Denafrips 12 anniversary

$6500 - $ 7500 ?   That is egregious,  especially for what it cost them to build.  It’s the definition of greed 

@jjss49  I agree with your two previous posts.  Generalization and bashing of Chinese products and MAGA individuals does nothing for the real conversation which should be is the new edition really worth the cost.  DAC's are different and varied in topology, sonics and individual listening satisfaction.  I personally have a Terminator+ that I purchased over a year ago and it is a wonderful, dynamic and detailed DAC with connection flexibility.  The build quality isn't cheap by ANY standards, and I believe I received great value and listening satisfaction.  Some listeners prefer the Delta/Sigma type DAC's while others prefer the R-2R's and no up-sampling or digital filtering.  If this same DAC was built in the U.S., it would probably cost at least 3X as much or more.  There are thousands of Denafrips DAC's out there and the noise level on they're being inferior in build, sonics or reliability quality to my knowledge just isn't there. Let's keep our discussions to comparing costs against measurable parameters or value, and not where the product is made.  

“Not saying anything is junk?..you said it was garbage if we are being exact...you got called out and now your trying to back track on all the foolishness you wrote..”

Missiongoonery…. I never said that, read the post. I quoted someone.  

"lordmelton

Yeah, the greed monster is taking over. I’d hold out for the special limited edition 9/999 with gold knobs, personally signed by Metallica or whoever.

Confucius say "When no selly put up pricey".

What an absolutely ridiculous post from someone who clearly knows not what he’s talking about. ’The greed monster’. Anyone who’s ever run a business or come up with an idea how to make something better would never characterize someone making a profit as ’the greed monster’, especially when they’re, realistically speaking, from the greediest, most of the taxed and most grossly overfed country in the world.

And that little WW II ’no ticky no shirty’ thing clearly shows we’re dealing with a real ’superior’ and worldly thinker.

The point was the T2 -12 anniversary is $300 more then the old model 

the same should apply to the + model for just the transformer metal type and better board implementation. It’s a good product ,it is Slightly better then the old model a bit warmer nothing much else.,that's the point , until I heard them side b6 side 

Everythung the same you would never know ,only after 3x on certain music  was there a slight difference to some not even a upgrade ,not everyone wanted a warmer presentation with their equipment. If making a SE model where there is a Big difference then I can see paying $$ the extra $1-2k that would make much more sense .

I have had a Terminator Plus since before the price increase and well before the 12th anniversary. For the money, and on an absolute basis, it is a great DAC. That is especially my opinion, if you are into detail. This DAC and my Denafrips Gaia DDC has been dominating the DAC spot in my rig over my Chord DAVE for sometime. I think that says something, at least to me, since this is all about personal taste. As for the 12th anniversary, I have not compared the 12th anniversary version to my DAC. But with the price differential, I think there is likely not enough of a value proposition to upgrade. But for a first time buyer, depending on your budget, it may be worth a shot. Having said that, from my recollection of the reviews, the best performance for the money may come from the Venus. 

I listen to a lot of dacs and equipment throughout north east get together I finally found a breakthrough dac highly advanced. And has implementation forHQ player 

through a high end computer and cleans all incoming signals from jitter on. Several levels the T&A 200 Dac   Yes it’s around $7k retail  but vs both the Holo springs May, and terminator 12 th + dac. Thie. T& A dac was better then even my friends Bricasti M1-SE which is excellent , anyone looking for agreat dac witha lot of built in flexibility and great class A preamp  section also and remote ,VUmeters is actually 

a bargain .i am saving for it as we speak , German build Quality , no more China !!

No doubt that the T+A 200 DAC is receiving much high praise from more and more reviewers. They all seem to be extremely impressed.  Purely based on sonic ground, rather than feature/flexibility it’d be interesting to compare with the Lessloss Echo R2R DAC. Both are said to sound exceptionally well.

Charles 

@charles1dad Has anyone compared the Lessloss DAC to the Terminator?

@audioman58 

That's great to hear.  Would you mind elaborating a little on the system(s) you compared those DACs on, and in which ways you feel the T+A 200DAC are better (and is there any area (if at all) you feel the R2R might have an upper hand? 

Just curious to learnt from people who did direct comparison.  Thanks

@soix ​@charles1dad  I have the LessLoss Echos's End R2R Dac and the LessLoss Firewire 640X in my system and I will tell you it is my end game DAC. It has replaced a a Simaudio 680D and I had gone round and round with all the China DACs and was quite happy with my 680D until I decided to do the in-home demo from Constantine @ LessLoss Echo's End R-2R DAC| Atelier 13 Audio (atelier13-usa.com).

The sound is fantastic, natural, no digital fatigue and I can listen all day. Nuteral and natural sounding, not shrill, no sharp digital edges. Just great sound and music. Mated with my Innuos Zenith using the Innuos Sense app I am in heaven and find myself listening to my digital front end more than my analog. 

Construction and build quality are solid, solid wood. 

All the marketing hype here is true. Get a demo done ASAP!! And see if it is right for your system and room. 

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@charles1dad Has anyone compared the Lessloss DAC to the Terminator?

@soix 

Not that I’m aware of. I just know that Lessloss is a quality product and feedback regarding their DAC has been very positive. They seem to have a more European than North American penetration.

Charles

LessLoss is located in Lithuania. That may in part explain their greater presence in the European market. 

I never hear about the Venus model.  Everyone agrees the Ares is warm and rich and amazing for the money and the Pontus is the sweet spot then everyone jumps right to the Terminator.  Is the Venus too close to the Pontus?  What is the story??

@alerrico I have the Venus II dac. It is very close to the "Original" Terminator. Alvin Chee said as much. I also have a local friend that had a Pontus II, then a Venus II. He said the Venus was very good. His father bought a Weiss 501 and handed down to him the Terminator version 1 and he told me that they are VERY close. So the Venus is probably very good for the money. I really like mine in my $60K system. It holds it’s own. I hope this helps.

Odioifyly:

So one is made in China and the other in Germany.  The Denafrips is an R2R ladder DAC which is much more expensive to manufacture and provides the sound I seek on my reference system.  If you love your RME great.  It does not provide the SQ I Seek.  If you want an American made DAC look at the Schiit models. They offer Multi-bit designs that are one step down from true R2R designs.  My desktop DAC/AMP for headphones is a Schiit Jontunheim and I am very pleased with it for the price.  

My self hav8ng heard a ton of dacs being in New England within 3 hours of5 states and audio get together slots of great electronics ,

to be very honest the T+A 200 dac by many people have bested dacs at $14 k

and it is $7k if you use HQ player,which it has modes built in to mesh well with a Roons build in HQ player option it gets better still.

I am currently saving for this , yes it is better in most every respect to the Holosprings may KTE,or terminator+ 12 anniversary by the fast majority 

this too includes the mola mola ,and Dave dac in the upper $$ range , I was shocked considering the Holo, and Denafrips are 40+ lbs vs 16lbs of the T+A  just a ton of cutting edge technologies.