Hi Alvin and Vinshine.
I have had the Denafrips Ares II running for about 6 weeks now and it has really impressed me – far and away the best-sounding DAC I have had to date, from a history that includes models from Musical Fidelity, Hegel, Cambridge Audio, Teradak and Metrum Acoustics.
I started an appreciation thread on our UK-based hifi-enthusiast forum which begins with my own review of the DAC, here:
And there are a couple of others on there who are also very happy with their Ares II models.
A photo of the Ares II in my setup:
The other equipment is:
NVA P50sa preamp
NVA A40 monoblock power amps
NVA Cube2 loudspeakers
Cambridge Audio CXC CD transport
Streamer: modified Intel Core i7 fanless PC with Volumio OS
USB regen: Oehlback XXL Masterclock
Cabling: DH Labs & NVA.
My system is very musical, transparent and optimised for digital playback, allowing me to hear subtle differences in devices and connections. The smooth and detailed, ‘analogue’ presentation of the Ares II (which I prefer in NOS mode) has led me back to my LP collection, which I hadn’t played in the last 30 years. So I am now in the process of digitising all of my vinyl records at 96KHz/24bit resolution, just so I can listen to them through the Denafrips DAC.
My interest in Hifi began in the early 80’s and by the end of that decade I had switched over to the new, digital format of CD. Since the beginning of the 2000’s I have followed the development of file-based and streaming audio, but always with a personal emphasis on musicality and ‘natural-ness’. These two qualities are what sets the Ares II apart from the rest, providing me with immense enjoyment and pleasure.
One point of advice – please put a little warning note in the shipment packaging to make sure that users check the Voltage (110/240) before switching on, I didn’t – but luckily the setting was correct.
Many thanks for excellent service and a superb product. My next DAC will definitely be a bigger Denafrips model – just as soon as I can afford one.
Best regards,
Reeves C.
The Netherlands.
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