My Terminator arrived on Tuesday. I've been running the Denafrips Terminator DAC for about 10 hours now. It's currently replacing a highly capable Ayre Codex DAC. This is my initial impression after 10 hours, so my impression will most likely change over time. This is my first R2R DAC and I can clearly hear the pros and cons between a delta sigma and R2R DAC. With some recording, especially poorly recorded albums, I prefer the Ayre DAC, because Ayre does an better job filtering and smoothing out the harshness of compression and poor recorded sound quality (one of the pros of delta sigma dacs). The Terminator is not forgiving with poorly recorded or overly re-mastered music (re-mastered music is a whole different thread) even with OS filtering on, the highs can sound even harsh, almost painful at times. With well recorded music, the Terminator seems to really shine. I'm hearing levels of detail, like with cymbal decay that I haven't hear before. Also, definitely there is more 'air' in the music, the instruments seem better separated, imaginary is improved and the sound stage seems to be extended. The bass seem to be fuller and tighter. I have to say, for some recordings like Tracy Chapman's 1988 "Tracy Chapman" album, the sound does sound very much like the vinyl.
I did find it a bit frustrating that they didn't include a power cord. I usually listen with the stock cord first to get a sense of how the equipment was voiced, so without a stock cord to baseline on, I'm not sure if I'm hearing things because of the cable that I'm using (so far I've tried a pangea and the stock cord that come with my Ayre Codex). I haven't done a whole lot of A/B testing yet, but switching power cords seem to impact the signature of the sound. It seem to impact mostly the bass. Honestly, I'm not sure yet if it's the ultimate DAC or the giant killer but I do think it worth the purchase price. Keep in mind, I'm writing this after 10 hours so there is a lot more burn in time to go. The Ayre Codex took about 500 hours to burn in. I'll post another impression after the DAC has had enough burn in time and I've had a good chance to listen through my music collection.