The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

MikeH said:
Man….I’m really impressed with this Denafrips Ares II. It sounds excellent. It’s warm but not overly so. Everything I have thrown at it so far sounds great—vocals in particular sound really natural. Lots of nice detail and balance.

I know Denafrips recommends swapping out the power cord. any recommendations? Don’t want to spend a ton but have always heard about the Pangea power cables
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I reached out to Alvin @ Vinshine and he recommended the Audioquest NRG Y-3 for the Pontus II. Made a substantial difference compared to a "standard" power cable. FYI, I had an AQ NRG Z-3 lying around and couldn't hear a difference between the Y & Z. I'd suggest reaching out to Alvin and seeing what he suggests.

I've tried Pangea cables in the past (AC 9SE MKII & AC14SE MKII) on different components (not my DAC) and ended up returning them, so it taught me that cables really are system-/person-dependent (as cliche as that sounds).

I've recently started reaching out to vendors and seeing what type of discounts they can offer. I've had luck with The Music Room, Upscale Audio, and The Cable Company.

Have fun and good luck with your search!
 
tomheo said:
I reached out to Alvin @ Vinshine and he recommended the Audioquest NRG Y-3 for the Pontus II. Made a substantial difference compared to a "standard" power cable. FYI, I had an AQ NRG Z-3 lying around and couldn't hear a difference between the Y & Z. I'd suggest reaching out to Alvin and seeing what he suggests.

I've tried Pangea cables in the past (AC 9SE MKII & AC14SE MKII) on different components (not my DAC) and ended up returning them, so it taught me that cables really are system-/person-dependent (as cliche as that sounds).

I've recently started reaching out to vendors and seeing what type of discounts they can offer. I've had luck with The Music Room, Upscale Audio, and The Cable Company.

Have fun and good luck with your search!
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I think I'm temporarily persona non-grata with Alvin right now haha. I purchased the Denafrips through them but then asked to cancel the order because a used/like-new popped up on another forum and was a pretty substantial savings.

I'll look into the Audioquest, but $150 for the power cable is a bit steep for me and I'm unsure of the jump between that and the Pangea. Might grab a Pangea and if I'm unhappy with it return it
 
Curious, what did you have as DAC before Ares II. I really want one but keep putting off.

I had Pangaea on my Vincent Pho 8 and made a noticeable difference. In the glory days of Zu on Ebay I upgraded all my cables to Mission (for cheaper than Pangaea too). Long story short Phono Preamp and Sub only noticable differences. That said my hunch thinks it will help a solid DAC. Just my unscientific opinion.
 
Haimez40 said:
Curious, what did you have as DAC before Ares II. I really want one but keep putting off.

I had Pangaea on my Vincent Pho 8 and made a noticeable difference. In the glory days of Zu on Ebay I upgraded all my cables to Mission (for cheaper than Pangaea too). Long story short Phono Preamp and Sub only noticable differences. That said my hunch thinks it will help a solid DAC. Just my unscientific opinion.
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I have two setups (one in my living room and one in my office). My nicer/main rig is in my living room and I had a Singxer SDA-2 in there which I now just moved over to my office setup. It was nice, but the Ares is definitely nicer sounding. I do like that the Singxer has a display and remote and shows you the bitrates and file format on the display when you listen to music through it. But the Ares has more push buttons and I only have one source running through it so doesn't really matter.

I'd keep your eye out on some various forums for people selling like-new ones. I paid $650 shipped for this one used from over at the Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org forums.
 
Jbraswell said:
Can't see this as a big seller.

I really.... really don't want to be across the house with a need to flip over a record.
Could be a new exercise program I guess.

45 RPM cardio sessions
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There are a surprising number of people on here who so just that with a sonos port in line in the main system and a little sonos speaker in their kitchen. Wouldn’t be for me either, mainly because why would I go to the hassle of analogue to then digitise it with a pretty cheap adc and then send it over my Wi-Fi. At least with the sonos port you can ignore that function and it will sell just as the streaming box.

Where this one might sell is because of its HDMI eARC port. You can connect it to your tv and then send the signal to two blue sound Wi-Fi speakers that you may have been using as a stereo pair for streaming. Probably not something that the vast majority of people on this forum will be doing but still.
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
Like @Joe Mac said, surprised they didn’t combine it with a Node.
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would have been better for sure. Because then couldn’t you just move the Node you already have to another room as an end point? Not sure how much it costs vs the Sonos alternative.

I hate having a ton of different “boxes” (as my wife calls them) for a limited feature like this.
 
