video, Tarun. Thank you. This has given me some things to think about before I splurge on a DDC.

Great info and review. I really enjoy this video. You seem to have a knack to answering all my would be questions. Cheers

Very nice explanation of i2s, was going to research how it works, but you made it very clear!

As always great informative review Tarun. Thank you!!

Hello from Montreal, I appreciate your videos on everything audio and some of these newer digital products. You clarified further the issues of the digital signal. I have fallen down the rabbit hole and understand the need for a good source both analog and digital. I started with CD player when they came out and always bought physical music and never used a laptop for music storage. So when streaming became a need I looked for a component that streamed and could handle my cds. That’s where the Bluesound Vault came in. It was a streamer but it could rip and store music. Brilliant. Now I have upgraded to a higher level incorporating an Innuos streamer and reclocker with a Denafrips Venus Dac. The upgrades where done over time with noticeable improvements and yes cost. We know that hifi can be an endless journey, but we want the best sound quality so it won’t really end because within the digital relem choices are endless. So when you review a DCC like this, the hobbyist will see the possible need and it sparks an interest. Sorry for rambling on… thanks from across the pond.

Great technical breakdown. Definitely worth getting my head around it so I can appreciate my little Iris. Thanks too Tarun for finessing the best situations to use it for. You go a step or two further than others who just say it's great - it's good to understand 'why' also. My Ares 11 doesn't have 12S, but all the sound quality improvements you noticed also apply (but yes, I2S next !).

Thanks Tarun ... Always look forward to a Review worth watching ... 😎

Hi Tarun, another great review showing your ability to explain things superbly, even if what you're explaining is a totally alien concept to this old analogue dinosaur.

Briiliant, comprehensive review. Not just the specs but what systems and what configuration would benefit from this device. Thank you !

Vinyl-centric audiophile here. I learned alot today, thanks! Enjoying your channel.

Thank you Tarun. Just when i saved enough money and was ready to pull the trigger for Pontus you made it clear to me why i should go for a Venus i can't afford lol

The Sound Artist speakers in the background sure look nice. Looking forward to the review!

Perfect video. I learned a few things, thank you! have a great weekend

Hi there! I own a venus II and I did find an enourmous diference adding the iris to my system using a Rpi4 as transport. Then I changed the transport to an Allo Usbridge signature, a much better transport, and sound did not improve as much as it does if you remove the Iris. That means the iris is doing a great work concerning SQ making it less transport dependant. I have a quite revealing system by the way and I totally agree that’s the big point (electrocompaniet aw250R and ARC ref 3 with usher big loudspeakers). Thanks a lot for your vídeos and keep up the great work! Cheers from spain!

Thank you for your explanation of the working of a DAC in a clear and easy way. I knew some things but you made it far more clear for me. In fact I wondered each time why people choose to have a separate DAC. In my opinion when you buy a CD player in the price range of about 700 euros (I have an exposure CD player, the entry level who isn’t made any more) you are ok. I connect my CD player with my Arcam AV receiver using the analog output and my av receiver in the direct mode. My speakers are Audiophysic Tempo and that combination sounds good. For streaming music from,my IPad to my Hifiman Sundara headphone I use a dragonfly cobalt dac with Spotify premium. At first I had no external dac but since I have the dragonfly the sound is much improved and that I could understand because the IPad is a small computer. Thanks for your explanation. Greetings, Ludo Belgium

Awesome! Very detailed and informative. I plan to use my Iris with an nvidia shield and Soncuz sgd 1 dac with coax output to my Yamaha receiver. Many thanks for the work you do. Cheers.

Immaculately conceived presentation on DDC. It just shows that you need to be very informed before you purchase a ddc or more generally, to know how to achieve optimum hifi performance with the right component and connection configuration.

Great video! I learned a lot, you convinced me a device like this might make a difference. 😁

This was great, really nice to know where the Iris makes sense and where it does not! I also was not aware that I2S has a separated clock that serves as a master 👍 Guess a really nice source with native I2S would be even better.

My iMac --> Pontus II --> Decware Pre --> Decware Zen amps (monoblocks) system is also much improved by inserting the Iris even though the cost of the Decware amps is not approaching that of your amp chain. So the improvement must depend on the source and on the amp quality, not necessarily its price... Thanks for the review.

