Has Anyone Compared the DAC On a Bluesound NODE 3rd Gen to a Separate DAC?

 Singere,

Denafrips products in the US are only sold by Vinshine Audio, and their amazing owner Alvin Chee. He and Vinshine are based in Singapore, and their US repair center is Tech Specialists in Buda, Texas. All Denafrips products sold by Vinshine include a fully transferrable 3 year warranty

Alvin is quick to answer a question (except night in Singapore), offers what I have found to be honest advice. A good part of why have four Denafrips products (Pontus II DAC, Hades Pre-Amp, Thallo Amp, and Iris DDC. All of  the products that I own punch way above their price, and I am extremely happy.

Tcotruvo,

I have the 3rd generation node, and did A/B testing with my Denafrips Ponuts II DAC......absolutely no comparison; the Denafrips improves the sound on every single measurable I can think of. Also though the Denafrips Pontus II ($1,825 US) is twice the price of the Ares ($840 US)....it is worth every penny of the upgrade. The Pontus punches WAY above it's price

Bobbyloans,

Yes the Burr Brown PCM 5242 32 bit / 384 kHz DAC chipset in the Node does leave a lot to be desired. Dual Mono, R2R dual  ladder, and FPGA DACs will greatly improve on the Node DAC