According to DENAFRIPS, the Pontus is "a true balanced, dual mono R-2R network array DAC. dynamics, and room filling soundstage with all of the audiophile tricks yet never sounds bright or edgy. The Pontus II is housed in a solid, brushed aluminum case. I don't believe Google found much here on the SHMF about it. The Pontus also presents with more reverb. Denafrips Terminator Plus. The Denafrips PONTUS II DAC employs a balanced, dual mono R-2R network design to convert bits to waves.

Digital Source- MSB Reference DAC, Femto 33, MSB Renderer V2, Pro USB, Antipodes K50 Server (ordered). Terminator is definitely worth the extra bucks! Denafrips have a reputation in the Audiophile community of producing really good value for money products. creativepart - thanks for your recommendations. Yeah my room (bedroom) is rather small and its 15feet x 13feet. I will look into chord/schiit/rme b The Denafrips Ares II is a 24Bit/1536KHz, native DSD1024, discrete resistor ladder Digital To Analog Converter, also knows as an R2R.

Happy Sunday everyone!!! Perhaps the rest of the industry by putting a dac in the market for around 880 euros that just sounds very solid. The Denafrips Ares II is of course an R2R ladder dac. Just like the Venus and Terminator (Plus). My unit is silver, and the casework is gorgeous. Kyrylo Karasov. The Pontus II does walk a fine line as it somehow finds a way to bring those details, micro details and magic without being analytical. I bought it in December 2020 and it is in as new condition. A review of the world-class Denafrips Terminator R-2R DAC. I love taking risks, especially when they pay off and I am surprised along the journey. Like the HoloAudio May DAC I described last month, both Denafrips converters employ R-2R Pontus Eek.

Cables - Nordost Valhalla 2 and Odin (phono). There's indications it comes from the same factory as Denafrips'; that it's stealing technology, & @ $1099 it bests Ares II. Although the differences mentioned for PCM still applied, they did so to a much lesser extent. This is one of the key features that drew me to the entire Denafrips line. The Yggy is more emphatic in how it conveys pace.

The Venus II sells for 3,998 Singapore dollars which equates to around 2200 or $3000. Denafrips All Prices include GST Enjoy Free Shipping on All Products. 3. Denarfips ladders are traditional R2R, while I think Holo Audio is using segmented archtecture. I currently have the Benchmark DAC3 HGC and am enjoying it quiet a bit. This means each channel is equipped with an independent high-speed FPGA to control the decoding by means of 4 sets of 0.005% R-2R network. The Denafrips Pontus II is a different kind of DAC and brings the detail. Dmitry Ilyushin.

Manhattan, Kansas, United States. This review came in right time as I am undecided between Denafrips vs Hugo TT2. We are shipping to EU via DHL/Fedex courier right now Details about R-013 Denafrips Ares Ii 32bit/1536khz 24bit R2r + 6bit Dsd Balanced Resistance Dac Support Dsd1024 Spdif Receiving Scheme,Denafrips Online Customization ARES II vs D90 vs Bifrost 2 vs ADI-2 vs Gungnir vs Qutest [Mega DAC Roundup & Comparison] Note: I had it wrong on the Topping D90 Check this out if you like tube sound. The reviewer did give the reward to Pontus as well. But he think Doge 7 is the best DAC he ever heard, even Visually a more compact and arguably even more handsome version of the Terminator, the Venus is Denafrips 2nd-tier flagship DAC and, as such, it is built around a very similar architecture. The power section in Terminator is the killer over Venus. G2 Esports. The Pontus is true balanced, dual mono R-2R network arrays DAC. Location: USA. Pontus wins in this matter. Analog Source- ARC Ref 10 Phono.Acoustic Sig Ascona MKII, TA-9000 arm, Lyra Atlas. vs . However with all the hype around Denafrips Pontus II , I was wondering if anyone compared these 2 DACs and have some thoughts to share. Star ground. Oh thanks, i didnt know that the 3x you mentioned are R2R dacs as well. I thought they were sigma delta dacs. Thanks for the headsup! The DENAFRIPS Pontus II DAC is a balanced, 24-bit, proprietary R-2R DAC, that supports sampling rates of up to 24-bit/192kHz across all of its digital inputs.