Appreciate your clarity and subtlety of delivering information. Enjoy watching your educational videos. Would you please consider making a video about system synergy, pointing out best path to put together a well balanced system, starting from source all the way to speakers and room, could be perhaps broken down in episodes ranging from components selection, cables, transducers while pointing out common denominators of a synergetic setup That would be a first and much needed guide for both new and mature listeners, thank you

Fab review - thanks for the in depth explanation. 👍🏻

hahaha love the honesty hey i just spilled something and screw it im not redoing this video. keep up the great work love what you do!

This is superlative. None of the many references I have seen to DAC issues like USB and clocking have offered any explanatory information - only opinions. Now I am able to proceed with an informed layperson's understanding, thanks to Tarun's lucid explanation of this challenging material. Other reviewers tell us how equipment sounds to them, but Tarun offers invaluable advice on the level of associated equipment that one should put together in order for this purchase to make sense. Kudos.

Perfect review! I have the Pontus2 linked to the Hermes over i2S and it works perfectly. a completely black background with space between left and right, lows and highs. Source Innuos Zenith MK3 and amp PrimaLuna Evi 400i with EL34 valves

Good evening tarun, a very in depth review of a quite unique piece of equipment, the speakers in the background look very interesting, dual concentric perhaps? Thanks for another great review and looking forward to seeing another review soon.

Hello Tarun, I own and use an Iris for well over a year now and have it setup between my Mac Mini and my Sugden DAC 4. Connection between the DDC and my DAC is by coax cable. The Iris is compact, well built and reasonably priced. A highly recommended product from me, Brian

Thank you. It was very informative & educational.

thank you for a great video. i like your content because you are very informative

Thank you first of all for your expertise and thought you have put into your channel and videos. I have found your suggestions to be excellent. I have an iris now before my pontus II and it immediately opened things up. I have found cabling to be as important to getting the best sound, I currently have the best wire world starlight 8 as a usb between my innuos zen mk 3 and the iris, and an AudioQuest vodka hdmi between the iris and the pontus II via I2s. The Wireworld especially makes a huge difference. I am also grateful for your "tweak" that suggested washing machine rubber feet for the subwoofers, they also make a huge difference, putting them under the stock rubber feet that came with the subwoofers made a large and positive difference. Thanks again, I would ask that you investigate and try perhaps the Schiit Lokius, and, or, the JL audio CR1.

Another eminently useful review. Denafrips continues to go from strength to strength. Can't wait for a review of their Apollo amp, though at a 100 pounds I guess reviewers might not be lining up!

Another clear review, both educationally and as to the amount of benefit one could get from adding it. Recently you asked for suggestions as to equipment we would be interested in. As you seem to find it hard to match the quality of your ProAc speakers. You thought that one would have to spend a couple of thousand £ more to achieve this. Surely, it would be worth reviewing ProAc Response D2 or D2R speakers at £2900. I recently mentioned that I found that my old Castle Howard S2s were a good match for my Atoll IN200 signature amp. Since then I dug out an old ISOTEK system set up disk that came as a freebee with hi-fi+. That has helped me fine tune the location of the speakers further and taken the sound to another and higher level. I would gladly have paid quite a bit for a tune up disk to achieve this level of improvement. To get it for the cost of a magazine......

Well done review 👍

Very well explained! Nice device. It's funny how "digital" was supposed to solve noise, tape hiss, rumble, hum and whatnot, and still it reminds more of the old-fashioned record player than those promises. Let me digress a bit because the global village. Something that ought not be a problem in the UK, but can be in continental Europe and the USA, is that our AC plugs can be put into the outlet in two ways, thus switching live and neutral. As audio devices tend to make ground connections via their chassis over an audio link, swapping live/neutral between devices can give a significant voltage differential and energy flow between devices. This can cause a lot of edginess in the audio. The reason I bring this up is because I presume that the galvanic isolation works at the level of the bit-stream, but not at the level of inter-device grounding. And I may be wrong here. If my presumption is right, then this problem could only be solved with an optical connection (not my favorite), or by making sure that all audio devices are "phase correct" relative to each other. In the way, learned friend, you say, paraphrased, that people in some cases can better upgrade their amplifier before thinking of this device, people in parts of the world better sort that AC thing out, before they upgrade anything. I went as far as to replace some of my local standard "Schuko" wall outlets by French ones. The French design doesn't allow you to switch live/neutral and Schuko plugs exist that are compatible with the grounded French outlet. Another thing is that we listen to our AC. In the way this filter needs to reclock and clean the bit stream because of minimalist implementations, the power stages in our analog amplification devices are simple. They generally are designed on the assumption that AC is clean and a simple rectification is enough. And then all the devices in our homes pollute our AC lines and the grid too.

