Denafrips Ares II R-2R DAC Discussions | Drop

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Denafrips Ares II R-2R DAC

Audiophile

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Denafrips Ares II R-2R DAC

Peguinpower

Oct 19, 2019

I bought from Vinshine on a Sunday, I had it the following Friday. I paid 768.

rastus

1395

Oct 20, 2019

PeguinpowerAnd...? It sounds ...? Please detail rig setup.

HaVoCTzu

274

May 6, 2020

rastusI have one too, it sounds absolutely amazing. cons: bass can be a little muddy... AND there is a 40-90ms buffer audio delay depending on which setting you use, which makes this a very bad choice for competitive gaming. i am a hardcore gamer but also a music fan, so I ended up ordering another Ares 2 and a Denafrips terminator. Big fan of the sound. holographic and just a really beautiful sound. It blows away all of my other DACs. also bought mine direct form vinshine.

HaVoCTzu

274

May 6, 2020

HaVoCTzuAlso. Not as super resolving as the very high-end DACs but Ares 2 I think is what everyone is looking for but hasn’t found yet.

HaVoCTzu

274

May 6, 2020

rastusI should note that I am using a Hugo2 for my gaming PC, not an Ares2

rastus

1395

May 7, 2020

HaVoCTzuI have not heard an FPGA DAC yet... on the list. Did not know about the lag time buffer issue for gaming with the Ares. I think we will see more R-2R going forward. With an improvement in resistor stability, eminently doable, an R-2R could surpass all... life returns to the sound of music;) Missed an opportunity to hear a Terminator a/b’n a Totaldac, a real R-2R shootout, at a club members home, still kicking myself... Have you tried the Terminator for gaming, same buffer issue there? Terminator for gaming,, sick is the correct term? But, then,, you are using a Hugo2 :0

(Edited)

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HaVoCTzu

274

May 7, 2020

rastusI am pretty sure I was the first person to bring up the issue with the delay since I’m actually a competitive gamer. My terminator isn’t here yet but I will let you know. (Was planning on putting the terminator in my home theater, but I can test it for gaming too.

HaVoCTzu

274

Aug 7, 2020

rastusTerminator has a buffer delay too, but only half as much as Ares II. using Qutest on my gaming PC.

rastus

1395

Dec 20, 2020

HaVoCTzuSooo, Ares to Terminator, worth it, do it again?

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HaVoCTzu

274

Dec 20, 2020

rastusI now have an Ares 2, a Pontus, and a Terminator. Here is the deal... the terminator is so good that it will point out any other weaknesses you have in your chain, meaning it won’t sound good until the rest of your chain is good...but once the rest of your chain is good...holy shit. So don’t buy a terminator unless you have a lot more money to spend. My stereo system is the best system I have ever heard, so now my next logical step is getting professional room treatment, so I have put in a work order with vicoustics. I am using terminator with pass labs Aleph L and L-07m going to Martin logan ascent ii on Gaia II isolators. + 2x Rel t9i’s. The system is already an S+ without room treatment. the Pontus, this is a step up from the ares 2 because you can use AES and i2s. (Which can be used with a Pi2aes) This makes a big difference. This dac is a safe bet. It won’t ever sound as good as terminator, but it won’t ever sound as bad as terminator on a bad chain. It is more forgiving than terminator. Makes this DAC an excellent choice if you aren’t planning to spend a ton of money. I’m currently using Pontus on my office headphone rotation with pass labs Aleph P and Moon 430HA. ares2 is the most forgiving dac it makes everything sound good but it can never sound as good as Pontus or terminator when their chains are proper. it has far less detail than the other two dacs but it still manages to sound good. It’s the most colored of the 3 and its major set back is it doesn’t have aes or i2s. All 3 of these dacs should be used for music playback only. Not for games or movies or DJ equipment.

HaVoCTzu

274

Dec 20, 2020

HaVoCTzuIf I could do it all over again I would have 1 Terminator and 1 Hugo TT 2 + M-Scaler (but only because both of my chains are already very good)

HaVoCTzu

274

Dec 20, 2020

rastusIf you don’t want to spend $6000+, get a Pontus.

Johnny.Drama

Aug 28, 2021

HaVoCTzuHey man I just picked up the Denafrips Ares II and noticed the buffer audio delay too. Super bummed about it. Did you ever find a way to work around this for gaming?

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HaVoCTzu

274

Aug 28, 2021

Johnny.DramaUnfortunately not. The Ares 2 has a really bad delay. I was the first person to contact Vinshine about this because I’m a competitive gamer… they had me try a firmware update but it bricked my ares 2, so they sent me another one after an RMA.

(Edited)

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HaVoCTzu

274

Aug 28, 2021

Johnny.DramaThe good news was, for my 2nd Ares 2 I sold it for more than I bought it for because there was a long delay to buy it new and people didn’t want to wait. I do miss ares 2, if they ever make something that sounds like a super ares 2 I’m buying it. Ares 2 doesn’t have nearly as much detail as higher end dacs, but it’s great for what it is.

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ridhuankim

671

Sep 18, 2021

HaVoCTzuI just ordered one. How Bad is the delay? and what delay?

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HaVoCTzu

274

Sep 19, 2021

ridhuankimI measured it at 85ms. But apparently it fluctuates.

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ridhuankim

671

Sep 19, 2021

HaVoCTzuHi Thanks for the info. I plan to use optical connection, does this delay happen on a specific connection(such as USB) or is it observed on all connection?

