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Denafrips Ares II thoughts

nostromo said:
No, I'm a neo-Darwinist trying to comprehend the fabulous universe with awe and positivity.
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Hows that worked out so far with the Fdac? :D

Sorry, purely taking the mick, the fdac story is shocking, and I do hope people actually do get what they have paid for at some point!
 
flutteringwow said:
Hows that worked out so far with the Fdac? :D

Sorry, purely taking the mick, the fdac story is shocking, and I do hope people actually do get what they have paid for at some point!
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Quite. I also now no longer have any particular faith that the FDAC will be that great if it finally does arrive - emphasis on if very much intended. MDAC L2 was decent, but the tech has moved on so quickly. Anyway, if anyone were interested in taking my place for an MDAC2 or FDAC or whatever, ping me….
 
flutteringwow said:
It's £1450 delivered including VAT and Duty, if you buy it direct from Denafrips, the 'Hermes' is a grand.

https://www.vinshineaudio.com/product-page/denafrips-gaia

Which at that price , seems reasonable in comparison with the price of the Innuos Phoenix. Although the Innuos has a better looking case, but at a grand cheaper, I'll take the GAIA's fugly box and hide it.

But stating something 'should be £4k', I call BS on that one :)
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I guess you already have the answer as to why prices on some goods can sometimes vary in different parts of the world and the possible benefits that can be had.

You are more than welcome to differ however as I said some time ago "at £800 the Ares II is indeed a bargain and then some. Even at £1500 Ares II would not be be out of place." and in my earlier post -

£1900 is a lot of money however and relative to other products I’ve come across over the years the GAIA DDC offers superb VFM. The GAIA DDC’s ability to offer super clean digital streams to DAC’s and the subsequent increase in the performance of DAC’s is fabulous. The GAIA DDC should be priced at around £4K instead.

The GAIA DDC is along the lines of the audio equivalent of the Hubble telescope fix for digital signals feeding DAC's :) The GAIA DDC enables DAC's to breathe freely and the result is that everything simply snaps into focus :cool:

I think the GAIA DDC should be seriously considered a pre requisite for good quality DAC's :)

Btw, two weeks on and the GAIA DDC fed by an ND5 XS 2 continues to amaze.
 
Musicraft said:
I guess you already have the answer as to why prices on some goods can sometimes vary in different parts of the world and the possible benefits that can be had.

You are more than welcome to differ however as I said some time ago "at £800 the Ares II is indeed a bargain and then some. Even at £1500 Ares II would not be be out of place." and in my earlier post -

£1900 is a lot of money however and relative to other products I’ve come across over the years the GAIA DDC offers superb VFM. The GAIA DDC’s ability to offer super clean digital streams to DAC’s and the subsequent increase in the performance of DAC’s is fabulous. The GAIA DDC should be priced at around £4K instead.

The GAIA DDC is along the lines of the audio equivalent of the Hubble telescope fix for digital signals feeding DAC's :) The GAIA DDC enables DAC's to breathe freely and the result is that everything simply snaps into focus :cool:

I think the GAIA DDC should be seriously considered a pre requisite for good quality DAC's :)

Btw, two weeks on and the GAIA DDC fed by an ND5 XS 2 continues to amaze.
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Do you always cut and paste a lot? :)

It's £1450 officially delivered to UK inc VAT and Duty. I think what you mean is, Denafrips wouldn't offer you a good trade deal (they are very thrifty operators!), so you have to cover your profit and overheads in the cost on top of the standard price. Perfectly fine and acceptable to do, but no point sugar coating it!

I really don't know how you can claim something 'should' be priced at thousands more though, that sort of rhetoric ends up just sounding a little like a double glazing salesman speech.

Anyhow, I've offered to you to put it through its paces and come back with my honest thoughts. Entirely up to you if you wish to take me up on that. If it's as 'wow' as you say it is, I am sure it will show its validity between my Innous Zenith and Aqua La Voce S3, and boy if it is that good, I will definitely shout about it to.
 
