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Denafrips Terminator vs. Venus

I was wondering if any members (non Denafrips dealers) have had first hand personal experience listening / living with these two DACs from Denafrips. The Terminator is universally acclaimed while Venus is much less talked about. I understand physically the Terminator has 2 transformers and better chassis separation.

I found a page on the Denafrips' site with two Youtube videos for comparison, but can't hear a difference through headphones. Anyone been able to compare them back to back in the same system?
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Showing 6 responses by celander

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celander
1,502 posts
 
Venus appears to have the Terminator front end mated with the Pontus chassis form factor and power supply. 
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celander
1,502 posts
 
Mike Powell had listed the Venus on his website. The Venus doesn’t ship with a power cable, so Mike was offering a variety of power cables as part of the sale package. 
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celander
1,502 posts
 
I’ve only seen two video clips in which a person had both the Terminator and Venus in the same system.

https://www.denafrips.com/single-post/2018/07/08/VENUS-VS-TERMINATOR
celander's avatar
celander
1,502 posts
 
Which Oppo player do you have? If it’s a recent Oppo, then you should have a digital output for external connection to a DAC. And yes, an external DAC will likely improve the SQ of your Oppo. 
celander's avatar
celander
1,502 posts
 
@eugene78, Welcome!!

Thanks for your post! I suspected the Venus would share a lot more SQ with the Terminator, but acknowledge Terminator’s beefier power supply section would give it a decided advantage in background quietness, dynamics and slam. 
celander's avatar
celander
1,502 posts
 
@eugene78: I went a different route for my DAC upgrade.
@adg101: Alvin is the middle man in the Denafrips brand. I cannot imagine that the products cost more than 50% of their MRSP. That would mean Alvin is banking 40% and Mike is getting 10%.
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