I had to come back and revisit this review or shall I call it - "an education relevant to I2S". The reason is that since I originally viewed this some months back, I have pretty-much decided that the Pontus2 is the DAC I want. Yes, the reviews offered are basically all quite positive but as well, it is the I2S feature that I have decided is a must (to use) if I am going to invest in the Pontus2. The Iris DDC, as I now understand it, is going to be a must to partner with the Pontus. (and the cost, to me, is reasonable) Audio has always been a great joy in my life. My initial fascination began back in the 50s when a relative in Seattle played some opera on what was then, a state of the art mono system powered by a big tube amp. Now, obviously things have progressed and I have always tried to keep abreast of improvements but at the end of the day I am the type of person that likes to understand the inner workings or science within my audio equipment. I know what I like to hear and I know what I can afford to hear. In manifesting sound equipment over these many years I can honestly say that it has been a lot of fun, not to mention, rewarding. As said, I do like to understand my equipment at the deepest level possible. Tarun's RU-vid channel has enabled me to become a much better learned student of this ever evolving world of audio equipment. If you have taken the time to read this then please peruse his other RU-vid offerings ... when it comes to getting an audio education a on what is new and to a reasonable degree - how it may work - this guy is gold. 'nuff said 🇨🇦

This is a very nice technical explanation, nice to know what is out there. But I will have to upgrade quite a bit of stuff before this becomes relevant to me. Never the less, specifically the jitter I can see making a difference, more so than the noise.

🥰 I didn’t even see the video yet and I’m going in the kitchen to make me some popcorn and getting ready to watch👍 P.S. i’ve been waiting for this review ever since she talked about it

good to have you back dude:)

Very deep, very interesting

Great review! I've been into Computer Audio for a number of years, it takes a lot of trial and error to get great sound from a PC. In my experience laptops sound dreadful, regardless of the argument of low power/ battery power. A powerful PC with a dedicated USB card (SOTM etc) would give any streamer a run for its money. Add in that you can add Dirac to your setup and sort the bass out in your room, I reckon it's hard to beat.

Hi Taron Excellent review as usual, even though I have to confess I didnt understand all of it! :) If you dont mind I have a couple of comments on Sources..... You rarely mention which sources you use in your reviews of amps, speakers etc. I think people would be really interested in that, and certainly know I would. I would also really love to see you review some source components. These days there are thousands of new streamers on the market, for instance, and I really think people would appreciate your insight into those. And as an old vinyl-head myself, I'd love to see you have a look at a few TTs from "the dark side" :) Keep up the excellent work. Steve

Hello Tarun! There aren’t many transports worthy of consideration short of one, the Project RS 2 T. This transport utilizes a Pioneer based transport which has been heavily modified. There are other transports and opinions on this vary. I say use what suits your needs and budget. The Project RS 2T is the first transport I saw using an I squared S output. It’s pricey, but so are the others that have the I squared S output. Digital equipment can be real fussy about power quality issues internally. Equipment which can lower this noise floor yield big on the output of your system. The Iris will not turn a mediocre system around. Only an upgrade in component quality will render that into reality. It’s worth the investment to upgrade any components which bring you closer to your own happiness in listening. Happy ears, happy life Tarun! Stay safe my mates!😊👍🏻😷

Well done sir.

Great review, I think you somewhat understated how complex audio transfer via USB is, it's not just a few signals being muxed together, there is also a truckload of handshaking and other stuff that goes into USB, as it is a universal interface, not just for audio. As for the external clock inputs - wow, I'm used to 10MHz type reference clocks, so these ... odd. My biggest trouble with audio is Microsoft Windows, I need a decent audio playback solution, all I've looked at are either expensive subscription tie-ins, or just don't do proper bit perfect.

Great review Tarun. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about the IRIS paired with different types of Dacs (chip/fpga) to see if the benefits/Synergies are the same.

Thank you for the review Tarun, my Iris is on the way... I shall report back. ;-)

Great evaluation and review as always. I am always blown away that someone as knowledgeable and technically savvy as you would eschew room treatment in the corners of your front wall for a wine rack and equipment rack . A pair of tube traps and corner traps 🤷🏻‍♂️ perhaps Highly recommended! Keep the reviews coming. Some of the best audiophile related content available on RU-vid. Thanks!

Great explanation., give good insight on i2s signal which was originally only intended to be used inside a device and not for connecting 2 devices. It still looks like a niche product though, wonder if there is market for these kind of products. At some point I let go of the technical perfection pursuit and put musical enjoyment first.

