DAC diminishing returns

Enjoy your brand new DAC. This is most important than anything else.

Not true! It's more important that we approve the choice. 🤣

Having owned one, I agree with others that you will likely experience a worthwhile difference with an upgrade to a Denafrips Pontus. However, note that there is a related, yet to be resolved micro-skipping issue which affects at least some users.

The issue is worrisome because it has been known for quite a long time now, and seems unlikely to be resolved using a firmware solution. The issue relates to CD use, and an apparent buffering problem relating to the Pontus clock.

With Denafrips dacs I own 2 currently and in the mk2 version there is no micro skipping issue ,idont even know what that means. 

@audioman58 

I'm glad to hear that you haven't had any issues, but it is wrong to imply that the mk2 is immune to such issues. My Pontus was a mk2, and there have been plenty of other reports. As to you not knowing what it means, well, you apparently haven't researched the topic.

Here is Denafrips' primary hypothesis, as articulated by Alvin himself:

Denafrips DACs use an internal reclocker when the DAC is connected using SPDIF or AES, which uses a small FIFO to buffer the PCM samples before they are clocked out using the internal clock to the R2R DAC. 

SPDIF (and AES/EBU) assume that the source controls the clock, but as we all know this can introduce jitter resulting in poor performance. By buffering the data and reclocking it, the DAC can all but eliminate the issues with jitter, but this only works well if the source clock is close enough in frequency to the DACs reference clock such that the FIFO can handle the timing differences for the duration of the stream.

If the source clock is operating at a significantly different frequency from DAC clock, or the time between resetting the buffer is too long, the FIFO will either overflow or run out of samples and you'll get a drop out or stutter. 

Whipsaw I use USB...

@audioman58 

That explains why you have not experienced the issue. It is related to CD transports, and the (different) inputs employed.

That the Pontus (and presumably other Denafrips DACs) sounds very good is irrelevant. This is a flaw that may affect any potential purchaser who intends to use a CD transport, and should obviously be taken into consideration.

I read nothing but good things about the Pontus. 

You should do more reading...

@in_shore

You find it amusing that I heard some similar characteristics in the Merason that some reviewers have also mentioned?

I understand that you may have different impressions, but that was precisely the point of my post. Variables such as the related components matter.

VerdantAudio’s comments are true having experienced it myself with my own system having recently owned FPGA , dac chip and R2R dacs from the likes of AudioByte Vox , PS Audio , Rockna , Denafrips Terminator 2 , Holo Audio May  currently I am absolutely thrilled with a chip based dac from Merason .

Interesting, as I switched from a Pontus II to the Merason in my system, and really wanted to like it. I found to be pleasing, and particularly good with older, less than optimal recordings, but at the same time lacking in the details retrieved by high-quality R2R DACs. I auditioned an AQUA La Scala, found it to be clearly superior to the Merason, and now own one.

My point, however, is not that everyone would likely have the same result in their systems, but rather that system synergy is extremely important when assessing DACs. I could see the Merason being perfect for a system that leans to the clinical, and/or bright side, as it would likely smooth out some of the harshness. Etc.