[gunwale]

i am still waiting for tomahawk.. which got delayed till end of the month. based on the review it's really tempting to get ares

 

[rudra]

Take one for the team @gunwale , buy both Ares and Tomahawk and do a review/comparison

 

[abartels]

Oh if you talk about value for money, Ares for me is the clear winner. Hands down.

 
For me it's not only about value for money, bang for buck, but it definitely helps to choose between different devices 

As always it is very difficult to make a choice, at least for me, I am constantly changing my budget for this kind of stuff, and, where will it end, hahaha
 
For me, depending on how it will perform, is Venus the one which could be very interesting, but to be honest, hmm, maybe wait a little longer,
put some more money aside, and go for the real deal, the Terminator, but that is a big step in investment.
 
I myself am a kind of DIY guy (see my avatar), and looking at research & development you can see that, for instance Allo.com, is developing very good products.
Upcomming isolator board for RPI/Kali reclocker/R2R dac in development/AK4497 dac in development/ could be very interesting.
Looking at performance of my dac, based on heavily modded diyinhk AK4495SEQ dac, it is, untill now, the most musical sounding dac (it's a networkplayer)  I heard in my life.
 
As I wrote to a friend of mine lately, I am very confident that there are many dac's available on the market that have better specs, maybe even better black background or even
a little bit more detail, but, the sound it reproduces keeps you just listening.
 
A quote from myself:
 
"It’s just that when listening to the MonsterDAC it sucks you into the music, it doesn’t seduce you to listen to fragments and details,
it completely throws the urge to analyze it’s sound reproduction overboard."
 
 
But, still, it itches me to order a Venus, or even a Terminator.

 

[lukeap69]

@abartels

I'll be honest, I can easily hear more differences with transducers and amplifiers than DACs. Having said that, I am more picky with DAC when using my HD800 SD. Not so much with my HD650 or PM-2.

 

[krell1967]

 
So if the simultaneous inputs are not needed then sound-wise Singxer SU-1 does not add anyrhing?

No, Singxer improves the performance of your dac if that makes not good input, in the case of Ares and Singxer the usb inputs are identical (Xmos U208).

 

[abartels]

@abartels

I'll be honest, I can easily hear more differences with transducers and amplifiers than DACs. Having said that, I am more picky with DAC when using my HD800 SD. Not so much with my HD650 or PM-2.

 
As always, the weekest link in the chain determines the final SQ. Sorry for saying but I don't even own a HP 

 

[gahan]

My Ares just arrived yesterday, and the first impressions are really very good... Connected to Audio-GD NFB-1AMP and Audez'e LCD-4 makes an impressive sounding rig.

 

[slex]

My Ares just arrived yestedary, and the first impressions are really very good... Connected to Audio-GD NFB-1AMP and Audez'e LCD-4 makes an impressive sounding rig.

May i know wats your dac before Ares?

 

[gahan]

May i know wats your dac before Ares?

 
An NFB-1DAC. Very good Sabre implementation... Write my impressions in some days.

 

[slex]

An NFB-1DAC. Very good Sabre implementation... Write my impressions in some days.

Ok thanks.As far i know now, this Ares is near or exceed Holo LVL1 but doesnt reach Holo LVL3's level....sure hope theres a gumby and yiggy for comparison.

 

[gunwale]

i havent got ares yet but will probably get one once tomahawk is out. depending on the price /spec and size i might get a tomahawk. i am new to hifi and my current dac is creative sound blaster e5. i used to like the eqs and effects but nowadays i am getting more and more towards being a purist... one day i realised my e5 sounded worst than my laptop sound card. it sounded less natural, imbalance instruments, weird emphasis on vocal and smaller sound stage...

 

[PitBul34]

I started with Ares, the first thing I noticed was the way in which it returns the sound message, very smooth without any frequency which predominates over the other, never tiring but in the meantime, very detailed, very nuanced than with other dac (eg Gustard X20) they can not see.
To conclude this brief review I can only say that the Ares is an excellent dac, very well built like a tank, with an unbeatable value for money.
I did not think precisely that Ares could compete with a giant like Mark Levinson, however that's it, more I listen to them and more I am convinced of what I wrote.
During the plays I also made a comparison with another my dac, Gustard X20U and with a dac of a friend of mine, Holo Spring level one, very similar technology as well since it is a R2R ladder dac. Well, the Gustard, unfortunately for me, is less on each parameter to Ares, impractical comparison.
In the end I can say that both are two excellent dac, if there wasn't Ares I definitely bought a Holo Spring, but Ares exists.
Ares has on his side which costs about one-third of Holo Spring, Ares sounds a little better, so the choice for those who want to buy a R2R dac without spending a fortune seems to be required.

My english isn't good, but now people can understand what I thinking all this time and why i've started this thread Thank you, @krell1967 !

 

[tee79]

Hi all,
 
many times lurker, first time poster here. Very interesting product and discussion - many thanks for sharing your impressions.
 
I listen to mostly classical and jazz on the MF M1(Intona+Regen+XSpdif on XLR) - SPL Auditor - Gen1 Beyer T1. I have been contemplating upgrading my MF M1 to something substantially more refined and probably more 'fatter' or ever so slightly darker sounding. So lately was thinking of auditioning e.g Audiobytes' Black Dragon(?), but now having had some impression on Denafrips, started having second thoughts -just maybe I should try Ares instead? 
 
Question is - would Ares  sound slightly rounded or 'analog' than the M1? Or maybe someone has had some impressions between Ares and Black Dragon? The price difference between Black Dragon and Ares is of course more than double.. I'm aware these are completely different dacs technically. Choices, choices..
 
Thanks for your thoughts folks and keep the thread alive.
 
Regards,
Tee
 
 

 

[Audio-68]

 

 

  Hi all,
 
many times lurker, first time poster here. Very interesting product and discussion - many thanks for sharing your impressions.
 
I listen to mostly classical and jazz on the MF M1(Intona+Regen+XSpdif on XLR) - SPL Auditor - Gen1 Beyer T1. I have been contemplating upgrading my MF M1 to something substantially more refined and probably more 'fatter' or ever so slightly darker sounding. So lately was thinking of auditioning e.g Audiobytes' Black Dragon(?), but now having had some impression on Denafrips, started having second thoughts -just maybe I should try Ares instead? 
 
Question is - would Ares  sound slightly rounded or 'analog' than the M1? Or maybe someone has had some impressions between Ares and Black Dragon? The price difference between Black Dragon and Ares is of course more than double.. I'm aware these are completely different dacs technically. Choices, choices..
 
Thanks for your thoughts folks and keep the thread alive.
 
Regards,
Tee
 
 

I highly suggest you purchase a R2R dac.  Why not spend a few hundred $$ and purchase either a Soekris DAC1101, Denafrips Ares, or Audio GD Singularity 19? You'll probably be surprised like me that the R2R makes a huge difference in a good way.

 

[zachchen1996]

What would be really useful would be a thorough Yggy, Holo Spring LV. 3, Metrum Pavane, Terminator comparison / shootout.
 
Despite the lack of any useful impressions, I'm most likely going to take a blind jump for the Terminator. (Gotta support my fellow Taiwanese! haha)