Denafrips product owners please fall in

[RikkiPoo]

Compared my Innuos Statements USB to the TP vs Statement USB to the Iris then HDMI to the TP. I was surprised the Iris improved the presentation and not by a little. I just enabled the TP clock out to the Iris and another crazy jump in sound quality.

 

[Blake]

I just ordered a Pontus, to join my existing Iris in my headphone setup. Currently I am using a Qutest, that I like, but I am not entirely happy with in terms of my sonic preferences in my headphone setup. The weird thing is, I like Qutest with speakers and Gaia. But with headphones, the Qutest is giving me ear fatigue and seems a bit hard sounding.

I am over the moon happy with my Terminator Plus +Gaia combo in my speaker setup, so Pontus was a pretty obvious contender.

There is a 4-6 week backorder on the Pontus, so now the waiting game starts.

 

[Abyss Man]

Compared my Innuos Statements USB to the TP vs Statement USB to the Iris then HDMI to the TP. I was surprised the Iris improved the presentation and not by a little. I just enabled the TP clock out to the Iris and another crazy jump in sound quality.

Hi buddy,
That is certainly interesting cause the Statement has a very good USB implemenatation. Its bascially got a Phoenix in it I believe. Enjoy Rikki and thanks for sharing this here buddy, makes our investments in Denafrips a whole lot sweeter. Alvin should on cloud nine now.

Rikki one more thing, could you share with us your cables. Thank you buddy.

I remember @Blake mentioning the 6moons review where they found the Gaia was better than the Phoenix. Am I right Blake? Anyway its also in line with our findings. The TP/Gaia or Iris is just crazy fantastico......Wooohoooo.

 

[Abyss Man]

I just ordered a Pontus, to join my existing Iris in my headphone setup. Currently I am using a Qutest, that I like, but I am not entirely happy with in terms of my sonic preferences in my headphone setup. The weird thing is, I like Qutest with speakers and Gaia. But with headphones, the Qutest is giving me ear fatigue and seems a bit hard sounding.

I am over the moon happy with my Terminator Plus +Gaia combo in my speaker setup, so Pontus was a pretty obvious contender.

There is a 4-6 week backorder on the Pontus, so now the waiting game starts.

Hi Blake,
Are you my twin? I sold my Qutest for that very same reasons buddy, I just could not go on a long session without feeling fatigued. Hence I went with Pontus and then upgraded to Termy and now TP.

 

[Blake]

Hi Blake,
Are you my twin? I sold my Qutest for that very same reasons buddy, I just could not go on a long session without feeling fatigued. Hence I went with Pontus and then upgraded to Termy and now TP.

Wow! That is very interesting my friend. Apparently we have the same sonic preferences. No wonder we are both Denafrips fans.

 

[Blake]

I remember @Blake mentioning the 6moons review where they found the Gaia was better than the Phoenix. Am I right Blake? Anyway its also in line with our findings. The TP/Gaia or Iris is just crazy fantastico......Wooohoooo.

In his review of the Denafrips Avatar, Srajan of 6Moons notes that he did compare the Phoenix, Gaia and through extrapolation to another review, the Mutec MC-3+ USB. While the comparison was not perfect in that he compared Phoenix going to the Terminator Plus usb input, whereas the Gaia was going in to the Terminator Plus I2S input (there was no way around this since Gaia doesn't have USB output, and the Phoenix only has USB output), the ranking of best sonic performance was:

1. Terminator Plus + Gaia with the Terminator Plus "clock out" feature engaged upstream to the Gaia.
2. Terminator Plus + Phoenix
3. Terminator Plus + Gaia without Terminator Plus "clock out" feature engaged.
4. Mutec MC-3+ USB

 

[Abyss Man]

In his review of the Denafrips Avatar, Srajan of 6Moons notes that he did compare the Phoenix, Gaia and through extrapolation to another review, the Mutec MC-3+ USB. While the comparison was not perfect in that he compared Phoenix going to the Terminator Plus usb input, whereas the Gaia was going in to the Terminator Plus I2S input (there was no way around this since Gaia doesn't have USB output, and the Phoenix only has USB output), the ranking of best sonic performance was:

1. Terminator Plus + Gaia with the Terminator Plus "clock out" feature engaged upstream to the Gaia.
2. Terminator Plus + Phoenix
3. Terminator Plus + Gaia without Terminator Plus "clock out" feature engaged.
4. Mutec MC-3+ USB

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this details, much appreciated Blake, so there we go. TP/Gaia is one combo which rates exceptionally high.

Looking forward to your review of the Pontus when it arrives. Mine was the “Old” Pontus, so looking fwd to your FR. Have a good one buddy.

 

[iSparta]

Hello Denafripers

Having read this thread I decided to buy a Pontus as an introduction to Denafrips DACs. It's been in place for sixteen days and I'm delighted with it now it's had a good burn in time.

Early next week an Iris will arrive to keep it company. The units will be connected by an Argentus Tubulus HDMI cable so another burn in phase is in the offing.

I've been thinking about an external clock solution. In a cupboard I have a cheap ocxo 50 ohm clock I bought having jumped in after reading the Master Clock for your EtherRegen thread over on AS. https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/59419-master-clock-for-your-etherregen/
This unit has since been replaced by the 75 ohm version so is lying gathering dust. Does anyone know if I could use it with the Iris which has a 49.152m input or would I be wide of the mark there? I'm clueless about this stuff so I thought I'd ask here.

