Any thoughts on Denafrips Terminator Plus

While I build and prefer R2R discrete DACs, the notion that they sound better than other implementations is subjective.  Each offers sounding that the other does not offer in sound quality.  Words like state of the art, big bold, are not helpful unless you can show the differences between other DACs in comparison.  I have a very cheap Chinese DAC that sounds like that until you make a direct comparison to other company products.  IMO the Terminator DAC is nice sounding for the money but it is not state of the art by any means but again is a very nice sound for the money.  A friend has the Mojo audio DAC which he has modified and after the modifications he is very impressed with the sound.  He has owned and modified several DACs that have been recommended in these forums in a similar price range and so far has settled on that DAC for now.

Happy Listening.

@yyzsantabarbara I used to have a Benchmark DAC2 HGC, and perhaps it was because I didn't use a high quality power cable, but I remember it sounding clean but not entirely engaging. Since then I've had Border Patrol dac which was too warm and colored, then the Lab12 tube dac which was incredibly organic and analog but lacked dynamics and detail, finally arrived at Denafrips Terminator which seems to combine the strong points of all my previous DACs.

As this hobby goes, I am still curious about the Terminator Plus, Mojo Audio's Mystique, and I think my dream DAC would be the Rockna Wavedream Signature Balanced.

@divetiti Thanks that is helpful. I like the DAC3B a lot especially with the complimentary Benchmark HPA4 preamp. It is better than the DAC3 HGC (without an external preamp), which I sold. I used that one direct to amp. I am using the OEM power cables from Benchmark and I also bought the Benchmark XLR’s.

A few days ago I was listening to my new Bryston BHA-1 headphone amp with my modified Sony SCD-1 SACD player. The Sony is a 20 year old machine that still sounds great to me. The sound of the Sony was warm and engaging and different from the DAC3B. So I decided I want something along that sonic line in a stand alone DAC. The Terminator is being described like my experience with the Sony so that is where my interest took off.

I still like the DAC3B sound a lot. I listen to the DAC3B about 8 hours a day in my office and the Bryston + SCD-1 combo for about 1 or 2 CD’s while I crash in bed. Both are great.

I went from Benchmark DAC2 to Terminator. I still have the Benchmark so I'll put it back in to see if any useful observations emerge.

In my system, it took about a month to acclimate to the Terminator.  At some point in that process it seemed to exhibit that old "loudness" button sound for low volume. That is, bass and percussion seemed fully "there" before vocals, which gave a sense of instruments moving forward or in front of the singer.  But I realized that if I brought the voice up to "there" then everything sounded glorious without excessive bass or percussion. It's almost like an instrument that you need to fully engage, and then it's revelatory and involving. But this is "in my system" and there's so many variables, especially speaker response.

As for the DDC's, the Iris seems awfully close to the components in the existing USB input of the Terminator, and the Gaia has lots of stuff I don't need, so I'm hoping the upcoming Hermes hits the sweet spot of maximizing to USB to I2s path.

I am trying to understand the point of the DDC units from Denafrips. It seems to me that the benefit, with respect to the Terminator line, seems to be to allow the use the I2S input.  the I2S input is stated to be the best input on those units. Is this the correct?

If you had a different brand DAC that did not have I2S would these DDC units from Denafrips have any benefit? Assuming the DAC has a very good USB input. 

Some extra info from Alvin:

The GAIA is the flagship DDC with OCXO crystal oscillator. It's engineered with multistages of superb linear power supply. If you've decided to go for the Terminator-Plus, the GAIA may be of luxury as if you use the clock-out from the Terminator-Plus to connect it to the DDC Clock-In, the internal clock is bypassed. Hence, rendered the OCXO in the GAIA redundant. A customer tried the IRIS with the Terminator-Plus, he is loving the combo: