i2S clock question


So, I’ve recently added a Denafrips Iris DDC to be able to feed my Musician Pegasus R2R DAC via its i2S input via its HDMI i2S input, and compared to feeding it directly from an SPDIF or USB input the positive results are significant and very apparent.  While I’m aware of the separate internal paths of the i2S connection versus other connections and despite many searches, I can’t find a definitive answer as to how the clocking works in the end.  I know the Iris re-clocks the data and sends it via a separate line within the HDMI connection to my DAC, but I can’t find a clear answer as to how the re-clocking of the DDC works in conjunction with my DAC. Does the re-clocking of the DDC override the re-clocking of my DAC with an i2S connection, or does it just feed my DAC a cleaner signal that allows my DAC to work better and more efficiently given its own re-clocking abilities?  Am I subject to the re-clocking of my DDC alone or is it a combo of my DAC and the DDC working together with an i2S connection?  Thanks for any thoughts and experience!

soix

Showing 1 response by p05129

I2s and Ethernet inputs on the better dacs are superior sounding compared to the other inputs, even if you include all the hacks/tweaks that people apply to some of those protocols.

I would take an fpga based dac over a pure hardware dac for many reasons and I have. I got new firmware every 6 months that improved the sq for free. I also got new firmware that doubled the dsd up sampling as well as implementing MQA, again for free.

I have friends that have dacs costing 5 digits that have to pay thousands to upgrade for MQA and these dacs can’t improve their sq so they become out of date.