EverSolo DMP-A8 with Denafrips Pontus 15th, both have i2S

tom899, 

I have the same setup as you.  I just plugged everything in a few days ago, and i have to say that I find the Pontus too bright for my ears.

I bought the Pontus because although I found the A8 to have a rich, smooth and detailed sound, I wanted a little more life in the treble.

But now I feel like there is too much and I get fatigued when I listen.  Did you encounter a burn in period?  Did the treble smooth out with less glare?  

I'm just wondering if I should return mine before the return window closes.

Thanks so much for the guidance!

I guess the question is, how bright was your Terminator before it settled down?  I listened to the Pontus on Saturday and Sunday.  It's Wednesday and my ears still hurt, so I'm just concerned about just how much it could potentially smooth out.

Regarding my setup, the A8 is streaming to the Pontus I2S input via an AudioQuest Forest HDMI cable.  The XLR cables out to my Yamaha receiever and from the receiver to my Parasound Halo A21 amp are AudioQuest Red River.  The amp feeds my Sonus Faber Sonettos. I think the only potential weak link cable wise is the power cable I picked up for the Pontus, it is an AudioQuest NRG-X3.

I also tried a Toslink connection from the A8 to the Pontus as a reference.  It is bright as well.  To my ears, the I2S input showed a slight bit more three dimensionality, detail and fullness.

At this point, the soundstage is very deep and full bodied.  Lots of goosebump inducing sparkle in the treble.  The bass is good, although not quite as present as the A8.  Also not quite as detailed as the A8.  Just too bright.  Not way, way bright, but definitely fatigue inducing, although my abused eardrums may be a bit sensitive at this stage in life.

Tonight I'm going to try RCA out and see if that makes a difference.  And I ordered USB and coaxial cables to try tomorrow. I've read in a couple different threads that USB worked the best on the Pontus.

@soix Not at all, I really appreciate the feedback! I agree in principle and would like to upgrade my Yammy.  In this instance, I know it is not helping but I'm not sure how much it is hurting because if it was really bad the A8 would sound like ass also, and it sounds really good. 

I isolated the I2S input by switching to Toslink, and got similar results, so I ordered a USB and Coaxial cable to try those as well. If those don't fare any better I will jump on your 1' HDMI suggestion!  Thanks so much for that.

It's the RXA-3080.  Getting a little long in the tooth now, but it passes the signal "straight" with no EQ applied, balanced XLR in and balanced XLR out.

The HDMI cable is way longer than 1 foot, I think it's 2 meters (it was an open box special!).

@soix I'm also gonna try RCA output from the Pontus to isolate that as well.  In theory it should sound worse, but I figure why not rule that out.

I was doing some A/B testing with the Pontus and A8 tonight.  My top two choices for brightness testing are anything from Miles Davis in the sixties and anything from Bob Dylan in the sixties or early seventies:  Those high trumpet and harmonica notes get grating really fast on a bright system.

I was playing Carole King on the Pontus, and the soundstage for the vocals was so impressive - deep, three dimensional and slightly forward.  One thing that caught my ear, though, was her voice sounded a bit thin at the top end, almost like the file was being stretched too far.  Is it just me, or is that common on this kind of highly resolving DAC?  It is an old recording, although I have a 192k version of the album.

Playing the same track on the A8, Carole King's voice didn't suffer from the same thinness, but neither did she have the stage presence of the Pontus. I feel like the A8 pushes the treble back and wide, so it is never really in your face.  I guess that is why I can turn it up fairly loud and play it for hours.  But you don't really get the oomph, that emotionality.

My $.02.

I am listening in NOS mode, I heard that would provide the warmest presentation.  Do you think the OS would be warmer?

The Pontus is equally adept with 44.1k files - no problem there!  It's really just the brightness that is troubling me.

@soix @fthompson251 

So my cheapie USB cable showed up today and I conected the A8 and the Pontus with it.  

HOLY SCHNIKEYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had heard glimpses of what the Pontus could do with the I2S and Toslink connections, but this was completely transformative.  The soundstage was indeed holographic.  The treble was sweet, and just like people say, just north of being too relaxed.  My recordings came alive like never before.  Such depth, such musicality. I was blown away, it completely exceeded my expectations.  And this is only Day 5!!  You guys all say it is going to improve.  I am completely stoked. Needless to say, this guy is not going back.  Just ordered an AudioQuest Cinammon USB for tomorrow as well to upgrade that element.