MikeH said:
I hate having a ton of different “boxes” (as my wife calls them) for a limited feature like this.
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Same. Node is connected to my Amp in my music room. Then if I want, I just stream to the Sonos in the kitchen. Don't want or need another box in my cramped office
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
Same. Node is connected to my Amp in my music room. Then if I want, I just stream to the Sonos in the kitchen. Don't want or need another box in my cramped office
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We have a google home speaker in the kitchen that’s hooked up to Roon/Spotify/Apple Music if we want to listen while cooking. that’s fine for me. and we have various Sonos speakers around the house. I don’t think I’d really want to be spinning a record in another room while listening. We really only use multiroom listening if we are having a party or something and don’t spin records in that instance anyway
 
Splunders said:

Echo Audio | Denafrips Pontus-II

echohifi.com

I don't think I see these on the used market too often. $500 off in exchange for some scratches. I have this dac, its my first and only one, but I really like it being fed by my Bluesound Node.
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I love the Ares. Totally would have gone for this one at that price. You’re right—don’t see those often used
 
Honestly I'm thinking of getting a DAP because my phone will have no storage.. My library is already large and I can still use it with my phone through Bluetooth.. though maybe I should just go all streaming with a BTR5
 
Looking to make some changes to my digital setup and could use some ideas. I currently have an older Mac that I use to rip CDs to Apple Lossless, but I have to use Bluetooth to get these files to my stereo system via Apple Music on my iPhone. I'm thinking of moving those files to a new Mac mini that is exclusively used as an audio server and streamer for my stereo. Getting files off the older Mac is important to me.

I think my ideal solution would have been to get a Bryston BDA-3.14 for my stereo (I'm a Bryston fan), but the cost is prohibitive and I already have a great DAC. I like the idea of have an audio "appliance" versus a full computer set up for my stereo, but I'm sure that approach has pros and cons.

What ideas should I consider for less than $1500 for a digital streamer/player that can store lots of lossless files ripped from my large CD collection yet pose a minimum of operating system issues?
 
Angsty said:
Looking to make some changes to my digital setup and could use some ideas. I currently have an older Mac that I use to rip CDs to Apple Lossless, but I have to use Bluetooth to get these files to my stereo system via Apple Music on my iPhone. I'm thinking of moving those files to a new Mac mini that is exclusively used as an audio server and streamer for my stereo. Getting files off the older Mac is important to me.

I think my ideal solution would have been to get a Bryston BDA-3.14 for my stereo (I'm a Bryston fan), but the cost is prohibitive and I already have a great DAC. I like the idea of have an audio "appliance" versus a full computer set up for my stereo, but I'm sure that approach has pros and cons.

What ideas should I consider for less than $1500 for a digital streamer/player that can store lots of lossless files ripped from my large CD collection yet pose a minimum of operating system issues?
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Do you use roon? If so a roon nucleus would be where I’d be looking. Just below that price plus the cost of the 2.5in drive of your choice.

If you’re a bit more tech minded you can build the same thing out of an intel NUC for a fair bit less.

Can then just use a computer, phone or tablet as a remote and the files and processing are done on it. If down the line you want to separate the server from the playback there are tonnes of roon endpoints available so can just move the nucleus/NUC out next to the router and have an endpoint feeding your hifi.
 
Angsty said:
Looking to make some changes to my digital setup and could use some ideas. I currently have an older Mac that I use to rip CDs to Apple Lossless, but I have to use Bluetooth to get these files to my stereo system via Apple Music on my iPhone. I'm thinking of moving those files to a new Mac mini that is exclusively used as an audio server and streamer for my stereo. Getting files off the older Mac is important to me.

I think my ideal solution would have been to get a Bryston BDA-3.14 for my stereo (I'm a Bryston fan), but the cost is prohibitive and I already have a great DAC. I like the idea of have an audio "appliance" versus a full computer set up for my stereo, but I'm sure that approach has pros and cons.

What ideas should I consider for less than $1500 for a digital streamer/player that can store lots of lossless files ripped from my large CD collection yet pose a minimum of operating system issues?
Click to expand...
I listen to a good share of digital for various reasons.

Not sure if it's the right choice for you, but have you thought about the Bluesound Node ? 599 new Mk2, B stock and Mk1 less.
Do you use or plan on using streaming service ? You can run it out to a external dac.

I use Audirvana but there are several music streaming programs form services and your own library now.

Also suggest having a good backup of all your files. And I would be tempted to put your library on SSD at current prices.
 
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