[Basil65]

I searched for a thread pertaining to the Venus 2 but could not find one. On the eve of the 12th anniversary edition of the Venus 2 being available, I thought it would be nice for people to share their experience & thoughts. I just ordered a Venus 2 and was told I would be getting the 12th edition I`ll be reporting back when I receive it and had enough time to start the break-in process.

 

[George Hincapie]

What differences are there?

 

[Basil65]

What differences are there?

Not sure. If it is similar to the other Denafrips 12th iterations, my guess would be improverd PSU, DSP board and notably, changes to the NOS mode.

 

[Basil65]

UPS just delivered it! It seems like it spent the day in a cold delivery truck... It`s -30 degrees Celsius here today, so I`ll let it warm up over night before I plug it in and start the break-in process

 

[Basil65]

Here's a video Alvin just posted to explain the differences between the different versions of the Venus... and especially the 12th edition

 

[alvin1118]

Read more: here

 

[Palyodgree]

I have just purchased a Venus II 12th arriving soon ,..

 

[Palyodgree]

Wow , fresh out of the box I did not expect this , A big enthusiastic shout out to Denafrips ,.

 

[Palyodgree]

Last evening I had a very pleasant session of listening to music , I quickly found myself caught up in the music then listening for faults with the Venus .
I find much interest and a lot of fun checking out audio components I’m fortunate to belong to a small group of enthusiasts with a wide verity of systems we sometimes get together to check out new components and speaker systems , eventually the Venus will be auditioned in far more resolving systems then my entry level speaker system .

The past 18 months or so I’ve had a number of front ends mostly dacs that I borrowed and purchased , so far the two stand out dacs for me were the Mearson Dac1 and Holo Audio May KTE I can say with confidence for overall enjoyment I’ll add the Denafrips Venus II 12th ,.Some may think it’s just an over enthusiastic opinion of having an experience of a new component however it is not .

Of the list of dacs I’ve enjoyed recently I think Denafrips have produced a genuine contender in its price category that has reached a stage of maturity with the 12th anniversary release according to someone that has experienced the original Venus .
Some of the dacs I’ve owned listened to in a verity of friends speaker systems including headphone systems , PS Audio Direct Stream senior , Rockna WaveDream, AudioByte Hydra Vox , a early Denafrips Terminator , Holo Audio May KTE, Mearson Dac 1, including three budget dacs hailed as giant killers , Musician Audio Aquarius , Gustard R-26 and A-26 great bang for buck dacs however they can not compete with the others .

I of course expect a little more out of my Venus once it’s fully run in .

 

[Loose-Leaf]

Last evening I had a very pleasant session of listening to music , I quickly found myself caught up in the music then listening for faults with the Venus .
I find much interest and a lot of fun checking out audio components I’m fortunate to belong to a small group of enthusiasts with a wide verity of systems we sometimes get together to check out new components and speaker systems , eventually the Venus will be auditioned in far more resolving systems then my entry level speaker system .

The past 18 months or so I’ve had a number of front ends mostly dacs that I borrowed and purchased , so far the two stand out dacs for me were the Mearson Dac1 and Holo Audio May KTE I can say with confidence for overall enjoyment I’ll add the Denafrips Venus II 12th ,.Some may think it’s just an over enthusiastic opinion of having an experience of a new component however it is not .

Of the list of dacs I’ve enjoyed recently I think Denafrips have produced a genuine contender in its price category that has reached a stage of maturity with the 12th anniversary release according to someone that has experienced the original Venus .
Some of the dacs I’ve owned listened to in a verity of friends speaker systems including headphone systems , PS Audio Direct Stream senior , Rockna WaveDream, AudioByte Hydra Vox , a early Denafrips Terminator , Holo Audio May KTE, Mearson Dac 1, including three budget dacs hailed as giant killers , Musician Audio Aquarius , Gustard R-26 and A-26 great bang for buck dacs however they can not compete with the others .