The Venus offers absolutely impressive resolution, neutrality, and transparency combined with an amount of subtlety and refinement that can be considered benchmark-setting for this price class. Amplification - Soulution 721 Pre and The Qutest is the best of the three, the other two aren't close. Denafrips is a relatively new player to the American hi-fi scene. The bass weight of the Pontus is incredible. For anyone intersted in hearing the full line of Denafrips DACs (Ares, Pontus, Venus, Terminator) compared side by side, Gingko Audio, in Room 1524, will be doing such a comparison this year at the AXPONA gathering near Chicago (see the AXPONA website for details). This month, I am reporting on two more DACs, both made by Denafrips: the $4498 Terminator, until recently their flagship DAC, and the $768 Ares II, the company's least expensive model. Associated Equipment . Pontus is warm and smooth, Venus will give you a lot more details. I am fascinated by DACs and the shifting sands of today's digital-audio marketplace. This is a purely subjective record of events, my impressions, opinions, and a little speculation. The Pontus 2 sounds like a great sounding DAC. By contrast, I found the Denafrips DACs and especially Pontus to best showcase their strengths with older CD rips and less-than-stellar 16/44 material. I wanted to gauge in my Film Appraisal of the Venus II, how this DAC stacks up against the competition, such as the Chord Hugo TT2 ? Venus vs Pontus is a big difference. Location: Corvallis, OR. Other DACs I had and am familiar with for the intents and purposes of the conversation here are Chord Qutest. Comparisons to the Venus 2 : the Denafrips is more expensive at $3020 when converting the S$4149 price tag, to the Holo Audios $2498 wallet lightening from Kitsune HiFi. Further, the Pontus II supports up to DSD1024 On USB & IS Inputs and 1536kHz On USB & IS Inputs. He opts for Venus due to space and budget. And that may sound crazy, but that makes the Denafrips Venus II actually the lesser choice of these three. While the Ares II sounds a little darker and less big; the Venus II has a slightly more restless feel to it. And the Terminator? Well read on In fact, for the first three hours, I didnt take any listening notes.

No returns does not offer much of a security blanket. Zyppan. The Denafrips line uses the R-2-R or Ladder DAC design. Includes native DSD decoding, a linear power supply, CRYSTEK Flagship CCHD-957 Femto Clocks, Adaptive FIFO Buffer Reclocking, Amanero USB Interface, and more! Hello everyone, due to an upgrade I'm selling my Venus II. More Denafrips. All of the PONTUS' digital inputs are FIFO. Stock: Back in stock! He is upgrading from Pontus. Interestingly, the Denafrips compare very favourably to the Chords (Qutest up to Dave) as few prefer the traits of the Denafrips over the Chord. Denafrips Ares II, Pontus II, Venus II, and Terminator Plus compared New order gets shipped in approx. The Denafrips Pontus II DAC is the next step above the entry-level Ares II, followed by the Venus, Terminator and Terminator Plus. 11. Especially in the age of YouTube there are a LOT of reviewers. They do serve a useful purpose but each of us need to be careful to not take the opi

It sounds very, very good. The Denafrips VENUS II is a true balanced, dual mono R-2R network array DAC. It means that a basic model is just a carrot for spending more money. Trophy Points: 3. ANGE1. The Pontus II may be the next rung on the Very tempted by the Venus II DAC. The Qutest is the best of the three, the other two aren't close. George thinks the Pontus is better than the Hugo2 which some like better than Qute Instead of going for hundreds of 0.01% precision resistors as they did for Ares and Pontus, Venus and Terminator are using 0.005% - higher precision resistors for a clearer and I was enjoying the music so much. Like its little and much-loved brother, the Denafrips ARES II DAC, the Pontus converts digital to analog in a way that makes music more than inviting. Musically moving records (like the excellent 2L's Magnificat record at its full resolution, a whopping 352.8 KHz/24 bits) are even more musically moving. I'll tell you straight away that you'll get no measurements, no graphs, and zero scientific data from me. The Pontus communicates more tonal color. George thinks the Pontus is better than the Hugo2 which some like better than Qutest, even though it differs only by the headphone amplifier section and I/O jacks. July 27, 2021 Michael Lavorgna HiFi Reviews. I listen to Jazz 70% of the time and while I have about 400 40-year old rock records I wouldn't call of them overly fast or electronic. I listen to There was a familiar analog-like sound coming from the Pontus DAC.

