[PitBul34]

Hello,
Of course a good implementaton is always important.
But between a gustard X12 and this ares, can I assume ares is head and shoulders ahead ? and well what's the differences ?

Ares is much better, imo. First of all, you'll feel a great dynamic. DD is very high! Denafrips sounds more natural and dynamic, very close to vinyl.

 

[willsw]

I have had the Ares and had others listen to it with different systems. Via USB, with almost every media player: Jriver, Foobar, Audirvana, VLC, and others, there are immediate gaps and distortion in the playback, seemingly no matter which settings I change. However, when I use USB Audio Player Pro on my phone or iTunes, there is no distortion or any problem via USB. Does anyone have any experience fixing this?

 

[vexus]

Hi willsw,

could you have a groundloop somewhere? Is your pc also connected to a tv? It sounds a bit like sync problems or to high input gain in the digital domain.

 

[willsw]

Hi willsw,

could you have a groundloop somewhere? Is your pc also connected to a tv? It sounds a bit like sync problems or to high input gain in the digital domain.

Given the amount of different systems, OS, and sources I've tried with the same result, Arthur of Vinshine is offering a warranty replacement. Hopefully they find the problem in that unit and prevent it from appearing again. I think we've tried everything reasonable to have this specific USB input work with a computer source and preferred players of different users. The optical input also has occasional distortion, appearing much less frequently but still consistently present.

In the mean time I did lend it to a friend with a Holo Spring Level 3, who has been extremely impressed. He also listens mostly to electronic and rap and wasn't as interested in instrumental layering as a feature, which relates to what I write below. We held another listening session Saturday in which the Ares was compared to a Bifrost multibit, its most direct competitor in price, and an MHDT Labs Stockholm V2, which is a bit more expensive at around $1000 and could be of interest to those to whom R-2R and Non-oversampling are appealing.

Initially using the USB and optical outputs directly from a Macbook, the Ares and the Bimby traded advantages, with the end preference being hard to say given the mixed qualities each excelled at. However, once we put a Singxer SU-1 into the line as an equalizer and used coaxial output into both DACs, it took all of five seconds to prefer the Ares in every respect, which was an impression I was no alone in. So: optical input not recommended, and if you want to spend $600 on a DAC you are more likely to be happy with the Ares. The primary thing was that the Bimby sounded more artificial overall and exaggerated in areas such as bass, whereas the Ares sounded controlled, natural, and accurate.

The one area that still leaves me unsatisfied with the Ares is layering and the creation of a realistic sense of space for performers, which is mainly applicable in the type of music I often listen to on my home system: jazz of many types, voice without distortion; things with instruments being recorded in relationship to other instruments. In more studio-based recordings, like rap and electronic, which I also listen to, the Ares is a very strong performer which gives bass impact and does not make certain effects sound like distortions, as the Bimby seemed to. It seems to be a classic either/or in DACs below a certain level (and in turn, price range). The MHDT Stockholm V2 was my preference for anything with instrumental layering, but was edged out by the Ares when I put on things with strong electronic bass lines and more processing. In the end, I would choose the Stockholm V2 because getting that sense of real space is very important to the enjoyment of my listening at home, on speakers, where I'm likely to sit and only pay attention to the music that's on, and most of the electronic, etc. music I listen to in while mobile and with headphones, where volume in an apartment isn't a consideration.

I suppose the next things to do would be an Ares vs. a Gumby and bring the Pontus into the mix vs. the $2000+ crowd.

 

[nitewulf]

What are the differences between the Venus and Terminator? From the specs it looks like only the power supply?

 

[abartels]

@krell1967

Very nice review Claudio! If I weren't an Audio DIY enthausiastic, I probably would buy one myself!!!

