Denafrips Pontus II 12th-1 vs Ares II 12th. Iris 12th, Eversolo DMP-A6,Arcam,Parasound,GoldenEar BRX
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 พ.ย. 2023
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1/3/2024 update: LPS (linear power supply by Beatechnik LPS-A6) upgrade for the Eversolo • Eversolo DMP-A6+LPS-A6...
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I prefer the Denafrips setting=NOS (no oversampling).
The old Denafrips Ares II 12th moved to the living room (2ndary system) hooked up to 2 Denon Heos 5 speakers with builtin amp and an Airplay2 streamer.
Steve Huff prefers the Denafrips Pontus II over his $5k Lampizator 3: www.stevehuffphoto.com/2021/10...
MOVIES:
Yes, 4 subwoofers do sound better than 2, I feel the pressure even at low volume.
Yes, 4 Atmos speakers do sound better than 2, I hear jets flying to/from front/rear.
Yes, physical disc media sounds better than streaming.
Yes, subwoofers on isolation pads sound better.
I'm running 10 amplifiers (6 are visible and 4 are inside the subwoofers).
Movies audio chain:
Apple TV 4k or Panasonic DP-UB420-K 4k player ~~ Arcam AVR5 powers the center channel ~~ bypass the Parasound 2100 via rca ~~ 2 Parasound 2125v2 amps (no bridging, 2nd channel is unused) each powering only 1 speaker like 2 monoblock amps ~~ Front Left/Center/Right speakers are GoldenEar BRX (AMT ribbon tweeter) and 4 sealed subwoofers
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MUSIC:
Yes, Parasound 2100 preamplifier’s volume knob sounds better than the Eversolo DMP-A6's volume knob (other great preamps are the Parasound NewClassic 200 pre, Parasound Zpre3, Parasound JC 2 BP) .
Yes, running 2 stereo amps like 2 monoblocks to eliminate crosstalk sounds better.
(Parasound 2125v2 amplifier crosstalk=67 db, whereas Parasound 2100 preamplifier crosstalk is better at greater than 75 db)
Yes, streaming lossless (like Apple Music) sounds better than compressed (like Spotify).
Yes, streaming hi-res lossless (like Apple Music) sounds better than lossless if your speakers are up to it.
Yes, native Apple Music on the Eversolo DMP-A6 sounds better than Airplay2.
Yes, music on physical disc media and streaming lossless (like Apple Music) sound equally great to me.
Yes, better interconnect RCA cables can improve the sound quality if your speakers are up to it.
Yes, different brands/models of amplifiers do sound differently.
Yes, even the Denafrips Ares II 12th (R2R dac) without the Denafrips Iris 12th (ddc) make vocalists and instruments sound 3D realistic/live compared to my delta-sigma DACs (Eversolo DMP-A6, Topping E50/E70, Arcam AVR5, Bluesound Node, Denon X3700H).
Yes, R2R dacs (Denafrips Ares/Pontus) do not give me ear fatigue after an hour like my Delta-sigma dacs (Eversolo, Topping E50, Topping E70, Bluesound Node from 12/2022, Arcam AVR5, Denon X3700H); I can now listen for 8+ hours.
Yes, a preamplifier’s tone controls (bass, treble, subwoofer) to add bass makes most pop and old rock songs sound so much better.
Yes, a preamplifier’s balance control (left and right) improves the center image making the sound more holographic.
Yes, my ears are better than measurements at deciding the sound quality.
Measurements say that my Denafrips Iris 12th (a DDC) has the better clock than my Denafrips Ares II 12th, that the Ares' clock is the one used, yet the music SQ improved.
Metrics cannot show where the vocalist is standing, a better soundstage, imaging, 3D, instrument accuracy, show goosebumps
Music audio chain:
Apple music lossless ~~ Verizon 5G wireless ~~ Eversolo DMP-A6 via usb ~~ Denafrips Iris 12th (ddc) via I2S ~~ Denafrips Pontus II 12th-1 (dac) via rca ~~ Parasound 2100 preamp via rca ~~ 2 Parasound 2125v2 stereo amps (no bridging) each powering only 1 speaker like 2 monoblock amps ~~ 2 GoldenEar BRX speakers (AMT ribbon tweeter) and 2 sealed subwoofers
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- Apple Music: www.apple.com/apple-music/
- Eversolo DMP-A6: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C...
- Worlds Best Cable (Mogami 2549 wire):
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...
subwoofer cable: a.co/d/hSICsQ7
- Parasound 2125v2 : www.amazon.com/Parasound-2125...
- Parasound NewClassic 200 integrated amplifier: www.amazon.com/Parasound-NewC...
- Parasound Zpre3: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...
- GoldenEar BRX speaker: www.safeandsoundhq.com/produc... - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
One good thing about Denafrips is that they've got an incredible team dedicated to their customers !
Good job my friend 👍
Nice setup!
Master Edition - Iris - Pontus - Willsenton class A SET 50W rolled tubes - Kef Ls50 Mets & Rel T5X . Sounds superb.
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.
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).