Denafrips DAC owners - how did ownership compare with the hype?
- Thread starter Sibbers
- Start date
I haven’t heard about Denafrips before this but read great things about the Ares and Pontus 2 on another forum. It appears that the Denafrips have more fans than haters based on responses on the forum.
Interestingly, the Denafrips compare very favourably to the Chords (Qutest up to Dave) as few prefer the traits of the Denafrips over the Chord. The Pontus 2 sounds like a great sounding DAC.
One of the many good reviews of the Denafrips taken from another forum ;
As a diehard vinyl listener, I’ve actively avoided digital audio for the past 32 years until COVID struck this past year. With working at home for a year and a half now, the advantages of being able to change music without getting up became much more important than pre-COVID. So I built a front-end for listening to digital music both via local files and Qobuz streaming. As part of the process, I’ve listened to 8 DACs in the past year:
1. Audioquest Dragonfly Red - already owned, but plugged it into my streamer to see how it would fare in my home system
2. Rega DAC - loaned to me by a friend. Had it in my system for several days and then took it out.
3. Denafrips Ares II - loaned to me by a friend. Had it in my system for several months.
4. Simaudio Moon 280D - Listened at a dealer in comparison to the Qutest
5. Chord Qutest - Bought one. Had one in my system for several months. Sold it after I got the Pontus
6. Denafrips Pontus II - What I decided to keep.
7. Chord Hugo TT / MScaler - Listened at a dealer
8. Schiit Yggdrasil - Listened at a friend’s house
If you’re seeking a more analog and less digital sound, I can highly recommend the Pontus. FWIW, I was not at all impressed by the sound of the Hugo TT / MScaler. It was lacking in both pace and tonal color for my preferences. The Ares II was decent, but the Pontus is in a completely different league in terms of its sound quality improvement overs the Ares. The Ares has better tonal color and a more analog quality to its sound than the Qutest while the Qutest has better pace and timing than the Ares. The Pontus is better in pace/timing, ability to convey tonal colors, soundstage size than both the Ares and the Qutest. I thought the Pontus has more finesse than the Yggy. The Yggy was more forceful in how it conveyed rhythms.
Interestingly, the Denafrips compare very favourably to the Chords (Qutest up to Dave) as few prefer the traits of the Denafrips over the Chord. The Pontus 2 sounds like a great sounding DAC.
One of the many good reviews of the Denafrips taken from another forum ;
As a diehard vinyl listener, I’ve actively avoided digital audio for the past 32 years until COVID struck this past year. With working at home for a year and a half now, the advantages of being able to change music without getting up became much more important than pre-COVID. So I built a front-end for listening to digital music both via local files and Qobuz streaming. As part of the process, I’ve listened to 8 DACs in the past year:
1. Audioquest Dragonfly Red - already owned, but plugged it into my streamer to see how it would fare in my home system
2. Rega DAC - loaned to me by a friend. Had it in my system for several days and then took it out.
3. Denafrips Ares II - loaned to me by a friend. Had it in my system for several months.
4. Simaudio Moon 280D - Listened at a dealer in comparison to the Qutest
5. Chord Qutest - Bought one. Had one in my system for several months. Sold it after I got the Pontus
6. Denafrips Pontus II - What I decided to keep.
7. Chord Hugo TT / MScaler - Listened at a dealer
8. Schiit Yggdrasil - Listened at a friend’s house
If you’re seeking a more analog and less digital sound, I can highly recommend the Pontus. FWIW, I was not at all impressed by the sound of the Hugo TT / MScaler. It was lacking in both pace and tonal color for my preferences. The Ares II was decent, but the Pontus is in a completely different league in terms of its sound quality improvement overs the Ares. The Ares has better tonal color and a more analog quality to its sound than the Qutest while the Qutest has better pace and timing than the Ares. The Pontus is better in pace/timing, ability to convey tonal colors, soundstage size than both the Ares and the Qutest. I thought the Pontus has more finesse than the Yggy. The Yggy was more forceful in how it conveyed rhythms.
cubastreet
Espresso Fiend
Denafrips aren't anything like the bait & switch companies you'll meet on Alibaba.
https://www.denafrips.com/single-post/2020/06/26/Who-Are-We-DENAFRIPS-explained
https://www.denafrips.com/single-post/2020/06/26/Who-Are-We-DENAFRIPS-explained
radamel
Music Fiend
Same here! Although mine was delivered around Christmas time last year.
John_73
pfm Member
Very tempted by the Venus II DAC. Just wish they did a model with a built in headphone & pre-amp stage to cut down on cable clutter etc. Also I'd be worried about the serviceability of these DACs with so many electrolytic caps in there... though so far the only DAC I've kept longer than a decade was an old DPA one, so it's probably a moot point.
"FWIW, I was not at all impressed by the sound of the Hugo TT / MScaler. It was lacking in both pace and tonal color for my preferences."