I of course expect a little more out of my Venus once it’s fully run in .

Interesting , I’d like to PM you if you don’t mind ?

 

[Mark6088]

Last evening I had a very pleasant session of listening to music , I quickly found myself caught up in the music then listening for faults with the Venus .
I find much interest and a lot of fun checking out audio components I’m fortunate to belong to a small group of enthusiasts with a wide verity of systems we sometimes get together to check out new components and speaker systems , eventually the Venus will be auditioned in far more resolving systems then my entry level speaker system .

The past 18 months or so I’ve had a number of front ends mostly dacs that I borrowed and purchased , so far the two stand out dacs for me were the Mearson Dac1 and Holo Audio May KTE I can say with confidence for overall enjoyment I’ll add the Denafrips Venus II 12th ,.Some may think it’s just an over enthusiastic opinion of having an experience of a new component however it is not .

Of the list of dacs I’ve enjoyed recently I think Denafrips have produced a genuine contender in its price category that has reached a stage of maturity with the 12th anniversary release according to someone that has experienced the original Venus .
Some of the dacs I’ve owned listened to in a verity of friends speaker systems including headphone systems , PS Audio Direct Stream senior , Rockna WaveDream, AudioByte Hydra Vox , a early Denafrips Terminator , Holo Audio May KTE, Mearson Dac 1, including three budget dacs hailed as giant killers , Musician Audio Aquarius , Gustard R-26 and A-26 great bang for buck dacs however they can not compete with the others .

I of course expect a little more out of my Venus once it’s fully run in .

I purchased a Venus II 12th about five months ago and am very happy with its performance. I have been through several other external DACs and I have found the Venus to bring just the right mix of detail, richness and depth compared to all the other DACs I have owned over the past three years.

The other DACs with a brief reason for moving on follows: RME ADI-2 DAC FS (OK, but a little on the dull sounding side); Topping D90SE (a little lacking in depth and richness); PS Audio Directstream DAC Senior - Used (too laid back); Schiit Yggdrasil OG (excellent DAC...excellent depth, but lacking a little detail, very energetic, may have been a keeper if they had more than a 15-day trial period); Holo Audio Spring 3 KTE (most detailed DAC I've owned but it came at the expense of depth and richness...could be fatiguing with some types of music). It is worth mentioning also that I started my external DAC journey with a Pontus II which was a fine DAC. It did seem have a bit of a veiled sound and that is what prompted me to part with it in favor of the Topping D90. Later, however, I found that it was very likely my preamp that was producing that veiled sound. I replaced the suspect preamp with an Anthem STR Preamp and it significantly improved my overall sound. (It would have been interesting to see how the Pontus II sounded with the higher end preamp!)

One other thing regarding the Venus II 12th. It definitely improves with break-in. I found a big improvement in the first 200 hours and continuing, but more subtle improvement all the way up to about 400 hours.

 

[Palyodgree]

Interesting , I’d like to PM you if you don’t mind ?

Sure ,

 

[Palyodgree]

I purchased a Venus II 12th about five months ago and am very happy with its performance. I have been through several other external DACs and I have found the Venus to bring just the right mix of detail, richness and depth compared to all the other DACs I have owned over the past three years.

The other DACs with a brief reason for moving on follows: RME ADI-2 DAC FS (OK, but a little on the dull sounding side); Topping D90SE (a little lacking in depth and richness); PS Audio Directstream DAC Senior - Used (too laid back); Schiit Yggdrasil OG (excellent DAC...excellent depth, but lacking a little detail, very energetic, may have been a keeper if they had more than a 15-day trial period); Holo Audio Spring 3 KTE (most detailed DAC I've owned but it came at the expense of depth and richness...could be fatiguing with some types of music). It is worth mentioning also that I started my external DAC journey with a Pontus II which was a fine DAC. It did seem have a bit of a veiled sound and that is what prompted me to part with it in favor of the Topping D90. Later, however, I found that it was very likely my preamp that was producing that veiled sound. I replaced the suspect preamp with an Anthem STR Preamp and it significantly improved my overall sound. (It would have been interesting to see how the Pontus II sounded with the higher end preamp!)

