DDC Connection Roulette - Denafrips Venus II 12th

presuming your smsl disc player is well built as a hifi component, my guess would be a ddc would not make a meaningful difference, its inherent jitter and noise levels should be pretty low and not negatively affect the sound played through the venus

but as always you should

a - try the various connection options (even without a ddc) afforded by the venus

b - buy a ddc and try it on a returnable basis to see if it makes a difference 

... and use your ears as the guide

all this of course, depends on your listening sensitivity and the transparency of your system

@soix  I find it odd that TMR shows the Hermes retail as $1749 when it's actually $1299.

With the I2S connection, the source is the Master clock.  So, for that connection, I would use the source that you consider has the best clock - probably your Eversolo.  For the CD player, you can use optical, coax, or USB - whatever sounds better. 

@soix 

I should have done my homework.  I had looked at a couple of DDCs that only had single device input.  The Hermes changes that issue with selectable inputs 

I tried a Hermes 15th with my LAiV Harmony (SPDIF) and Oppo UDP-203 (Toslink).  The Hermes would not do 24-Bit/ 192kHz via SPDIF so I asked for my money back.  While trouble shooting, I realized that the Hermes was doing nothing to improve my system.