I'm not sure, I could be wrong, but am i right if saying most of those caps used are Nichicon Muse types? I can also see some Nichicon FG (Fine Gold) ones.
I used Nichicon Muse caps several times, always in powerstages from dac's, and came to the conclusion that they finally result in a dull sound character.
After a normal amount of burn-in hours (about 150) they still sounded good, but after several weeks of continously playing they worsened, and finally the result
was a less sparkling sound character, kind of dull with loss in the top-end and detail. I really hope I'm wrong..... I really hope they used FP series or Elna Silmic II.

Btw, Nichicon doesn't provide ESR values at all for Fine Gold and Muse series, which in my opinion looks a little weird because it prohibits a designer to calculate...

Thanks again for the very intriguing review!!!

Cheers,
Alex

 

[gug42]

Ares is much better, imo. First of all, you'll feel a great dynamic. DD is very high! Denafrips sounds more natural and dynamic, very close to vinyl.

Thank you for opinion what mean DD ?

By the way could we considere denaris as a balanced dac ?

Given the amount of different systems, OS, and sources I've tried with the same result, Arthur of Vinshine is offering a warranty replacement. Hopefully they find the problem in that unit and prevent it from appearing again. I think we've tried everything reasonable to have this specific USB input work with a computer source and preferred players of different users. The optical input also has occasional distortion, appearing much less frequently but still consistently present.

In the mean time I did lend it to a friend with a Holo Spring Level 3, who has been extremely impressed. He also listens mostly to electronic and rap and wasn't as interested in instrumental layering as a feature, which relates to what I write below. We held another listening session Saturday in which the Ares was compared to a Bifrost multibit, its most direct competitor in price, and an MHDT Labs Stockholm V2, which is a bit more expensive at around $1000 and could be of interest to those to whom R-2R and Non-oversampling are appealing.

Initially using the USB and optical outputs directly from a Macbook, the Ares and the Bimby traded advantages, with the end preference being hard to say given the mixed qualities each excelled at. However, once we put a Singxer SU-1 into the line as an equalizer and used coaxial output into both DACs, it took all of five seconds to prefer the Ares in every respect, which was an impression I was no alone in. So: optical input not recommended, and if you want to spend $600 on a DAC you are more likely to be happy with the Ares. The primary thing was that the Bimby sounded more artificial overall and exaggerated in areas such as bass, whereas the Ares sounded controlled, natural, and accurate.

The one area that still leaves me unsatisfied with the Ares is layering and the creation of a realistic sense of space for performers, which is mainly applicable in the type of music I often listen to on my home system: jazz of many types, voice without distortion; things with instruments being recorded in relationship to other instruments. In more studio-based recordings, like rap and electronic, which I also listen to, the Ares is a very strong performer which gives bass impact and does not make certain effects sound like distortions, as the Bimby seemed to. It seems to be a classic either/or in DACs below a certain level (and in turn, price range). The MHDT Stockholm V2 was my preference for anything with instrumental layering, but was edged out by the Ares when I put on things with strong electronic bass lines and more processing. In the end, I would choose the Stockholm V2 because getting that sense of real space is very important to the enjoyment of my listening at home, on speakers, where I'm likely to sit and only pay attention to the music that's on, and most of the electronic, etc. music I listen to in while mobile and with headphones, where volume in an apartment isn't a consideration.

I suppose the next things to do would be an Ares vs. a Gumby and bring the Pontus into the mix vs. the $2000+ crowd.

Thank you for the review. Well looking too for a Gumby match up

 

[DronEvil]

@krell1967

Very nice review Claudio! If I weren't an Audio DIY enthausiastic, I probably would buy one myself!!!

I'm not sure, I could be wrong, but am i right if saying most of those caps used are Nichicon Muse types? I can also see some Nichicon FG (Fine Gold) ones.
I used Nichicon Muse caps several times, always in powerstages from dac's, and came to the conclusion that they finally result in a dull sound character.
After a normal amount of burn-in hours (about 150) they still sounded good, but after several weeks of continously playing they worsened, and finally the result
was a less sparkling sound character, kind of dull with loss in the top-end and detail. I really hope I'm wrong..... I really hope they used FP series or Elna Silmic II.