Great DAC reviews ! If you get the chance to review a Metrum NOS DAC … I use the entry level ‘Flint’ model next to my Hugo and it’s definitely a remarkable device ! It uses Metrum’s own ‘Transient’ DAC chips, and no digital filtering. Created and produced in Eindhoven NL, the home of Philips and the birthplace of the CD 😃

i got a gustard u18 ddc and i am also very impressed by the effect of it. on my smsl vmv d2 is i²s not the right choice, but aes was perfect. on my schumamm ladder dac its the i²s whats most effectiv. the effect is the same as you discribed it on the iris. i cant imagine that a much more expensive ddc is bringen even better performance.

Thank you for the pedagogical explanations and an interesting review! I have been interested in the Denafrips R2R DACs for a while. But I now realize an important related question - how does all of this change if/when one uses a DSD signal to the DAC? I understand the importance of low jitter etc in a PCM signal. But, a DSD signal has a sampling frequency of at least 2.8 MHz (original SACD, DSD64) or higher multiples of that. This means that any artifacts from jitter will be centered around frequencies far off in the very high ultrasound spectrum. And these frequencies are filtered away by the DAC anyhow. Indeed, if I understood it correctly, one of the advantages of the DSD format is that it is technically much simpler to convert back to analog. Since it is only 1 bit resolution, no ladder of different resistors or accurately timed samples are needed, in principle an analog low-pass filter is all that is needed. So my question is - is it true that DSD is much less sensitive to jitter etc? And therefor would benefit less from a DDC like this? And, if I use DSD (upsampled by Roon in my case), would I even benefit anything at all from an R2R DAC, or are those ladders not even being used then?

I've now watched so many of your videos, that I dream of nicely arranged ladders of resistors and donut shaped coils of copper.

This review is so good! It's like a school lesson and I've learned do much. Will you review the Gaia?

Great video and I appreciate the extra in depth explanation! A quick question if I may, do you reckon that using the Iris with a Michi P5/S5 would bring an increased quality?

I noticed you adviced to upgrade the amplier before purchacing a DDC. I use an Exposure 3010s2d integrated with the Denafrips Pontus Dac, and I still decided to go for a Denafrips Hermes DDC. For my part it was a very good upgrade. The thing is, in my system it removed slight harsness in the upper frequencies and bloated bass, I think that is due to reduction in jitter. So I really don't feel the need to upgrade the amplier or source. I now more than ever enjoy this Exposure 3010sd2, and plan to keep it for a long time.

nice video

Do As Hollywood Do: Have Coveralls always at the ready & tell your audience you were working on your Lambo but had to move your Audi 1st. & didn’t want to get dirty👍 Worked for me when shooting Bear season 2 (miss spell Bare) ✅ Then throw down a pair of white gloves & talk Reviewer “Speak” .. I never miss an “episode”😂🤗

Still one of my all-time favourite ABA reviews -- not least because it's "non-zero-sum" : A person can add this piece of kit to his system without concern for a suddenly obsolete counterpart already in his system. I'm probably not going to put an Iris in a signal path that starts with a PC and ends with a $300 of powered speakers, but ... I **could**. :D

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I have always felt that my Auralic Aries Mini is the weakest link in my hifi system. The next better Auralic streamer is too much of a jump, therefore I decided to buy the Iris instead to upgrade the USB signal from the Mini. Now the different components of my system are more evenly matched (at least in terms of price). The improvements are just as you described.

Thanks Tarun, I am hoping the upcoming USB out of the BS Node is good enough to use with the Iris, then I will have super transport for not that much cash. Thinking about the Sonnet Morpheus for the DAC

Nice review as always. I’ve a Mutec reclocker going into a Pontus 11. Is it doing, more or less, the same thing?

Some friends and other audio reviews mention that: 1. adding the Denafrips Iris to my Pontus 2 would make a bigger difference than a better streamer would give me (I have an iFi Zen stream with the iFi Power X); 2. additionally, I have dedicated power lines installed from my electrical panel to give me the best possible power. 3. What do you think? 4. Do you have a better proposal? I am retired and plan to spend more time listening to music, one of my passions. Besides, I think we don't talk enough about music and sharing audiophile recordings. So I'm starting with these recordings: 1. Patricia Barber: Café blue, Moder cool, Clique! 2. Diana Krall: Turn up the quiet 3. Shelby Lynne: Just a little lovin' 4. Nils Lofgren: Acoustic live! 5. Fink: Wheels turn beneath my feet

Thanks for this, very helpful. Although you seemed to almost seems to low prioritise the sound part and yet is that not the most important thing after all. 😊

Really like your videos! Have you reviewed the MiniDSP SHD Studio? I wonder how it affects your system in comparison.

