Cen. Grand DSDAC 1.0 (vs Pontus II)

Hi @ja_kub_sz thanks for your post. I'm glad you're enjoying your Cen Grand. Can't believe mu OP was over a year ago; boy how the time flies 

Anyway, thanks for your post; your observations certainly match my own. I did however have issues with my first Cen Grand unit, the Standard edition, and eventually had to call the distributor again. I was going to give up on Cen Grand at this point (left channel kept dropping out, after changing ICs, I couldn't get any sound out of it at all). The distributors customer service was top notch. 

I asked him to order me a Pontus II and I would return the Cen Grand, but he offered me the next up in the Cen Grand DAC line; the Super Clock edition which comes in at £3200, for no further cost of what the Standard version cost £2500 iirc.

This was last Spring and still going strong, no problems whatsoever, and the Super Clock just raises the bar over the Standard, more of everything.

I've also had a speaker upgrade since the Cen Grand; swapped out my Triangle Comete 40th Anniversary for a pair of ATC SCM 40's, and also brought in a Marantz Model 30 in place of my Atoll IN200. 

At the moment, not looking to change anything; very happy.

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you and your familes all have a great festive period, and a Very Happy New Year 🥳🎄🥳🎄🥳🍻🍾👍

I have a question about this dac. If one isn’t interested in DSD, is this dac still a contender for redbook and hi res recordings otherwise? I have a Pontus II and I like the NOS sound. Is the Cen Grand dac something I’d like? Or is it so different from an R2R ladder dac that I’d run screaming from the room?

@painter24 the "left channel drop" happened to me once while switching the DSD up conversion rate. I dropped the DSD rate down, then stepped it back up to 1024 and the left channel came back, but concerning none the less since you mentioned it and this problem worsened for you.

Has your new unit perform better?

Customs did a comple number on my unit, like I was shocked at how they went through everything and kinda just threw stuff back in. The dealer offered me a new unit, but he called it from the get go and asked me to look to see if the unit was "retaped on the bottom" which it was and had the obligatory customs corner punch mark underneath.

@ja_kub_sz

I was gutted with the first unit, the Standard version, as I took a punt on Cen Grand over the Pontus. I tried various things, while on the phone to my distributor here in the UK, but nope, definitely a fault with the unit.

I asked my distributor to order me a Pontus after this, as I was very concerned, but he sent me a Cen Grand Super Clock model he had in stock while he waited for the Pontus to come through from Denafrips

The Super Clock has worked perfectly since, and I kept it. I can’t say I noticed anything untoward with customs checks; everything appeared as it should.

@ozzy62 Hi Ozzy. The only R2R I’ve heard is the Ares 2, but it’s been a while since I let it go. I’m not sure if you’d like it (Cen Grand), all I can say is, it pulls out all the details from music I could wish for, but doesn’t sound analytical and clinical at the expense of "soul" and emotion like I know some DS chip based DACs can do. This is really important for me. My system can and does bring me to tears, in a joyful way 😊

I still want to have a Pontus at some point, in addition, as I would like a good R2R, but for now, I’m more than happy with the Cen Grand sat on my rack 👍

@painter24 appreciate the feedback. I'll mention this all to my dealer, they've been super attentive throughout the process.