In every way, the realism and analog-like presence is miles ahead of anything (other than the higher priced models in the DenaFrips line-up of DACS such as the Venus, Terminator and Terminator+) currently available under $10 grand and including some DACs costing 10X and more than the modest $1670 U.S. price of the Pontus (yes, thats correct, Sixteen Hundred and. The Pontus sounds more relaxed and laid back in its presentation. After all, I was not spending many thousands of dollars like I would on audio Paul Power - Torus 75 amp WMT.Furutech NCF Lines, Flux-50s, Outlets, PC's. Denafrips Hermes DDC $ Denafrips Ares II DAC $ Denafrips Pontus II DAC $ Denafrips Venus II DAC $ Denafrips Terminator Plus DAC $ Denafrips Hades Pre amp $ Denafrips Thallo Power amp $ Kinki Studio EX-P27 Pre amp $ Kinki Studio EX-M1 Integrated amp $ Kinki Studio EX-B7 Mono blocks $ Jays Audio CDT2-Mk3 Transport $ Matrix X-Sabre 3 DAC/Streamer $ In similar price range the Chord Qutest is a great choice and even cheaper is the RME ADI-2 DAC which gets great reviews. There is also the Schiit I'm about as ready as I'll ever be to post my thoughts and impressions of the Denafrips Venus. In my earlier review of the Border Patrol SE-I DAC, I wrote a good bit about my personal preference for Ladder DACs and my digital history. The Denafrips PONTUS II DAC employs a balanced, dual mono R-2R network design to convert bits to waves. I do not have chance to audition Denafrips.

Terminator is much more refine and has the control. The differences are in the power supply, the number of ladders, clocking and of course the enclosure. The Pontus II is Denafrips second in a range of five, balanced, oversampling (if you want that feature enabled), R2R, or resistor ladder DACs, ranging in price from about $850 to $6,500. No, not all three. None of them are standard chip based Delta Sigma Dacs. The Chord uses FPGA chips (Field Programmable Gate Array) with custom sof LVL Clash 2. and, Still, enough reviewers had praised the sound, construction and customer service to take a chance. Lower-priced DACs and other electronics followed. The Pontus II may be the next rung on the ladder of Denafrips DACs, but its looks and feel rates a few orders of magnitude higher. There are completely separate designs for Ares -> Pontus -> Venus -> Terminator, each one is optimised for a given price. Ares II, Pontus and Playback Design all sounded far more alike on DSD. So if the OP can afford the Venus sounds like he has already chosen better than any of these. The Denafrips Venus DAC that I will be testing uses an advanced 26 Bit R-2R true balanced configuration for PCM material plus another 6 bits of resolution using 32 steps FIR filters for DSD material. The Pontus is better at presenting all parts of the music with balance. The Ares has a really wide soundstage, and the Pontus has a wider soundstage. The Denafrips Ares II is of course an R2R ladder dac. He decided to stay with his Yggy instead of The Pontus DAC is one of the first current production DACs under 15K I have heard that has some of the calm characteristics I hear in analog. Like its little and much-loved brother, the Denafrips ARES II DAC, the Pontus converts digital to analog in a way that makes music more than inviting. Review: Denafrips PONTUS II DAC The Denafrips PONTUS II DAC employs a balanced, dual mono R-2R network design to convert bits to waves. Like its little and much-loved brother, the Denafrips ARES II DAC, the Pontus converts digital to analog in a way that makes music more than inviting.