slex said:

Guys, Pontus not in my shore yet. Pics is sent to me by Vineshine that i requested

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Talking about pics, there could be more on Denafrips and Vinshine page. At present it`s quite incomprehensible which model is 2 box spearate PSU etc. Would like to peek under the skirt also ...

Pontus is arriving.......

krell1967 said:

Pontus is arriving.......

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Rows of resistors and caps look so sexy!!!

i would like to see, what is under the PCB

hyfly said:

i would like to see, what is under the PCB

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Power supply, what else....

Krell1957,
WOW Pontus looks impressive!
You said that you will order Terminator? Would like to peek under the Terminator skirt also.........

 
What`s your first impressions of the Pontus?
 
P.S. My Ares still burns-in so I will do my final shootout on coming week when I have a time to listen. I will report my long promised review also!

Sorry about my english...
I also had an afternoon listening to some friends with Ares - Holo 1 / Singxer Su-1 / M9 + Gustard H10 mod / Sen HD540-560-580-600. Compared to Holo Spring, Ares has a slightly smoother mid-section, deeper images, bass is the same, Ares has more body, but Holo is stronger. But treb still lack sparkling. About missing sparkle treb I think is due to the exact level of the resistor. Actually, Ares is good compared to $ 600.
Ares received many good reviews here. At least 3 of my friends have ordered to replace the x20, bifrost mubtibit, Audiogd Nos19. I also held a small offline meeting so everyone could hear Ares. All appreciated.
Denafrips Ares with Mimby-Bimmy yesterday, plugged in with schott Jotunheim and listen to HD600 / Balance Cable and RS1i, the fact that the war ares (ares) is quite good compared to mimby especially bright, Break out the bass as thick as a mimba. High range is better than mimby pretty much, good bass control is very powerful.
If the range is $ 600-700 then ares is a dac r2r probably quite well


 Mimby with bifrost have the same sound same, then bifrost harder than ares!

It is sad to be upgraded usb in the new ares support dsd native is also supported by default only dsd via DoP

Add a bit of war god: build quality pretty good, sure, holding hands. There is no cheap feeling unless you light up (I do not like the Ares luminaire ))

The interior is much cleaner, not as terrorist as the gd audio group neatly tidy

Before that I had the opportunity to listen to Nos 19 (PCM 170 famous) but the sound is not as you think, compared to the nose 19, the sound ares brighter, more balanced, treble up well not roll off like the nose of 19)

Personal feel of the treble head, listen to how the individual views, the bricks free to receive!

I want to know how it compares to the similarly priced Singularity-19 and if the Ares had I2S HDMI, it would be a no-brainer.

Thanks for your review Grrrr!
 
Do you have a speaker system also or you listened on headphones only?
 
I have not done the final listening and compassion with Ares yet (still burning in) but so far I would not describe the highs as bright. Maybe you wanted to say more extended or clear? At least that`s my findings so far. Ares has a slight velvety tone, that is quite pleasing and sounds pretty real/neutral. One of the most shocking ability of Ares is the realistic deep 3D soundstage that is actually a very rare ability even for dac`s that cost many many times more. The other thing that shocked was the ability to produce a undistorted, deep and fast bass. From such a small piece of DAC its quite amazing!

manishex said:

  I want to know how it compares to the similarly priced Singularity-19 and if the Ares had I2S HDMI, it would be a no-brainer.

Click to expand...

 
I wouldn't worry about about connections so much. The basic DNA of a device is always the same.
There`s not much comparisons to Audio GD 19 yet, but if we check the spec of R2R ladder resistors in audio GD are 0,1% precision (DA M1 modules) but Ares has 0.01% resistors and the top Denafrips models even use 0,005% resistor ladders.
 
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/diy/DA01/DA01EN.htm
 
Below are a couple words from audiogoner that supposedly owns both dacs:
 
 

4hannons

98 posts



04-04-2017 8:10pm



I'm currently comparing the Audio GD to Ares, both have approx. 150 hours so far, I'm leaning toward the Ares right now.

 
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/dac-does-anyhting-beat-the-schiit-gungnir-multibit-gumby-in-the-same

mr pluto said:

Thanks for your review Grrrr!

Do you have a speaker system also or you listened on headphones only?

I have not done the final listening and compassion with Ares yet (still burning in) but so far I would not describe the highs as bright. Maybe you wanted to say more extended or clear? At least that`s my findings so far. Ares has a slight velvety tone, that is quite pleasing and sounds pretty real/neutral. One of the most shocking ability of Ares is the realistic deep 3D soundstage that is actually a very rare ability even for dac`s that cost many many times more. The other thing that shocked was the ability to produce a undistorted, deep and fast bass. From such a small piece of DAC its quite amazing!

Click to expand...

I have about 100h with Ares. It has changed a lot since the first time. The most obvious is bass, deep, firm, more body. On treb, Ares did very well, lacking a sparkle compared to Holo. With Grado rs1i as high as the expansion of the details. I've tried many Dacs in the $ 1000 range but have not been satisfied, until I tried Ares and was absolutely satisfied. Not easy to control grado rs1i in bass and treb but Ares did very well. Regarding the lack of sparkle in comparison to Holo, I liked the way Ares performed, it made me see the nature, the truth of the instruments, the fineness of the string instruments just enough to hear not overlap. Very music ))) If you are not satisfied with the treb, try replacing the other xlr cable. Feel the other combination. This is what I felt when I tried Ares> AnalysisPlus Chocolate Oval XLR> Gustard H10 mod gain 6> Grado rs1i, Sen Hd540 600ohm.

mr pluto said:

Krell1957,
WOW Pontus looks impressive!
You said that you will order Terminator? Would like to peek under the Terminator skirt also.........



What`s your first impressions of the Pontus?

P.S. My Ares still burns-in so I will do my final shootout on coming week when I have a time to listen. I will report my long promised review also!

Click to expand...

Here it is

grrrr said:

I have about 100h with Ares. It has changed a lot since the first time. The most obvious is bass, deep, firm, more body. On treb, Ares did very well, lacking a sparkle compared to Holo. With Grado rs1i as high as the expansion of the details. I've tried many Dacs in the $ 1000 range but have not been satisfied, until I tried Ares and was absolutely satisfied. Not easy to control grado rs1i in bass and treb but Ares did very well. Regarding the lack of sparkle in comparison to Holo, I liked the way Ares performed, it made me see the nature, the truth of the instruments, the fineness of the string instruments just enough to hear not overlap. Very music

))) If you are not satisfied with the treb, try replacing the other xlr cable. Feel the other combination. This is what I felt when I tried Ares> AnalysisPlus Chocolate Oval XLR> Gustard H10 mod gain 6> Grado rs1i, Sen Hd540 600ohm.

Click to expand...

No, no I`m actually very happy with trebials. I already have solid silver UP-OOC XLR cables on Ares. The Xhadow XLR connectors alone cost nearly half of ARES )

krell1967 said:

Here it is

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Thanks for a beautiful pictures Krell1967
WOW! What a muscle-beast of a PSU. It truly deserves it`s name!

krit said:

Rows of resistors and caps look so sexy!!!

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it does indeed! makes me want to buy this one.
 
does anyone know anything about the analog output stages of these dacs? nothing seems to get mentioned although the output stage is probably what gives it it's sound signature.