Denafrips R2R DAC (plays 512 DSD) reviewed as giant killer

[mikicasellas]

3 hours ago, StreamFidelity said:

 

Thanks for this tip! I'm using Denafrips Terminator with HQPlayer (USB connected) as renderer. Mostly I hear with convolution on / poly-sync-ext2 / ASDM7EC / 44.1 / 16/ 2 -> 12.288M (DSD 256 x 48) / 1 / 2. 

 

After the update, the sound has become clearer and more precise. No worlds but audible. Great support from Denafrips! 👍

 

Indeed GREAT support, Alvin has been amazing at this !!

[luisma]

Hi Alvin @alvin1118

Followed the upgrade procedure, after the upgrade turning off the Terminator and ALL of my equipment digital and analog, first song played have a horrible ringing (see video)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2a1ayiw7nl9tgsv/TERMINATOR-AFTERUPG.mp4?dl=0

 

After switching to another song it started playing properly, I can confirm without doubt as I noticed before reading these further posts that there is an improvement in clarity.

 

When I installed and received the new board I missed the Amanero board, the sound clarity and articulation on the amanero PCM 384 sounded to me better than the new board with PCM 1024, the conversion and switching between DSD and PCM were mostly gone, I say mostly because maybe once I experienced the glitch with the new board but possibly related to change in the source content as well. I never said anything about the Amanero board sounding better because it is my own opinion and most reviewers and users here reported otherwise.

 

Now with the new firmware update I just heard 3 songs, right now and I can say it is indeed an improvement (I'm not a subjective person as you can tell by the amanero board sounding better story above) maybe other users experienced the same and did not mention it neither.

 

Maybe Denafrips would like to investigate why the ringing after the upgrade or confirm it is a known issue, it might be helpful to them.

 

 

[luisma]

5th song Skyfall with violinist Caroline Campbell, which I use for evaluating my system as I know it very well, detailed as I it was before, sounds little better than the Amanero board before but I just turned on my amps and pre amp and the 42 triodes have to warm up a little more  and I expect the sound to further improve.

Great awesome update, as I type I hear more and more improvement.

 

I was going crazy trying to figure out what was wrong with my system of a few months ago

 

I would say anyone reading this with the initial iteration of the new DSP board if you are sure your board is from before Sept 15 go ahead and upgrade, if you want you can listen to a few songs before and after for ABing

 

Thanks again Alvin

 

[alvin1118]

Thank you, guys. @mikicasellas @StreamFidelity  @luisma

 

Hope the capability to allow you to upgrade the FPGA firmware is a good feature that come along with the new dsp board upgrade. We kept it in the sleeve for awhile for good 

 

@luisma, could it be first handshake of the Linux player with the Terminator? I will do some tests with my SOtM and Sonore later to confirm again. Hope you like the sound of the new firmware!

 

Many thanks. 

 

Yours sincerely, 

Alvin

www.vinshineaudio.com 

[luisma]

13 minutes ago, alvin1118 said:

could it be first handshake of the Linux player with the Terminator? I will do some tests with my SOtM and Sonore later to confirm again. Hope you like the sound of the new firmware!

Hi Alvin, yes it could be, it was only ONCE, it hasn't happened again, just the 1st time, I don't think it is important to me but reported it because it might be worth it for Denafrips

 

BTW all my comparisons etc are done using PCM, I listen to PCM 90% of the time, so these changes on firmware Alvin maybe you could confirm if were supposed to affect only PCM or only DSD or both.... maybe I'm hearing placebo 🙂

 

[Cyrus]

I've been testing the new firmware for a number of weeks.

 

I've experienced distortion / noise issues with native PCM playback. I do not utilize DSD or upsampling. This goes away after changing the track.

 

Alvin has been looking into it and has been super supportive. I reached out to Sonore a number of weeks ago to connect them with Denafrips and Sonore has sent Alvin a unit for testing. My issues may be Sonore - Denafrips related. 

 

I need to reflash the firmware and adjust MQA settings per Alvin's direction. I'll report back based on what I experience.

[jcolon]

Hi guys,

 

Maybe a silly question but I am seeking advice before purchasing  an Denafrips Ares 2! Would appreciate your response especially from Alvin. I mainly listen to FLAC files and streaming of Hi Rez radio (radioswissjazz.com) thru a Bluesound 2.

 

Q1. Do I have to convert my FLAC library to DSD in order for the Ares 2 to play them?

Q2. Will the Ares 2 play the streaming radio signal from radioswissjazz?

 

Any comment / clarification from any board member will be appreciated .

[jcn3]

1 hour ago, jcolon said:

Hi guys,

 

Maybe a silly question but I am seeking advice before purchasing  an Denafrips Ares 2! Would appreciate your response especially from Alvin. I mainly listen to FLAC files and streaming of Hi Rez radio (radioswissjazz.com) thru a Bluesound 2.

 

Q1. Do I have to convert my FLAC library to DSD in order for the Ares 2 to play them?

Q2. Will the Ares 2 play the streaming radio signal from radioswissjazz?

 

Any comment / clarification from any board member will be appreciated .

 

Q1 -- definitely not -- take a a look at the specs on their website.

Q2 -- definitely will.

[jcolon]

Thanks jcn3!

 

However there's no indication on the website and on the spec sheet for that matter that mentions the unit would play FLAC files outright.

