Denafrips ARES II USB R2R DAC Review

[BDWoody]

Its a relief when the moderators kick me out.

Happy to help you feel better.

 

[Jimbob54]

If you folks were listening to high-end audio setups in controlled environments you’ld have a different perspective. Clearly that’s not happening with the majority here. You kid yourself.

I’m sure one of the moderators is about to come down on me for being a heretic.
No loss though... not missing anything here.

Don't think you get banned for disagreeing here.

 

[Purité Audio]

Blimey! I'd consider paying that amount to get rid of something so ugly.

You calling my twin AHB2’s ugly!
Keith

 

[mansr]

You calling my twin AHB2’s ugly!
Keith

I was obviously referring to the chair, which by the way is in what seems like a strange position for listening.

 

[Purité Audio]

Possibly the best SQ in that position!
Keith

 

[Ilkless]

So have you listened to any high-end audio setups over long periods of time?
let me guess...

like I said...

have you realised that i just cited literally peer-reviewed research that invalidates your anecdotal experience and you think your personal experience > peer-reviewed research? do you make your healthcare decisions based on your layman intuition? what do those doctors know anyway, if they haven't undergone the treatment they prescribed you.

 

[Harmonie]

Yes... exactly what it’s like.

no problems with control et al being in place.
maybe you could listen to some high-end equipment with all your controls in place?
But you won’t bother as I have experienced each time I have a quick interlude on this vacuous site.

I get trapped here for a bit when this site comes back on some google search I did...

Its a relief when the moderators kick me out.

Reading your posts, I wonder what's your purpose ?
I mean:
What do you want ?

 

[CtheArgie]

Reading your posts, I wonder what's your purpose ?
I mean:
What do you want ?

I hope that @Xyzzy can give us a list of "proper" equipments to use to hear the way we are supposed to hear. I really need to know.

 

[BDWoody]

I hope that @Xyzzy can give us a list of "proper" equipments to use to hear the way we are supposed to hear. I really need to know.

Don't feed the trolls...

 

[PierreV]

gee burgers have a bun and meat, how can there can’t be any difference! Show me the measurements!”.

FWIW, there is a difference and it can and is measured.
Just replace the AP with PCR, Eliza or, a mass spectrometer for example.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308814620326091?via=ihub

If your 100% beef burger isn't 100% beef, would you trust your tastebuds or science?

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0956713516306600

 

[Deleted member 24508]

Still, apparent performance no better than $90 D10, and arguably (imo) not much better - if any - than the $9 Apple dongle.. Look at all that grass! Why would anyone in their right mind pay $680 for this thing???

Apparently, have you heard them? Of course not.

 

[Jimbob54]

Apparently, have you heard them? Of course not.

I would be amazed if anyone here has done a level matched blind test of this DAC and {insert £100-£200 transparent DAC of choice, D10 or otherwise}. I think we all should if ever possible.

 

[Ilkless]

Apparently, have you heard them? Of course not.

relevant reading just a few pages up this thread. What do you hope to accomplish with listening? Because evidence indicates it accomplishes none of what you hope to.

 

[Katji]

On this site the mantra is look at specs only and don’t listen to audio equipment.
It’s like being trapped in a Macdonald’s with folks who won’t leave the Macdonald trying to convince them there are better burgers out there. With the response almost always being “gee burgers have a bun and meat, how can there can’t be any difference! Show me the measurements!”.

the observation part of science is lacking in the majority population here.

How many times have you seen a McDonalds sign?

..."observation"...

Reminds me of that famous quote, something like "The problem is not your ears, the problem is elsewhere."

 

[Deleted member 24508]

I would be amazed if anyone here has done a level matched blind test of this DAC and {insert £100-£200 transparent DAC of choice, D10 or otherwise}. I think we all should if ever possible.

WHEN THE DIFFERENCE IS SO OBVIOUS YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE BLIND JUST DEAF TO NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. I HAVE AN ARIES II AND THE DIFFERENCE TO MY OTHER DACS IS STARTLING AND THEY ALL COST A LOT MORE THAN 200 QUID.

 

[Ilkless]

WHEN THE DIFFERENCE IS SO OBVIOUS YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE BLIND JUST DEAF TO NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. I HAVE AN ARIES II AND THE DIFFERENCE TO MY OTHER DACS IS STARTLING AND THEY ALL COST A LOT MORE THAN 200 QUID.

Peer-reviewed published research says otherwise, using experimental conditions that isolate auditory stimuli from non-auditory stimuli that invariably corrupt sighted evaluations such as yours, particularly between devices where differences are hovering at or below known human hearing thresholds. Do you insist that your doctor has personal, anecdotal experience with homeopathy, crystal healing and juice cleanses before accepting his advice as valid and informed? Same logic.

 

[Deleted member 24508]

Peer-reviewed published research says otherwise, using experimental conditions that isolate auditory stimuli from non-auditory stimuli that invariably corrupt sighted evaluations such as yours, particularly between devices where differences are hovering at or below known human hearing thresholds. Do you insist that your doctor has personal, anecdotal experience with homeopathy, crystal healing and juice cleanses before accepting his advice as valid and informed? Same logic.

I can read the data with my eyes, but I hear the music with my ears.

 

[Veri]

I can read the data with my eyes, but I hear the music with my ears.

This isn't audioEvaluateWithEarsreview.com you know. There tends to be some science involved here rather than simply just claims.

WHEN THE DIFFERENCE IS SO OBVIOUS YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE BLIND JUST DEAF TO NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. I HAVE AN ARIES II AND THE DIFFERENCE TO MY OTHER DACS IS STARTLING AND THEY ALL COST A LOT MORE THAN 200 QUID.

Ahh yes all caps, now you're more credible ....

 

[Ilkless]

I can read the data with my eyes, but I hear the music with my ears.

Except as the research (which extends far beyond audio engineering into far more consequential fields like psychology and physiology) I linked indicates, hearing the music with your ears is invariably moderated by what you see or know, even at a subconscious level. You see the aesthetics, you read the backstory, you attribute certain characteristics to certain circuit topologies. These affect the perception of difference (let alone preference), introducing huge amounts of unrealiability. Read Zielinski and Rumsey, linked many times on this forum before we can have a productive discussion. Anecdotal experience convinces no one in this place.

You have 2 options: 1) to accept your evaluations are corrupted by these non-auditory stimuli and to take your listening impressions as that of a multi-sensory experience only partially constituted by the actual sound. Your perceptions bear a tenuous link with the actual sound (ie. moving air) output at best. That is the only intellectually-honest way to articulate anecdotal sound evaluations without basic experimental controls. There is no shame in that. I will readily admit I'm shopping for Jeff Rowland gear for that reason - I'm a sucker for the billet aluminium and Lundahls, but I'm under no delusion that they meaningfully change the empirical phenomenon of sound.

Or 2) to accept that such claims are dead-on-arrival as far as validity goes due to these multiple, well-documented sources of massive distortion of our auditory perception, such that it describes an empirical phenomenon. Even multiple sighted impressions that describe the same thing are not valid.

Anything is wilful and abhorrent anti-intellectualism and arrogance. Essentially that you think you aren't bound by the human ear and brain physiology. And that is a claim I, and other right-minded members here, will condemn and call out at every turn. We have provided the resources. There is no excuse.

Do the work. Don't arrogate your layman intuition and anecdotal experience is remotely equal to decades of PhDs working on the subject.

 

[Deleted member 24508]

This isn't audioEvaluateWithEarsreview.com you know. There tends to be some science involved here rather than simply just claims.


Ahh yes all caps, now you're more credible ....

And observation is a viable scientific technique.