1. Home
  2. digital
  3. 196406-3130

??? Denafrips Pontus 15th vs Ares 15th.???

Ground up rebuild of my end of life system nearly complete..
Furman PST-8 > Dedicated & optimized Lenova Thinkpad 1i > Pangea Premier SE USB cable (6% silver plated OFC) > Pathos Classic Remix Mk.II ( 1962 Amperex Holland Orange Globe 6922 & Nordost Red Dawn Leif power cable) w/HiDAC Mk.II module (ESS 9018) plugged into an APC H10 stabilizer/surge protection> Tellurium Q "Black II cables & BiWire jumpers > ProAc Response D2D (latest build )...
 I want to add a more organic,warmer DAC & have narrowed it down to one of these 2 Denafrips R2R DACS...
 I am not a super critical listener,more a music lover who revels in everything that is happening in a song..Sometimes I focus on specific instruments or listen for the super low level details but I'm not anal about that..I do love a wide,deep soundstage...
 My budget would allow for the Pontus 15th.but I'm unsure if I am the kind of listener who will really notice the difference between it and the Ares 15th..I realize the Pontus is a considerable step up in price,build quality & parts but don't want to throw $ at something I wouldn't really benifit from when I could get 90% of it's performance for many hundreds of $ less...
 I guess I'm looking for validation that my system is capable of extracting the benifits of the more expensive DAC & I won't have to rack my brain to actually hear it..So Audiogon'ers,what is your opinion on this matter?
Thanks much,take care & happy holidays to you & yours...

freediver
calieng
203 posts
 

@bikefi10 

I had the Pontus 15th into a balanced input for Woo Audio WA33 and it sounds wonderful. I am now waiting for LTA Aero DAC order for that system.

I would say the single ended out is 10% to 20% less than the balanced out with Denafrips depending on the equipment connected to.

In comparison the Holo Audio Cyan 2 is hard to tell a difference, Maybe single ended out is 5% less than balanced out.

The Holo Audio DAC has a circuit after the R2R ladders to convert balanced to single ended so both sides of the ladders are still used. Denafrips just taps pin 3 of the balanced out to the single ended connection so only half ladder is used. 

As for the connections I2S is the best on Denafrips. USB circuit is not as good in my experience. Maybe 10% less.

calieng
203 posts
 

@max_sansui 

Ares or Cyan 2 is about 1/4 the size of Pontus.

The dimensions and weights are shown on the manufacturer websites.

johnss
680 posts
 

+1 for @macro1 comments. the largest jump is between the Ares and Pontus. 

The Venus 15th is a nice jump over the pontus 15 but not as large as the jump from the Ares 15 to the Pontus 15. The Terminator 15 is like a more refined Venus 15th. The term is better but does not blow away the Venus 15. 

jl35
4,458 posts
 

Your system is certainly capable...I have 2 systems that improved when I removed the PST-8 ...

freediver OP
1,451 posts
 

@jl35 the PST-8 is strictly for the Thinkpad 1i...The Pathos is plugged into an APC voltage stabilizer/surge protector..
Pretty sure I'm going with the Pontus 15th.,waiting to see if anyone has a Black Friday deal before pulling the trigger..

More to discover