[JerryLeeds]

I know this post isn’t exactly on topic but I have my Ares 12th going out via XLR to a Schiit Lokius EQ where the settings have a slight increase in the bass. I recently found out the Lokius converts the XLR to single ended to apply the settings and then converts back to XLR. Everything sounds okay … but my Receiver has an XLR input along with a bass tone control … would it be better to just remove the Lokius from the chain? Less boxes in the path?

 

[elnero]

I know this post isn’t exactly on topic but I have my Ares 12th going out via XLR to a Schiit Lokius EQ where the settings have a slight increase in the bass. I recently found out the Lokius converts the XLR to single ended to apply the settings and then converts back to XLR. Everything sounds okay … but my Receiver has an XLR input along with a bass tone control … would it be better to just remove the Lokius from the chain? Less boxes in the path?

I suggest letting your ears make that decision for you.

 

[VintageAudio]

I suggest letting your ears make that decision for you.

Yah, if you like the sound without Lokius, then no point on adding another box in the chain.

If you feel it needs some tweaking, then Lokius is gold.

 

[mainehifi]

I just received my Ares the 12th and it is replacing my Bifrost 2/64. I don't have any meaningful comparison comments just yet, but broadly will say that the Ares is not as energetic as the Bifrost... but I am not sure that is a bad thing. I have been working tirelessly trying to tame the Bifrost as it could sometimes get fatiguing. I am not seeing that at all with the Ares, and there doesn't seem to be any loss of detail. When people say the the instruments are in the right place, I get it now. It doesn't necessarily mean in the soundstage, but also the level of prominence. A guitar that seemed forward before may be a bit more subdued (without a loss of resolution). It is odd and I am adjusting my ears to it still, but I am certainly not mad at it. I really like it. Very analog, easy listening DAC. I listen more to the music and less to the gear. Only been a few days and I will post more thoughts, but I know the BF 2/64 vs Ares 12th debate is one that many are struggling with.

 

[GiFi]

I just received my Ares the 12th and it is replacing my Bifrost 2/64. I don't have any meaningful comparison comments just yet, but broadly will say that the Ares is not as energetic as the Bifrost... but I am not sure that is a bad thing. I have been working tirelessly trying to tame the Bifrost as it could sometimes get fatiguing. I am not seeing that at all with the Ares, and there doesn't seem to be any loss of detail. When people say the the instruments are in the right place, I get it now. It doesn't necessarily mean in the soundstage, but also the level of prominence. A guitar that seemed forward before may be a bit more subdued (without a loss of resolution). It is odd and I am adjusting my ears to it still, but I am certainly not mad at it. I really like it. Very analog, easy listening DAC. I listen more to the music and less to the gear. Only been a few days and I will post more thoughts, but I know the BF 2/64 vs Ares 12th debate is one that many are struggling with.

Xlr or rca?

 

[ku1185]

I just received my Ares the 12th and it is replacing my Bifrost 2/64. I don't have any meaningful comparison comments just yet, but broadly will say that the Ares is not as energetic as the Bifrost... but I am not sure that is a bad thing. I have been working tirelessly trying to tame the Bifrost as it could sometimes get fatiguing. I am not seeing that at all with the Ares, and there doesn't seem to be any loss of detail. When people say the the instruments are in the right place, I get it now. It doesn't necessarily mean in the soundstage, but also the level of prominence. A guitar that seemed forward before may be a bit more subdued (without a loss of resolution). It is odd and I am adjusting my ears to it still, but I am certainly not mad at it. I really like it. Very analog, easy listening DAC. I listen more to the music and less to the gear. Only been a few days and I will post more thoughts, but I know the BF 2/64 vs Ares 12th debate is one that many are struggling with.

This mostly aligns with my impressions of OG BF2 vs. Ares II. OG BF2 pushed things up a little whereas Ares II was more relaxed in presentation. OG BF2 seemed to exaggerate or "boost" the dynamics a bit whereas Ares II can sound a little soft. I thought the OG BF2 staged better whereas Ares II was more detailed and resolving. BF2 was fun, but Ares II just sounded beautiful.

