I just find it hard to see the new DDP-2 being better than the DDP-1. Just the fact that the DDP-1 has the power supply externally, and is quite substantial on the inside. So is the parts on the inside of the DDP-1 itself (think Constellation Audio). It just makes me wonder about cost cutting with the company going over to ELAC. I have a DDP-1 and it is very very good for preamp and DAC. Worth many times what you pay for it. Squishing all what is in the DDP-1 into the DDP-2 seems not likely. I use a 5 meter USB Audioquest Cinnamon to connect from my Microsoft Surface Clone (Acer 12). It was recommended by a Doctor that has very sensitive instruments. He has gone thru years of using substandard USB cables at the 5 meter length. Only to find the Audioquest works every time. Sitting with my touchscreen Win 10 machine next to me, I can use Groove Music to listen to flac files, or using wireless AC getting Tidal to produce the tunes. Some of the audiophiles with money say that the
Aurender N100H Network Music Streamer
or greater gives them better sound for really high end stuff. It offers a 2 terabyte drive to put your music files on and you use an Ipad at your chair to choose songs. These audiophiles say they can clearly hear a difference with the better electronics in the Aurender Units. In closing, I really wanted to like the DDP-2, but I think the original DDP-1 has superior electronics, (but no MQA unfolding). Tidal masters still sound fantastic on my system. I also use a Singxer USB Bridge (SU-1) between my laptop and the DDP-1, and connect to the DDP-1 with AES/EBU. It sends a purer signal to the DDP-1 with the Singxer SU-1 using Femto Clocks to really remove jitter. Is it needed with the DDP-1? Not sure, but it has worked so well with other DACs I have had. Supposedly, the brain behind Audio Alchemy, Peter Madnick, has been a master of removing jitter on digital audio to back all the way to the nineties
offering similar jitter reducing boxes. So my Singxer SU-1 may not be needed. I have quite a good system going with Krell Vintage KSA-200S and Martin Logan Montis speakers, and the DDP-1 just brought the sound to another level with my system. I also put inline a Schiit Freya preamp in "tube mode" with (4) 6SN7 tubes. It makes for a really nice smoothness, and I can press a button and turn the Freya preamp into pass-thru and listen with no tubes. Then the last part is 2 REL S3 subwoofers, hooked in stereo directly to the speaker outs on the Krell KSA-200S. These are sitting on the inside of the Martin Logan Montis for bass foundation, and not the thumpy bass that most subs put out. The sound is at the top of the chain, and I can say the the Audio Alchemy DDP-1 DAC and Preamp changed my system to fantastic. Any thoughts on the construction of the new DDP-2, or pics of the inside would be of great help.
