DENAFRIPS DAC ---- Owner Impressions, Feedback, General Discussion, Questions and more....

It’s been almost three weeks now since I have received my Denafrips Terminator in black, from Alvin at Vinshine Audio, Singapore. They are the sole distributer of Denafrips, in order to keep the prices lower for us, consumers. I like the idea that a dealer wont get 50% margin for being in between!

My experience started with Extreme care from Alvin the moment I started asking him questions about the DAC and the lineup. I read almost everything related on the web, but I had few questions still. he was very responsive, and extremely helpful. With a product that has such amazing reviews, he didn’t need to be, But he was! Even after I made the purchase and he has got the money, he kept checking with me till the Denafrips was at my door step, delivered by DHL in two days! (the cost of which is included in the price, and I bet you it ain’t cheap at 22kg that this monster of a DAC and its double thick cartoon box measure up to.

With little struggle as I was alone at home, I managed to place the 19 kg Terminator on my rack. Connected my Aurender N10 to it via AES 1 input. the terminator actually has two AES inputs, but unfortunately, they can’t work together for higher bandwidth when connected to a streamer like Aurender W20 by multiple AES cable, one for each channel, enabling DSD128 over DoP. Maybe a future update/upgrade Denafrips?

My setup - in case you were curious, consist of an Aurender N10 – AES – Denafrips terminator (previously questyle CMA600i with built in balanced Preamp via coax) – XLR - temporary preamp (custom one on the way) –XLR - fully balanced custom monoblocks power amps (200 watts class A, then 300 watts class AB, total 500 watts @ 8 ohm) - acoustic zen satori speaker cables to a pair of Wilson Sabrinas standing on isoacoustics gaia ii isolation feet, powering all this a custom power conditioner.

Being frankly honest, the way it sounded straight out of box, I was not impressed much. It was confined, a bit harsh. it didn’t sound that great, Especially the bass. It was kind of loose and accentuated. But I didn’t panic at all. A friend of mine does have its little brother (not so little!), the Venus, which I was impressed by it performance and tonality. He told me such true R2R DACs require hundreds of playback hours to break in and shine. I’ve also read multiple threads about that. so, I listened for like an hour, let it play then came back to it the next day. In 24 hours, that slight harshness was gone, and the sound has quiet improved to an “okay” listenable SQ. Excuse the lack of description, as I’m no expert in Audiophile terms, I’m not a reviewer by any means. I’m just someone who enjoys High end audio. The better the sound the more joy I get. That makes me an audiophile minus the knowledge of describing in words how things sound. I will try my best but I can’t promise you much!

Over the coming days/weeks, the DAC was on with a signal passing through all the time. when I'm not listening, I will just power off my monoblocks while keeping a long music playlist on repeat. By about 300 hours, I could say the SQ became truly impressive. it was a day by day improvement sort of, but I could sense it. Mids became the best I have ever heard, tube like mids. Highs are so detailed but never harsh/annoying. Bass has tightened up and its just of the right amount, Never covering up lower mids as it was slightly doing so earlier. I have many friends who had a listen when it was a day or two in. coming again after a couple of weeks, not listening to it in between, knowing that nothing has been added or removed from my system, they could not believe what they heard! We did compare to many other DACs (not R2R, but what we had in hand. And none did cost as much to be honest) but none was able to keep up. What are my observations about the sound at this point? Well;

it sounded so rich and detailed even at low volume, which is a first to me. I used to crank my system volume up to hear all the little details and to get a large sound stage. Well, No more!! The sound stage also doesn’t collapse at lower volume. Vocals are warm, magical, focused and floating at the same height in the middle of my expanded sound stage. instruments are layered across with unbelievable separation. regarding tonality, I can say this DAC is slightly on the Dark/Warm side but just a notch. The PERFECT amount of warmth. If a recording was bright, it will still sound bright anyway but slightly less bright. So its not an extremely warm and “boring” kind of sound by any means. And with this slight warmth, there is a ton of details and dynamics! How could these opposites be found together is mind blowing. The person who has calibrated the sound on this beast is certainly someone who knows what to do exactly. A true expert.