 

[mainehifi]

This mostly aligns with my impressions of OG BF2 vs. Ares II. OG BF2 pushed things up a little whereas Ares II was more relaxed in presentation. OG BF2 seemed to exaggerate or "boost" the dynamics a bit whereas Ares II can sound a little soft. I thought the OG BF2 staged better whereas Ares II was more detailed and resolving. BF2 was fun, but Ares II just sounded beautiful.

So far that aligns perfectly with my take on this. I think the BF2 is very excitable (I have an upgraded OG, so I have heard both. The 2/64 is mostly better, but not in every respect), which is why I think I need to recalibrate my ears before lending too many comparisons. The Ares though is exactly as you stated, it's beautiful. I have yet to hear a passage that makes me think immediately about what gear I am listening on, rather it let's me focus on the music itself... which is EXACTLY what I want. I can now go back to tube rolling in the Freya to find the best match for it. My system is:

Allo USBridge Signature (with Shanti LPS)
Denafrips Ares 12th (fed via USB)
Schiit Freya + (always in tube mode)
Monoblocked Schiit Aegirs
Tekton Lore Be speakers (the Beryllium tweeter lends plenty of excitement all on it's own)
Dual SVS SB12-NSD subs

I think the BF2 would be more acceptable with lower efficiency speakers or soft dome tweeters. The Lores are paper cone woofer with beryllium tweeters. There is no real need to add MORE dynamics or excitement as they do just fine on their own. I think this is a better choice given my gear, but I could see scenarios where the Bf2 would be the better choice.

 

[mainehifi]

Xlr or rca?

XLR on both. The system is fully balanced from DAC to amplifiers (Schiit Freya + to monoblocked Schiit Aegirs).

 

[JerryLeeds]

Question for those of you who have done comparisons … is the Ares 12th 90% of the Pontus? … I ask only because I don’t have an option other than buying a new Pontus and that isn’t going to happen anytime soon

Edited: Never mind I just saw a write up about there being a slight channel balance issue on the Pontus 12th unit which was tested, I’ll stay with my Ares 12th even if it starts to get some warts.

 

[JerryLeeds]

I was thinking about adding sound tubes to my audio chain, just to try something new. Does anyone have experience with this product? Douk Audio T8? It is a tube pre-amp that also has a 5 band equalizer.

 

[mainehifi]

Just a few more thoughts on the BF 2/64 versus the Ares 12th. I would say that there is no clear winner, unless you factor price and then the edge to the BF 2/64. I did some back to back listening and when I would go back to the other DAC after listening to one, I would say "Oh ya, this is the one". Then say the same thing when I switched back.

I would say for 90% of the music they are very much alike. Nuanced differences in presentation spatially, but both sound natural and airy. What about the other 10% you ask? The best way for me to describe that is that I would say 5% of the time the BF 2/64 is a little too hot and energetic. The other 5% of the time I would say that the Ares is not quite hot and energetic enough. It is completely system dependent. For my small room and hot tweeters, the Ares seems to be the better choice. I suffer from less fatigue and can listen longer. That is not to say the BF is bright or fatiguing. It is not... unless it is in my listening room at 80db or above WITH my equipment. The Ares does tend to possess all of those audiophilisms that people say all the time about timber, body, etc, etc while the BF possesses big dynamics with more of a first row presentation. If the BF 2/64 is 95% "natural" sounding, then the Ares is 96%.

The Ares does have other upsides though that one should consider. It will playback DSD files (which sound great, BTW) and it can take an I2S feed, which I am going to take advantage of in the very near term.

Wishy washy to say, but you can't go wrong with either DAC. They are both a tremendous step up from the tier below them and are great entry points into higher end audio. But for anyone to say that one is clearly better than the other, they are just being fanboys.

