Denafrips Terminator Plus DAC

[audiofool1982]

I am a tube lover and both my preamp and power amplifiers (mono blocks) are tubes. There is something about the tube sound that draws me in to the music. It makes me focus and enjoy the music and relax. Just to give you some perspective of what kind of music I listen to mostly , here is a sample from one of my playlists:

 

 

I got a fantastic opportunity to try/demo the Denafrips Terminator Plus DAC at my home with my equipment. There are plenty of reviews and YouTube videos explaining the various features of the DAC, the differences between the PLUS version and the regular terminator, hence I am not going to go into any of those details. I am not really good at writing long reviews. So I am going to keep it short and give my humble opinion in a few bullet points.

 

These are just my personal opinions, based on my ears, music preference and other gear choices. So take it with a grain of salt:

 

1. I strongly believe Synergy between your equipment is extremely important. My Preamp, Poweramp, speakers (at the time of my testing), interconnect cables are all Von Gaylord Audio components (Yes I am in love with VG components). I wanted a DAC that would gel well with my equipment. Denafrips TP (terminator plus) was a perfect match. 

 

2. The female vocals were beautiful, natural and were delivered with ease. The song "That wasn't me" by Brandi Carlile is a perfect example of what I am talking about. The clarity in the voice was more like watching a 8k movie, if you know what I mean. It brought a smile in my face.

 

3. The sound stage was magnificent. Try "Liberty" by Annette Ashvik. The little squeaky crackles that you hear literally made me turn my head to see if someone was opening a door. I should say the sound stage got wider and the instruments were clearer and were placed exactly where they were supposed to me. I must attribute this to the super accurate ultra low noise OCXO clock present in the DAC and its implementation. Over the period of time, Ive come to realize that a good clock makes a big difference in providing a wide expansive sound stage. I am not a very technical person, but I believe upgraded power supply  helps reduce audio signal contamination and probably contributes to the big sound stage as well. 

 

4. The Denafrips has a variety of inputs which makes it very versatile. I like SPDIF better than USB. For my type of music choice (Female Vocal Jazz), I feel SPDIF offers a much more romantic, full bodied sound. USB is much more detailed but I still listen to SPDIF most of the times. However SPDIF was limited to 192Khz. When I had the Denafrips TP, I did not have a way to test I2S as I didn't have a source that delivers I2S output but now I have a Antipodes CX - EX with a P2 and the P2 has I2S output. I wish I had the Terminator Plus now to test it and possibly compare the P2 with the Denafrips Gaia

 

5. The bass was spot on. It was neither bloated nor anemic. Listen to the first 45 sec of Couleur Cafe on "Musica Nuda" and you'll know what a double bass should sound like. You'll know how to distinguish anemic sound from bloated bass. The Terminator Plus delivered the perfect bass. Lower level detail was incredible.

 

6. Instrument separation is another strong point of this DAC. My song of choice to test this is "Dream a little dream of me" by Louis Armstrong. 

 

 

Overall the DAC is beautiful, heavy, well machined, has lots of connectivity, has an amazing clock and very reasonably priced. Alvin's responsiveness and customer service is top notch. It provides a very clean, non-colored output. So If that's what you want, this DAC is for you! 

 

That being said, if you ask me, what DAC I own now, its a Lampizator Golden Atlantic TRP. 

[mevdinc]

It would have been nice if you could also tell us why you ended up with the Lampizator Golden Atlantic DAC if you liked the Terminator Plus that much.
Is the Lampizator that much better?

[audiofool1982]

I had the lampizator amber 3 DAC when I tried the Denafrips. I was able to upgrade to the ga trp through the “trade up” program that lampizator offers. So I ended up doing it. I still think for the music that I listen to, tubes are great! Tubes do produce some distortion but it makes me enjoy the music. It makes me relax, so stuck with the tubes. However I am now curious to try the Denafrips with the Gaia if I get another opportunity.

[Blake]

 

[audiofool1982]

Great YouTube review. However I am not sure if I'd categorize Denafrips TP sound as "Analog like" sound. The DAC sounds very clean without adding any color, however I (IMHO) feel it has to be a little more warmer to be categorized as "analog like". May be since I've heard the Lampizator GA TRP which in my opinion is very analog sounding, I feel this way. Again its just my perception.

[alvin1118]

The Terminator Plus featuring premier, precision Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillators.

 

The OCXOs are hand-crafted, calibrated, and hand-picked for absolute lowest jitter. The two independent OCXOs cater for native 44.1kHz and 48kHz based audio frequency family.

 

 

 

Take a closer look of the DENAFRIPS Terminator Plus R-2R DAC!

https://www.denafrips.com/single-post/terminator-plus-unboxing

[mevdinc]

On 1/18/2021 at 9:05 PM, audiofool1982 said:

Great YouTube review. However I am not sure if I'd categorize Denafrips TP sound as "Analog like" sound. The DAC sounds very clean without adding any color, however I (IMHO) feel it has to be a little more warmer to be categorized as "analog like". May be since I've heard the Lampizator GA TRP which in my opinion is very analog sounding, I feel this way. Again its just my perception.

My take on 'analog like':
I believe 'analog like' sound is generally used by those who believe the analog is still better than digital as source. So, it is used to indicate that the DAC in question is almost as good as analog.
I never used a tube based/supported DAC or amp so I guess in that case tubes must add warmth to the sound that you are referring to.
 

[Summit]

I would say that the original meaning of analog is sound without digital artifacts. 