I have been told the Denafrips Terminator really shines and “opens up” by 1000 hours. That would be towards the end of September 2018 for my unit. I truly can’t believe anything could sound better than how it sounds now!! I look forward to witnessing further improvements which I will write again about, if proved to be true and worth noting.

I have done a fair amount of research before I pulled the trigger on this one. Some reviews claimed that other 20k USD DACs are slightly better. But I ain’t crazy, nor I have the money to buy a DAC that cost as much, just cause its better just a little. The Denafrips Terminator at its price point is probably the highest Value ever for an End game DAC without totally wrecking your bank account. Its not cheap, yes, but its Priced fairly for a flagship in a world where audio companies put on crazy margins, just cause audiophiles are willing to pay. I personally believe in the law of diminishing returns. And I never aim for that last 2-3% improvement that would cost me an arm and a leg. With this DAC I was convinced that I’ve got the most bang of my hard-earned bucks. But that is my own opinion for you to consider. I have never wrote a review before, like ever, and I don’t dare to call this write up a review – even a mini one. Its just a shout out to anyone out there who is interested, curious but still skeptical. I assure you I'm more skeptical in general about anything more than you. I do not believe many of the audiophile world myths and I’m extremely careful of snake oil while exploring the horizons of this costly but amazing hobby. I can say in confidence, If you are searching for an end game DAC, then search no more. Buy a Denafrips terminator today. then have a some faith until it breaks in at least initially for 300 hours. You can thank me after for this recommendation!

P.S. I do also highly recommend Aurender N10 server. This is thing is Magic, Provided you take its output via AES (Coax is fine but AES is way better). Forget all about USB cables even the N10 a USB out. You need your signal to pass through the N10’s OCXO clock, USB out doesn’t as it has a different protocol. Your jaws will drop of how heavenly this combination sound. I initially thought the N10 is way expensive compared to the N100h, its almost 3 times the N100h price. but that clock inside the N10 does wonders and its worth every penny. A friend of mine who bought the N100h at the same time, is currently trading it in for an N10 himself. Truly, A combo of Aurender N10 and Denafrips Terminator is the best thing I have heard to date, and I have lots of audiophile friends who has been in this hobby for years, I did listen to all of their setups. sure a great turn table and a good record will beat this combo, but the main advantage is it opens a world of convenience/savings for you without a noticeable compromise! If you thought earlier Tidal doesn’t sound good vs CDs or CD reps, even DSD, such a setup will make you rethink everything totally. and don't get me started on how good WAV files from CD rips, stored on the N10 internal storage sound like!! it did actually beat a physical CD player, playing the same track from CD. I know now that such a great clock is not just about eliminating jitter, but a whole lot more. its a holographic presentation that you will only understand if you get to listen. I can tell you with extreme confidence, it’s your laptop and USB cable that is hindering your “computer” based audio listening experience. You need a good source, the N10 (or equal), a great analog sounding DAC, the Denafrips Terminator (or equal, but where to find an equal at same price point?).

I have been happily terminated myself! Maybe its your turn next Happy listening everybody!