 

[jazzzy]

I am thinking about buying 12th sometime this year. My current setup is PC with Xonar D1 that outputs OPT. I listen mostly to flacs from HDD or Tidal Hifi Plus (and soon Qobuz) using IEMs so please advise decent but not expensive headphone amp that will input XLR from 12th and output 4.4 bal

 

[mainehifi]

One final thought.... as someone who spent 14 years as an electronics technician and automation engineer, I would be the last person on earth to believe in electronic components needing to "break in". Vinshine tells you to wait 10 days before doing any critical listening to the DAC so that it can "burn in"... and I gotta say, they are not wrong.

Before you go on about confirmation bias, I am well aware. So what I did was keep my BF2 in the rack and I switched back and forth. A LOT. There were passages in my favorite songs where the BF2 was just simply better. 9 days into ownership of the Ares, I stopped doing back to back comparisons because the Ares was now as good in those areas, and even better in other areas. I won't drone on and on about the veil being lifted and all that typical mumbo jumbo, but I could say that because it's true. The biggest thing I noticed was that definition has come into focus (like putting on a pair of reading glasses for lack of a better analogy) and the sound stage has absolutely blown up. It is wider and deeper than I have ever heard any DAC's soundstage in my system.

I am trying to get my head around what has occurred in the last 9 days. Thermal stabilization? Capacitor charge and discharge consistency? I have no idea if I am being honest, but allow me to eat a little crow because I am hearing differences that I cannot explain. You'll still be hard pressed to get me to believe that speakers need to break in for longer than an hour, or that cables can be used to change your sound signature... but for now, I am less skeptical about component burn in than I have been in the past. Denafrips should just plug them in and leave them on for a month before shipping.

I am enjoying music more than I have in years. Some songs sound like remixes even. I am tapping my foot and bobbing my head to the music as opposed to listening to my gear wondering what I need to do to make it better. If this thing gets me listening to music and not just listening to my gear then it was money well spent.

Thanks for reading my posts (to those that did). I hope they have been helpful.

 

[GiFi]

One final thought.... as someone who spent 14 years as an electronics technician and automation engineer, I would be the last person on earth to believe in electronic components needing to "break in". Vinshine tells you to wait 10 days before doing any critical listening to the DAC so that it can "burn in"... and I gotta say, they are not wrong.

Before you go on about confirmation bias, I am well aware. So what I did was keep my BF2 in the rack and I switched back and forth. A LOT. There were passages in my favorite songs where the BF2 was just simply better. 9 days into ownership of the Ares, I stopped doing back to back comparisons because the Ares was now as good in those areas, and even better in other areas. I won't drone on and on about the veil being lifted and all that typical mumbo jumbo, but I could say that because it's true. The biggest thing I noticed was that definition has come into focus (like putting on a pair of reading glasses for lack of a better analogy) and the sound stage has absolutely blown up. It is wider and deeper than I have ever heard any DAC's soundstage in my system.

I am trying to get my head around what has occurred in the last 9 days. Thermal stabilization? Capacitor charge and discharge consistency? I have no idea if I am being honest, but allow me to eat a little crow because I am hearing differences that I cannot explain. You'll still be hard pressed to get me to believe that speakers need to break in for longer than an hour, or that cables can be used to change your sound signature... but for now, I am less skeptical about component burn in than I have been in the past. Denafrips should just plug them in and leave them on for a month before shipping.

I am enjoying music more than I have in years. Some songs sound like remixes even. I am tapping my foot and bobbing my head to the music as opposed to listening to my gear wondering what I need to do to make it better. If this thing gets me listening to music and not just listening to my gear then it was money well spent.

Thanks for reading my posts (to those that did). I hope they have been helpful.

Thank to you!

 

[sajunky]

I am thinking about buying 12th sometime this year. My current setup is PC with Xonar D1 that outputs OPT. I listen mostly to flacs from HDD or Tidal Hifi Plus (and soon Qobuz) using IEMs so please advise decent but not expensive headphone amp that will input XLR from 12th and output 4.4 bal

As you own sensitive IEMs, check whether can be driven directly from the XLR output complying with a standard <100 Ohms impendance. Then you don't need a headphone amp if you chose a DAC with quality active buffers. With Ares you need an amp.