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Denafrips Terminator vs other dacs

Hey everyone I have owned the denafrips Terminator in my system for approximately one year and am enjoying it. However I have not compared it to many other Dacs. the only one really being the Burson conductor SL 9018 and the hdv 820 and both of these were with headphones not speakers.
Initially when I was buying I was looking to spend around 4,000 and was deciding between the PS audio directstream and the Terminator and after lots of reading eventually settled on The Terminator.

So in this thread my aim is to get all the people who've either owned the Terminator or heard it to chime in on there impressions of it specifically compared to other dacs. Some of the other dacs I'm thinking of are the chord Hugo 2, tt2, Dave. The bricasti M1 SE. PS direct stream. Metrum pavane. Holo spring l3. And any other dacs that you heard that you have compared to the Terminator.

I realize that there are other threads that discuss the Terminator but I have not seen any that focus on comparing it to other dacs which is what I want this thread to be focused on.
Thank you so much.
smodtactical

Showing 6 responses by thyname

thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 
No @smodtactical --- the second power supply is less than $1,500. It already comes with one. if you add (let's say) the Renderer module for Ethernet streaming, it will add another $1995 to the price. So about $13K to $14K tops MSRP give or take. 

There is obviously the power base, for those who want it, but I did not get it. For me and my budget, the dual discrete power supplies are good enough
thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 
If you like R2R DACs, MSB is best out there. Period. I used to own the Holo Spring KTE (Kitsune Tuned Edition Level 3), and my MSB Discrete DAC is in a total different league. Sublime!
thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 
I have the Ayre QX-5 Twenty up for sale now @shkong78 . That says a lot. Ayre was my favorite DAC for over a year, and I have tried many DACs.

The MSB does something to the music that I have a hard time to explain. It has a kind of "liquid" presentation, so musical, that I enjoy a lot. Without losing any of the "sparkle". Ayre is very detailed and high resolution, quite a good body, and dynamic, but for me, MSB is more enjoyable, with no "digital character" of any kind, that does not fatigue you, and yet, it does not lose any of the presentation.

Truth be told, when you get to that level, it's all a matter of personal preferences. I am pretty sure I could have been happy with QX-5 ever after, but again, the upgrade itch hit me pretty hard when I listened to the MSB at the dealer. I hope this helps, and I am sorry I cannot explain this better. It's hard for me to put words on how I hear
thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 
@smodractical base price of the Discrete DAC starts just under $10K. Not sure how you came up with ten times that
thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 
Oh, and as an owner of the Holo Spring KTE Level 3, which is also r2r tech like Denafpris and MSB, I can tell you that Ayre QX-5 Twenty was much better. So, it's not just matter of technology. It is more a matter of implementation of the technology
thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 
I have the dual Discrete Power supplies. It comes with one, included in base price. I paid $1,450 for the second. Well worth it.

Have only heard DAVE at local headphones meet ups. Never owned one. I know it needs the M-Scaler to really shine. Two friends of mine have that combo and are very happy with it. They both said adding the M-Scaler made a noticeable difference in SQ
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