[bodhidharma]

I would upload some pictures but direct cell phone uploads doesn't seem to be doing me any good at the moment.

I have received the first shipment of a Denafrips Pontus. It's been playing for 12 hours now, so far so good but I'll do critical listening at 100hrs.

Fantastic! I had long been waiting for someone to report the Pontus listening, I ordered one but it will be shipped around May 15th. I will follow your listening impressions with great care.
Thank you

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

I wouldn't necessarily call it shrill but it is close, if there's such thing as a shrill veil without being distortion then it has a hint of it. 12hrs in and it is already sounding very good. I used to own the Spring KTE Level 3 as well and I can tell that the tuning is very similar with a slight emphasis on a liquid mid/mid high. As of right the 12hr mark I would say the Spring Level 3 (which was fully burned in at over 500hrs) has a level of clarity above the Pontus with better attack and decay. However I can hear Pontus aiming in that direction, a quick listen this morning at 24hr mark shows even more improvement heading into that level of TOTL clarity the Spring KTE3 had.

Should we put a dedicated thread for the Pontus rather than add to the Ares thread?

Congrats Sundsgoodtome!

Was your Pontus also shrill out of box without burn-in?
Please let us know how it sounds after 100h

Fantastic! I had long been waiting for someone to report the Pontus listening, I ordered one but it will be shipped around May 15th. I will follow your listening impressions with great care.
Thank you

 

[slex]

Soundsgoodtome. Are you listening in NOS mode?

 

[Mr Pluto]

I wouldn't necessarily call it shrill but it is close, if there's such thing as a shrill veil without being distortion then it has a hint of it. 12hrs in and it is already sounding very good. I used to own the Spring KTE Level 3 as well and I can tell that the tuning is very similar with a slight emphasis on a liquid mid/mid high. As of right the 12hr mark I would say the Spring Level 3 (which was fully burned in at over 500hrs) has a level of clarity above the Pontus with better attack and decay. However I can hear Pontus aiming in that direction, a quick listen this morning at 24hr mark shows even more improvement heading into that level of TOTL clarity the Spring KTE3 had.

Should we put a dedicated thread for the Pontus rather than add to the Ares thread?

Thanks for the quick overview!
After 12h Ares also sounded very good already. I meant first 1-2h right out of the box.

Did your Pontus also shine on the deep 3D soundstage?

I suppose we can discuss all Denafrips DAC`s here in this thread.

 

[bodhidharma]

I wouldn't necessarily call it shrill but it is close, if there's such thing as a shrill veil without being distortion then it has a hint of it. 12hrs in and it is already sounding very good. I used to own the Spring KTE Level 3 as well and I can tell that the tuning is very similar with a slight emphasis on a liquid mid/mid high. As of right the 12hr mark I would say the Spring Level 3 (which was fully burned in at over 500hrs) has a level of clarity above the Pontus with better attack and decay. However I can hear Pontus aiming in that direction, a quick listen this morning at 24hr mark shows even more improvement heading into that level of TOTL clarity the Spring KTE3 had.

Should we put a dedicated thread for the Pontus rather than add to the Ares thread?

Well, it looks really promising, if after 24 hours it's so good, it could come to really remarkable levels, considering that the R2R DACs need a long time to burn in completely.

 

[willsw]

I've allowed my Ares to fully burn in and done a comparison with the DAC I've had for a while now, the Wavelength Brick V2, which is a TDA1543 (16/44 max) NOS DAC that retails for $1750 (I purchased it used for about a third of that, as it has been around since 2005).

On my speaker system the Ares had more impactful bass. The Wavelength was superior in depth, instrument separation, vocal realism, and pretty much all of those properties that one looks for when seeking an immersive experience with their music. It was not always a significant difference, as in vocals, which were close, but the sum of the test is that I'll continue to seek a new DAC (trying to sell the Brick as I need more than the USB input it offers) that can surpass a very well implemented redbook chip.

To put my review in perspective, I also put the Wavelength up against the Metrum Musette and had similar results. I do have hope that the new DAC2 modules with FPGA incorporated will bring the Musette to new heights.

I'll be hanging on to the Ares and doing some more comparisons with it. I'd like to also compare it directly to the Musette, as well as to the MHDT Labs Stockholm V2.

 

[Mr Pluto]

I've allowed my Ares to fully burn in and done a comparison with the DAC I've had for a while now, the Wavelength Brick V2, which is a TDA1543 (16/44 max) NOS DAC that retails for $1750 (I purchased it used for about a third of that, as it has been around since 2005).

On my speaker system the Ares had more impactful bass. The Wavelength was superior in depth, instrument separation, vocal realism, and pretty much all of those properties that one looks for when seeking an immersive experience with their music. It was not always a significant difference, as in vocals, which were close, but the sum of the test is that I'll continue to seek a new DAC (trying to sell the Brick as I need more than the USB input it offers) that can surpass a very well implemented redbook chip.

To put my review in perspective, I also put the Wavelength up against the Metrum Musette and had similar results. I do have hope that the new DAC2 modules with FPGA incorporated will bring the Musette to new heights.

I'll be hanging on to the Ares and doing some more comparisons with it. I'd like to also compare it directly to the Musette, as well as to the MHDT Labs Stockholm V2.

Thanks for sharing your experience Willsw!

Wavelength must be something very special to beat the soundstage depth of ARES. Of course it`s all system dependent also.
May I ask, if your comparison was made on Headphones or speakers?
Did you have the ability to do a straight A/B from a sweetspot (in case of speakers)?

 

[willsw]

Thanks for sharing your experience Willsw!

