[krell1967]

The next day I was a guest of my old audiophile friend, his room resembles a shop for how many components are present.
This time the challenge was towards the Cary Audio DMC600 SE, even here the Terminator has shown better qualities in terms of soundstage and detail. For information, Cary costs more than twice the Terminator.....

 

[MiguelPT]

Hi!

Great news, my new Terminador arrived today!!
He looks god and sounds even better just at the beginning, I've never had this kind of sound at home

 

[Kclone]

I just ordered the Terminator. Should be here in probably two to 3 weeks. I will be using a streamer with storage and Roon/Tidal as my source. I listen to mostly rock/pop, nothing to hard. While there is decent recordings in these genres, a lot of stuff is mediocre to poor and most DACs I have tried have that digital glare and can be harsh with some of my favorite music. I have never used a R2R dac so I'm hoping the Terminator will help everything sound a little more smoother, with some air/separation and lively at the same time. I think using NOS mode should be optimal. What input connection should I use or would be the best? Tosslink? USB? Coaxial? or does it just depend?

 

[yates7592]

I have been only using the AES input to my Terminator via ethernet from pc to Focusrite D16. I am extremely happy with the sound quality on all fronts. It's all very relaxed and analog-like with zero digital glare. My CD rips have never sounded better. I can't comment on other inputs as I haven't used them. I suppose if you want to play a lot of DSD recordings then I2S or USB would be the way to go but for Redbook and NOS I doubt AES will be bettered.

 

[Kclone]

Thanks Yates. my streamer doesn't have an AES out so that choice is out. At first mostly rebook from my storage and or Tidal. I don't have any DSD yet.

 

[eserafinojr]

How does the Terminator stack up to the Bricasti M1 or DirectStream for anyone that has heard those as well?

My only experience with R2R was my Anodyne ATAS which was awesome but the left channel crapped out, not sure what happened and it's not the tubes.

The terminator looks to have an outstanding build quality.

 

[nitewulf]

What are the differences between the Venus and the Terminator?

 

[Kclone]

The power supply in the Terminator is a lot of bigger. Maybe someone that is more technical can answer the other differences.

 

[marcobel]

My first post .

Terminator has arrived .

pictures later - cannot upload now ( first post , you know )

 

[krell1967]

What are the differences between the Venus and the Terminator?

First, power supply, in Terminator is bigger and more refined.
Second, digital input, in Terminator we have more digital input, for example three i2s input against only one of Venus.
Third, better components, caps, resistors and so on.

 

[MiguelPT]

My first post .

Terminator has arrived .

pictures later - cannot upload now ( first post , you know )

Wll done! It's a great DAC

 

[cygnusx]

Any more updates guys? @MiguelPT impressions? Hopefully, mine will come in the next few weeks.

 

[MiguelPT]

Any more updates guys? @MiguelPT impressions? Hopefully, mine will come in the next few weeks.

Hi Cygnusx! I haven't been able to do lesening so much as I would to the Terminator for the last couple of weeks becouse of health problems I had. I'm getting better so I expect to be able to come with same listening impressions.
But the word that explan better for me the Terminator sound is "peaceful". No sign of harshness and full of detail, you just can't stop leasing to the music, you I'll see what I mean- It is fantastic...

 

[Kclone]

I have about 125 hours on my Terminator. I am using it for a speaker system that consists one Proac D48R speakers, McIntosh C52 preamp and a McIntosh MC 452 power amp. Not sure how many hours they put on at the production end. Possibly 100. Anyway, it is without a doubt the best DAC I have had in my system. Since I started trying separate DACs about 10 years ago, I have probably owned about that many. Most in the $500.00 to $3000.00 range and one was 8 grand new (McIntosh MDA 1000) which I had the last couple of years. It sounded really good even though it was 2004 technology. They all sounded a little different from each other but not so much anything was just outright better, just different. Granted, I have had different configurations for my system over the years as well so who knows if at any point in time I had everything optimized as far as speaker placement, components, cable choices etc...But again, the Terminator is just a game changer. System sounds relaxed and smooth yet exciting at the same time. Even not so good recordings sound pretty good, surprisingly good actually. And the great recordings, forget about it, awesome!!! Alvin told me break in should be about 300 hours, so I will let it run some more and maybe give another update.

 

[cygnusx]

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.