Denafrips product owners please fall in

maxwerks

New Member
Mar 6, 2021
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Thank you for posting that out I mistakingly didnt carefully read #357 thinking that it was only describing the Plus model . I see now that the T2 comes close to the T+ , it also seem that it would a tall order to update the Original T to the T2 ..Thanks again
 

Asbas

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2021
12
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Denmark
Hi
Im New here, and live in Denmark. I Would like to tell you about my experience with the Avatar cd transport. I got it September 2020 and lovede the sound of it. It is a really great transport but I had a problem. Some CD's i would not read, or it just stoped reading the disc for no reason. The cds could be read by other cd players and I was confused. But again, it sounded great when it could read the disc.
After a lot of writing with the importer i shipped it to him and now 5 weeks later i got my money return, so great service from the importer. He could not give me a New unit becaurse the manufacturer Would not send a New one.
I can only guess why, but what i think is that there is a failure in the buffer in the mk. 1 and mk. 2 version (mine was a mk. 2) There is now a mk. 3 version you can buy direct from Denafrips where i think they have corrected this error. Denafrips is only about the money as I see it. But again this is my opinion and not something i know for sure. But I think it is relevant to know.

Hope it is useful for someone.
Regards
 

maxwerks

New Member
Mar 6, 2021
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I can only guess why, but what i think is that there is a failure in the buffer in the mk. 1 and mk. 2 version (mine was a mk. 2) There is now a mk. 3 version you can buy direct from Denafrips where i think they have corrected this error. Denafrips is only about the money as I see it. But again this is my opinion and not something i know for sure. But I think it is relevant to know.

Hope it is useful for someone.
Regards
I was inquiring about their DAC , Are you referring to their CD Transport or Terminator DAC ? From what I understand there is in fact a MK1, & 2 and the latest if the T plus model but that applies to their Terminator DAC Not the transport , the link for the Transport looks like it is disabled on their site and the Transport isn't showing as available on the Vinshine audio page
 
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Asbas

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2021
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I was referring to their cd transport. I dont know about their DAC. Maybe they have shut down their Avatar cd transport?
 

maxwerks

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Mar 6, 2021
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r. Denafrips is only about the money as I see it. But again this is my opinion and not something i know for sure. But I think it is relevant to know.

Hope it is useful for someone.
Regards
It is a little unfair to say that a certain company is " only about the money " . I think its only fair for you to exhaust the options of communicating with the company directly before you post on line that they re only about the money . I personally have no affiliation with them , nor do I yet own any of their products , but I know they are relatively young and producing what several people and reviewers are quite impressed by , so they must be doing something right . Since the owner ( or designer ) of Denafrips posts on this forum , I would suggest tying to email him directly and see how he responds . Thats just my personal opinion .
 

Asbas

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2021
12
12
68
45
Denmark
It is a little unfair to say that a certain company is " only about the money " . I think its only fair for you to exhaust the options of communicating with the company directly before you post on line that they re only about the money . I personally have no affiliation with them , nor do I yet own any of their products , but I know they are relatively young and producing what several people and reviewers are quite impressed by , so they must be doing something right . Since the owner ( or designer ) of Denafrips posts on this forum , I would suggest tying to email him directly and see how he responds . Thats just my personal opinion .
That is ok, and you might be right that i am too harsh. But it is still my opinion since i have been communicating with the importer. I am just telling my story and nothing Else. If everyone Else is satisfied with their product and service it is fine with me.
 

maxwerks

New Member
Mar 6, 2021
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It is just an opinion , since you joined this forum , and you can see that Alvin ( Denafrips/ Vinshine) is a member here and does in fact post periodically , why dont you try to directly communicate with him and see what he says . Again , just an opinion
 

Golum

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2018
1,805
2,552
405
Lausanne, CH
Hi
Im New here, and live in Denmark. I Would like to tell you about my experience with the Avatar cd transport. I got it September 2020 and lovede the sound of it. It is a really great transport but I had a problem. Some CD's i would not read, or it just stoped reading the disc for no reason. The cds could be read by other cd players and I was confused. But again, it sounded great when it could read the disc.
After a lot of writing with the importer i shipped it to him and now 5 weeks later i got my money return, so great service from the importer. He could not give me a New unit becaurse the manufacturer Would not send a New one.
I can only guess why, but what i think is that there is a failure in the buffer in the mk. 1 and mk. 2 version (mine was a mk. 2) There is now a mk. 3 version you can buy direct from Denafrips where i think they have corrected this error. Denafrips is only about the money as I see it. But again this is my opinion and not something i know for sure. But I think it is relevant to know.

