Just about to pull the trigger on Pontus 15th ...

@lanx0003 - "These days, as you know, it’s actually quite hard to find a bad or even mediocre DAC at any price point". Oh yes, you can . Thing is, any DAC has analog parts. There is a price limit on quality capacitors, power supply and sufficient space to isolate, shield and ground components. Plus, each chip and technology calls for different analog parts (filters, etc) so they WILL sound different. This, of course, does not mean that $$$$ is always better than $$, but there is a limit. Always check engineering and photos of unit internals.

@lanx0003 - "we are in a violent agreement"  I do have a little distrust for small form factors from engineering perspective. Placing power supply externally is a good thing, BUT in 90% this will be a switching PS wall wart. This means noise may and will come over the low voltage wire. Second issue is that external simple PS brings a single voltage. This limits circuit design since some may call for multiple power voltages while being isolated. This is why external PS in $$$$ equipment use proprietary connectors since they carry multiple voltages. So Denafrips most probably uses multiple different voltages isolated from each other. This give more freedom to the the circuit designer BUT also calls for better shielding and larger form factor.

Disclosure: I own Terminator 12th with Iris DDC.