Any thoughts on Denafrips Terminator Plus

I spoke with Alvin by email today and also a Denafrips owner in Canada to understand a bit more about the Terminator along with the statements about the serial #. Of course, the video I posted above was racist, bitter, and sad but the serial # was something I wanted clarified.

All my questions are answered now and I am going to get my second DAC, the Terminator Plus with the Iris (DDC). The sound I am after is described above, "The house sound is big bold sound with a lot of body and layered details for the money".

This DAC will be a nice contrast to my current DAC, a Benchmark DAC3B. Which I will be keeping.

@divetiti Thanks that is helpful. I like the DAC3B a lot especially with the complimentary Benchmark HPA4 preamp. It is better than the DAC3 HGC (without an external preamp), which I sold. I used that one direct to amp. I am using the OEM power cables from Benchmark and I also bought the Benchmark XLR’s.

A few days ago I was listening to my new Bryston BHA-1 headphone amp with my modified Sony SCD-1 SACD player. The Sony is a 20 year old machine that still sounds great to me. The sound of the Sony was warm and engaging and different from the DAC3B. So I decided I want something along that sonic line in a stand alone DAC. The Terminator is being described like my experience with the Sony so that is where my interest took off.

I still like the DAC3B sound a lot. I listen to the DAC3B about 8 hours a day in my office and the Bryston + SCD-1 combo for about 1 or 2 CD’s while I crash in bed. Both are great.

I am trying to understand the point of the DDC units from Denafrips. It seems to me that the benefit, with respect to the Terminator line, seems to be to allow the use the I2S input.  the I2S input is stated to be the best input on those units. Is this the correct?

If you had a different brand DAC that did not have I2S would these DDC units from Denafrips have any benefit? Assuming the DAC has a very good USB input. 

Some extra info from Alvin:

The GAIA is the flagship DDC with OCXO crystal oscillator. It's engineered with multistages of superb linear power supply. If you've decided to go for the Terminator-Plus, the GAIA may be of luxury as if you use the clock-out from the Terminator-Plus to connect it to the DDC Clock-In, the internal clock is bypassed. Hence, rendered the OCXO in the GAIA redundant. A customer tried the IRIS with the Terminator-Plus, he is loving the combo: