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Denafrips DAC owners - how did ownership compare with the hype?

Ares NOS is not true NOS (upsampled and simulated). I’m not sure that makes a genuinely audible difference anyone can pick up on.

My genuinely NOS DAC doesn’t have an OS mode, so I tried HQPlayer but even with the most computationally arduous of filters all I could do was make things different. Actually in the end I preferred how it sounded with HQPlayer taken out of the equation altogether but other DACs that are OS designs (including really cheap ones and poor measuring ones) seem still to be able to sound ace! To me, anyway.
 
G T Audio said:
The NOS is simulated so it is not a true NOS design.
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I'm only interested in how it sounds, and could not care about the technicality of one mode or another, nor how it is implemented. For me OS mode with slow filter is preferable and my Denafrips DAC has brought digital replay up to a level where it is equal to vinyl and deeply involving at that. These are astonishing products - a shame they are not British, but at least they are openly and proudly Chinese.
 
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Liar liar pants on fire, so when they state, ‘ our R-2R DAC, is often filled with emotion, comfort, high fidelity, transparency, and additive musicality that most of the common mainstream integrated DAC chip cannot match’ ,
Might not be the truth?
Keith
 
Purité Audio said:
Liar liar pants on fire, so when they state, ‘ our R-2R DAC, is often filled with emotion, comfort, high fidelity, transparency, and additive musicality that most of the common mainstream integrated DAC chip cannot match’ ,
Might not be the truth?
Keith
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Sounds true to my ears. I'm just a happy Denafrips customer.
 
I think at the factory they have a couple of nearby mines, one of which very rich with emotion and another which is overflowing with transparency so they have quite the advantage when it comes to making high end DACs.

FWIW they measure great and do sound very good.
 
Shuggie said:
I'm only interested in how it sounds, and could not care about the technicality of one mode or another, nor how it is implemented. For me OS mode with slow filter is preferable and my Denafrips DAC has brought digital replay up to a level where it is equal to vinyl and deeply involving at that. These are astonishing products - a shame they are not British, but at least they are openly and proudly Chinese.
Click to expand...

I think it is very important for HiFi dealers and distributors to have a good understanding of HiFi technology, so they can explain to their customers and clients, what and why the different technologies sound the way they do. If you went into a car showroom and asked the salesman "what are the differences between a BMW 3 series saloon and a BMW M3", and the salesman said "I don't care about the technicalities but the M3 will blow your trousers off", I don't think anyone would be too impressed. Most would expect a good description of the differences between the two models, including performance, comfort, handling etc. And hopefully the salesman would be able to demonstrate this with a test drive. Unfortunately, this lackadaisical approach in HiFi is all too common and one of the reasons the interest in HiFi has declined over the years. Poor or incorrect advice given in order to achieve a sale, at the expense of the customer/client who ends up losing a lot of money and eventually sells all his gear and moves to another hobby.

Most know my thoughts on buying Chinese products. Buying anything Chinese is helping to prop up a very corrupt regime and one that oppresses the very people that help create its wealth. The West is just coming to terms with this and some companies are pulling back production to their own countries, just as they will be doing so to avoid the reliance on Russia. I have nothing against the Chinese people, it is the regime that I dislike. Thankfully, I have been making audio products for 25 years, so I have no need to buy anything from China.
 
It is quite difficult to avoid buying Chinese nowadays, and it would help if all companies stated clearly where their stuff is made - certain HiFi manufacturers still use devious phrases like 'designed and engineered in xxxx ' rather than being honest and adding 'Made in China'. Even some Bosch domestic appliances are made in China nowadays but I suspect you'd have to look quite hard to find a label stating that! How many 'German' cars are in fact made in China?

Your car analogy is maybe apposite, but car buying is perhaps even more of a subjective and emotionally driven process than buying audio! Even then, I believe that most car buyers don't care about the technology under the surface, as long as the thing has smartphone integration that actually works and does not break down, on which latter point buying German starts to become less attractive according to annual warranty company surveys. As for dealer advice on buying audio equipment, in the context of digital gear I don't offer any such equipment and I don't offer buying advice, but I'm happy to share my personal experiences here as an audio enthusisast. Many seem to share my positive thoughts on Denafrips.
 
Shuggie said:
I believe that most car buyers don't care about the technology under the surface, as long as the thing has smartphone integration that actually works and does not break down
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Modern car buying seems to be more about hiding the experience of driving and replacing it with something that feels like the experience of driving. Comfort and a good stereo helps, plus modern cars seem to go pretty damn quickly but I’d much rather a proper diff, a gear stick that is attached to the gearbox and rear wheel drive. Ah well. The golden age of motoring has long since passed!
 
China is getting the world over a barrel re EV batteries/rare earth materials, and we seem to be happily playing along. Same for so much other production... all to their own standards. Dawned on me recently how shit it all really is.

Anyway, I'll tackle it one hifi product at a time :)
 
Shuggie said:
It is quite difficult to avoid buying Chinese nowadays, and it would help if all companies stated clearly where their stuff is made - certain HiFi manufacturers still use devious phrases like 'designed and engineered in xxxx ' rather than being honest and adding 'Made in China'. Even some Bosch domestic appliances are made in China nowadays but I suspect you'd have to look quite hard to find a label stating that! How many 'German' cars are in fact made in China?

Your car analogy is maybe apposite, but car buying is perhaps even more of a subjective and emotionally driven process than buying audio! Even then, I believe that most car buyers don't care about the technology under the surface, as long as the thing has smartphone integration that actually works and does not break down, on which latter point buying German starts to become less attractive according to annual warranty company surveys. As for dealer advice on buying audio equipment, in the context of digital gear I don't offer any such equipment and I don't offer buying advice, but I'm happy to share my personal experiences here as an audio enthusisast. Many seem to share my positive thoughts on Denafrips.
Click to expand...

I agree on your car perspective. I was looking up the website specs of a couple of Electric cars and it was very difficult to find any meaningful technical info on them other than range. They seemed to want to mentioned multi coloured interior LED "mood lighting" and Apple car play connectivity and nothing about the motor or battery specs. In particular I noted for a VW ID3 that the top speed was limited to 99MPH despite the motor being quoted at around 200HP. I couldn't find a single on-line review that even mentioned the limited top speed, let alone the reason why it is so.
 
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