I saw a couple of YouTube reviews that mentioned this DDC and decided to give it a try.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLYVZCV5?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Well this little gizmo seems very worth the $73 + tax I paid on Amazon.  I have used it in two systems - my main system to input I2S into my Holo Cyan 2 and my cottage system with a coax into my Mytek Brooklyn DAC+.   It provided improvements in both systems.

It improved the depth of soundstage, positioning of instruments in the space and bass definition.  More of all three on the Holo DAC system but that is also in a fairly well treated room, where the cottage system has no room treatments at all.

On the DAC+ system it also helped to take away some of that Delta Sigma edge.   Much more analogue sounding and I hope to do a side by side with the Holo.  

I liked the Mytek dac but wanted a more analogue sound, thus my move to the Holo.   If I had this little DDC at the time, I may not have switched.

I am thinking of buying a second one for the cottage system.  I have already invested in a better, short USB cord and HDMI cord.

Anyway, if you are I2S curious or want to smooth out the edge on your DAC, it might be worth the gamble.   You get a generous return window with Amazon so not much of a risk if you don't hear any improvement.

It has two settings to cover the I2S differences.   I have no idea what the differences are.   I just plugged it in, fed it USB out of my Mac mini and was good to go.

I’m kind of wondering if the cheap DDC would be a good match for my cheap Fiio R2R DAC?

Cheap plus cheap equals less cheap?

My CSP2+ has been back at the mothership getting upgrades. I put a Schiit Asgard in its place. I'm mostly a vinyl guy and the Asgard just doesn't have the synergy with my ZP3 so I've been 100% digital for a few weeks.

Roon on Mac Mini to Ares 15th to Asgard to UFO25.

Figured there's no risk in trying this little DDC, that's mostly true but not entirely. The DDC was down to about $65 so I got one. I spaced on the fact it has a USB C input. I had been using a AQ Forest usb cable with USB C adapter on the Mini end. Back to Amazon for an adapter on the DDC end. In the meantime I used the 6" USB C cable that comes with the DDC. I have 3 or 4 12" HDMI cables that I can't recall ordering, can't think of anything here that would use such a short cable. Regardless, I used one from the DDC to the Ares 15. Just like Palomino, everything worked and there was no need to play with the switches on the DDC. So there is a risk of falling into the "need more cables" rabbit hole.

When the unit arrived I got it up and running and did a quick listen. Yikes, the bass was a mess but everything else was ok. I walked away for a hours and things seemed to settle down a little. I was impressed that night at the noticeable instrument separation, a slight increase of depth and soundstage. It really brought the vocals out. Night two with same setup was more of the same. I left everything but the amp run 24-7 to rack up some hours on the DDC.

Day three - the USB A to C adapter arrived so I pulled out the little white USB cable and put the AQ cable with adapters on both ends in. Sat down that night to listen and most everything just grated my nerves. The sound developed a high pitch glare on some tracks. Other tracks were great, some others just seemed to wander from muddy to way too forward. Perhaps the AQ cable and adapters is the culprit, perhaps the HDMI, maybe...ah hell it could be anything.

I'm hoping to find a couple hours over the weekend to swap cables and play around. The other risk is...maybe the Denafrips Iris is worth the 10x higher price? FOMO and all that. Anyways, for $65-75 I think there is potential for a nice improvement, but at least for me it's not been a simple plug n play and forget about it. I've got a tracking number for my CSP, so I have a bit of time to play around before it comes back and things change all over again.

Interesting.   The complete opposite of my experience.   I actually just bought a second one for my other system.

I was at the cottage and did some A/B and it was night and day in terms of soundstage depth (which is a challenge there).

Hopefully you can sort it out.

Interesting. I was coincidentally watching Randy, the Cheap Audio Man, yesterday when he was presenting this SMSL as way of improving the sound of the Wiim Ultra. It is really tempting to give it a try!

Ramón