Denafrips product owners please fall in

[Blake]

The reason there is standby button but no power button is that the clock needs to remain at an elevated temperature to perform best its an OCXO Clock- Oven Controlled Crystal (Xtal) Oscillator. It has to be on for days to come to equilibrium and best performance. I leave mine on on (not standby) per Alvin's recommendation for best performance.

Exactly. I do the same. If you want best sonic performance, this is just the trade off. My TPlus and Gaia were both unplugged for a couple months. I plugged them in three days ago. Initially, I was like "hmmmm.... sounds very nice but not as good as I remembered". Didn't listen again until last night and.... all is right with the world again. Just spectacular sound.

 

[Dasign]

Recently upgraded from a Benchmark DAC3 HGC to a Terminator Plus DAC. Owned the T+ for over a week now and it just killed the Benchmark DAC. The T+ has better low level detail retrieval, improved soundstage presentation and natural instrument timbre reproduction. At this point, I prefer the NOS mode when listening to 44.1/16 bits recordings, which sound more natural to me than the OS mode.

My system consists of the following equipment:

Asus RT-N66U router/Ethernet/Sonore OpticalModule/Ethernet fiber/Sonore OpticalRendu/USB/Terminator Plus DAC/Benchmark LA4 line amp/Classé Audio CAM-600 monoblock amps/rebuilt external Apogee Duetta Signature crossovers/ refurbished Apogee Duetta Signature ribbon speakers. Interconnect, power and speaker cables are all Duelund wires.

 

[Blue58]

Interesting post on AS that says Termi is not NOS.
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/63475-denafrips-terminator-plus-measurements/

 

[Addicted to hifi]

Recently upgraded from a Benchmark DAC3 HGC to a Terminator Plus DAC. Owned the T+ for over a week now and it just killed the Benchmark DAC. The T+ has better low level detail retrieval, improved soundstage presentation and natural instrument timbre reproduction. At this point, I prefer the NOS mode when listening to 44.1/16 bits recordings, which sound more natural to me than the OS mode.

My system consists of the following equipment:

Asus RT-N66U router/Ethernet/Sonore OpticalModule/Ethernet fiber/Sonore OpticalRendu/USB/Terminator Plus DAC/Benchmark LA4 line amp/Classé Audio CAM-600 monoblock amps/rebuilt external Apogee Duetta Signature crossovers/ refurbished Apogee Duetta Signature ribbon speakers. Interconnect, power and speaker cables are all Duelund wires.View attachment 80618

Beautiful system.

 

[martin778]

Interesting post on AS that says Termi is not NOS.
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/63475-denafrips-terminator-plus-measurements/

Someone on Youtube measured the ARES II as not being true NOS, if the general implementation is the same, the Termi isn't NOS either.

Dasign, I have Apogees myself, lovely speakers. Who did yours? I notice the ribbons might need a bit of extra tension.

 

[Dasign]

Someone on Youtube measured the ARES II as not being true NOS, if the general implementation is the same, the Termi isn't NOS either.

Dasign, I have Apogees myself, lovely speakers. Who did yours? I notice the ribbons might need a bit of extra tension.

True Sound Works in Nevada. The ribbon tension on my speaker is fine. It may just be some lightning reflections in the photo…

 

[toddrhodes]

Venus II owner checking in. Running from a Zen Stream operating as HQ Player NAA, feeding Venus II with DSD256, ASDM7EC modulator, sinc-mx or gauss-long filter. And I have seen the measurements indicating they are not true "NOS," however I do wish someone could test the scenario of another "true NOS" DAC like Holo May with HQ Player-upsampling, to a DF DAC with the same sort of upsampling in NOS mode. At that point, is it a noteworthy or measurable difference and even if so, could it be audible?

To that end, I do have a Holo May KTE on order. Not sure when it's coming, but based on when I ordered it, it should be here in a few weeks. I will say, despite all the very good press and fanfare May has gotten - it has a hell of a fight on its hands IMO. Venus II is a terrific R2R DAC, it plays really well in DSD mode, and so many of the positive attributes I read about May, are things I'm already observing in Venus II.

But, the proof is in the pudding, so we'll see how it goes. Either way, I'm in no rush. Venus II is a simply killer DAC. I just wish they could provide some sort of explanation as to why "NOS may not really be NOS."

 

[sajihassan]

Hi Guys, this is my first post in this forum. I am using an integrated amplifier Lyngdorf TDAI 2170 which is a true digital amplifier and it is working only in the digital domain. There is no benefit for me to add an external dac since even if I feed an analog signal it will convert to digital. Is it possible to add a DDC like Gaia to my amplifier and will there be any improvement in sound quality.

 

[Shuggie]

Hi Guys, this is my first post in this forum. I am using an integrated amplifier Lyngdorf TDAI 2170 which is a true digital amplifier and it is working only in the digital domain. There is no benefit for me to add an external dac since even if I feed an analog signal it will convert to digital. Is it possible to add a DDC like Gaia to my amplifier and will there be any improvement in sound quality.

Yes, you will get a significant boost in sound quality with a good DDC for digital sources. I use a Mutec MC-3 +USB with my TDAi-2170, and it is wonderful - the sound of the amp becomes much more open, detailed, dynamic, colorful, expressive and simply more enjoyable. You will be amazed at the difference, and with a good DDC the TDAi-2170 is the one amp that I keep coming back to, so it will stay with me. The Denafrips Gaia is also a really good performer and more convenient than the Mutec because switching digital sources is more convenient and without any delay, but you do pay more for it.

