[CalvinandHobbes2020]

And others have said "if you don't like the sound"... Perfectly normal statement. What is it about R2R that one might not like? In general, what is "the sound"?

Like I said, so far, nothing is "bad"... Bit more detail, smoothness, air, size. Just a bit.

I'm holding judgment though because how I'm running it is so goofy. Crappy USB cable, into Matrix Audio mini-i pro 3 which should be the limiting factor. I am also not positive that analog into the pro 3 isn't digitized again. I know my Naim Atom converts all inputs to digital so I can't bypass that dac. So I2S to pontus then to GSX should be night and day...

The one thing that I will say about the sound signature of the Pontus is that how it sounds to me is natural and realistically detailed. What it does is not do is to present music that sounds bigger than life with an artificially technicolor presentation. That to me is a dividing line for determining whether someone may or may not like the sound of the Pontus.

 

[shwnwllms]

My Pontus II + Iris arrive Monday.

(Strange thing is I swear my Gustard X16 started sounding better the moment I received my shipping notification from Denafrips. Obviously this is just my lizard brain playing tricks on me, and not attributable to any scientifically measurable metric)

 

[realmassy]

Buyer remorse…it’s usual, it happened to me countless times!
A bit off topic, but these days as soon as I find ’something wrong’ with my setup after having enjoyed it and praised for its qualities I shut everything down and stop listening, maybe using only my AirPods Pro for a few days. And magically my setup shines again. The most important thing in those days is staying away from this forum and hide the credit card

 

[Sunset1982]

Buyer remorse…it’s usual, it happened to me countless times!
A bit off topic, but these days as soon as I find ’something wrong’ with my setup after having enjoyed it and praised for its qualities I shut everything down and stop listening, maybe using only my AirPods Pro for a few days. And magically my setup shines again. The most important thing in those days is staying away from this forum and hide the credit card

absolutely right. I sold my Bifrost 2 and waited for a week or so for my Pontus II to arrive. In the meantime I used the build in Dac on my computers motherboard. I noticed right away how muddy and unclean it sounds. I will be blown away when I finally got the Pontus in my setup.

 

[Powermankw]

Well right now I can barely listen... Seems bright now... But that's not the problem. My stream pops, skips... It's almost guaranteed... A song will start for 15-20 sec... Go back to beginning... Play a bit, skip forward to where it should be. Studders, stops playing... Annoying as hell.

 

[joseG86]

Well right now I can barely listen... Seems bright now... But that's not the problem. My stream pops, skips... It's almost guaranteed... A song will start for 15-20 sec... Go back to beginning... Play a bit, skip forward to where it should be. Studders, stops playing... Annoying as hell.

Right out of the box, the very first maybe second day will sound bright, maybe even very bright. The stream pops, skips etc it is not normal at all, did you install latest drivers? Are you using wasapi or asio? Can you use USB 2.0 instead of 3.0 in case you're using 3? Also check task manager and performance monitor, see if your CPU is at 95%+ of usage

José

 

[Powermankw]

Right out of the box, the very first maybe second day will sound bright, maybe even very bright. The stream pops, skips etc it is not normal at all, did you install latest drivers? Are you using wasapi or asio? Can you use USB 2.0 instead of 3.0 in case you're using 3? Also check task manager and performance monitor, see if your CPU is at 95%+ of usage

José

I did download the driver, wasapi, and I need to check USB... Pretty sure 3.

 

[mrip541]

Anyone know about how long shipping takes to eastern US? Also, my confirmation email mentioned that the dacs are burned in for 100 hours before being shipped out. All these posts about how people didn't like the sound "out of the box" are... concerning. Probably shouldn't have even clicked this thread before hearing one for myself.

 

[shwnwllms]

Anyone know about how long shipping takes to eastern US? Also, my confirmation email mentioned that the dacs are burned in for 100 hours before being shipped out. All these posts about how people didn't like the sound "out of the box" are... concerning. Probably shouldn't have even clicked this thread before hearing one for myself.

Order placed on 2/15, shipment notification on 2/17, due to arrive on 2/21. They actually are at the local Fed Ex hub as of last night, if it wasn’t the weekend I would already have mine by now. (I’m in Pittsburgh for reference).

They come in through Alaska so East Coast adds a day but 2-3 days shipping time to the US (with their logistics team being in contact the entire time is top notch). I wouldn’t worry about initial impressions out of the box, just be patient during burn in.

 

[Powermankw]

Mine went from Alaska to Indianapolis to Denver. Had it within a week.

 

[Chibs]

Anyone know about how long shipping takes to eastern US? Also, my confirmation email mentioned that the dacs are burned in for 100 hours before being shipped out. All these posts about how people didn't like the sound "out of the box" are... concerning. Probably shouldn't have even clicked this thread before hearing one for myself.

Better you know so your expectations can be managed. Denafrips does burn them in but not enough. Look at your first 100 - 150 hours as just paying your dues. Totally and worth it. Mine came in 4 days through England but I'm in Canada. Get excited, Pontus is awesome!
Chibs

 

[Powermankw]

Mine went from Alaska to Indianapolis to Denver. Had it within a

Right out of the box, the very first maybe second day will sound bright, maybe even very bright. The stream pops, skips etc it is not normal at all, did you install latest drivers? Are you using wasapi or asio? Can you use USB 2.0 instead of 3.0 in case you're using 3? Also check task manager and performance monitor, see if your CPU is at 95%+ of usage

José

So that's weird... Tried Asio same thing. If I do anything my CPU maxes... It only runs 10% listening to roon. Then I try my Matrix mini pro... Hook up USB, wasapi, playback is perfect... Do a bunch of stuff, even speed test... CPU doesn't max, playback is perfect. Then another song plays... Does the same stupid play, go back, go forward thing.

Seems my wifi was doing something but I'm wired so I turned that off... That helped. I'm on USB 3.0, and driver is latest 3.12. This is all thru roon. I set buffer to max but no difference... I even set max stream to 24/192 even though file I'm using is less.

 

[joseG86]

Mine went from Alaska to Indianapolis to Denver. Had it within a

So that's weird... Tried Asio same thing. If I do anything my CPU maxes... It only runs 10% listening to roon. Then I try my Matrix mini pro... Hook up USB, wasapi, playback is perfect... Do a bunch of stuff, even speed test... CPU doesn't max, playback is perfect. Then another song plays... Does the same stupid play, go back, go forward thing.

Seems my wifi was doing something but I'm wired so I turned that off... That helped. I'm on USB 3.0, and driver is latest 3.12. This is all thru roon. I set buffer to max but no difference... I even set max stream to 24/192 even though file I'm using is less.

Open performance monitor and see what is really going on, disconnect other USBs (keep mouse and kboard) and leave only Pontus and see if it does the trick, but the key is to check performance monitor and what makes the spikes

 

[Powermankw]

Open performance monitor and see what is really going on, disconnect other USBs (keep mouse and kboard) and leave only Pontus and see if it does the trick, but the key is to check performance monitor and what makes the spikes

Things got buggy. I was losing my wired connection. When in doubt... Reboot seemed to fix everything. All good right now.

 

[DenverW]

I'm thinking of upgrading my dac and could use the opinion of current pontus ii owners. If anyone has owned a bifrost 2 in the past or could give advice if this is a worthy upgrade I would welcome the information. Currently running a bifrost 2 into a A&S Bigger Ben. I had previously downgraded from a Gumby but feel that this amp is more resolving than my previous one.

Feedback is welcome!