audiophile1, that’s a very nice preamp you own. Looks as if with the two sets of balanced inputs you could easily do a direct comparison. I would guess you would be pleased by the Denafrips dacs. My understanding is that Venus brings a bit more refinement but the Pontus is the sweet spot. The warm, natural presentation, the Denafrips amps and preamps elicit is easily extrapolated to the huge, smooth and open soundstage that the R2R dacs seem know for. I mostly run thru the preamps because I enjoy vinyl too. It’s pretty easy to swap things around and hear the differences, dac direct just bringing into focus the units sound signature. Pontus requires a preamp, as you know. The Denafrips preamps are buffered unity gain class a active devices. The amps, like some of the Pass amps, has a relatively low input impedance. Why, I’m not sure? I do like utilizing the preamps into the Hyperion, though it seems happy either way. The pre just brings a bit more focus and body, Athena especially is open and spacious. It only has a single rca input though, with four balanced inputs, 2 balanced and a single rca output.
Lastnite I ended up biamping into the little 1sc both Hyperion and the Mystere. Probably the best, most sophisticated satisfying sound I can manage. Kinda crazy as I got something like 8 pairs of speakers around the house. Other than being of Chinese origin I don’t know how close the D2 comes to the Pontus sound wise. The D2 is a pretty big step away from the Dac3, so the Pontus must take such even further. The Denafrips gear seems to hold its value very well so risk would be minimal on the downside. The line has a very organic sound signature somewhat leaning towards the best of tubes and solid state combined, it has dimensionality and depth and satisfying mids. The little 80 watt Hyperion has easily driven everything I’ve hooked it up to, but most of my speakers are fairly modest in nature.
What amps and speakers r u using? If you are listening for ‘production value’, something like the Dac3 is an essential tool, if listening for relaxation, enjoyment, the Denafrips seems well qualified. Let us know when/if you take the plunge…