Saleh

@lalitk ,
its a studio grade AES cable that I'm using atm tbh. I've experienced with Gotham cable first, then the same guy who built my power amps sent sent me a german AES cable he terminated himself, also "studio" grade. both sound almost similar but I sensed more openness and slightly more controlled bass while using the German made cable, so I kept it.
I have tried an "audiophile" AES cable in my system (800 USD worth), it did sound a bit different, tonality wise but i couldn't tell which I do prefer even after experimenting for days. so I simply I sent it back. I'm certain different cables do sound different - even digital ones. but does more expensive always equal better? I don't think so. placebo plays a huge role. also those crazy price tags for cables makes us feel they are something to look up to even before we listen.
I have also tried some audiophile expensive analog interconnects from the same brand (2 pairs of XLR, worth 2000+ USD) vs my current Pioneer reference pair (roughly 270 USD for both - awesome XLR btw), and the difference was shockingly negligible. is such 1-2% enhancement worth such price difference? I think this money should be spent on a better component that makes a serious difference, such as a DAC, sever, Preamp, etc. sorry for such long answer but I could not resist to write down my view on cables :)))
@anwar 
I have been told that around 1000 hours the terminator should be fully broken in, but its possible that more hours would make things even better, I guess time would tell :)
with Aurender N10 via AES, only DSD64 is possible (DoP), due to bandwidth limitation of the AES cable. Aurender N10 is capable of playing native DSD up to DSD128, via USB, but by doing that you skip the n10's OCXO clock which is not recommended.
the Denafrips terminator can handle up to DSD256, via USB from a capable source. what I learned, its not the size of the DSD file, its the source which is playing it what really matters. DSD64 will sound better out of N10 via AES (or any of the n10's spdif out in general) vs DSD256 from a noisy laptop via USB.
some DACs accept twin AES input, like some DCS Dacs. with Aurender W20, which has dual AES out, with such setup you can play up to DSD128 (DoP) as each channel has the whole bandwidth of one AES cable. I was wondering out of curiosity if the terminator has the same capability, but these two AES inputs are simply for two different sources. in addition to that, I honestly don't see myself getting a 17k USD Aurender W20, like ever! its too expensive for a "source". but who knows :) 
in my humble opinion, DSD64 played from Aurender n10 to Terminator via AES sounds amazing to my ears, I cant imagine anything could sound better. but I have not heard many other high end server/dacs combos, so that statement is subjective. however I can say, there was no sharpness/ brightness that I heard its an attribute of DSD64 is present by any means... just bags of detail, a magical holographic presentation, and an expansive, huge sound stage with pinpoint accuracy. decent CD rips sound almost equally good. Tidal Steaming (depending on how good the recording is) sound very good as well! whatever you through at this combo, it sounds fantastic :)

I have a Samsung tv on a wheeled stand and I bring it in the middle sometime to watch TV using my main stereo system, of course using optical. Its working 100% with new DSP. I don't know your problem exactly, but from experience, DT will only decode stereo. If output from your TV was not set to PCM you might hear loud crackling noises if i remember correctly. If its another issue, might be related specifically to the board you have in hand. My experience has been flawless

Hi @david_ten ,
it was my quick 10 hours mark over view at head fi. I did realize that sound might change during break in, but the findings were exciting that I had to share them :)
also,  DT caps and ladder dac resistors were already broken in. i assume the effect of the DSP components will be minimal compared to the whole unit break in, which as I recall was a bit long - I stopped hearing changes in sound back then at about 1000 hours mark!

well for the new DSP, its past 300 hours mark for sure, more like 350 hours. 
I can't add much beside that I'm loving my terminator even more and glad that I made this choice over other options at that time, the DSP board dissipated any doubts I had about DT technical abilities, which it was in the back of my head at times.

what I did actually notice compared to what I remember at that 10 hours mark, there was a slight hint of harshness that I usually associate with most new components. its completely gone now. all good things that we got more of with the new DSP, like 3D, separation, tonality and transparency remain same if not improved ever so slightly. honestly I was very happy with results out of box that i was not on a mission to focus on day to day changes, so this is probably my only comments that I'm sure off. things became smoother with initial "slight" harshness/sharpness completely gone.

worth mentioning that I have added during this time an AQ thunderbird bass cable, for a true bi-wire. it is said that this should enhance the purity of highs and mids, with less distortion over all. so I can't tell for sure (like 100% sure) if the cable had nothing to do with the additional smoothness I witnessed. 

please note, I use AES, in NOS mode only.   

My personal advice stick with AQ power cords and AQ in general, Minimal coloration, dead neutral and clean power. I have 2 firebird source and firebird high current. Those are very expensive i know, but even much lower grade cables will give excellent results. The best thing would be to get a bunch of demo cables if you have a nice dealer around and try yourself ))