Hope it is useful for someone.
Regards
HI thanks for this post as it opened my eyes a bit.
I've noticed similar behavior of my unit as with quite a few CDs it skips or just stops playing as such. I did not account this to transport but rather CDs as I listen to them once in few months but for example last week I got a brand new CD and it was skipping could not move from track to track so there is definitely something going on with the CDT. I need to check this with Alvin and indeed it's strange you can't find them available for ordering but here i know they had very limited number of NOS pickups.
I'm not sure there was mk1/2/3 version as mine was from the almost first batch last June/July and they halted sales already in August when they increased the price...
Would love to hear from Alvin about this issue...
 
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Asbas

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2021
12
12
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Denmark
Hi Golum
You are welcome. What you describe is exactly what i have experienced. New or old cd's. With or without scratches.
There is not anything on the outside that suggest that there is more than one version, it is only something i think and you might be able to see it inside. But it is my opinion only.
It is only ment as a information and if anyone have similar problems with their Avatar transport you can do something about it i hope.
 

alvin1118

Well-Known Member
Nov 2, 2015
45
87
150
Singapore
www.vinshineaudio.com
Hi guys,

I can be reached at sales@vinshineaudio.com
Do reach out to me should you need help, be it pre sales/sales/post sales/technical support.

I am committed to respond to email within 24-48hrs. It helps me to better serve you, sirs.
 
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Abyss Man

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Jun 17, 2019
224
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Super Nice! Look forward to your sonic reports.
Hi @Blake,
I have been informed that the cable has been pulled back as they are having some issues with getting it to work on certain systems, mine happens to be one. It's back to the drawing board for them I guess. Meanwhile, I just have to wait patiently I guess.
 

Blake

Well-Known Member
Jun 28, 2018
248
314
170
Hi @Blake,
I have been informed that the cable has been pulled back as they are having some issues with getting it to work on certain systems, mine happens to be one. It's back to the drawing board for them I guess. Meanwhile, I just have to wait patiently I guess.

Bummer! At least they are taking care of it and providing good customer service.
 
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Abyss Man

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2019
224
168
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Bummer! At least they are taking care of it and providing good customer service.
That's exactly what I got. Let's just say, they made up for it, well at least my audio guy did. He's the best.
 

Todcakes

New Member
Feb 5, 2021
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@alvin1118 As a few of us are waiting patiently for the new Terminator II to ship, have you had a chance to listen to it yourself? If so, we'd love to hear your impressions (no pressure).

Thanks!
Demike that's a question I'd love to see get answered as I wait with you having seen my shipping dates move in the wrong direction.....

Wish Olaf had elaborated a little on his TII owners update to the Denafrips website yesterday....

 
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demike

New Member
Mar 19, 2021
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Massachusetts, USA
AH!! There's at least one T2 out in the wild!! Good catch @Todcakes ! I'm trying to be patient and I'm sure Alvin would ship it today if he could. Just a few more weeks and the waiting will be behind us.

Originally I was going to buy the Venus II but held off looking for a used one or used Terminator with the latest upgrades. Then I heard about the T2 and decided to just go for it. For once my procrastination payed off :) This is a huge leap of faith for me - not only have I not heard ANY of the Denafrips DACs, there aren't even any reviews of the T2!!
 
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Todcakes

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Feb 5, 2021
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AH!! There's at least one T2 out in the wild!! Good catch @Todcakes ! I'm trying to be patient and I'm sure Alvin would ship it today if he could. Just a few more weeks and the waiting will be behind us.

Originally I was going to buy the Venus II but held off looking for a used one or used Terminator with the latest upgrades. Then I heard about the T2 and decided to just go for it. For once my procrastination payed off :) This is a huge leap of faith for me - not only have I not heard ANY of the Denafrips DACs, there aren't even any reviews of the T2!!

Ditto demike - my scenario is identical to yours.