Btw, Nichicon doesn't provide ESR values at all for Fine Gold and Muse series, which in my opinion looks a little weird because it prohibits a designer to calculate...

Thanks again for the very intriguing review!!!

Cheers,
Alex

I'm interested in hearing more about this from either Denafrips themselves or someone who owns a Pontus/Venus/Terminator that can confirm the type of caps used in it.

I'm also curious if there's any knowledge about the clock implementation on Pontus/Venus/Terminator. Pontus manual has no mention of the clock in it. Venus appears to only have Femto implemented on Amerno USB? Does Terminator have 2 Femtos (one for DAC section and one for USB receiver section)? I'm currently on the fence between Pontus/Venus vs Yggy vs Holo Spring L3 KTE. I'm really leaning towards Pontus at this point, because I have a Singxer SU-1, and would use i2s rather than USB (so the femto on USB is irrelevant to me.....unless the femto is on the dac segment itself, in which case I would be interested in reading more about it). I know clock setups in DACs are complicated, and there is alot of variables at play than can effect an implementation, regardless of the type/accuracy of oscillator being used, so it's not going to be THE deciding factor for me, but having information about it WOULD contribute to the decision making process.

As much as the reviews of the Denafrips gear are inspiring, the lack of detailed technical information about them (when compared to the Yggy/Holo knowledgebase) isn't inspiring much buying confidence in me, as I'm not the type of person to make a purchase on user-review of subjective sound quality alone (i like to investigate the technical implementation/design of the device to factor into my decision making as well).

 

[soundfanz]

I'm interested in hearing more about this from either Denafrips themselves or someone who owns a Pontus/Venus/Terminator that can confirm the type of caps used in it.

As much as the reviews of the Denafrips gear are inspiring, the lack of detailed technical information about them (when compared to the Yggy/Holo knowledgebase) isn't inspiring much buying confidence in me, as I'm not the type of person to make a purchase on user-review of subjective sound quality alone (i like to investigate the technical implementation/design of the device to factor into my decision making as well).

Fair enough, but I'm different. Purchased the Ares solely because of reports on it's sound quality and price.
Didn't even know at time of purchase that it came with 3 year warranty. And FWIW, I also thought there was enough technical information available about the item.

 

[alvin1118]

@abartels

The capacitors in Terminator are Elna Starget and Elna Silmic II. The 8pieces of Nichicon Gold Tune are for mute function, has little impact to sonic performance.

Thanks,
Alvin

 

[Clarinetmonster2]

This question goes to willsw who so nicely compared the Ares to the Chord 2qute and separately compared it to the Wavelength Brick V2. How does the 2qute compare to the Wavelength Brick V2? I now own the 2qute but am not sure whether I'm staying with it.

 

[abartels]

Hi Alvin,

That is great news!!!!!
Thanks for providing us with this information!

Btw, the Nichicon FG (FineGold) DO sound good, so no sweat there And, of course if using them in Mute-circuit they don't influence SQ at all.

Thanks for the info!!!

Cheers,
Alex

 

[PitBul34]

Thank you for opinion what mean DD ?

DR, sorry. It means Dynamic Range

 

[humzebra]

"I suppose the next things to do would be an Ares vs. a Gumby and bring the Pontus into the mix vs. the $2000+ crowd." -willsw
Interested in Pontus vs Holospring I (saw soundsgoodtome initial impressions), and if anybody has one Stockholm v2 balanced..
>Anthem 225>Mod HE6

 

[AmusedToD]

Wow, I can't believe the interest for my Ares! I received like a dozen enquires in just a few hours. Anyways, just wanted to let you know my Ares is reserved for @zigi. The reservation will be valid for 24 hours, that is until I receive the payment. Otherwise, it will be up for sale again. Thank you all for your messages.