Denafrips Ares ii

1) There are no import taxes or fees.  The Singapore dollar price at Vineshine is what you pay.  Right now that is about $808 USD.

2) No idea.  Never heard one.

3) Most people think the Ares II is a very natural sounding DAC.  I hear a tiny bit more detail in the highs than something like the SMSL SU-9 but certainly not edgy.

A few other comments.  It is easy to do A/B testing of DACs if you have a preamp with a remote control and all I can tell you is I really struggle to hear any difference between the Ares II, SMSL SU-9 or Topping D70.  I don't have golden ears but lots of other things in my system make more difference, sometimes for less money.

Also, I find the Ares II sometimes needs to be rebooted.  Some combination of file formats from Roon seems to cause it to start hicupping.  It doesn't happen frequently enough for me to spend time debugging it and I have never seen anybody else mention it but it is irritating to have to get up and turn the DAC on and off from time to time.

Finally, having a remote with a volume control turns out to be a much more important feature to me than any minor difference in sound quality the Ares II might offer.  You might feel differently.

Hi

I can't really answer your first 2 questions as I bought mine pre-owned from an auction site and haven't heard a tube DAC. 

I run my Ares II fed by the Bluesound Node 2021 and Audiolab 6000CDT, into a Naim Nait 5si and Quad S2 speakers; I can't honestly say I've found the highs to be edgy or overly bright or harsh. 

I have the Node connected simultaneously to a separate input on the Nait 5si for easy A/B testing as, as you will be aware, all Node outputs are live/active. 

I quite like the DAC in the Node, but the Ares II gives a different presentation. I wouldn't say it's hugely more resolving; for me it seems to inflate and open up the presentation of a track (recording dependant of course). 

I haven't heard the Ares II in any other system, but with my amp/speaker pairing, I find the Ares II compliments them nicely. More subdued, mellow tracks such as some mellow jazz, and female vocalists, the combination produces some really sweet highs. For example, on Joni Mitchell's Blue album, her voice never sounds brittle or on the point of harshness, even when she hits those insane high notes. 

I'm not familiar with the components in your system, but for me, in my set up the Ares II sounds great. I couldn't go back to just the Node DAC now, even though I think it's very good. 

Did an extended and direct comparison of this DAC vs. the Orchid MHDT tube DAC. The tube DAC was more dimensional and gentler in the treble, but the Denafrips sounded nice.