@arafiq I have the new node, and the USB most certainly made a difference. The toslink I had laying around, which was a 3 ft radio shack cheapy, like you said sounded possibly marginally better but not anywhere near the USB. Trying to figure out if this is a weakness of the node or the Pontus itself. Judging by what you're saying most likely it's the blue sound, I have no doubts that the Pontus is a well-built quality piece of gear.
Denefrips Pontus "burn in" period?
Hello all
Now there's a chance I may be a little premature with this, but I've received my Pontus 8 days ago and have had it running ever since, powered up, most of the time with signal going through it, and so far I'm a little concerned. I am aware that with this particular dac it is recommended to run it roughly 10 days before it really burns in, but being only a couple of days away, I can't say the sound has changed very noticeably. Matter of fact, when I A/B with my project S2 plus dac, and even my blue sound node internal deck, I can barely tell a difference! Does burning happen gradually? Is there all of a sudden a hallelujah moment where this thing starts kicking ass? Does anybody have more experience with this particular piece of gear? Current system is rogue audio ST100 amp, rogadio RP1 preamp, upgraded tubes, blue jean cabling, upgraded power cords on power amp and preamp. I had high hopes that this dac that has received so much high praise was going to blow my meager dacs out of the water, and so far not the case at all. I must say, the thing weighs a ton and looks gorgeous, but I'm getting a little concerned at this point that I may end up disappointed. Talk me off the ledge!
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So its been a handful of days, more "break in" happening, and a couple emails with Alvin @ Vinshine. He was kind enough to answer my questions rather quickly, I can only imagine how many emails this man has to answer from noobs like myself, god bless him.
So here's my understanding: The Bluesound Node ( I have the latest version with USB connection) might have something funky going on with the coax and Toslink outs that just doesn't jive with the Pontus Dac (maybe other denefrips dacs, too) The Pontus just cant make the info it is receiving from coax and Toslink outs on the Node sound as good compared to when it is receiving from the USB out, like it can't correct the information properly. "If the signal that's feeding into the DAC is of poor quality, the DENAFRIPS DAC can't correct the information". I went back and forth and the difference is NOT subtle. Since "the USB, on the other hand, is asynchronous, the data retrieval is based on the clock of the DAC" , the Pontus now takes full control of re-clocking and correcting the info on its own, producing a superior sound quality. That is the answer.
So in my estimation, if you are using a bluesound Node to feed a denfrips dac, unless you are using the USB OUT on the newer version, you are NOT getting the full potential out of this pairing. Obviously, there are better streamers that will produce better results, but if you are using a node, make sure its the new one with the USB, or strongly consider upgrading. That's just my $.02. Since making the change to USB, I am now very happy with the improved sound as compared to my other Dacs.
Hope this helps. Thank everyone for your advice! |
Yes, I also faced the same problem! It looks like there is something similar to the correct answer https://sirinsoftware.com/ |
The project dac s2 plus is a really good dac at its price. I own it and added the ifi elite power supply and that was a further huge improvement and lowered the noise floor and removed glare (edgy sound) and added clarity. I recently compared it to a loaner chord qutest (fully broken in). the ifi elite power supply made less of a difference with the qutest as compared to the s2 plus. I have not yet heard any of the denafrips dacs. I recommend you try the ifi elite power supply on your project dac s2 plus the ifi elite power supply takes the s2 plus to a new level of sound
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@sudnh thanks for pointing this out, I moved my project DAC to my living room system, so it's still very much in use paired up with some old Dynaco amps. I looked it up, price seems pretty reasonable if it works really good. I wonder if this would work or improve on the Bluesound node that I'm using as a streamer only? |
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