Thanks...

Hi Tarun great video I've actually been considering the Gaia which is further up the food chain in the denafrips line. My DAC is a luxman da-06 apart from coax, toslink, USB, it has AES/EBU. I'm not sure whether I would get an advantage given the digital inputs on the DAC. ID be interested in your thoughts.

Well, the Iris DDC arrived and I have it in the system right now listening to Grace Mahya, Last Live at Dug on the old OPPO BDP-83... Unfortunately that recording is running on optical to the Ares II, not able to utilize the Iris. But! I did hear a a nice difference with the Ares II/Iris combo using the new BlueSound Node. It did tighten things up a bit, the bass was and is much more pronounced in a good way. The mids, female vocals were stepped up a notch or two streaming from Qobuz. It was a worthwhile purchase, and I would do it again without hesitation, I would probably upgrade to the Gaia if I was to do it again. I will be ordering the Pontus II from Alvin when they are back in stock. I went all black with the Denafrips Thallo and Hades amps... Heck, the Ares II sounded so good, we had to throw in and go all the way, and damn glad I did. Best Hi-Fi dollars I have ever spent. Just call it, Audio Nirvana. ;-) Speakers are the KLH Model 5, 10 AWG OFC cables I through together myself, I will be upgrading those to Mogami wire when I get a chance to build those, have the cable sitting in the box in the hall... The XLRs, all Mogami/Neutrick and AudioQuest Cinnamon digital cables. Monosaudio power cords on the Thallo, Hades and the two SVS SB3000 subs... Pangea AC 14SE MKII Signature power cords on the rest of the gear. Everything I have thrown at this system sounds incredible! Well, not everything, my neighbor came over and he wanted to hear some ABBA, poor recordings, nothing could help that hot mess. Everything else, incredible! LOL! Thank you Tarun! You and Jay were the motivation, glad I paid attention. ;-)

Thanks Arun for a simple, understandable explanation of this complex topic. Just want to ask you if you think I will benefit from adding this Iris to my audio chain. Currently im using Ares 2 dac, KLH Model 5 speakers and SMSL VMV A1 amp. Thanks.

Never realized that a ⏰ is so important. Always interesting. Thanks for sharing. But what about the amps without them?

As always, another great review. Just so I get this straight. I have a Pontus II DAC, Jay's Audio CDT2-MK3 and a mini PC acting as my current network streamer. The CD and PC both connect to the DAC. If purchasing the Iris, only connect the PC to the Iris and NOT the CD transport? The CD still connects directly to the Pontus II, bypassing the Iris? If that's the case, would I not be better off purchasing a "real" network streamer, possibly eliminating the need for a DDC? The remainder of my system is a Luxman 507uXII integrated and Spendor D7.2s.

Okay so I’ve been using this DDC for a few weeks now and I can say with fact that this DDC for me has brought image to pin point center image, it’s outstanding just for that going into the Pontus II. Why it does this I have no idea but it truly is amazing. Did you find this to be true as well? Considering my system is very sensitive and reviling maybe that’s why. May not happen for other systems less complex

Hi Tarun. Great review as usual. A question for you: I own the Terminator Plus and Gaia DDC. I believe Denafrips recommends using the TPlus clock to clock the signal in the Gaia via dual BNC cables. Would you agree that it is better to clock the Gaia with the TPlus or would you recommend having the Gaia clock itself with its own internal clock? Thanks from Chicago! Regards, RJ

Just curious, peeking over your shoulder, I noticed an interesting speaker stand hack. could you elaborate? Thank you again for an excellent “spot on” ;) video.

Thanks a lot for this review of the Iris DDC. I also have the Hegel H160 and i am using it together with the Ares II DAC. Do you think that it could be an improvement to use this Iris DDC connected before the Ares II ? But it wouldn't be I2S between Iris and Ares, coaxial or toslink then.

Very much enjoyed your review. I currently use a Node (N130) via USB to Ares II DAC, do you feel adding an Iris inline would further improve the sound quality?

Liked the video very much! What cable do you use with the i2s (lvds) input? I have a dac with the right input, but … I’m lost when it comes to the cable

For those interested in learning more, GoldenSound has a pretty decent video on DDCs with some measurements to show what's going on.

