Although I knew that streaming from a PC connected to a DAC via USB could introduce noise floor and jitter to the DAC, I was under the impression that softwares like Audirvana could minimize these issues. After all a PC was never designed to stream high end quality music. When Denafrips introduced DDC's to the market, it kind of made sense to me that isolating the DAC from a direct connection from a noisy PC using an electrical USB connection had the potential to improved sounds.
Since I was not sure about the impact of a DDC, I decided to go for the entry level IRIS DDC in the Denafrips line up. My goal was to connect my PC to the IRIS via USB and the IRIS to my Pontus DAC through an I2S connection. Despite few issues around I2S, Vinshine did a great job to support me all the way in order to fix my situation.
To my great surprise the IRIS made a significant improvement in my overall system. With the IRIS, I am now experiencing a wider sound stage, greater details, faster bass and better musicality. I cannot asses to what degree the IRIS lowered the noise floor and jitter from my PC, but I am confident to say that I2S and converting my music format to DSD 256 contributed to a better sound experience. Of course, I could upsample my music before to DSD 256 without the IRIS but the clock of the Pontus in that environment was not always able to keep up which isn’t the case anymore with the IRIS.
I would highly recommend a Denafrips DDC”s in any system especially if you are upsampling and streaming music from a PC. Thank you to Alvin and to your team at Vinshine for your great support.
My System
Source: Mac Mini, Audirvana Studio,,upsampling to DSD 256 format, Tidal
DDC: Denafrips IRIS (USB to the Mac Mini)
DAC: Pontus (I2S to the IRIS)
Preamp: Mcintosh C8
Power amp: Mcintosh Mc830
Speaker: Tannoy xt8f
Sub: Rel T9i
Credit: Pierre G @ Canada
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