I think you will be better served asking @alvin1118 (Alvin / Vinshine) directly or over at the Denafrips Facebook page.
Questions to Denafrips Terminator Plus owners (the break-in)
I just registered to this forum as I saw a number of people using this dac, so I might receive some useful feedback from you guys.
I have just received it a few days ago and it only has less than 48 hours in my system (playing random songs and pink noise). From my research, this dac takes a long time to fully break in and it is recommended to be left on (standby or otherwise) 24/7.
Well, those are fine... but I’d like to ask how it sounds during the break-in? Now, still breaking in, I really don’t like the sound. the Terminator Plus replaces my Ayre QB9 Twenty, and whilst I can hear some more details with the TP, the sound in general, especially vocal is not pleasing at all... full of sibilant and mid-high irritation! I can’t believe this is the sound from R2R dac (which is generally known to be liquid and warm).
So for anyone who also have (or had) this dac, how was it in your system during break in? Would it be better after 200-ish hour mark? For now, I’m so disappointed with its sonic performance.
FYI, I’m using USB and I know that best practice is to use Denafrips’ DDC (e.g. Gaia / Hermes) to feed I2S, but I don’t believe the dac requires that DDC to sound "acceptable". My source is Aurender streamer which should at least send out acceptable quality USB signal, of course, currently my old dac sounds way, way better!
Thanks
I have just received it a few days ago and it only has less than 48 hours in my system (playing random songs and pink noise). From my research, this dac takes a long time to fully break in and it is recommended to be left on (standby or otherwise) 24/7.
Well, those are fine... but I’d like to ask how it sounds during the break-in? Now, still breaking in, I really don’t like the sound. the Terminator Plus replaces my Ayre QB9 Twenty, and whilst I can hear some more details with the TP, the sound in general, especially vocal is not pleasing at all... full of sibilant and mid-high irritation! I can’t believe this is the sound from R2R dac (which is generally known to be liquid and warm).
So for anyone who also have (or had) this dac, how was it in your system during break in? Would it be better after 200-ish hour mark? For now, I’m so disappointed with its sonic performance.
FYI, I’m using USB and I know that best practice is to use Denafrips’ DDC (e.g. Gaia / Hermes) to feed I2S, but I don’t believe the dac requires that DDC to sound "acceptable". My source is Aurender streamer which should at least send out acceptable quality USB signal, of course, currently my old dac sounds way, way better!
Thanks
14 responses Add your response
I didn't find the T+ overly rough sounding right out of the box, but it definitely improves with time. It took several weeks of 24/7 operation before I thought it sounded better than the Terminator it replaced. My system is on the warm side though (and my high-frequency hearing isn't what it used to be), so may not expose the kind of issues you are hearing as clearly. I have been using it with the Gaia since day 1 though. SonicTransporter i9 -(optical ethernet)-> Sonore Signature Rendu SE -(AQ Diamond USB) -> Gaia -(Tubulus Argentus i2s) -> Terminator+. Clock cables between T+ and Gaia are DH Labs D-750. At some point in the last couple months, my system seemed to really gel. I've made a lot of changes to my system this year (starting with the T+ in Feb), but most of those changes were with well-broken-in pre-owned gear. So perhaps some of it is just getting used to the sound, but I'm really enjoying the way it sounds now. Even recordings that I found too strident and almost unlistenable previously sound pretty good. |
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tortor This Denafrips is a very good dac. More detail also means if you could have other problems, these too will be magnified as well. It could be this ( My source is Aurender streamer) Why don’t you try a CD transport into it using the same music and see what that sounds like. Cheers George |
csr78, make sure you have tested the I2s configurations, there is a Youtube vid on the Vinshine site to explain how to mate the Gaia to the DAC. Set the Gaia first then test different settings on the DAC until it sounds good. This may be the problem. Good luck! I have a Hermes waiting to be mated with my Venus II when I get back home from FL in 2 weeks. |
@vonhelmholtz No mate, I’m still around! Actually it has been several months since I started this thread, and I made quite a lot of changes (more like additions) to the system. Now I believe I tuned it to my liking.
As of now, I still have the T+, and these are the changes: - Adding the Hermes - Getting 2X Synergistic Research’s Atmosphere X BNC cables to sync the clock with the T+ - Adding an I2S cable - Tubulus Concentus which sounds so so good - Replacing power cords from wall to isolation transformer, and from isolation transformer to the Hermes DDC, to ones with more agreeable tonality. - Lastly, adding HifiStay isolation to my streamer / network switch / amplifier / DAC (shown in pic below). I couldn’t believe isolation feet would make such a big difference.
All these costed me around 6 grand but the system now sounds much more to my taste.
EDIT to add that... of course, even without all those changes, putting 200+ hours on it helped smoothen the tonality quite a bit, and two components that made biggest changes are power cord to the DDC and isolation feet to the DAC. |
@vonhelmholtz The good thing is that if you are smart in selecting components, you don’t have to worry about spending more because you’ll be content with the system and not feel the need to change things.
There's also a significant point of diminishing returns for an exponential increase in cost. I think for most, a well done but not crazy expensive system that gives you 90% of what a much more costly one would provide is something you could happily live with and not feel like you're missing out. |
@tortor - I'm interested in these footers. Where did you buy then from? |