Funny, I was just wiping my lunch off my shirt right before watching this

I have a Denafrips GAIA on loan from a friend, I was skeptical but it actually did make a difference albeit subtle. I'm not actually sure it is due to the jitter reduction and suspect it to have more to do with the galvanic isolation reducing overall noise. Either way I noticed a minute difference, greater changes could me achieved in virtually any other point in the chain or room. I am receiving a cheap Pi2AES which i suspect will outperform the HERMES. If it is worth the money is up to you, if you goal is removing all points of failure this might be a good last point of investment, I would suggest starting elsewhere.

Hi Tarun, Thanks for the informative videos, it has always helped understand before deciding. Your inputs would be highly appreciated. I essentially listen to 2 channel music via Apple music streamed through my iPhone feeding into Pontus then Anthem receiver as pre feeding the 5channel parasound power amp driving the ATC SCM 11s. In my never ending quest to further improve the sound quality from my set up should I next invest in a good streamer transport like eversolo A6 or go for Iris? Thanks in Advance!

Excellent vidéo as always! I'm using an Audiolab 6000CDT cd player with the Adi-2 dac. The Audiolab already have a tempered crystal oscillator. Considering I'm not using streaming, would a ddc make any difference?

awsome video. So when we use I2S on raspberry PI dacs, the big downfall is the quality of the clock?

I have the Denafrips Gaia for about 2 months. Using it with a Hegel HD30 DAC (so no i2s here). Significant upgrade for me, just makes _everything_ slightly better. And all those slight improvements really add up.. ( not saying it's the most cost effective way to improve sq for a system like mine, but it certainly does work )

I2S (eye squared ess, Inter-IC Sound bus) has been around forever. Well, it's in the original Sony/Philips design documents, but various manufacturers have been using it for a long time for connections outside of digital players. WAY back when, Audio Alchemy and Camelot digital gear I had used I2S connections. PS Audio has been using I2S for a while. And digital interfaces had been a bit more common: the Genesis Digital Lens, Monarchy DIP24/96, the several Audio Alchemy DTI products - to call out a few. I would always use one, but not so much lately.

I keep hearing a lot of rave reviews on the Musician Pegasus that is supposedly made in the same factory as Denafrips dacs, better parts but lower price. Have also heard some negative about them as well. Would love to hear your thoughts on that if you come across with a unit.

Nice review. You laid much emphasis on Amplification. Do you mean that the pre/power amps must be the best in the chain ?.. Also is it very good dac and ok preamp or the other way. Thank you

Very good explanation and up to the point. If I understand correctly, one of the conclusion is that Toshiba USB (JRiver) to Iris does not make much difference (in terms of sound quality and stage) while connecting to Pontus II directly; isnt it? (or) am I missing something.

Hello Tarun, Thank you for the informative video. I am in the process of heading the Denafrips way, and I am using the Athena preamp and it has expanded the sound stage. I have purchased the Denafrips Avatar and it is on its way. I was wondering if you could please compare the output from CD transport with I2S and streaming the same song. I still find spinning CD produces better quality of music compared to streaming, I was wondering I may be wrong. You have all the Denafrips products at your disposal, so I was wandering if you could help out a fellow audiophile before I sink 6k on Denafrips Terminator 2. My system: Ayon CD 5S CD Transport and DAC (even though it is old has all the tech like I2S and very well reviewed). Pre Denafrips Athena, Power Amp Rogue Audio M180 Monos. Speaker Pure Audio Project Quintet 15 Horn 1. Thank You.

Hi Tarun, at timestamp <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="760">12:40</a>, you spoke of improved sound quality with the iris between your computer and the Pontus ii, but not to the level of as your Auralic Aries Mini connected directly to your Pontus ii. Is there any benefit to using the Iris transport between the Pontus and a streamer like the Aries mini or ifi Zen streamer with an external SSD hard dirve connected to it?

To be honest, that was far more interesting than I expected. It also reminded me of a question. A friend told me that many modern LP pressings are made from a digital source. Surely this is not the case?

Thanks Tarun. I can't afford to upgrade to Pontus as I got Ares 2 last year. I stream from my laptop pc to it on Denon 2600 and ma silver 8. I know you said only Pontus would be worth it but would I get any improvement adding this?

Thinking about purchasing a Gaia to pair w/ my Venus II. Would going I2S as apposed to AES/EBU benefit the sound quality? Only using an iPad Pro w/ Tidal connected with a USB B-C cable.

Great video. Could anyone advise where one can buy pontus 2 in the UK, please?

great break down .. so i would go usb from streamer to iris and I2S from iris to Dac?