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We've just taken on/in T+A's HA 200 amplifier and Solitaire P Planar-magnetostatic headphones and Solitaire P-SE magnetostatic headphones. I don't think there's going to be any place to hide for any external components to be used with these T+A bad boys :cool:

First up will be the GAIA DDC to be used with the HA 200/Solitaire P's :)

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That is an interesting looking amp thingy. I’m a sucker for meters, that reminds me a bit of the SPL Phonitor…
 
Musicraft said:
We've just taken on/in T+A's HA 200 amplifier and Solitaire P Planar-magnetostatic headphones and Solitaire P-SE magnetostatic headphones. I don't think there's going to be any place to hide for any external components to be used with these T+A bad boys :cool:

First up will be the GAIA DDC to be used with the HA 200/Solitaire P's :)

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solitaire_p_teaser_kopfhoerer.jpg
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T+A designers are brillant !
 
JTC said:
That is an interesting looking amp thingy. I’m a sucker for meters,
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Thanks the HA 200 looks the business :) The VU meters are programmable to display the input signal or the output signal, the temperature of the output stage or the quality of the input signal, as well as any clock errors. The VU meters are illuminated by a backlight :cool:
 
flutteringwow said:
Do you always cut and paste a lot? :)

It's £1450 officially delivered to UK inc VAT and Duty. I think what you mean is, Denafrips wouldn't offer you a good trade deal (they are very thrifty operators!), so you have to cover your profit and overheads in the cost on top of the standard price. Perfectly fine and acceptable to do, but no point sugar coating it!

I really don't know how you can claim something 'should' be priced at thousands more though, that sort of rhetoric ends up just sounding a little like a double glazing salesman speech.

Anyhow, I've offered to you to put it through its paces and come back with my honest thoughts. Entirely up to you if you wish to take me up on that. If it's as 'wow' as you say it is, I am sure it will show its validity between my Innous Zenith and Aqua La Voce S3, and boy if it is that good, I will definitely shout about it to.
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I pretty sure that I am not the only person who has ever thought that a product should cost more than it retails for. Hence why I said "£1900 is a lot of money however and relative to other products I’ve come across over the years the GAIA DDC offers superb VFM." But hey, I'll humour you and say that imo the GAIA DDC is under priced and I feel the GAIA DDC should be priced at between £2900 - £4K instead :)

You are more than welcome to have a look and listen to our GAIA DDC here. We also support Innuos and have their ZEN MK3, ZENITH MK3 and Statement Series of servers in store. In addition to a ND5 XS 2 and a BD-S1900 in the coming weeks and I'll be using other source components such as a ZEN MK3, ZENITH MK3, Statement servers as well a dCS Network Bridge and a NDX 2 with the GAIA DDC. In addition to an Ares II DAC and a Terminator II DAC I'll also be using the Pontus II DAC, PrimaLuna Evo 100 DAC, dCS Bartok and EMM Labs/Meitner Audio MA3 with the GAIA DDC.

Btw, I am going to maintain what I've said so far -

The GAIA DDC is along the lines of the audio equivalent of the Hubble telescope fix for digital signals feeding DAC's :) The GAIA DDC enables DAC's to breathe freely and the result is that everything simply snaps into focus :cool:

I think the GAIA DDC should be seriously considered a pre requisite for good quality DAC's :)
 
Musicraft said:
I pretty sure that I am not the only person who has ever thought that a product should cost more than it retails for. Hence why I said "£1900 is a lot of money however and relative to other products I’ve come across over the years the GAIA DDC offers superb VFM." But hey, I'll humour you and say that imo the GAIA DDC is under priced and I feel the GAIA DDC should be priced at between £2900 - £4K instead :)

You are more than welcome to have a look and listen to our GAIA DDC here. We also support Innuos and have their ZEN MK3, ZENITH MK3 and Statement Series of servers in store. In addition to a ND5 XS 2 and a BD-S1900 in the coming weeks and I'll be using other source components such as a ZEN MK3, ZENITH MK3, Statement servers as well a dCS Network Bridge and a NDX 2 with the GAIA DDC. In addition to an Ares II DAC and a Terminator II DAC I'll also be using the Pontus II DAC, PrimaLuna Evo 100 DAC, dCS Bartok and EMM Labs/Meitner Audio MA3 with the GAIA DDC.

