Musician pegasus DAC or Denafrips Aries 2

+1 @arafiq I’d keep DAC and streamer separate. Find the DAC that works best for you then upgrade the streamer when you can — the Node’s not an awful streamer so with a good DAC you should still enjoy some pretty good overall performance. That’s what I’d do anyway.

I went with the Auralic Altair g1 streamer/dac. Will post a report soon and put the node for sale.

Can’t really speak for the Pegasus but the performance of the Aquarius is quite spectacular. Very happy with it. 

Soix, the reviewer you mentioned only states

"This is exactly where Musician didn’t spare a dime and put the highest grade 0.005% precision resistors, the same ones you will find in the flagship Denafrips Terminator (~$4500) and Venus DACs (~$3000) and also in the uber-high-end Rockna Wavedream ($6600).

The Pegasus uses the  same high quality resistors as the Pontus II,Venus II, and Terminator Plus.....and it's a R2R ladder DAC with balanced setup throughout.....that's a plus.

But one look inside the Denafrips DACs, and you'll see that is where the comparisons end. The Pegasus is closest to the Pontus II, but the overall comparison to the Pontus II, Venus II and the Terminator Plus is a non starter.....you'll find major differences in the number and quality of the resistors (as each resistor is inspected and tested by hand to determine quality), number of R2R ladders (four instead of two), capacitiors, crystal oscillators, upgradable DSP, multiple O ring power supplies, and separation of the power supplies and the main circuit board into separate cabinets within the DACs for isolation purposes.

Now I have never heard the Musician products, so I cannot give an opinion as I have not experienced them in person. I'm also sure that if the same people make the Musician and Denafrips products, that they are well made. I am also sure that many people love the Musician products (as do Denafrips followers), as both Musician and Denafrips products punch WAY above their weight and cost.

My Pontus II was better than every DAC up to $6,000 that I tested or heard.....including the more expensive Venus II. The only other DACs I gave serious consideration were the Holo Audio Spring 3 (version 2 and KTE) and the Holo Audio May DACs which were double or triple the cost of the Pontus II which comes in at $1,800 US dollars.

I hope everyone is happy with  their decisions, be it Denafrips or Musician (or Holo Audio, Chord, Schitt, PS Audio, and on and on and on).....that's what this is all about, our personal journeys to find what sounds best to us

My Pontus II was better than every DAC up to $6,000 that I tested or heard.....including the more expensive Venus II. 

@vthokie83  Yeah, I recognize there are some superior parts/design advantages of the Pontus ll over the Pegasus (not to mention resale value) and would have preferred it, but alas it just wasn’t in the budget so I had to compromise.  I think running a Pontus ll with their DDC and using the i2s input would be absolutely sublime.