This perceived lack of tonal colour was something I noticed about my TT2 (without M-scaler) after a while and why I sold it on, despite loving other aspects of what it did. Felt like the equivalent of a 4K image with slight sharpening on, and colour turned down a couple of notches. I'm sure the master tapes don't lack tonal colour, so just what exactly is giving the Chord this trait? It's something that's been bugging me for a while.
"FWIW, I was not at all impressed by the sound of the Hugo TT / MScaler. It was lacking in both pace and tonal color for my preferences."
This perceived lack of tonal colour was something I noticed about my TT2 (without M-scaler) after a while and why I sold it on, despite loving other aspects of what it did. Felt like the equivalent of a 4K image with slight sharpening on, and colour turned down a couple of notches. I'm sure the master tapes don't lack tonal colour, so just what exactly is giving the Chord this trait? It's something that's been bugging me for a while.
earlofsodbury
Wastrel.
Couple of points to the pro:
1. Most of those appear to be thru-hole types which are easier to replace, plus a DAC runs cool, and they appear to be high-quality Panasonics.
2. Somewhere (godnose where...) I have a little 'Teleton' integrated made in 1969 - it's still running flawlessly on its original electrolytics, and having lifted a few to test, they are still 100% within spec. 'Teleton' was an early Panasonic export brand.
I'd not fret about that aspect.
flutteringwow
She called me baby, like an old romantic
flutteringwow
She called me baby, like an old romantic
The La Voce S3 uses an FPGA, not an off the shelf chip, so that for me, would be one technical difference.
S-Man
StrivingON
I agree it's a different implementation, but it's the same technology.
I must admit to being a bit sceptical about these new R2R DACs. One of the best old school CDPs, the Cambridge Audio CD2, is bettered by an RPi and IQAudio DAC IMO.
Admittedly the TDA1541 X 4 in the CD2 is not actually an R2R DAC (but it's a lot different to a delta-sigma DAC).
OTOH there is some very bland sounding digital kit out there - anything with an ESS DAC inside IME.
Apologies for my scepticism. I'v seen the wheel reinvented quite a few times in this hifi game
.
I must admit to being a bit sceptical about these new R2R DACs. One of the best old school CDPs, the Cambridge Audio CD2, is bettered by an RPi and IQAudio DAC IMO.
Admittedly the TDA1541 X 4 in the CD2 is not actually an R2R DAC (but it's a lot different to a delta-sigma DAC).
OTOH there is some very bland sounding digital kit out there - anything with an ESS DAC inside IME.
Apologies for my scepticism. I'v seen the wheel reinvented quite a few times in this hifi game
.
flutteringwow
She called me baby, like an old romantic
I agree it's a different implementation, but it's the same technology.
I must admit to being a bit sceptical about these new R2R DACs. One of the best old school CDPs, the Cambridge Audio CD2, is bettered by an RPi and IQAudio DAC IMO.
Admittedly the TDA1541 X 4 in the CD2 is not actually an R2R DAC (but it's a lot different to a delta-sigma DAC).
OTOH there is some very bland sounding digital kit out there - anything with an ESS DAC inside IME.
Apologies for my scepticism. I'v seen the wheel reinvented quite a few times in this hifi game
I wouldn't say its been reinvented, just improved.
ESS Dacs are souless sounding tin boxes, imo. R2R Ladder Dacs are nothing like an ESS Dac.
There is a difference between chip based R2R's and proper R2R Ladder units ime, the latter being better, for me anyway.
Musicraft
Trade: Musicraft
Currently here in the store listening a Denafrips Audio Ares II > ATC SCA2 > Kinki Studio Audio EX-M7 > Monitor Audio Gold 5G 300's > JL Audio Fathom f112 v2. The Ares II sounds so organic, so dynamic and so damn natural.
Hearing Denafrips Audio's true discrete R-2R ladder DAC's is like hearing R2R tape decks
D -ynamic
E -xquisite
N -atural
A -ttractive
F -idelity
R -efined
I -ntoxicating
P -ure
S -ophisticated
The Terminator makes any material you put through it sound great. Even bad recordings / lo res sounds good. One of the other things about my Terminator is that it can deal with any complex music you through at it. Things like Moon Duo, Wooden Shjips, Spiritualized, Follakzoid sound so different as the dac is able to clearly reproduce each instrument and voice no matter how complex the music. But, the music is printed as a whole.
russel
./_dazed_and_confused
I have and they were on the ball, highly automated, efficient and high quality. Worst thing the West did was outsource everything there, Europe does not have a single factory capable of producing a PCB/PWB for a modern mobile phone now, I guess the USA is the same.
Sibbers
Earthling
This post turned out to be impactful and expensive. Let's see. If it turns out to be nonsense I'll blow the whistle - I have 2+ weeks to wait I think. Thanks again all.
nostromo
pfm Member
Oh ...I hope it works out well. Please do pass on your impressions. I'm very close to ordering this myself, I'm just jugling a few bills first. Also trying to work out whether to order from Magna HiFi (Holland) recommend by Rune of this parish or go with Kitsune USA...I'm not sure which will work out better for me in the UK.
I might just wait to hear your thoughts first.