Just about to pull the trigger on Pontus 15th ...

I was nervous about buying the Denafrips long before the threat of tariffs. I just didn’t have as much confidence with buying from China a product that (for me) was the most expensive DAC I purchased to date. I have owned Benchmark, Schiit, and other lower cost DACs before but the Ares was getting a lot of positive customer feedback. The company did not disappoint me yet and the R2R configuration gave me the most organic, natural presentation of music. I just bought an analog setup and spent north of $5000, The streamer I have combined with the Pontus sound just as good as my $3500 turntable, $1500 cartridge and $1000 preamp. Also the Pontus feeds a CD transport and that sounds very natural as well across the frequency spectrum. That’s my experience.

Help me out here guys, is it MM, MC, or does it run both? It's so small that I thought it might be a step up transformer. 

"Help me out here guys, is it MM, MC, or does it run both? It’s so small that I thought it might be a step up transformer."

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/zOlhHakrKeE

@mattw73

Kinda was in same boat and from my understanding they ran outa of a copper wire used in the production of the Pontus 15.

Anyway mine shipped out 3/13/2025 and arrived 3/17/2025 so hopefully you get it soon. Even without burnin it’s sounds much better than the Ares ii it replaced.

The wait was worth it. @audioman58 was helpful and kept me informed of delay and just one of those bad timing situations. The popularity of the Pontus 15 and tariffs caused a surge in orders.

@2psyop the only advice I can offer is make sure you buy from A authorized dealer. Denafrops will not honor warranty or repair a unit bought from nonauthorized dealer. Sure might save a few bucks but if unit is faulty or ever needs repairs the will not be of any assistance.

I received an email that the Pontus 15th is on its way 2 days ago. Denafrips HQ did not ask me for any extra shipping fees. FED-X International sent me a tracking number..no mention of additional fees. I don't know if I will receive some type of tariffs bill or if Denafrips ate the any additional charges. 

The Pontus will be replacing a RME dac in my living room. But I'll be replacing other components in this room with better equipment I've had set up in a spare bedroom..the turntable room I have abandoned since finding digital streaming too convenient to ignore. I've had various dacs since the 90's & really enjoyed the RME. The PEQ functions have been invaluable in my wonky shaped living room. Between a UMIK & REW software I've been able to get the best out of most speakers using the RME Dac's bonus functions. The speakers I'll have in my living room now don't need the EQ functions of the RME. A great dac but lacks the space & depth as some other more "analog" sounding dacs I've had in the past. The RME is transparent & has some great qualities..so I'm interested to see how differently I perceive the Denafrips.