Just Get A Better DAC?

@baylinor I accidentally ran in to this discussion. When I replied to you that USB is better than I2S inputs of Audio Mirror DAC I assumed you are feeding from same source through USB or I2S. In your scenario you use DDC to convert USB to I2S, but you are forgetting that DDC re-clocks the signal, while feeding directly to USB input you don't re-clock. 

OP   less boxes and cables, which is a blessing, 

Digital signal is so fragile (much more than the analog signal) that can be easily destroyed. There are 4 more additional connectors (bad metal construction) for a separate DAC alone mess up the digital signal to sound distorted. All separate DAC is like a distortion noise monster to me.

I had >15 separate DACs since PS music link II (1990) and non of them is even close to my 15 years old WT-95 (modded Oppo bdp-95). Also, there is no DAC regardless of cost sounds clean and musical like WT-95.  Alex/Wavetouch audio

Alison Krauss - It Doesn't Matter, Wavetouch audio, Live recording

When it came to upgrading the DAC/streaming side of my system, I was moving from a Roon playout chain of an Intel Mac Mini, running Roon and HQPlayer to a Gustard A26 over the network connection. That in turn had been an upgrade from lossless iTunes playout via a Pi-based streamer to an elderly Linn DAC/processor. 

I looked at (and even built) assorted streamer/DAC combinations. Streamers like the Auralic range did make a small but noticeable difference with DACs which had built-in streaming, such as the dCS Bartok and Teac UD-701N, and worked well with the Chord DAVE. 

In the end though, I found a DAC which, by virtue of the means by which it handles incoming signals, has proven robustly agnostic to how it’s fed: the Mola Mola Tambaqui. For the price, it delivered better results than any DAC/streamer combination I auditioned. What has helped was the removal of analogue noise through the optical isolation of my system from the wider LAN and of the DAC from the rest of the playout chain with an Uptone EtherRegen. I’m now just integrating Qobuz and Tidal via an M1 Mac Mini Roon server, with HQPlayer not being relevant to this setup.

@audiomirror 

”In your scenario you use DDC to convert USB to I2S, but you are forgetting that DDC re-clocks the signal, while feeding directly to USB input you don’t re-clock.”

Are you suggesting that with the Audiomirror DACs, it is better not to reclock first by running the output of a streamer through a DDC prior to sending the signal to the DAC?

So SW1X states on website R2R NOS superior to delta sigma and R2R oversampling modes or R2R dac employing external reclocking devices. This because of noise shaping and digital filtering employed by such devices. While this may or not be true for their own dacs, this not a universal. Delta sigma, R2R in OS modes and reclocking devices employed with R2R are favored by many.