musician aquarius r2r dac any good?

@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

I just recently replaced my Qutest because I felt it was bright on extended listening sessions. I now have a Musician Pegasus and find it to be just the improvement I was looking for. I know it was not expensive but it's a great sounding r2r dac.

My system consists of the following.

Rogue Audio RP-7 preamp

Parasound JC1 monoblocks 

Focal Kanta 2 speakers 

Optical Rendue streamer, Antipodes Server.