Mola Mola Tambaqui

@kw6

I am narrowing it down to Pontus II and AN 0.1x or SW1x dac 1 special. Both those dacs use the Phillips TDA 1543 chip with a tube inside. My question is can those units sound as full and resolute as the Pontus?

sorry i can’t help you there, as i have heard neither the baby a-n dac nor the sw...

my advice in general on dac selection is don’t make too much out of the specific dac chip or topology... what matters is how it all comes together, there is so much more to how a dac sounds than the d-a engine

for example the weiss dac 501 is one of the best dacs in the world regardless of price, daniel weiss uses ess sabre dac chips in it... he has worldwide acclaim, won grammy awards for his recording and sonic excellence, he knows how to make the whole package sound truly wonderful

if you want to pay that kind of money Big Dog.   You go to Playback Design  Why horse around 

I got one from GTT Audio in May. It replaced a Yggdrasil A2. No regrets with the purchase.

Ok thanks jjss49! I will probably stick with Pontus II. So for sure with Pontus II you don't trade resolution with less warmth compared to Ares II? I read most reviews like Calvin Hobbes and of course your impressions it's a win win but only one review on Twittering Machines hints Pontus II gives more resolution  but at the expense of sounding less analog like Ares II!  Would you agree?

I wouldn't doubt it navyachts! My Ares II handlily displaced Chord Qutest. So price is not always indicator of quality of sound. But I keep writing tests have to conducted level matched and not knowing which dac is in the chain when auditioning.