@jin78 I was using a coax cable- a Wireworld from what I remember.
Denefrips Pontus "burn in" period?
Hello all
Now there's a chance I may be a little premature with this, but I've received my Pontus 8 days ago and have had it running ever since, powered up, most of the time with signal going through it, and so far I'm a little concerned. I am aware that with this particular dac it is recommended to run it roughly 10 days before it really burns in, but being only a couple of days away, I can't say the sound has changed very noticeably. Matter of fact, when I A/B with my project S2 plus dac, and even my blue sound node internal deck, I can barely tell a difference! Does burning happen gradually? Is there all of a sudden a hallelujah moment where this thing starts kicking ass? Does anybody have more experience with this particular piece of gear? Current system is rogue audio ST100 amp, rogadio RP1 preamp, upgraded tubes, blue jean cabling, upgraded power cords on power amp and preamp. I had high hopes that this dac that has received so much high praise was going to blow my meager dacs out of the water, and so far not the case at all. I must say, the thing weighs a ton and looks gorgeous, but I'm getting a little concerned at this point that I may end up disappointed. Talk me off the ledge!
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@mrdon wasn't looking for validation, was looking for some kind of explanation on why my super high quality deck wasn't sounding that impressive rolling up on day 10. I couldn't get the thing to sound that much different than my project dac or even the internal blue sound node dac. Just wasn't adding up. The major development today was switching out the coax cable for a USB, straight from the blue sound into the Pontus. Huge difference. I can't tell you why, but it's there. More volume, larger sounds stage, deeper, cleaner, less glare etc. This new development has me feeling positive although it's still kind of bugs me that the coax is doing this. Is it a issue with the Pontus? Issue with the blue sound? |
@jin78 How long is your Coax cable? According to the "tech"
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it is commonly understood and accepted that the best length for digital coax 75 ohm spdif cable is great than 1.25m, ideally 1.5m - shorter creates potential for unwanted ’reflections’ in the cable given the wavelength of transported waveforms that may confuse the receiver |
In my case, the Node 2i and coax connection problem was not limited to a specific DAC. I tried 5 DACs with the Node, and in each case coax was the limiting factor. Toslink was maybe marginally better. IMO, the Bluesound Node is a good starter streamer with a below par DAC, but even as a streamer I feel that it can limit the potential of your DAC. I know it won't sit well with the 'all streamers are the same' crowd but I'm just sharing my experience. Disclaimer: I had the prior version of the Node 2i (the one without USB out). It is quite possible that the new model has overcome some of the limitations in terms of SQ. |
The coax cable is 2 ft long Canare by blue jean cables. @mr_m exactly. Is this a weakness of the node, the pontus, random, that's what I'm trying to figure out. I've sent out an email to Vinshine. It would be nice to know what this means for my streamer going forward, do I have to move it to my b system and upgrade it or should I be content with just using a USB. Do I have a faulty unit? Did it not burn in long enough? |
@arafiq I have the new node, and the USB most certainly made a difference. The toslink I had laying around, which was a 3 ft radio shack cheapy, like you said sounded possibly marginally better but not anywhere near the USB. Trying to figure out if this is a weakness of the node or the Pontus itself. Judging by what you're saying most likely it's the blue sound, I have no doubts that the Pontus is a well-built quality piece of gear. |
So its been a handful of days, more "break in" happening, and a couple emails with Alvin @ Vinshine. He was kind enough to answer my questions rather quickly, I can only imagine how many emails this man has to answer from noobs like myself, god bless him.
So here's my understanding: The Bluesound Node ( I have the latest version with USB connection) might have something funky going on with the coax and Toslink outs that just doesn't jive with the Pontus Dac (maybe other denefrips dacs, too) The Pontus just cant make the info it is receiving from coax and Toslink outs on the Node sound as good compared to when it is receiving from the USB out, like it can't correct the information properly. "If the signal that's feeding into the DAC is of poor quality, the DENAFRIPS DAC can't correct the information". I went back and forth and the difference is NOT subtle. Since "the USB, on the other hand, is asynchronous, the data retrieval is based on the clock of the DAC" , the Pontus now takes full control of re-clocking and correcting the info on its own, producing a superior sound quality. That is the answer.
So in my estimation, if you are using a bluesound Node to feed a denfrips dac, unless you are using the USB OUT on the newer version, you are NOT getting the full potential out of this pairing. Obviously, there are better streamers that will produce better results, but if you are using a node, make sure its the new one with the USB, or strongly consider upgrading. That's just my $.02. Since making the change to USB, I am now very happy with the improved sound as compared to my other Dacs.
Hope this helps. Thank everyone for your advice! |
Yes, I also faced the same problem! It looks like there is something similar to the correct answer https://sirinsoftware.com/ |
The project dac s2 plus is a really good dac at its price. I own it and added the ifi elite power supply and that was a further huge improvement and lowered the noise floor and removed glare (edgy sound) and added clarity. I recently compared it to a loaner chord qutest (fully broken in). the ifi elite power supply made less of a difference with the qutest as compared to the s2 plus. I have not yet heard any of the denafrips dacs. I recommend you try the ifi elite power supply on your project dac s2 plus the ifi elite power supply takes the s2 plus to a new level of sound
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@sudnh thanks for pointing this out, I moved my project DAC to my living room system, so it's still very much in use paired up with some old Dynaco amps. I looked it up, price seems pretty reasonable if it works really good. I wonder if this would work or improve on the Bluesound node that I'm using as a streamer only? |
Glad to hear, @jin78 !
Alvin @ Vinshine Audio |
I actually have to wonder about the 100 hours of break-in from the factory and here is why: I ordered an Ares 15 and from the time of the order to the time it was at my front door was six days....six days. Now either Denafrips has a fair amount of Ares 15 DACs already built and getting broken in / already broken in and ready to ship, or the 100 hours is more a sales pitch for if my unit was to be assembled as I was led to believe, well, 100 hours is a little more than four days so that would mean my Ares 15 would make it from China, through Customs and to my front door in two days. That is impressive. So I am going with the thought that the 100 hours is not accurate at all and I am getting a unit that is cold and will need a lot of time on it. Just in case anyone is still wondering about the break-in period... |
