.... ... did you try the Auralic+Iris+Pontus front end on you stereo as well? In my setup, adding the DDC between Auralic Aries and DAC made quite a difference. Also, b/c you said for you the difference between 1.0 and 1.4 seems quite the opposite of what most others report, I'd say: Maybe the...

... surely it would. === EDIT ... a 'not' was missing === But I would fear not -- you did it once, your PC is stable and you do not have to fear power outages... I switched firmwares on my poor Venus II at least 30 times last summer to find out which firmware I like best.

For me that's the latest version firmware (12th 2nd edition). V3.5 for Venus (II). When I compare ripped CDs / Qobuz streaming to the same album via my Rega P3, the sound is quite similar, and really hard to tell which is better. Quite happy. :)

I would go for separates. Steamers go kitchen, DACs go listening space. That pun aside: Separates. .... UNLESS of course you found the streamer that also sonically floats your boat. If you plan to go the chip DAC route anyway, and you're using iOS, I would strongly consider Auralic Altair. If...

... would you mind sharing a screen shot of the support page? My old 2023 links don't work any more. For which DACs?

Maybe have a look at Goldensound's measurements of an ARES II, see https://goldensound.audio/2021/07/13/denafrips-ares-2-measurements-and-review. There's two PDF test reports provided, one with single-ended / RCA, one with XLR / balanced. Take a look at the small sine wave input and the...

Here we fully agree. Here I disagree. It has to do with the way Denafrips DACs (and maybe others) are "wired". In case you use RCA on a Denafrips R2R DAC, only half of the R2R resistors are in the signal path. Correct me on that, if I'm wrong. ... assuming this is true, then you will inevitably...

... what made you split with the BPSE? (just curious) Cheers

Found an album on Qobuz and Tidal that seems to have the very same data, recorded some seconds via SPDIF. It's bit perfect identical between the two streaming services. (Scritti Politti / Provision). The peak-value is identical, but the RHG value is different - TIDAL's is lower by about 4dB...

Hey there, could somebody enlighten me? My streamer (Auralic) displays ReplayGain data in its control app. Comparing two streaming services Qobuz and TIDAL with the very same albums (and masters, 99% sure) there's different ReplayGain values between the two services. Output level is the...

.... just wanted to learn and confirm if I got your setup's behavior right: -- Playing a CD from the Rotel as CD transport (direct SPDIF/coax feed into the DAC) sounds better compared to -- high quality rip of that very CD into FLAC (probably WAV / any uncompressed storage format as well), and...

Ah... interesting! In my setup, using a stone-age 1996 Sony as CD Transport either directly into the DAC or via DDC (Gaia) sounded worse compared to playback of ripped FLAC fils via Auralic Streamer --> DDC --> DAC. That's why I was asking. The old Sony CDP had TOSlink only, though. I'm sure...

How do you feed the ripped FLAC files into the DAC? Using what device?

I have the Venus II (original version without 12th or 12th.1) and ... like it. And I did never ever listen to the Aquarius DAC. So... probably anything I could tell you is without reference. Two things from my upgrade journey with Denafrips, that started with the Ares II: a) the DACs are quite...

Thx for sharing. The problem with CD tansports is that the way they send out digital data makes the DAC behind behave better or worse. So while there for sure will be CD transports that "sound" better these qualities might be more pronounced when feeding a jitter-sensitive DAC. Other thing to...

Your perception of key differences between original and new Denafrips sound signature seems to match most others. One thing to consider might be the type of USB feed into the DAC -- unfortunately Denafrips DACs are not bullet proof regarding noise and jitter on the USB input. Read: Maybe try out...

Paul saw this conversation and made a video about the topic. (o:

Unfortunately adding an external USB interface (like the Denafrips DDC) and linking it up with a GOOD (not necessarily expensive) HDMI cable seems to almost always outperform the direct-to-DAC USB. At least my own experience and dozens of users here seem to indicate it's the way it is. Why that...

My Venus II is quite sensitive to the digital signal's quality. Granted the Venus 12th is a newer iteration, I think its USB implementation is the same. Long story short: Best quality in my experience can be achieved not via USB, but via I2S, possibly from either Hermes or Gaia DDC. I got...

The firmware updates available for the II series of DACs quite drastically change the sound signature of the DAC. If it is an improvement is up to you... be aware that after a firmware change some dozen hours of break-in (again!!) is required. I tried all 3 available versions last summer and...

Are there any 2024 firmware updates in the making / available already? Just curious. The "old" 2023 links to the support site seem dead by now.

Most likely the DDC will also take some time to break in. It is also based on a FPGA, albeit missing the D/A conversion part, obviously.

.... I don'think it needs open air for cooling. I a closed cabinet it will get pretty warm though -- probably.

I'd consider myself in the "puzzled and amused" camp regarding this -- but I can happily confirm that firmware break-in / burn-in is a thing with Denafrips DACs. Seems to have to do with the FPGA. BTW, if I remember correctly from the good ol' computer tuning days - overclocking CPUs tended to...

Well that depends, I guess. Last summer I spent days switching back and forth between the different versions - the change in sound signature between the "old" / legacy version and the first "12th" version was staggering. Really. The original 12th version made a Denafrips DAC sound like a good...