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HaVoCTzu

274

Sep 19, 2021

ridhuankimAll.

ridhuankim

671

Oct 19, 2021

HaVoCTzuI cancelled my purchase as the seller confirmed the delay and even their higher tier model have the same issue due to the design.

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HaVoCTzu

274

Oct 19, 2021

ridhuankimCorrect. Glad you saved yourself some money and trouble.

fkewl

Feb 16, 2022

HaVoCTzuHi @HaVoCTzu ! Pardon for the intrusion but I wanted to ask you if it would be worth it to get a Hugo 2 for gaming. I noticed on Head-Fi that you mentioned some heat issues with that dac but at the same time the price of the TT2 makes it a bit prohibitive for me. I am currently on a Burson Soloist 3x + D70S + HD800S (all balanced) and for the FPS I play, I notice from time to time that "wall of sound" effect of not being able to position exactly where the other players are. I wonder how a Chord DAC/Amp would compare to my current combo.

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HaVoCTzu

274

Feb 16, 2022

fkewlive never heard d70s, so can’t comment what sort of improvements hugo2 might have over it. that being said…. You already have an amp so you should get Qutest instead of hugo2 (unless you really need a transportable option) hugo2 lacks galvanic isolation but it is essentially the same dac as Qutest. Qutest has galvanic isolation which is good, and it can be found for cheaper. I don’t have any issues locating people with Qutest or hugo2.

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fkewl

Feb 16, 2022

HaVoCTzuOriginally I had thought about getting the Qutest as the most wallet-friendly option but after seeing a Rob Watts post on the H2 or TT2 official review threads suggesting (well, as I interpreted it) that a H2 will produce better sound in general compared to a dac + amp pairing, probably due to the shortest and simplest path from source to headphones/speakers point of view, and also another head-fi member comment, Jazz something I think his nickname was, suggesting that a H2 is a better value for the money than the Qutest, I began wondering what would be the best solution for me. If I got Passion for Sound and other reviewers right, it seems that AKM/Sabre chips fall short compared with Chord FPGA, as well as Schiit multibit and R2R. So I guess D70S was a bad choice for my use case. Also I wonder if a seperate DAC and amp introduces some noticeable delay versus an integrated solution like the H2.

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HaVoCTzu

274

Feb 16, 2022

fkewlI don’t agree with him and I don’t think Chord is very good at making amps either.

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fkewl

Feb 16, 2022

HaVoCTzuI guess I will go with the most budget friendly option then! :) And do you think adding a linear power supply would do any good or the improvements would be negligible?

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HaVoCTzu

274

Feb 16, 2022

fkewlI tried the iFi power supply and it was a negligible difference but it does measure better.

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fkewl

Feb 16, 2022

HaVoCTzuOh ok, I think I will skip it then! Thanks for your help and I will be sure to post an update after I get the Qutest!

rastus

1395

Feb 16, 2022

HaVoCTzuHave you heard a Totaldac? I missed a “Shootout” with a Terminator, hope to have a chance again. The Totaldac employs the best resistors known, in making its ladders, Vishay ‘naked’ foils.

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HaVoCTzu

274

Feb 16, 2022

rastusNo I haven’t sorry. I have a Holo May L2 now.

fkewl

Feb 17, 2022

HaVoCTzuHi dude! Got my Qutest today and I have already played say about 1 hour with barely any burn-in. Compared to the D70S, my impression so far is that Qutest seems a lot better at conveying depth and positioning of other players in a 3D space. At this point, I am also going to compare my Asgard 3 to the Soloist 3X since I have to use the latter in RCA mode and I'm still trying to figure out if I have the same feeling of the soundstage size compared to the Soloist 3X in balanced mode. Thanks again for your help and feel free to suggest any proper RCA amp to go with the Qutest that doesn't break the wallet :)

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HaVoCTzu

274

Feb 17, 2022

fkewlAwesome! i bought b1s, sa-1, iha-6, srd-7 lundahl, this week, they aren’t here yet. I want to see if they can beat 430ha at anything. Let me know what you think of asgard and I’ll share my notes as well.

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fkewl

Feb 17, 2022

HaVoCTzuSo after playing a bit with both amps, and playing some music before playing the FPS game to heat up the amps, the Soloist 3X is clearly the winner. It makes sens right out of the gate because of the price difference but still I was curious because the A3 for its price seems to be a decent gaming amp. But compared to the Soloist, the Asgard seemed quite a bit hazier in terms of being able to position players in the 3D space. Depth seemed inferior. I felt the action was happening closer to me compared to the actual position of the players in the 3D space. Maybe it was a sense of flatness in the sound sometimes. It also felt more congested when I had like 4 or 5 players shooting and moving around in the same area. In general I felt more lost in the game with the Asgard compared to the Soloist 3X. In a way it was an unfair comparison but still interesting.

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HaVoCTzu

274

Feb 18, 2022

fkewlYeap… that sounds pretty much like every amp comparison between a good one and a not so good one.

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fkewl

Feb 18, 2022

HaVoCTzuI guess my next step would be a TT2 but for now I must replenish my wallet and stay put for some time :) Btw, I've very quickly googled some of those amps and there's a Z Review where it says that the iha-6 is a 789 alternative. If that means it still comes with the wall of sound signature, then watch out. I've tried playing with the THX-887 and it was awful, almost no depth at all.

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HaVoCTzu

274

Feb 18, 2022

fkewlRule #1. Ignore everything Zeos says. Rule #2 yes, literally everything as for tt2, be sure to demo a few other things. TT2 sounded a bit thin to me. At that price range you may want to look into holo audio… don’t think you can demo it but there are a lot of reviews.

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