The Lyngdorf's analog inputs are just about OK, but for vinyl I now use a (sadly obsolete) PS Audio NuWave Phono Converter to take a line input from my Phasemation EA-350 phono amplifier, then feeding a 24bit/48kHz digital signal to the Mutec DDC and then out to the TDAi-2170. Complicated, but it sounds completely wonderful.

 

[sajihassan]

Thanks for the reply. So I have to find space for one more box and more expensive cables.

 

[Blake]

Hello guys,

Good to read the discussion and sharing here!
Do share the photos of your setup. Here is mine

View attachment 67206

Enjoy the music!

Hi Alvin. Looking at the pics you sent out today of your new listening space, it looks like you've changed your speakers to the ATC's. Did you sell your Magico speakers?

 

[alvin1118]

@Blake , the Magico A3s still with me. They are in the 2nd setup....

 

[alvin1118]

Almost there.

 

[Addicted to hifi]

View attachment 81877

Almost there.

Looking beautiful

 

[micro13]

Hi Alvin, how would you describe the sound differences between Kinki Ex-B7 and the new Denafrips Apollo? Unfortunately there is still no review about the Apollo, but I'm quite interested.
Thanks in advance

 

[mourip]

Interesting post on AS that says Termi is not NOS.
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/63475-denafrips-terminator-plus-measurements/

Assuming that what was asserted at AS is even true why would it necessarily matter? All that the poster is saying is that he prefers the NOS setting over the OS setting. Denefrips seems tight lipped regarding how they define or have implemented "NOS" with their products but one way or the other owners have been giving them high praise. I have a T2 and a Hermes DDC using I2S and the clock out function of the T2 to the Hermes. I feel that my units are still breaking in but having tried a lot of combinations and permutations using T2 NOS/OS in various configurations with Roon upsampling. I prefer using no upsampling in Roon and the TS set to NOS ...or whatever it is.

YMMV

 

[Dasign]

Assuming that what was asserted at AS is even true why would it necessarily matter? All that the poster is saying is that he prefers the NOS setting over the OS setting. Denefrips seems tight lipped regarding how they define or have implemented "NOS" with their products but one way or the other owners have been giving them high praise. I have a T2 and a Hermes DDC using I2S and the clock out function of the T2 to the Hermes. I feel that my units are still breaking in but having tried a lot of combinations and permutations using T2 NOS/OS in various configurations with Roon upsampling. I prefer using no upsampling in Roon and the TS set to NOS ...or whatever it is.

YMMV

I had the same opinion about NOS sounding better than OS, until I purchased HQPlayer. HQPlayer just kills Roon regarding audio playback quality .

 

[mourip]

I had the same opinion about NOS sounding better than OS, until I purchased HQPlayer. HQPlayer just kills Roon regarding audio playback quality .

Good to know but even though I am pretty skilled with computer audio(network engineer for 20 years) every time I go to the HQPlayer web site I am turned off by the lack of documentation or any explanation which would make it understandable to install and configure. I have followed threads on Audiophile Style for years and they make it seem needlessly confusing and overly technical. I have a Windows 2019 based Roon server and an Audiolinux Roon endpoint. I do know that AL supports embedded HQPlayer.

Any links to readable documentation would be definitely appreciated! I am willing to give it a try.

 

[toddrhodes]

Good to know but even though I am pretty skilled with computer audio(network engineer for 20 years) every time I go to the HQPlayer web site I am turned off by the lack of documentation or any explanation which would make it understandable to install and configure. I have followed threads on Audiophile Style for years and they make it seem needlessly confusing and overly technical. I have a Windows 2019 based Roon server and an Audiolinux Roon endpoint. I do know that AL supports embedded HQPlayer.

Any links to readable documentation would be definitely appreciated! I am willing to give it a try.

If you can get HQ Player set up on a windows PC, all it takes is a screenshot if you have a DF DAC. Now the settings do depend on your PC hardware so I suppose a screenshot isn't the end of the story, but it's usually enough to get you going in the right direction.

While I've moved on from my DF DAC, I do still feel quite fondly about how much value they represent. Just a great bit of hardware and they scale really well when stuff like HQ Player gets involved (same with my new DAC, a Holo May KTE). But while the docs around HQ Player are a little lacking, it's not too terrible to get up and running.

I think the most challenging part of it is getting the NAA going. That's a little device that sits on the network, by your DAC, and feeds the HQ Player output to your DAC via USB or whatever you like, without having to come straight out of a PC where noise and grain are almost certain to be a factor. The easiest path there is a Raspberry Pi 4 using RoPieeeXL as an image, or using miska's NAA image.

Sounds confusing, I know, but it's really not once the pieces come together.

 

[mourip]

If you can get HQ Player set up on a windows PC, all it takes is a screenshot if you have a DF DAC. Now the settings do depend on your PC hardware so I suppose a screenshot isn't the end of the story, but it's usually enough to get you going in the right direction.

While I've moved on from my DF DAC, I do still feel quite fondly about how much value they represent. Just a great bit of hardware and they scale really well when stuff like HQ Player gets involved (same with my new DAC, a Holo May KTE). But while the docs around HQ Player are a little lacking, it's not too terrible to get up and running.

I think the most challenging part of it is getting the NAA going. That's a little device that sits on the network, by your DAC, and feeds the HQ Player output to your DAC via USB or whatever you like, without having to come straight out of a PC where noise and grain are almost certain to be a factor. The easiest path there is a Raspberry Pi 4 using RoPieeeXL as an image, or using miska's NAA image.

Sounds confusing, I know, but it's really not once the pieces come together.

Thanks for the input. My Audiolinux endpoint does support NAA. Do you know if HQPlayer will run on Windows Server 2019?