I had used Allo usb signature, Nuprime Omnia S1 and oladra upgraded Antipodes ex/cx with my Hermes/Gaia(previously) and Tplus/T(previously) and SQ improvement can be heard for the Allo usb signature and Omnia S1 but not the Antipodes which I connect directly to the Tplus.I bought Denafrips Hermes recently, and using it with the Denafrips Pontus Dac.
I have used Audioquest Forest HDMI cable to transfer the signal over i2s. This improved the systems clarity and gave the music more dynamic flow. So happy I did this. It also reduced harshness and bloated bass, which perhaps is due to reduction in jitter. It made me question my choice of source, the Marantz ND 8006. Has anyone here experimented with different sources when using a pair of Denafrips DAC and DDC?
I did just got a new Tubulus i2s cable yesterday, but it clearly needs time to break in before a serious evaluation.
I m also using the Tubulus i2s cable feom Hermes to Tplus.
My conclusion is that using DDC does improve lesser sources but beyond a certain level, you are better to skip it but I guess it also depends on your dac.
Cheers.
Richard