yes 2 independent subs via the Parasound amp , and i’ve also in the past hooked the subs up to the Parasound 2100 preamp, my more recent video’s description explains just the stereo audio chain: th-cam.com/video/98YsmYNLBbY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=8qqzUgRV3yq3iOdr
Fantastic work my friend. Thanks for taking the time to go through both of these DACs. Out of interest, how does the Ares 12th compare with the Pontus 12 (with and without Iris DDC) if I’m in pursuit of female vocals being life like/lush/in the room + airy and open top end? Thanks in advance!
Without the Iris DDC on both DACs, the Pontus 12th sounds better than the Ares 12th. The Iris DDC is one of the biggest improvements to sound quality for $550. And so is a good preamplifier.
@@mrpmj00If I may, would it be safe to say the Iris connected to the Ares 12th gets you pretty close to the Pontus on its own. Which would you suggest. The Pontus alone or the Iris/Ares combo? Thanks.
Thanks! Great video. Bass - I got Ares 2 12th-1 and the bass tone was not to my liking so moved up. I find Pontus 2 12th-1 slightly weighty in bass and also better definition. Ares sounded a bit harder/dryer in bass. It could be system dependent but pretty happy with Pontus 2 12th-1. Also possible that Ares was not properly broken in as I had it just for few days.
Yeah I would guess that your 'Ares was not properly broken in as I had it just for few days.' was the reason. I had my Ares II 12th for 6 months (5/2023 to 11/2023), upgraded the firmware in 9/2023, before I moved it to the 2ndary system and upgraded to the Pontus II 12th-1 in my primary system.
I have a very similar setup but without the Iris. Are you going through the preamp or directly to the mono blocks and how much better is the sound with the Iris?
Through the preamp. Iris is a noticeable sound improvement, and it fixed the streaming pauses, and premature skipping to the next song before finishing the current song, and starts up the next song way way faster with Apple Music lossless and Spotify.
I don't have a Venus to A/B compare, but aBritishAudiophile said that it's better to buy the better DAC Venus. And later on you can always add one of the Denafrips DDC (Hermes, or Gaia) to further improve the Venus' sound quality.
although eversolo sounds good, it sounds 2D, whereas the denafrips sound 3D. also, the eversolo gives me ear fatigue like my other delta-sigma dacs, whereas I can listen for 8+ hours with the denafrips.
@@mrpmj00 Just another doubt. Is it possible to have the Apple Music stored in an external HArd drive through USB instead of installing additional SSD on A6
@@sijushenoy8422 1. I don't know. Check with Eversolo technical support. 2. Even if it's possible, I've read that performance is better with the builtin SSD on the A6 than an external drive, which is better than a NAS. The further out the source, there's higher chances that you'll get noise which will mess up the timing (which you hear as pauses, skips, not clean bass/vocals, imaging of the phantom center vocalist).
Good job my friend 👍
One good thing about Denafrips is that they've got an incredible team dedicated to their customers !
Master Edition - Iris - Pontus - Willsenton class A SET 50W rolled tubes - Kef Ls50 Mets & Rel T5X . Sounds superb.
Nice setup!
Is there a trusted distributor you can suggest for denafrips? How did you get your gear online or local vendors?
online
Are you using subs and if so how do you intergrate with the denafrips?
yes 2 independent subs via the Parasound amp , and i’ve also in the past hooked the subs up to the Parasound 2100 preamp, my more recent video’s description explains just the stereo audio chain:
th-cam.com/video/98YsmYNLBbY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=8qqzUgRV3yq3iOdr
Fantastic work my friend. Thanks for taking the time to go through both of these DACs.
Out of interest, how does the Ares 12th compare with the Pontus 12 (with and without Iris DDC) if I’m in pursuit of female vocals being life like/lush/in the room + airy and open top end?
Thanks in advance!
Without the Iris DDC on both DACs, the Pontus 12th sounds better than the Ares 12th.
The Iris DDC is one of the biggest improvements to sound quality for $550. And so is a good preamplifier.
@@mrpmj00If I may, would it be safe to say the Iris connected to the Ares 12th gets you pretty close to the Pontus on its own. Which would you suggest. The Pontus alone or the Iris/Ares combo? Thanks.
@@PhotographyInFlight4183 Pontus alone
@@mrpmj00 Thanks.
Thanks! Great video. Bass - I got Ares 2 12th-1 and the bass tone was not to my liking so moved up. I find Pontus 2 12th-1 slightly weighty in bass and also better definition. Ares sounded a bit harder/dryer in bass. It could be system dependent but pretty happy with Pontus 2 12th-1. Also possible that Ares was not properly broken in as I had it just for few days.
Yeah I would guess that your 'Ares was not properly broken in as I had it just for few days.' was the reason.
I had my Ares II 12th for 6 months (5/2023 to 11/2023), upgraded the firmware in 9/2023, before I moved it to the 2ndary system and upgraded to the Pontus II 12th-1 in my primary system.
I have a very similar setup but without the Iris. Are you going through the preamp or directly to the mono blocks and how much better is the sound with the Iris?
Through the preamp. Iris is a noticeable sound improvement, and it fixed the streaming pauses, and premature skipping to the next song before finishing the current song, and starts up the next song way way faster with Apple Music lossless and Spotify.
You may keep upgrading DACs, but you can keep the DDC and use it to improve future DACs.
I wound up getting the Iris. It has a clock port on the back while the Iris is listed on Denafrips site as a “Reclocker”, weird.
Hi & how are you? Please advise if Pontus 2 12th-1 with Iris DDC is as good or better than Venus 2 12th-1? Thanks.
I don't have a Venus to A/B compare, but aBritishAudiophile said that it's better to buy the better DAC Venus. And later on you can always add one of the Denafrips DDC (Hermes, or Gaia) to further improve the Venus' sound quality.
@@mrpmj00 Thanks for reaching out.
@@richarddegannes2928 You may keep upgrading DACs, but you can keep the DDC and use it to improve future DACs.
Hey !! As you are using Eversolo A6 where do you think EverSolo A8 fall in this race. Can it be even compared with the denafrips
although eversolo sounds good, it sounds 2D, whereas the denafrips sound 3D.
also, the eversolo gives me ear fatigue like my other delta-sigma dacs, whereas I can listen for 8+ hours with the denafrips.
@@mrpmj00 are you talking about A6 or A8. What I’ve heard is A8 is very smooth
@@sijushenoy8422 A6
@@mrpmj00 Just another doubt. Is it possible to have the Apple Music stored in an external HArd drive through USB instead of installing additional SSD on A6
@@sijushenoy8422 1. I don't know. Check with Eversolo technical support.
2. Even if it's possible, I've read that performance is better with the builtin SSD on the A6 than an external drive, which is better than a NAS. The further out the source, there's higher chances that you'll get noise which will mess up the timing (which you hear as pauses, skips, not clean bass/vocals, imaging of the phantom center vocalist).