Thank you

 

[Abyss Man]

Hello Denafripers

Having read this thread I decided to buy a Pontus as an introduction to Denafrips DACs. It's been in place for sixteen days and I'm delighted with it now it's had a good burn in time.

Early next week an Iris will arrive to keep it company. The units will be connected by an Argentus Tubulus HDMI cable so another burn in phase is in the offing.

I've been thinking about an external clock solution. In a cupboard I have a cheap ocxo 50 ohm clock I bought having jumped in after reading the Master Clock for your EtherRegen thread over on AS. https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/59419-master-clock-for-your-etherregen/
This unit has since been replaced by the 75 ohm version so is lying gathering dust. Does anyone know if I could use it with the Iris which has a 49.152m input or would I be wide of the mark there? I'm clueless about this stuff so I thought I'd ask here.

Thank you

Hi,
Congratulations on your new purchase and the excellent sonic benefits it will bring.
Jumping straight in, I would suggest you contact Alvin regarding the clocking requirements for the Iris. My piece is, if you can indeed use an external master clock I would invest in a good and proper unit. Good clocking cables and power cords are also of paramount importance. Read audiobacon review of BNC cables.
I’m personally using Tellurium Silver Diamond cables. Cheers.

 

[alvin1118]

Thanks for the supports, guys. We are grateful.

DENAFRIPS DDC accept external clocks input at 75ohms impedance. Two clocks input are required, i.e.

- 45.1584MHz (For 44.1KHz based)
- 49.152Mhz (For 48kHz based)

For GAIA, the internal OCXO clocks are already of very high quality. It explains why @HifiHandyman is hearing great improvements.

Enjoy the music!

 

[Abyss Man]

Thanks for the supports, guys. We are grateful.

DENAFRIPS DDC accept external clocks input at 75ohms impedance. Two clocks input are required, i.e.

- 45.1584MHz (For 44.1KHz based)
- 49.152Mhz (For 48kHz based)

For GAIA, the internal OCXO clocks are already of very high quality. It explains why @HifiHandyman is hearing great improvements.

Enjoy the music!

View attachment 71255

View attachment 71256

Hi Alvin,
Thank you for enlightening us, but does that mean we can use a 10mhz master clock with a 75ohm BNC cable to reclock the Iris?
The Gaia we already know has brilliant Dual OCXO onboard.

Thank you.

 

[iSparta]

@Abyss Man and @alvin1118 Hi guys thanks for the replies.

It was just a thought about an unused bit of kit lying unused, I think I'll still give it a go though. If it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out.

Really impressed with the Pontus as it is, so of course I'm thinking about TP and Gaia but not for a while due to financial constraints.

Happy listening.
Saor Alba.

 

[Abyss Man]

@Abyss Man and @alvin1118 Hi guys thanks for the replies.

It was just a thought about an unused bit of kit lying unused, I think I'll still give it a go though. If it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out.

Really impressed with the Pontus as it is, so of course I'm thinking about TP and Gaia but not for a while due to financial constraints.

Happy listening.
Saor Alba.

Hi Saro,
U are very welcome. Take your music journey as a marathon not a sprint. Enjoy each upgrade and above all enjoy the music. Stay safe. Once again welcome to WBF.

 

[martin778]

I've got 2 Denafrips units, Terminator+ and ARES II. Very happy with both, especially the TP.

 

[alvin1118]

Thanks, @martin778. Do consider the Iris/Gaia DDC to go with the TPlus.

Enjoy the music!

 

[martin778]

Hi Alvin,
How would that work, USB input from the streamer to the Gaia and then HDMI-i2S to the TP and connect the clocks through BNC between the TP and Gaia?

 

[alvin1118]

That's correct, @martin778.

Streamer->USB Output-> GAIA DDC->HDMI i2s->Terminator-Plus DAC




GAIA is a DDC, Digital To Digital converter, it accepts USB/Coax/AES/Optical input.

For computer audio system users, I would highly recommend a DDC as the DDC helps to isolate the computer noise effectively. The sonic improvements are evident. DDC reclocks and FIFO buffer to 'clean' the digital signal, and outputs the ultra-low jitters digital signal to an external DAC.

Moreover, the clock synchronization between the GAIA and Terminator-Plus cleans up the imaging, enhances transient clarity, as well as cohesive flow of the music.

Hope this helps!

 

[Blake]

...and pay attention to the clock cable cross as pictured in Alvin's depiction above!

 

[Blake]

@Abyss Man

Hey, can you give us an update on your latest cable experiments?

 

[RikkiPoo]

I am using the following cables between the Iris and TPlus:

HDMI i2s: https://usashop.sommercable.com/en/Cable/HiFi-Home/Multimediakabel-EXCELSIOR-BlueWater-EBH4.html
BNC SPDIF: https://usashop.sommercable.com/en/Cable/BNC-Video-Cable/Wordclock-SC-Focusline-L-Highflex-FL59.html

The Sommer HDMI replaced an Audioquest Coffee and it was slightly better. I just put in an

AudioQuest Thunderbird 48 8K-10K 48Gbps HDMI Cable - 2.46 ft. (.75m)​

It is much much better than the Sommer HDMI cable.

I am interested in trying other clock cables, open to recommendations.