[37mil]

Very interested in hearing about Pontus if/when someone has heard it.

A comparison of Pontus vs Holo Spring would be divine as those are the two DACs i'm trying to decide between.

Has anyone dealt with Denafrips support at all yet? I'm curious what their warranty/support is like, and if anyone has inquired if they have a way to safely/easily replace parts on devices when they fail considering how tightly packet they are on the board.

me, too. Spring or Pontus, that's the question.

 

[WhiskeyJacks]

Glad you are enjoying the Ares. Would hope you might comment again after burn in. I occasionally direct connect my Ares to my Bakoon Headphone Amp and also use ZMF Omni closed headphones.
A superb matching. I love the Omni cans and of course the Ares.

Yes, once I hit over 100 hours on this sucker I will be probably going into any differences I hear and potentially and actual review for this product on head-fi. The ZMF Omni's are fantastic headphone for semi/open headphones they have slam and body in low end of many fully closed headphones with a separation and 3d staging of many fully open headphones. The alo pan am goes surprisingly well with the omni's, hd 6xx, Audiofly AF1120 iems, and the m1060's. How is the Bakoon hpa paired with the Ares and omni?

 

[WhiskeyJacks]

So, I am listening to this compilation album, Classic Meets Pop, and it is fantastically good. I mean some of the song choices in instrumental are phenomenal especially the emotion they are able to capture and produce with instruments alone. The Ares does and wonderful job with the separation of all the different instruments and notes being played simultaneously and the revision 2 of the Monolith M1060 planar headphone doest a wonderful job paired with this DAC

 

[soundfanz]

How is the Bakoon hpa paired with the Ares and omni?

The Bakoon HPA 5210 MK III is connected via RCA interconnects.
My Macbook running Audivarna via USB
CD player via Optical cable.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

For those looking at Spring vs PONTUS, this happened last weekend.

I'm an old owner of a KTE Tuned Spring Level 3 with approx 500-1000hrs in (no longer own, going off memory). During our meet at Bottlehead last weekend we were able to A/B the PONTUS vs Spring. I've had the PONTUS for about a week prior to this meet and was able to put ~200hrs on it with music. The Spring Level has maybe 200-300hrs as well. Don't mind the comment of PNWRain on that thread saying the PONTUS sounds odd, I don't think he knows what he's talking yet as he's currently using on-board pc sound going to an amp for his headphone and might be playing towards the owner of KTE who was at the meet (understandable, Tim is a good guy and he makes great gear).

The picture, from left to right on the bottom only: (click to zoom)
Denafrips PONTUS, Cayin iHA6, Schiit Freya tube/ss preamp (to A/B Spring vs PONUTS), KTE Level 1 Tuned Spring DAC



Initial Impressions are: The Denafrips Pontus has a more even tuning/tonality than the Spring DAC Lvl 1 purchased directly from Kitsune Hifi. The Spring DAC does have a slight sub-bass/bass boost and somewhat sweet sound midrange and the Pontus has a more even keel (dare I say neutral/flat) presentation of the sound. The Spring has a very very slight level of clarity but this may be due to the mids tuning.

3 of 4 listeners preferred the Spring DAC over the PONTUS however 1 listener who preferred the PONTUS said that the PONTUS sound representation was more true sounding as it did not play with the sound by adding quantity to any frequency.

Soundstage and depth are pretty even between both dacs, the Spring dac has a slight advantage in instrument separation. This could be because of the slight elevated bass and mids which also gives the Spring the slight advantage in perceived clarity. This is not to say that anything is missing in the PONTUS sound, it is just a more flat response.

More to come soon on my write-up, do not just read this and go off making an opinion as all will be covered thoroughly.

 

[bearwarrior]

Are you comparing Pontus with lvl 1 Holo Spring?

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

This will be my answer post, even if you post after this I will quote you and answer here:

Are you comparing Pontus with lvl 1 Holo Spring?

Yes I am comparing the PONTUS with the Spring Level 1 (Kitsune Tuned Edition). Both are currently around $1600usd to your door. However I am able to compare the lvl3 by memory as well (which I've owned for 4-5 months).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit 1:
How do you know this? I know the owner personally and Tim from KTE himself (owner) was at the meet who sold it to him. I don't know how much more official it can get. Unless you're saying that the Level 1 doesn't have mods from KTE and it's stock being a LVL 1 then that may make more sense.

As far as I know the Level 1 Holo Spring DAC is not a KTE.

Thanks, stay tuned for more. I more thorough comparison coming soon.