Btw, I am going to maintain what I've said so far -

The GAIA DDC is along the lines of the audio equivalent of the Hubble telescope fix for digital signals feeding DAC's :) The GAIA DDC enables DAC's to breathe freely and the result is that everything simply snaps into focus :cool:

I think the GAIA DDC should be seriously considered a pre requisite for good quality DAC's :)
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Surely you could just increase your mark up and sell it at £2900 then?

I don't in-store demo, its completely pointless, hence why I am being sent a Zenith on demo.

I dont think the cut and pasting is supporting your case on the validity of these though tbh. Yes we can hear your opinion that something you sell (which can be bought cheaper elsewhere) fixes the problems that other things you sell have. :)
 
flutteringwow said:
I don't in-store demo, its completely pointless, hence why I am being sent a Zenith on demo.

that something you sell (which can be bought cheaper elsewhere) fixes the problems that other things you sell have. :)
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Sorry to say this but we won't be offering you our GAIA DDC for a home demo.

Btw, so far the GAIA DDC has worked perfectly well with products we sell as well as products we don't sell :)
 
Musicraft said:
Sorry to say this but we won't be offering you our GAIA DDC for a home demo.

Btw, so far the GAIA DDC has worked perfectly well with products we sell as well as products we don't sell :)
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I didn't think so.

It's ok, an Innuos Phoenix is already en-route, that will do to explore this DDC world. Costs a bit less than your Gaia price. I think the design is nicer on the Phoenix, but accept it is limited to USB only.

I think you misunderstood my latter comment though :)
 
OK, I took a punt on a Venus II - couldn't justify the cost of a Terminator, and just knew that I'd eventually regret not pushing past Pontus II. It just arrived, and I set it up a short while ago.

Bearing in mind that it has just travelled for a couple of weeks from Singapore, and into a completely cold system (which I haven't used for a couple of days due to doing other things), and allowing for the fact I just plugged it in, didn't faff with the IsoPucks or anything - it's sounding pretty good already. Different, rather than obviously better than the Brooklyn/LPSU, quite dramatically so. So far I only tried my trusty "Mock Tudor" CD by Richard Thompson, and since I know this recording intimately, every nook and cranny, anything new or different (or indeed, missing or wrong) will be very obvious. There's clearly a bit more detail, and a slightly different presentation in space (for the round-earth folks), a definite 'ease' about the sound which might be otherwise described as 'analogue', and if nothing else changed from this I'd not be disappointed. But it is meant to change quite a bit over the first few hours, so we'll see where it goes. If there's a drawback it's the lack of a display - I used to like watching the meters on the Brooklyn - but it's a beautiful chunk of a thing, impeccably built and stands comparison to my amp in terms of build (as far as I can see). FTR I am using everything on default right now, so no idea if that's NOS or OS etc. I'll worry about that later. Whether it's worth the extra over Pontus II or Ares II, I'll not be able to tell, having not heard either, but I am not unimpressed with it thus far.

My plan is now not to rush back here in an hour to report on progress, but to give it casual listening over the next week and see how/if things change. And to confirm, the VAT-paid price via Vinshine Audio was totally straightforward, no additional costs to report. I was even able to pay in GBP (and saved about £20 in the process).
 
JTC said:
. And to confirm, the VAT-paid price via Vinshine Audio was totally straightforward, no additional costs to report. I was even able to pay in GBP (and saved about £20 in the process).
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That's good to know. Thanks.
 
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