Absolutely Preposterous Denafrips DAC Reviews

[egellings]

Once upon a time, I was on a forum where a speaker and electronics designer.. insisted that one of his preamp sounded better upside down... ... Seriously.

I have witnessed a person who was capable of hearing the differences brought in by a clock .. in another person system ... Yep!! Said clock did rearrange the electrons so that they would move coherently ... It made a "vast" difference in his system too...

The infamous Tice Clock?

 

[egellings]

I wonder if he had stood on his head and left the preamp right side up, if he'd have heard the same difference.

 

[amper42]

Stacking components and the order of that stacking can make an enormous difference to the way they perform. You can have the best DAC in the world and it gets a hideous hum when placed too close to your power amplifer.

Preamplifiers on top of power amplifiers are a no go. Any form of low level device near a high current device is a no no.

Some CD players, DACs and DVD/Blue ray can interfere with phono/preamp stages. Radiated transfromer PSU noise etc.

The placement of preamplifers alongside power amplifiers needs to be determined where transformers are concerned to minimise noise. All this is well known and I've dealt with it since the 1970s, especially back in the day with tape recording where the placement of the deck with respect to every other piece of gear was extremely important.

When testing a device, it should be always placed in the same location, away from anything that may affect or compromise its performance.

This stack works well with an RME ADI-2 on a short riser above the Buckeye NC502MP.
The 2 inch opening above the Buckeye allows a decent airflow across the amp top vents while still supporting a compact design. The stand is actually the outer case I cannibalized from an old Soundcarftsmen S800 amp.

 

[Dallas2122]

You guys knocking Denafrips don’t know how they sound their new Terminstor 12 th anniversary I have heard and it is excellent sounding ,there is No dac out there under $5k that sonically compete on its level , 9 out of10 of these guys knocking it has dacs far less in build quality as well as sonics .
The HoloSprings msy KTE has the best measurements ,but sonically
Both are excellent and comes down to taste .
I have a Bricasti M1-SE dac, streamer which has many filters
And yes it is just over $10 k with discounts bought class leading .
Bricasti has been used in mastering studios for almost 20 years now
And highly respected in the higher end audio including their amplifiers and preamps to complement the digital . The dac,streamer has a excellent
Preamplifier if you choose to use direct to amplifier.

 

[kemmler3D]

You guys knocking Denafrips don’t know how they sound

On the contrary, we know exactly how they sound - the same as any other DAC over $150 or so. That's sort of the point of a DAC... to change bits into continuous voltages without doing anything besides that. There isn't a "sound" involved in that process unless something is going wrong.

 

[Dallas2122]

Anyone to say low budget dacs can compete with much more expensive dacs
Are just beginners who cannot afford any better ,and never heard high end quality ,the Audiophile beginners, been there myself 25 years ago.

 

[Steven Holt]

Anyone to say low budget dacs can compete with much more expensive dacs
Are just beginners who cannot afford any better ,and never heard high end quality ,the Audiophile beginners, been there myself 25 years ago.

That's quite a statement. Talk is cheap, so back it up : send in your DAC to Amir for testing, and let's see what's what.

 

[Dallas2122]

Not a chance I would send in a $$ expensive piece of anything
There is plenty of reviews and documentation out there, our multi state audio club listen to pretty much everything out there in the main stream .
Your ears are the best testing equipment out there .
solid state amps for example measure better then a vacuum tube amplifier
But sonically many vacuum tube products sound more natural.

 

[kemmler3D]

Your ears are the best testing equipment out there .

Lol, based on decades of no research and no data, we have reached the stunning conclusion that ears > gears, pack it up guys.

Thinking something sounds more natural, more this, more that is fine, but if you have nothing to back it up except your opinion, people at ASR are simply not interested.

Don't take this the wrong way. You may hear something that is not reflected in the measurements. Anything is possible. However, if we don't have measurements to look at, it's very hard to know what you might be hearing or form a useful opinion about it.

 

[fpitas]

Anyone to say low budget dacs can compete with much more expensive dacs
Are just beginners who cannot afford any better ,and never heard high end quality ,the Audiophile beginners, been there myself 25 years ago.

They don't even recognize the vast effect speaker cables and power cords have here. It's a sonic wasteland.

 

[Ra1zel]

These guys don't write scientific review articles, they are writers who write a nice story that attracts readers.

Welcome to XXI century journalism.

You can have the best DAC in the world and it gets a hideous hum when placed too close to your power amplifer.

Preamplifiers on top of power amplifiers are a no go. Any form of low level device near a high current device is a no no.

Some CD players, DACs and DVD/Blue ray can interfere with phono/preamp stages. Radiated transfromer PSU noise etc.

Well in EU such things should not happen with new equipment since it wouldn't pass the radiation regulations.

 

[BDWoody]

Anyone to say low budget dacs can compete with much more expensive dacs
Are just beginners who cannot afford any better ,and never heard high end quality ,the Audiophile beginners, been there myself 25 years ago.

Uh huh...

Some people never get beyond the 'tell me a good story' stage.

 

[AdamG247]

There is plenty of reviews and documentation out there

Then by all means, if there are plenty or reviews and documentation out there, surely you can link to one or two of them that you believe will stand up to Science scrutiny?

Otherwise you’re just another guy who thinks he hears a difference and then convinces himself that it’s real and worth spending thousands on. We simply don’t care how you spend your money. That’s your business. But making bold unsupported claims about performance equality and superiority requires a tad more evidence than “Taking your word for it”.

You made the claim that there is plenty of reviews and documentation available, so providing a link or two can’t be that hard right?

We can wait!