Nice review

------------------------------------------------------
Edit 2:

Gotcha, well it's a Level 1 Spring DAC purchased from Kitsune directly. Even if it's not modded it wasn't one that came out of a Chinese distributor.

"Unless you're saying that the Level 1 doesn't have mods from KTE and it's stock being a LVL 1 then that may make more sense."

This is exactly what I'm saying, so it's not a KTE, it a Level 1.
I was only pointing this out so there is no confusion on the Spring DAC you're comparing.

 

[joseph69]

This will be my answer post, even if you post after this I will quote you and answer here:


Yes I am comparing the PONTUS with the Spring Level 1 (Kitsune Tuned Edition).

As far as I know the Level 1 Holo Spring DAC is not a KTE.

 

[ririeiman]

For those looking at Spring vs PONTUS, this happened last weekend.

I'm an old owner of a KTE Tuned Spring Level 3 with approx 500-1000hrs in (no longer own, going off memory). During our meet at Bottlehead last weekend we were able to A/B the PONTUS vs Spring. I've had the PONTUS for about a week prior to this meet and was able to put ~200hrs on it with music. The Spring Level has maybe 200-300hrs as well. Don't mind the comment of PNWRain on that thread saying the PONTUS sounds odd, I don't think he knows what he's talking yet as he's currently using on-board pc sound going to an amp for his headphone and might be playing towards the owner of KTE who was at the meet (understandable, Tim is a good guy and he makes great gear).

The picture, from left to right on the bottom only: (click to zoom)
Denafrips PONTUS, Cayin iHA6, Schiit Freya tube/ss preamp (to A/B Spring vs PONUTS), KTE Level 1 Tuned Spring DAC



Initial Impressions are: The Denafrips Pontus has a more even tuning/tonality than the Spring DAC Lvl 1 KTE. The Spring DAC does have a slight sub-bass/bass boost and somewhat sweet sound midrange and the Pontus has a more even keel (dare I say neutral/flat) presentation of the sound. The Spring has a very very slight level of clarity but this may be due to the mids tuning.

3 of 4 listeners preferred the Spring DAC over the PONTUS however 1 listener who preferred the PONTUS said that the PONTUS sound representation was more true sounding as it did not play with the sound by adding quantity to any frequency.

Soundstage and depth are pretty even between both dacs, the Spring dac has a slight advantage in instrument separation. This could be because of the slight elevated bass and mids which also gives the Spring the slight advantage in perceived clarity. This is not to say that anything is missing in the PONTUS sound, it is just a more flat response.

More to come soon on my write-up, do not just read this and go off making an opinion as all will be covered thoroughly.

Nice review

 

[joseph69]

Edit 1:
How do you know this? I know the owner personally and Tim from KTE himself (owner) was at the meet who sold it to him. I don't know how much more official it can get. Unless you're saying that the Level 1 doesn't have mods from KTE and it's stock being a LVL 1 then that may make more sense.

"Unless you're saying that the Level 1 doesn't have mods from KTE and it's stock being a LVL 1 then that may make more sense."

This is exactly what I'm saying, so it's not a KTE, it a Level 1.
I was only pointing this out so there is no confusion on the Spring DAC you're comparing.

 

[joseph69]

------------------------------------------------------
Edit 2:

Gotcha, well it's a Level 1 Spring DAC purchased from Kitsune directly. Even if it's not modded it wasn't one that came out of a Chinese distributor.

Looking forward to reading more of your comparisons!

 

[Mr Pluto]

Soundsgoodtome,

Thanks for the nice review!

As I understand the comparsion was only via headphones, using computer as a source (no dedicated disc spinner via S/PDIF)?
Where the levels matched? What are the output voltages of Spring? I can`t find any spec online.

 

[gug42]

Hello Evryone,

Could you confirm that Ares is an upgrade from schiit modi multibit ?
How are the trebble ? I'm looking for extendanted and impactfull bass, lush mids, and mostly really soft/mellow high-mids and treeble.

And how it compite against Teac UD-501, Aune S6 or gustard x12 ?

Thx

 

[37mil]

Hello Evryone,

And how it compite against Teac UD-301, UD-501 or Aune S6 (or S16) ?

Thx

i'd be interested to know as well. Do these ladder dacs actually sound distinctly different to chip dacs like those mentioned above? Does anyone even know what type of analog ouptut stage is used as this would have a big effect on sound as well.

 

[PitBul34]

Denafrips Ares in chinese restaurant

More photos