The Pontus ll sounds fine using single ended RCA's. My integrated doesn't have balanced inputs, so it's RCA's for me.
Although I'm sure SQ would improve with balanced.
MHDT Orchid v Denafrips Pontus
I've had an Orchid in my system for going on 3 years now. It's a great DAC, does exactly what I bought it for, which is present music in a natural, non-fatiguing way. I've tube rolled with it, used a couple of different digital cables, one of which did provide slightly more detail (Audio Art D-1SE2). I'm Denafrips curious though and would like to see if someone has had both. From reviews, I'm wondering if the Pontus would keep all of that R2R goodness and present more detail than the Orchid. Thanks!
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FWIW, IME vocals on the Pontus aren't forward unless that's what's in the recording. Of course that's system-dependent, but with a variety of recordings the Pontus will place vocals and instruments anywhere from deep behind the speakers to at the seating end of the room on crazy stuff like the pyrotechnic Q-sound on "Amused to Death". Cheers, Spencer |
@hilde45 that sounds like a bit of a mismatch. The Spring 3 would seem like more fair of a fight. I'll pull for the underdog though 🙂 |
@ericsch Thanks for the reply. The common theme here seems to be the Pontus may be somewhat better, but people still like their Orchids. In my system (Almarro 318/205 SE amps, Zu Soul/ODW speakers) vocals are already "in the room" with me. I don't know how much more forward I can take lol. I think I'm going to get the Grannyring upgrade and see how that works. Hopefully he's still doing it, and just as importantly, can get the parts required. |
- 25 posts total