Denafrips DAC's, are they really that good?

[vinyljunky]

Aurlic get good rep but as ever it's the law of diminishing returns

[vinyljunky]

[Floyddroid]

I use a Denafrips DAC and its fookin good like!

[Swann36]

I’ve recently got the Fiio K11 R2R dac , which I’m enjoying being my first R2R dac and for not much money … I’ll try to remember to bring it up to NEBO in February

[wojtek]

Interesting to read others’ comments . I’m just reviving my hifi and generally find that good vinyl beats my digital stream by a mile in terms of body and ‘being there’ presence. But I’m usually feeding usb into my rme adi-2 from a MacBook or even iPhone.

Are the R2R dacs what most vinyl lovers reach for these days? Or should I be trying a transformer coupled valve dac? And is DSD relevant ?

[Nelco]

I had a Denafrips Pontus 15th DAC for a couple of months, which I bought new. Initially i liked it but over time i found the bass lacking and a bit muddy with limited bottom end extension and the presentation in my system was vocals pushed back into the soundstage and drums and guitars pushed to the front and far more 'present' in the mix than the vocals. A fatiguing listen for me.

Turned out i had an impedance mis-match between DAC and amp via RCA. The Pontus has a high output impedance and my amp unusually low input impedance. One other consequence of this was that my amp ran much hotter than normal. Via XLR didn't suffer the same impedance mis-match and was clearer but a bit too 'hot' for me and soundstage and bass still the same issues.

It's the only Denafrips DAC i've heard so don't know if i just didn't get on with their house sound or not, but if you are thinking of a Denafrips DAC i'd check the input impedance of the amp is a good match for the output impedance of the DAC, else risk disappointment.

[Macca]

I had a Denafrips Pontus 15th DAC for a couple of months, which I bought new. Initially i liked it but over time i found the bass lacking and a bit muddy with limited bottom end extension and the presentation in my system was vocals pushed back into the soundstage and drums and guitars pushed to the front and far more 'present' in the mix than the vocals. A fatiguing listen for me.

Turned out i had an impedance mis-match between DAC and amp via RCA. The Pontus has a high output impedance and my amp unusually low input impedance. One other consequence of this was that my amp ran much hotter than normal. Via XLR didn't suffer the same impedance mis-match and was clearer but a bit too 'hot' for me and soundstage and bass still the same issues.

It's the only Denafrips DAC i've heard so don't know if i just didn't get on with their house sound or not, but if you are thinking of a Denafrips DAC i'd check the input impedance of the amp is a good match for the output impedance of the DAC, else risk disappointment.

Someone on another forum recently had the same experience. I pointed out the high output impedance as the probable culprit however they were sceptical. Still sold the DAC on as no happy with it. Hard to see why the output impedance is so high, there's seemingly no reason other than sloppy design which isn't really warranted by the very high price. Of course with many pre-amps it won't be an issue.

[Lawrence001]

I've had a few dacs in the past where the output of the chip went directly to the output, it's a hair shirt philosophy a bit like NOS. So I wonder if Denafrips have done this which would explain the high output impedance. You could always add a valve buffer, but then you could always buy a different dac [emoji23]

[Floyddroid]

I haven't experienced any of the above issues. I am in the process of selling a Pontust 12th anniversary edition, though not for reasons of being displeased in any way. I need the cash and it is as simple as that. I think on the whole, my PontusII is excellent. I use it balanced with the AES cable and it sounds pretty darned good. I was informed that the 15th anniverasary edition wasn't as good as the 12th. Sometimes manufacturers should leave well alone when they have a decent product on their hands.

[Nelco]

Someone on another forum recently had the same experience. I pointed out the high output impedance as the probable culprit however they were sceptical. Still sold the DAC on as no happy with it. Hard to see why the output impedance is so high, there's seemingly no reason other than sloppy design which isn't really warranted by the very high price. Of course with many pre-amps it won't be an issue.

I agree, an odd design decision and to be honest impedance matching was something I'd never even considered before. My problem though was less the DAC and more the unusually low input impedance of my amp. Careful matching required.