Am I missing something?!

[ericuco]

3 minutes ago, jcolon said:

Thanks jcn3!

 

However there's no indication on the website and on the spec sheet for that matter that mentions the unit would play FLAC files outright.

Am I missing something?!

 

Denafrips Ares 2 is DAC (digital to analog converter) not a music player. So you need to choose a music player that will read and process the FLAC file and send it to the Denafrips Ares 2, usually via USB connection to your computer.

 

There are tons of music players such as HQPlayer, Audirvana, Roon, iTunes, etc.  Some are free, some are not. There is a recent blog post on the various free players:

 

 

[alvin1118]

Thank you @ericuco, perfecto answers. Much appreciated!

[luisma]

Anyone using the new chip with the Allo Bridge? I haven't been able to get it to work on DietPi, Allo says the DAC manufacturer is supposed to provide the drivers, anyone using it with the new Allo Signature?

[analogue]

The Terminator was just reviewed on Steve Guttenberg's YT channel. He gives Denafrips products very high praise. Me thinks he's a skilled influencer. He's been doin' it for decades. Hey, it's $$ to live in Brooklyn ... so all the power to him, I guess.

[analogue]

Forgot to add -- and is is SUPER IMPORTANT -- that DENAFRIPS is an acronym for something profoundly important to hi-fi. I know. I read about it on a dedicated page:

https://www.denafrips.com/ab

 

Quote

The name, DENAFRIPS, stand for:

D-ynamic
E-xquisite 
N-atural 
A-ttractive
F-idelity
R-efined 
I-ntoxicating 
P-ure 
S-ophisticated

This mean a lot and it is the house-sound of all DENAFRIPS products.

 

DENAFRIPS .... luuuuuuuuuuuuuv the way it rolls off da tongue. 

DENAFRIPS 

[Batty58]

I am a Denafrips Ares II owner and extremely happy with it.

[4est]

On 8/20/2019 at 4:43 AM, matthias said:

 

Comparings DACs with the same server is like comparing cartridges with the same turntable.

According to the Source First principle the server or turntable is much more important for the SQ than the DAC or cartridge.

So one can save money with buying a very good server and a less expensive DAC.

 

Matt

 

Really? The source first principle included the entire turntable and did not separate the platter assembly from the cartridge IIRC. I can see how one might think a transport is equal to a DAC in relevance, but not that a better transport could offset a poorer DAC.

[matthias]

43 minutes ago, 4est said:

Really? The source first principle included the entire turntable and did not separate the platter assembly from the cartridge IIRC. I can see how one might think a transport is equal to a DAC in relevance, but not that a better transport could offset a poorer DAC.

 Yes, really!

According to the source first principle the turntable with motor controller is the most important, then comes the tone arm, then the cartridge.

The hierarchy in a digital set-up is similar.

The server or transport is more important than the DAC.

So within a limited budget I would chose a better server or transport over a better DAC.

When funds allow you can go for the best server/transport and the best DAC.

 

Matt

 

[Cyrus]

I'm trialling a new power cord to the Terminator. I currently use Triode Wire Labs' Obsession pc. 

 

The results are surprisingly positive and beneficial. I'll post a short write-up once I'm done with the evaluation.

 

Sharing to let Terminator owners know that power cable swaps might be well worth looking into.

[Ricardo007]

Waiting for an old NBS black panther power cord to experiment with and tame the soumd🌟

[alvin1118]

Hello guys,

 

Thank you for the support! Happy holiday season!

Enjoy the music

 

Best,

Alvin

www.vinshineaudio.com

[StreamFidelity]

Loud crackling when played for the first time.
Soft crackling on a new stream like from a turntable.

 

Does anyone know that? For a few weeks now I've been going directly fom Terminator to my T + A M10 power amplifiers via xlr. The sound is great and better than over preamp. The volume is controlled via HQPlayer. It is played via USB from the audio PC.

 

I've only heard the crackle since bypassing the preamp. They were probably always there, but dejected by preamp.

[Miska]

14 hours ago, StreamFidelity said:

Loud crackling when played for the first time.
Soft crackling on a new stream like from a turntable.

 

Does anyone know that? For a few weeks now I've been going directly fom Terminator to my T + A M10 power amplifiers via xlr. The sound is great and better than over preamp. The volume is controlled via HQPlayer. It is played via USB from the audio PC.

 

I've only heard the crackle since bypassing the preamp. They were probably always there, but dejected by preamp.

 

Small DC offset in the DAC output, possibly output combined with mute relay? May be handled differently by a preamp DC block/servo than by a power amp, and at least attenuated by the volume control.

 

This is not at all unusual behavior for a DC-connected DAC output stage. Other alternative is a series capacitor in DAC output that is floating until actually gets connected due to DAC unmuting the output. So it's DC-block behavior only begins to settle after first unmute. Time constant can be like 1 Hz or 0.1 Hz, so it takes some time to settle.

 

[craighartley]

Am I right in thinking that if I’m using the bootable HQP image, the system doesn’t actually need a hard disk to function as a HQPlayer server?

[luisma]

11 hours ago, craighartley said:

Am I right in thinking that if I’m using the bootable HQP image, the system doesn’t actually need a hard disk to function as a HQPlayer server?

You are correct

[craighartley]

Thank you