musician aquarius r2r dac any good?

@arafiq  the Aquarius is basically a clone of Denafrips Terminator. Musician is an original brand created by the company that develops and manufactures Denafrips stuff in China, that is why Musician and Denafrips’ stuff look nearly identical. Denafrips is just a brand created by a distributor company in Singapore.

@viethluu  I have not heard the Bartok, Puccini, or Vivaldi yet because they are also outside my budget. But reading online about the DCS stuff, yes, I think a higher end R2R DAC should give you what you are looking for.

@auroravengeance yes, I agree Denafriqs and Musician are basically the same design, But different voicing though. Musician also use better part inside which is why I prefer the Musician. But, I imagine I would be more than happy with the May or Denafriqs.

@viethluu I think you are incorrect on the Musician Aquarius using better parts than the Denafrips Terminator.  The Aquarius uses Femto Clocks the Terminator a very high quality OCXO  That's a bit difference in part quality.  There is no way a their Femto clocks will come close the the OCXO clocks. Additionally the Terminator has separate power supplies for the digital and analog sections.  I see only one transformer in the Aquarius. 

The clock and power supply are critical for a DAC's performance, Denafrips does it better.

You get what you pay for.  The Terminator plus is almost twice the cost of the Aquarius.

Reviews note the Aquarius is a bit lean in the bass probably accounting for the brightness.  The Terminator is know for the deep clean low end.

@anzaanimalclinic You put word into my mouth! I would never compared the Aquarius to the Terminator. They are belonging to a different leagues. The Aquarius can only be compared to lower tier of Denafriqs DAC.

Having said that, have you ever heard the Terminator and the Aquarius in person?

Having said that, have you ever heard the Terminator and the Aquarius in person?

Always the most pertinent question.

Charles