I have AQ Thunder on my P10 and amps. I was thinking of the Hurricane for at least the P10. Not sure if I want to make that kind of investment. So I was looking at Belden also. Sorry falling off the Spdif path. Did I say the Matrix sounds fantastic with the Roon Nucleus!
@shardarweb mentioned “clean, flat response curves,” your comment to which I responded added nothing, so I went with him. 
Oh come on. The topic of the moment was USB eye patterns…
Actually no, @shardarweb has brought a good deal more to the table than this and is thinking much more broadly. I take his comments and observations seriously.
On the other hand, your dismissive, condescending responses - mocking his post with “I’ll let you think about that for a while…” and cries of “snakeoil” do nothing to move the conversation forward.
Perhaps you can explain what an eye pattern is and what it means in the context of USB. All I know is what I have read in Stereophile. I bet others would be interested also.
Actually, no. I mentioned that the eye pattern looked worse and shardarweb said:
“It’s possible for things to sound better even if the signal is adversely affected. We don’t necessarily prefer clean, flat response curves.”
It’s pretty clear…nice try though.
It’s not my job to educate on USB eye patterns. Google it.
If measurements say it all I think you need to look at the ASR website to see how “great” the DS DAC and the Schitt Bifrost measured and think about that for a while …
Please don’t feed the trolls. It keeps them around.
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About the iFi Purifier:
I read this review –
– and thought the Purifier probably doesn’t belong in the Matrix at all, because it tries to do just the same thing. According to the review, t’s a competing but lower-cost and slightly less effective product that also reclocks the signal, so you’d be doing this repetitiously.
I understand you like what you hear with the two combined, but perhaps removing the Matrix and just using the Purifier would work for the better in your system?
I had the Purifier 3 before I got the Matrix. Before I got the Matrix, I was using the Jitter Bug which was OK, it helped the sound, and then I combined it with the UpTone USB Regen and got better sound from that combo. I then compared the Regen with the Purifier 3 and Purifier 3 sounded cleaner so I got rid of the Regen. Then I got the Matrix. The Matrix was even better in cleaning the signal and letting more information through. Then the Jitter bug didn’t sound so good with Matrix so I got rid of it, but kept the Purifier in because at the time, it did seem to sound better with it in. Now I just wanted to get rid of unnecessary pieces in the signal path, so I tried taking out the Purifier 3 and no, the Purifier sounded good in. The sound is slightly worst without it. I don’t really care what the manufacture claims what it does, only what I hear when it’s in my system. From what I hear, It’s staying.
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I have one also and use with my Matrix. It works in my system also.
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I do visit the ASR site and find it very informative. Yes, DS Sr got a bad rating due to issues with noise. I think the review tied the noise to the output transformers. There’s a pretty big thread on this forum describing the improvements people hear after replacing those transformers. So maybe he’s onto something.
I have a DS Sr and find it to be the most musical DAC I’ve ever heard. So maybe the noise level is less important than whatever makes me prefer this DAC. That’s where I’m saying that flat response curves and low noise may not be the full game.
Consider how many people prefer tube amplifiers. Typically they say they like the full, warm tone. Is that a perfectly flat response curve? Often, the cleanest amps are described as sterile, analytical, or dry. If flat response and low noise were everything, we would all use the Benchmark AHB2.
I lean towards the subjective side, letting my ears be my guide, but I do think measurements can be informative.
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You’ve got it right … my point was (sarcastically) we can’t rely on measurements to determine what sounds best to each of us.
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Guess you’re right, 10 hearts to none … game, set, match. 
I really do try to stay out of these things, but sometimes I just can’t help myself.
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Exactly correct, and what most of us understood you were expressing.
A mixed approach of objective measurement/subjective judgements serves most of us very well.
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Yet @tedsmith does everything he can in each DirectStream firmware release to lower the noise of the DAC.
Noise is never a good thing. Never. Distortion can be pleasing (even order can be pleasing) or it can be grating (odd order is usually bad). Frequency response is an individual preference deal. I don’t like SET amps because they roll off the top and bottom ends too much. They are great if you like a midrange bump.
But frequency response and distortion have nothing to do with the iFi Purifier 3. It does not claim to affect frequency response or distortion. The iFi Purifier 3 does not affect the actual bits sent to the DAC. It is only supposed to clean up the USB signal and clock. Noise effects the quality of the analog signal the DAC puts out. Noise muddies the sound of bass, it brings sibilance where it was not present or makes it worse, it reduces instrument and voice separation, it collapses the sound stage. I have never heard good sounding noise.
As @shardarweb notes, the pursuit of low noise onto itself is not necessarily the path for best sound. As he put it, this may not be the full game.
For example, one can use global feedback to virtually eliminate noise and distortion in an amplifier, but the resulting sound is typically brittle and hard.
There are many trade-offs.
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I have a Teddy Pardo +9v LPS for $300 including CONUS shipping and PayPal fees. It’s a little over a year old. Worked great on my Matrix before I sold it.
I will purchase that right now!
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Ok, my PayPal is
I will ship out tomorrow and provide tracking info.
Thanks,
Frank
I am interested. Please call me