@Confused - Interesting observations. I've never tried the external clock stuff. But going from your experience, the Denafrips Gaia 's clock input seemed designed to work with their new Terminator+ DAC's clocks.
Read good reviews about the DI20 HE as well. A friend bought a DI20HE. He uses a Weiss DAC, and upgraded from a Singxer SU-1 with external Uptone LPS-1.2 power supply. He thinks the DI20 is better, no question. But one thing that concerns me about the DI20 is the reliability and ease of updating the firmware, it apparently requires additional tools to do that.
In all this experimenting, I found that some big gains can be had, in tweaking the ground isolation of the USB devices - At least in my setup with the Singxer SU-6. I use the ifi iSilencer devices to isolate the ground from the PC side to the USB ISO Regen input, and from the USB ISO Regen to DDC. Improvements to me were in getting rid of some bass boom, improving that 3-dimensional feel of the soundstage, and in keeping the highs detailed but not harsh. These tweaks also make me wonder if the DI20 or the Gaia will actually sound better than the SU-6 or not? Maybe a lot of the improvements had a lot to do with the cables and grounding in the first place.
Maybe with a cleaner or floating "computer" source this difference will be less apparent.
Read good reviews about the DI20 HE as well. A friend bought a DI20HE. He uses a Weiss DAC, and upgraded from a Singxer SU-1 with external Uptone LPS-1.2 power supply. He thinks the DI20 is better, no question. But one thing that concerns me about the DI20 is the reliability and ease of updating the firmware, it apparently requires additional tools to do that.
In all this experimenting, I found that some big gains can be had, in tweaking the ground isolation of the USB devices - At least in my setup with the Singxer SU-6. I use the ifi iSilencer devices to isolate the ground from the PC side to the USB ISO Regen input, and from the USB ISO Regen to DDC. Improvements to me were in getting rid of some bass boom, improving that 3-dimensional feel of the soundstage, and in keeping the highs detailed but not harsh. These tweaks also make me wonder if the DI20 or the Gaia will actually sound better than the SU-6 or not? Maybe a lot of the improvements had a lot to do with the cables and grounding in the first place.
Maybe with a cleaner or floating "computer" source this difference will be less apparent.
Devialet 1000 Pro CI - AQ Diamond AES RCA-XLR Link
PC - ifi iDefender+ - FIBBR Alpha Optical USB + "Studer 900" LPS - Singxer SU-6 - AQ Diamond AES
PSB Imagine T3 - AQ William Tell Zero / Tornado / DBS Level-X - PliXir Balanced AC