Wavelength must be something very special to beat the soundstage depth of ARES. Of course it`s all system dependent also.
May I ask, if your comparison was made on Headphones or speakers?
Did you have the ability to do a straight A/B from a sweetspot (in case of speakers)?

The designer of Wavelength is one of the most significant in digital audio, so I imagine he knows his way around a DAC.

It is system dependent and I forgot to mention an important caveat: I am using a single-ended system. For the listening test I did use the balanced outputs of the Ares through a balanced-to-single-ended converter I made with Cinemag transformers and no attenuation, so while I think I heard very close to the Ares' full capabilities, it is likely a truly balanced system could extract a tiny bit more. I've been alternating my listening to the Ares between the single-ended outputs, simple XLR-RCA cables, and the converter, and have not been able to identify any significant differences in sound.

I was listening with speakers–Tekton Lore-S–and used the Schiit Saga in passive mode to remotely switch between inputs, so I could A/B from a single spot. The source was Jriver outputting the same music into the USB inputs of the DACs. I might try another A/B using a Schiit Wyrd in the chain of the Ares, and also one using a USB>SPDIF converter to use the coaxial input.

I'll also say that before doing this test the Wavelength was sitting around waiting to be sold and I was enjoying my music immensely with the Ares in the system.

 

[WhiskeyJacks]

Wanted to ask is there any kind of tracking when ordering the Ares DAC from Vinshine Audio store page to a residency in the United States? I was just wondering if there is a way to have an idea when it would arrive due to work and other responsibilities that keep me from home, and the Fedex/DHL are not the best about where they place my mail or packages when I am gone on my long my shift and what not. If someone that ordered from Vinshine audio that was in the Eastern states(CT currently) and could let me know I would appreciate it immensely, thanks for your time.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

Yes, I'm strictly in NOS mode. I've found that in the Holo Spring Dac the non-oversampling sounded superior. So currently I have SOX resampler on Foobar2K player upsampling in best quality to 192khz and have the PONTUS in NOS mode. Seems to be the best way to run it, although I have not had much listening time in OS mode or NOS mode without upsampling from Foobar.

Soundsgoodtome. Are you listening in NOS mode?

I'm guessing that by now I have somewhere in the 100hr mark, one of the nights I accidentally stopped music on my computer (even with my amplifiers off) to keep the DAC cooking/playing. Goal is 200hrs for a full settle imo. This Saturday I will be making the PONTUS debut at the Seattle Bottlehead meet. I will be setting up next to a Holo Spring Level 1 DAC and we'll have both Spring and PONTUS feeding into a Schiit Freya preamp (tube or JFET) and then going into a Cayin iHA6 amp. It'll make for a great A/B session between the two as my Breeze DU-U9 can feed both dacs with the same digital data.

Well, it looks really promising, if after 24 hours it's so good, it could come to really remarkable levels, considering that the R2R DACs need a long time to burn in completely.

 

[Mr Pluto]

Wanted to ask is there any kind of tracking when ordering the Ares DAC from Vinshine Audio store page to a residency in the United States? I was just wondering if there is a way to have an idea when it would arrive due to work and other responsibilities that keep me from home, and the Fedex/DHL are not the best about where they place my mail or packages when I am gone on my long my shift and what not. If someone that ordered from Vinshine audio that was in the Eastern states(CT currently) and could let me know I would appreciate it immensely, thanks for your time.

I suppose you must ask Alvin about the shipping possibilities to US. To Europe it was 4day DHL with tracking for only $50 for Ares.

 

[Mr Pluto]

Thanks Willsw and Soundsgoodtome!

For me it would be more interesting if you can A/B the Wavelength Brick V2 and Holo to Ares via SPDIF feed by some decent spinner. The USB thing has so many different variables that the results may not reveal a true DNA of each machine.

 

[bodhidharma]

[Quote = "Soundsgoodtome post: 13466635, membro: 364.354"] Sì, sono rigorosamente in modalità NOS. Ho scoperto che nella primavera Holo Dac il non-oversampling suonava superiore. Così Attualmente ho SOX resampler su Foobar2K giocatore upsampling nella migliore qualità a 192kHz e hanno la modalità PONTUS in NOS. Sembra essere il modo migliore per farlo funzionare, anche se non ho avuto il tempo di ascolto molto in modalità OS o in modalità NAS senza aumenta la frequenza da Foobar.


Sto indovinando che ormai ho da qualche parte nel marchio 100hr, una delle notti ho accidentalmente fermato la musica sul mio computer (anche con i miei amplificatori off) per mantenere il DAC cottura / gioco. Obiettivo è 200hrs per una cassapanca piena imo. Questo Sabato ho farà il debutto PONTUS al raduno di Seattle Bottlehead . Sarò installando accanto a un livello 1 DAC Holo primavera e avremo sia primavera e PONTUS alimentazione in un preamplificatore Schiit Freya (tubo o JFET) e poi andare in un amplificatore Cayin iHA6. Ti farà per una grande sessione di A / B tra i due come il mio Breeze DU-U9 può alimentare entrambi i DAC con gli stessi dati digitali. [/ QUOTE]

But after 100 hours how does it go to Holo Level 3?

 

[AmusedToD]

Decided to take the plunge in this one in order to replace the Chord Mojo as my desktop DAC. Initially wanted to wait for the Chord Hugo 2, but I'm not sure it's worth the price if I won't be using it with headphones (and it's the same chip as in the Mojo, albeit much better implementation). Plus I am tired of looking after the battery in the Mojo and using different adapters because if it's "unfriendly" inputs and outputs. The same will apply to the Hugo 2.

 

[Mr Pluto]

Congrats AmusedToD !

No offense but the chord dac`s look like a toys. I`m confident that with Ares you get many times more for the money.