Which cables for Denafrips Hermes DDC?

Dasign

Well-Known Member
Mar 20, 2018
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25
123
I am the proud owner of the Denafrips Terminator Plus DAC which I dearly love. I am interested in purchasing the Denafrips Hermes DDC following positive reviews from different audiophile forums. The price of the Hermes is reasonable and looking into buying two coaxial clock cables and using an HDMI cable for the I2S input. However, price for these cables from reputable cable manufacturer exceeds the price of the Hermes. I know from experience that cables (power, interconnects, speaker) do make a difference. However, I do not have any experience with clock cables. My game plan is to purchase a top/near top of line Wireworld HDMI cable and go on a relatively low budget for the clock cables.

I am seeking advice from Terminator Plus/Denafrips DDC owners who have experienced different clock/HDMI cables to chime in, and validate if my plan makes sense. Please share where I should put top quality, HDMI or clock, or both?
 

mourip

Well-Known Member
Feb 8, 2020
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105
I have a month old T2 and a Hermes DDC. I am using a pair of Canare 75ohm cables that I got from a Pro audio site. They are reasonably priced and probably what an engineer used with some part of the recording studio equipment that made the music I listen to :)

I should add that after a lot of juggling settings and inputs I currently am using the AES input of my T2. I prefer it to the I2S connection using HDMI. I also have the T2 set to NOS and am not doing any software upsampling. To my ears the other settings and connections all had a slightly artificial quality or glare .
 
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Dasign

Well-Known Member
Mar 20, 2018
38
25
123
I have a month old T2 and a Hermes DDC. I am using a pair of Canare 75ohm cables that I got from a Pro audio site. They are reasonably priced and probably what an engineer used with some part of the recording studio equipment that made the music I listen to :)

I should add that after a lot of juggling settings and inputs I currently am using the AES input of my T2. I prefer it to the I2S connection using HDMI. I also have the T2 set to NOS and am not doing any software upsampling. To my ears the other settings and connections all had a slightly artificial quality or glare .
Interesting information on the Canare cables. Will look into this. What cable are you using for the AES input?
 

mourip

Well-Known Member
Feb 8, 2020
94
64
105
The AES cable is DH Labs Silver Sonic. In this case it did sound better than some Pro audio cables that I tried.
 

devilboy

Well-Known Member
Jun 22, 2013
24
2
231
I just received my new Hermes from Denafrips. When it's fed a USB signal, it won't send the signal to my DAC. When an input is chosen on my DAC without a signal, it reads, "no data."

My computer recognizes the Hermes under "system preferences."
I have a Mac Mini as source so no driver needed.
I tried both optical and coax cables leaving the Hermes.


However, when I feed the Hermes either optical or coax signal, it sends it to my DAC and I have music.

It seems the Hermes isn't sending the signal when feeding it a USB signal.

I emailed Denafrips just now.

Any suggestions?
 

devilboy

Well-Known Member
Jun 22, 2013
24
2
231
I have an idea cable with RJ45 connections going from the Hermes to the Morpheus. It's 0.5m long.
I get a lot of crackling and popping sounds when I use that cable. I switch back to coax, and everything is fine again. Does anyone else have this issue?
 

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