[Stereophilus]

I have recently had an opportunity to trial a T-plus in my system.  I use Mola Mola gear (Makua + Kalugas) into Rockport Cygnus speakers, fed from Roon on an Antipodes CX.  I used a LightSpeed USB for the comparison.  The T-plus was connected via balanced ICs into the Makua and is 3dB quieter than the Makua DAC input, so any comparisons required volume adjustment through the Makua.

 

The T-plus takes at least 15mins to warm up before it sounds any good.  Set to NOS mode and warmed up it is hyper-detailed and very focussed.   Instruments and vocals have ultra-fast attack and decay, which sounds natural and easy on the ear.  There is no ringing or overhang at all with this DAC and the space in between notes is as black as it gets.  You hear everything.

 

There is, unfortunately, a price to pay for such brilliant resolution.  Rhythm.  A quick change back to the Makua DAC highlights how such a focussed presentation can sound staccato.  The Makua DAC, by comparison, does not give as sharp a focus, and misses some very fine details that pop out of the blackness with T-plus.  But the space around instruments and in-between notes contains a more natural and “live” feel to it with the Makua DAC.  Music flows and contains rhythmic energy when presented this way, and the illusion of 3-Dimensional space from good recordings was also much more convincing.

 

It would seem the fundamental differences in architecture behind each DAC govern this outcome.  But there is a trick the T-plus has.  Its sound can can be tweaked with upsampling.  I learned this through playing MQA tracks via Roon.  These are (partially) unfolded to higher sample rates within Roon.  These tracks played through the T-plus lacked nothing in detail, but were much more rhythmically satisfying than redbook 16/44, even if not quite as spacious as through the Makua DAC.  Could OS mode on the T-plus replicate what MQA was doing? In short, no.  OS mode on the T-plus makes the sound more vague and flat without any real benefit.

 

Enter Roon DSP.  Upsampling 44 and 88 material to 176, and upsampling 48 and 96 to 192 in Roon DSP transforms the T-plus from a un-engaging detail driven monster, to a real contender for the Makua DAC.  The upsampling brings much needed life to the T-plus, without loss of detail or focus.  Even switching between the different upsampling filters gives very different sound signatures.  In comparison, the Makua DAC is mostly ambivalent to software upsampling, the exception being when it is fed music upsampled to DSD, which sounds very marginally worse than the original.  The Makua DAC still retains a certain “live” and spacious quality that the upsample-fed T-plus can’t quite match, but T-plus counters with its greater detail and image focus.  To pick between them would have to be a matter of personal preference.  
 

Caveats:

1) USB is probably not the best input for either DAC.  I only used this to keep the comparison simple and fair.

2) The T-plus could almost certainly be further improved upon with HQ-player upsampling, instead of Roon DSP.  I did not try this.

3) The Gaia DDC reportedly adds to the T-plus performance as well.  I did not try this.

4) The Makua DAC has a built in streamer which sounds more detailed and focussed sound than the USB input.  I did not use this in the comparison.

 

[Ben-M]

On 2/27/2021 at 12:19 PM, Stereophilus said:

Enter Roon DSP.  Upsampling 44 and 88 material to 176, and upsampling 48 and 96 to 192 in Roon DSP transforms the T-plus from a un-engaging detail driven monster, to a real contender for the Makua DAC.  The upsampling brings much needed life to the T-plus, without loss of detail or focus.  Even switching between the different upsampling filters gives very different sound signatures.  In comparison, the Makua DAC is mostly ambivalent to software upsampling, the exception being when it is fed music upsampled to DSD, which sounds very marginally worse than the original.  The Makua DAC still retains a certain “live” and spacious quality that the upsample-fed T-plus can’t quite match, but T-plus counters with its greater detail and image focus.  To pick between them would have to be a matter of personal preference.  

 

Caveats:

1) USB is probably not the best input for either DAC.  I only used this to keep the comparison simple and fair.

2) The T-plus could almost certainly be further improved upon with HQ-player upsampling, instead of Roon DSP.  I did not try this.

3) The Gaia DDC reportedly adds to the T-plus performance as well.  I did not try this.

4) The Makua DAC has a built in streamer which sounds more detailed and focussed sound than the USB input.  I did not use this in the comparison.

If you get a chance, you should try Roon upsampling on the TP again to DSD512. It's not as resource/component intensive as HQPlayer at all, but it's still quite nice. The regular Terminator has gotten a decent amount of feedback about being a great performer on DSD512 since the gen 2 DSP upgrade last year. 

 

That was a wonderful review. Thanks for taking the time to put it together for everyone.

[Stereophilus]

On 4/20/2021 at 6:30 PM, Ben-M said:

If you get a chance, you should try Roon upsampling on the TP again to DSD512. It's not as resource/component intensive as HQPlayer at all, but it's still quite nice. The regular Terminator has gotten a decent amount of feedback about being a great performer on DSD512 since the gen 2 DSP upgrade last year. 

 

That was a wonderful review. Thanks for taking the time to put it together for everyone.

Glad you enjoyed my take on it.  I see Chris has taken up where my review left off and has gone into even greater depths with his official review (of the Terminator).  If I ran a system based around HQplayer, I think the T-plus would have to be the perfect dance partner.  You could tweak the sound almost infinitely.  Unfortunately my time trialling the the T-plus was limited to 5 days.  I did return it, but I remain intrigued by it.

[richard_crl032]

And the journey continues .... T+ DE version 😅😅

 

 

[Blake]

New Terminator Plus review:

 

https://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/digital-reviews/spdif-dac-reviews/denafrips-terminator-plus/2/