[Cat Music]

I respect your opinion. As someone who spends a ton of money on this hobby, it's always good to be wary of the sketchy stuff. Glad you are bringing this to light. I'd be very interested to see how this pans out. I hope if others have also read the review of Ares II, they'll chime in too.

I will only say that if a company sends its products to someone, it does so so that they are recommended and have a positive review, independently of Sandu, generally thinking of the majority of the pages dedicated to constant reviews, that is, nobody would send their product to someone to say that this product does not work, that would be suicide, it is logical, I want to clarify that I am not generalizing, but it is clear that most of the reviews are 100% positive, as in the case of Sandu Although I do not share that philosophy, I just prefer to refrain from receiving something from a company and get it on my own, but I suppose most will prefer the easier way, again, I am not saying that always happens, but if I were a company and wanted to sell my product , I would never send my product to someone who said negative things, I would always choose the person who knows who is going to say only the good things and recommend it 100%,
By the way, I don't want to say that everything Sandu recommends is simply a bad product, regardless of what Sandu says, it will be up to all of us to discover if Ares II and Pegasus are good Dacs, and everyone will know how to choose their criteria to decide if it is good or bad, I will not discuss that, in my opinion I can not say anything about the Ares II or the Pegasus, if I do not have them I will not speak badly or well of them, I can only be guided by the references that the reviewers give and make a consensus, Especially guiding me from the reviews of people who bought with their money and can make an honest criticism, even if it were, I would take every opinion like a grain of salt, since every experience is personal, not all of us will share the same experiences, so positive or negative concepts about a product (such as Ares II) can vary ...

 

[]eep]

The reviewers are not posting reviews as a hobby. They are all in it to make money. Some are more honest than others. The majority are taking "gifts" from the manufacturer or outright getting paid. I read reviews and watch youtube reviews for general information. I have a very select few reviewers who's opinion I believe. I never make a purchase decision based on a review. Many people do and that is why a lot of reviewers are making a nifty profit with their reviews. Major magazine reviews are all about advertising dollars. I know I was in the business for many years...

Maybe it's a cultural thing i don't share, but integrety cannot be bought. Any reviewer worth his salt knows he needs a few things to get payed for his investigative writings: knowledge, writing skill and integrity. If you don't have the spine to report honestly you're not a reviewer but an 'influencer' (to be pronounced as 'prostitute' with the appropriate derisive intonation of the more common term).
A reviewer is not a reporter who can just report facts, observations are not as clear cut and are mixed with opinions (most people in this age of bipartisan propaganda bombardment have no clue about the difference between news and opinion) but there is a difference between an honest opinion and completely changing it after 'something' happened. What that certain 'something' is we can probably guess. I think its a case of detestable business ethics.

Now i don't mean that if you get a free sample that you should write a positive review (after doing such a review, do you really want that iffy product?). Then you get a review with only positives, but as a practiced reader you learn to distinguish between obligatory praise and real enthusiasm. But what i do mean is: you dont go trampling other products in the mud. You may compare if you tested both, you can vent suspicions but you don't edit a review you wrote before that was very positive to utterly mediocre. Or let it disappear completely and only in the comments advise people not to buy it.

That means: either you do not have the knowledge to say anything distictive, or you just say what the highest bidder tells you to write. In both cases are not worth reading. The worst thing is, when it's this transparent you lose reputation that takes a very long time to earn back (if ever: once a liar always a liar).

Normally written media earn money with advertisements. Preferably lots of small advertisers for the sake of independence. If you have a few big advertisers they can exert an enormous amount of power (in 1 word: Redskins). Your income will be according to the number of people that see the advertisements, so you NEED people to trust you in order to want to read you. You need to be desirable, informative, entertaining ànd trustworthy. Otherwise you will lose advertising income.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Haven't saw Ares II. Original Ares yes. Oh well!
And there is Venus, but surely anybody can differentiate that...

 

[Deolum]

Anyone heard this compared to chord 2qute/qutest?

 

[sajunky]

Chord is a proprietary Delta-Sigma design with a powerful digital filter.

Denafrips is R2R (ladder) design. A simplest (conceptually) converter that don't need filters in a digital domain and makes a full conversion in one clock cycle. It is why is the most suitable method for dynamic signal (music). Digital filters are for your convenience, but not essential. This is a difference in a technology that matters. You may actually prefer Chord, it is because majority of curent music production focus on mass consumption, not because a Chord sounds better indeed (which I doubt, but giving as an example).

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Sorry Bro, got it wrong. Since their first offering, the Qute, Chord uses FPGA Technology (same as PS Audio, T+A, Audiobyte, Playback Designs, Meitner, Nagra on some models) for conversion. And its only difference is that Chord codes it in PCM, the others in DSD.

 

[sajunky]

Sorry Bro, got it wrong. Since their first offering, the Qute, Chord uses FPGA Technology (same as PS Audio, T+A, Audiobyte, Playback Designs, Meitner, Nagra on some models) for conversion.

Nothing is wrong in my statement. In Chord FPGA is used for DSP processing and Delta-Sigma decoding. In Denafrips similar FPGA chip has no Delta-Sigma decoder. Its logic cells are working as DSP and driving R2R array. It is R2R technology, Chord is not.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Sorry, thought you were refering to actual delta-sigma dac chips used for decoding (i.e. AKM, ESS, Wolfson)...

 

[Deolum]

But the question is how do they sound compared?

 

[sajunky]

But the question is how do they sound compared?

Sorry, pal, I was trying to say in my replay that general preference to the technology will be attached to the response. It will dominate response giving you no meanful answer.

I suggest you should specify what kind of music you are listening to. Acoustic instruments (classic, jazz, some pop) or the current loudnes war production (majority items on the top xx hit list).

 

[]eep]

Anyone heard this compared to chord 2qute/qutest?

No, no one has compared them. This is a silly question because this rip-off is new, sounds different to the original only louder and less precise which can be inferred from the technology used. And so is the answer to your question. It's one method against the other of which there is plenty of reading available (delta sigma vs R2R). Once you've established that pick your model.

 

[tuyen]

Hoping to hear from someone here who gets the Pegasus dac and shares how they find it against the other dacs (preferably r2r).

 

[smallcaps]

I'm currently considering this dac versus the Pontus and Ares II. It seems to be positioned between both the Pontus and Ares. I wish Denafrips was the distributor as their warranty and service is second-to-none, from what I have read so far. The Pegasus seems to split the difference between the two Denafrips models. I might just hold off in hopes that they will make a challenger dac to the Pegasus, or may just go with the Ares and save some money.

On another note, I was watching Z Reviews (I treat Zeos more as a podcast to play while I'm working, and not so much as a guide towards my hobby purchases), and he mentioned in one of his videos that he has a Pegasus, but afaik hasn't reviewed it yet and mentioned he needed to send it back to the manufacturer as it had some production errors. This also makes me refrain from purchasing one so far, as I'm waiting to see if a silent revision gets released or has already been released...

 

[tuyen]

Im in the process of sorting out my finances so I can order one of these units. I feel I'm confident enough that I will be satisfied with its performance and willing to take a punt on it.

just deciding if i should get silver or black unit!

 

[kvad]

Anyone know polish and read through the test at high-fidelity.pl?
My simplified takeaway from the review (auto-translated) was clarity, smoothness and a neutral low-end that requires some care in matching.