To DDC or not to DDC. That is the question.

My only reservation is that the Hermes has no USB out and the USB input is the strength of the Merason. 

You could get a DDC to go in between the Hermes and the DAC (?) 

I asked AI and it said it was a good idea. 

Crying emoji 

@maprik when I start looking into upgrades I usually have an idea in mind as to what it is that I am trying to improve upon or what problems I am trying to solve. 
Do you have a good reason to touch anything? What are your current complaints about the sound quality. You know how the saying goes…if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 

You know how the saying goes…if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 

@audphile1 That’s crazy talk. 😀

I checked out the Merason upgrade to Mk2 and Im not sure if I want to lose the musical analog quality that the Mk1 is known for. If only someone in my area had a Mk2 I could listen to in my system. At $2400 for the upgrade I’m leaning towards testing out a DDC in the $1200 range that I can flip if I decide its not an improvement... or I could buy a bunch of records.... the dilemma of having a monthly audio stipend!! 

I’ll be serious now  

We all go through this period of "I want to upgrade something, but what do I do next?" sometimes it is some major component we lust after, and we blow our expected budget, and sometimes we think about every part of the chain and simply try to swap out the lowest hanging fruit- the bottleneck- which is probably the most efficient and best bang for the buck. If these are not components many call them tweaks. Those little tweaks can compound to a the same effect as a major component change. Things like footers or shelves under components and speakers, cables, acoustic treatments, tube changes, capacitor upgrades, and repositioning of those tweaks. 

One of my latest "tweaks" was a change of ethernet cable from SOtM to Sablon, and for a few hundred dollar outlay, (which was recouped by selling the SOtM, so it essentially cost me nothing), it was a beyond a no-brainer- I’ll say that upgrade combined with the latest version 8 release of PGGB remastering files to DSD 256 and the two of those "tweaks" are essentially on the level of a component upgrade- like going from a 10K to a 15K amplifier. 

Like many experienced audiophiles in this thread have posted already, you don’t know until you try it, but I am going to go out on a limb and say if you are using generic ethernet cables swapping in a $425 Sablon ethernet cable from the switch to the streamer will have a much greater improvement than the $1200 DDC. But yes, I could be wrong. Wait, do you have a switch?