2. digital
  3. 153511-90014

Denafrips Terminator reliability?

I'm about to pull the trigger on a new DAC and I've narrowed my list to the Denafrips Terminator.  I was looking at Aqua La Scall MKII Optologic, but it's a bit out of my price range.  Also looked at PS Audio DS Sr but I think it will be a bit too analog or laid back for my setup:

Blusound Node 2 > Balanced Audio Technology VK33SE > Emotiva XPR2 > Revel Salon 2 and JL F113 subs

The BAT is on the darker side and the Salon 2's are very neutral.  I'm afraid the DS Sr would take me further to the laid back side.  I'm looking for a DAC with a bit more of an in your face presentation.  Watching Darko's review and reading many other online reviews, the Terminator seems to fit the bill.  But this then brings me to my concern.  They no longer have a US based service center.  So if I had any issues, I'd have to send the thing to Singapore or China for warranty repair.  

For those Terminator owners out there, has anyone had any issues with the unit causing a warranty repair?  Or know of anyone who has had to use it?  

Any other DAC options in the 4-5K range that would give that front row presentation that I missed?  Lumin T2 and Auralic Vega G1 were on my radar as well, but I decided I wanted to go dedicated DAC first, and now.  Then get a new dedicated streamer later.  Maybe a Lumin U1 or Innuos Zen.
snafujg

Showing 2 responses by richard_crl032

richard_crl032
29 posts
 
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/old-king-of-r2r-dac-is-dead-denafrips-terminator-plus-terminator-arr...

https://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_159365378073310&key=1e99669452acedd7650a...

Hi,

While is usd2k more than the standard Denafrip that I previously owned, the improvement of Terminator-Plus is much more than any upgrade in power cords, interconnects, speaker cables, power regenerator etc. can do for my system.

I had the luxury of having the demo unit for 1 week but it only took the usual warm up of about an hour to know that I wanted it.

In comparison, the standard Terminator sounds veiled which I would have never thought is an adjective to describe it.

Midbass and bass are tighter which makes all genres more tuneful or I dare say more obvious PRAT that makes my system more musical and I feel more of the reported 23hz of my Salon 2 speakers.

Highs and midranges together with midbass and bass notes are easier to be differentiated and simply "pops" ... not sure if due to yet another 3db improvement in the SNR ratio at now 137db or its another another 2db improvement in its dynamic range.

Cheers.

Richard
richard_crl032
29 posts
 
Hi yyz,

Oops .. thanks for the correction that 137db is for dynamic range while SNR is 127db.

Darko just posted 11 hours ago but just like wwe.monosteteo.com, it again missed one key difference of the Terminator Plus having clock output to sync compatible source to ita ocxo. This is notable to me as it further improves sound quality when I tested with the Denafrip Avatar.

Cheera.

Richard
More to discover