Guys, I have a Hermes DDC and wondering what suggestions might be out there to help it achieve a higher level of SQ - if anything at all. I see a few things, some of which I am unsure will make a difference in the digital domain - WIMA MKS v. other types of capacitors. Unsure bypassing caps could or would make any difference let alone improvement - interested in thoughts here. SMD regulators, auto-sensing and switching voltage.
Okay. Looks like it uses an SMPS, which may be a problem. Some owners of Chord dacs have replaced the SMPS with linear supplies which they say helps SQ. Other than that, this dac appears to have a number of custom programmed chips (FPGAs, and or similar) that are probably protected from reading the contents. Also IIUC, Denafrips tends to design custom D/A converters rather than rely on off the shelf dac chips. Thus, for the most part there is probably little you can do to change it.
As an aside, an entry level Denafrips dac was sent to Auburn for some listening tests. Around $1k for that model, IIRC. Didn't like the sound of it myself.
If you are a diy'er, I would suggest to follow some of what is going on in the forum with diy DSD FIRDACs. Its possible to make a very good one. Its also possible to obtain pretty much SOA diy'er boards from TheWellAudio which is part of what I used to build my current reference dac. Use some other parts too, such as from Acko Labs, various power supplies, power conditioners from Monster (HTPS 7000 MkII Signature Edition) designed by a couple of guys around here, I2SoverUSB, Simple DSD Converter project from here in the forum, etc. Feel free to PM if interested is discussion or have questions.
As an aside, an entry level Denafrips dac was sent to Auburn for some listening tests. Around $1k for that model, IIRC. Didn't like the sound of it myself.
If you are a diy'er, I would suggest to follow some of what is going on in the forum with diy DSD FIRDACs. Its possible to make a very good one. Its also possible to obtain pretty much SOA diy'er boards from TheWellAudio which is part of what I used to build my current reference dac. Use some other parts too, such as from Acko Labs, various power supplies, power conditioners from Monster (HTPS 7000 MkII Signature Edition) designed by a couple of guys around here, I2SoverUSB, Simple DSD Converter project from here in the forum, etc. Feel free to PM if interested is discussion or have questions.