I've never heard a single Denafrips Dac, but having spent years with ESS Sabre based DACs I'm convinced I have reached a dead end in that journey. I've optimised in so many places over the years - put the sound through sympathetic 300B tube outputs and back to solid state again, and there's always a fatiguing, digital edge that seeps into many recordings. In 2021 I think this expectation is now not necessary, and we have some incredible choices emerging in the reasonable to mid price DAC market (if that's what you can call the £3300 I spent on the TII, before import duties!).

As for the TII - well I've spent quite some time tracking Denafrips reviews, the journeys of Denafrips owners before they arrived at their mainly glowing reports on owner forums and I'm now prepared to make the leap of faith too. Too much positive 'noise' about this company's products to ignore. A lot of excellent critical reviews across their product base. Now with the recent Terminator overhaul I believe we'll both be in very good hands so I'm not worried, just excited.

I look forward to sharing our initial impressions together ;)
 

RikkiPoo

Well-Known Member
Nov 4, 2020
118
82
95
Ditto demike - my scenario is identical to yours.

I've never heard a single Denafrips Dac, but having spent years with ESS Sabre based DACs I'm convinced I have reached a dead end in that journey. I've optimised in so many places over the years - put the sound through sympathetic 300B tube outputs and back to solid state again, and there's always a fatiguing, digital edge that seeps into many recordings. In 2021 I think this expectation is now not necessary, and we have some incredible choices emerging in the reasonable to mid price DAC market (if that's what you can call the £3300 I spent on the TII, before import duties!).

As for the TII - well I've spent quite some time tracking Denafrips reviews, the journeys of Denafrips owners before they arrived at their mainly glowing reports on owner forums and I'm now prepared to make the leap of faith too. Too much positive 'noise' about this company's products to ignore. A lot of excellent critical reviews across their product base. Now with the recent Terminator overhaul I believe we'll both be in very good hands so I'm not worried, just excited.

I look forward to sharing our initial impressions together ;)
The end is in sight. Add the Iris and the clock out from the T2 and you have arrived.
 
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Todcakes

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Feb 5, 2021
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Really encouraging to hear that further gains can be unlocked with pretty modest investments, Rikkipoo.

On the one hand I do now want to halt the upgrade-itis after this move, at least for a few months...so your suggestion may have to sit latently for a wee while before I think about acting, but we all know how this hobby gnaws away at us. I’m sure as the months progress I’ll end up needing to scratch that itch again. I do hope not, but deep down I know it will happen. I suspect we all become restless over time and start to magnify the smallest flaws until they become objectionable.

I see you have some excellent digital source components so I’m curious - did you really unlock worthwhile gains adding the Iris to your already state of the art streaming front end and T+ DAC? I heard the Iris made significant differences to less than stellar computer and streaming sources, but to the Statement you get significant gains also? If that’s the case, are you also curious about what else you may gain by upgrading to Gaia?

One thing that puts me off treating the Iris as the potentially cheap audio upgrade that is a no brainer: all the additional cabling. Before you know it you’ve spent another 2x the cost of the Iris on clock sync + output cables. All of a sudden it’s an upgrade that is far less trivial than it first suggests. Nonetheless I’m curious about the clock-out DDC improvements. One to ponder whilst I save some ££ and weigh up the most cost effective next steps after the TII love affair wears off. The optimist in me is hoping that’s some point late 2022 ....whereas the realist cant keep a straight face at the idea of so many months without opening my wallet yet again....
 
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RikkiPoo

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Nov 4, 2020
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@Todcakes

I have wondered if there would be a difference between the Iris and Gaia. I only need USB DDC to I2S and am using the T+ clock so the Gaia seemed like I would buy a lot of un needed technology. Maybe the power supply is better, someday maybe I will explore that.

You are right I have a power cord and I2S cable that are each similar in cost to the Iris. I am using inexpensive Sommer clock cables that Alvin recommended at this time.

Denafrips says I2S is the best input for the Terminator and I agree (but have only compared USB and I2S, so just the Iris by itself is an upgrade. Using he T+'s clock does unlock more improvements. In the big picture the cost of the Iris, cord and cable is a value for the return.

After the clocking experience with the Iris and T+, I went a little nuts and clocked by network switches. A huge improvement but much higher cost that the Iris experiment. I am laying low licking my wounds and really have to put the brakes on further upgrades for a good while..... Unless of course I hear of something I need.
 
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