One other thing regarding the Venus II 12th. It definitely improves with break-in. I found a big improvement in the first 200 hours and continuing, but more subtle improvement all the way up to about 400 hours.

I’m really quite surprised by the level of performance fresh out of box , my senses are seduced by the Venus, I am very much surprised how the Venus renders well recorded human pitch and tone , generally timbre and tone especially of horn instruments are Very well done , I like the Venus better then what the Holo May KTE could do using that dac for a period of time in a speaker system including a headphone system ,I would say the timbre and tone produced is equal to that of the Mearson Dac 1 easy , my Venus isn’t a week old so itll be interesting what the Venus final signature sound will be like once run in .
You've had some great dacs i think we both are on the same wavelength of thought with the Venus.

Anyway I’ve heard enough so far to say the Venus 2 -12 is a “stupendous good deal” !

 

[Mark6088]

I’m really quite surprised by the level of performance fresh out of box , my senses are seduced by the Venus, I am very much surprised how the Venus renders well recorded human pitch and tone , generally timbre and tone especially of horn instruments are Very well done , I like the Venus better then what the Holo May KTE could do using that dac for a period of time in a speaker system including a headphone system ,I would say the timbre and tone produced is equal to that of the Mearson Dac 1 easy , my Venus isn’t a week old so itll be interesting what the Venus final signature sound will be like once run in .
You've had some great dacs i think we both are on the same wavelength of thought with the Venus.

Anyway I’ve heard enough so far to say the Venus 2 -12 is a “stupendous good deal” !

I did not use the terms "timbre" or "tone" in my entry, but you are 100% right--the Venus II 12th has top-notch timbre and a certain depth to music that is wonderful! I think the Venus II is underrated, for sure!

 

[sajunky]

I purchased a Venus II 12th about five months ago and am very happy with its performance. I have been through several other external DACs and I have found the Venus to bring just the right mix of detail, richness and depth compared to all the other DACs I have owned over the past three years.

The other DACs with a brief reason for moving on follows: RME ADI-2 DAC FS (OK, but a little on the dull sounding side); Topping D90SE (a little lacking in depth and richness); PS Audio Directstream DAC Senior - Used (too laid back); Schiit Yggdrasil OG (excellent DAC...excellent depth, but lacking a little detail, very energetic, may have been a keeper if they had more than a 15-day trial period); Holo Audio Spring 3 KTE (most detailed DAC I've owned but it came at the expense of depth and richness...could be fatiguing with some types of music). It is worth mentioning also that I started my external DAC journey with a Pontus II which was a fine DAC. It did seem have a bit of a veiled sound and that is what prompted me to part with it in favor of the Topping D90. Later, however, I found that it was very likely my preamp that was producing that veiled sound. I replaced the suspect preamp with an Anthem STR Preamp and it significantly improved my overall sound. (It would have been interesting to see how the Pontus II sounded with the higher end preamp!)

One other thing regarding the Venus II 12th. It definitely improves with break-in. I found a big improvement in the first 200 hours and continuing, but more subtle improvement all the way up to about 400 hours.

Very interesting comparison, these few words describing differences are very accurate in my books judging only on few examples, I don't have such wide exposure. A controversial as always is Holo Audio and I would agree, as Springs 2 L2 had the same properties. It also brings fatigue as quick as Delta-Sigma DACs (20 minutes with my old deficient brain).

The latest addition of a true NOS will bring Venus 12th close to the Audio GD R-27Mk2, there was a comparison of Venus 2 with Audio GD R-7 2020 model. Unfortunately as usual with small companies Audio GD do not offer trial period.

To complete your journey, adding a DDC is beneficial in most cases, then ading external clock power conditioners brings your system to the next level.