Nest Theater Part Six - DENAFRIPS R2R DAC 10Apr20

My DENAFRIPS Pontus DAC arrived from Singapore and I had to check it out before taking it up to the Nest Theater for intended installation there. I also disinfected it. DENAFRIPS stands for: D-ynamic, E-xquisite , N-atural, A-ttractive, F-idelity, R-efined , I-ntoxicating, P-ure, S-ophisticated... do you think this Chinese company was marketing to me? While I am not many, or any, of these things, my Pontus DAC is. I did buy the unit sight unheard so I was a smidge nervous but read plenty prior to buying. This DAC is a classic resistor ladder design (vs delta-sigma) and not unlike my Schitt Gungnir multi-bit DAC used in my Blodgett headphone system. In fact my test setup used JRiver on Mac spitting bits through USB to the DAC then unbalanced analog audio was sent to the Schitt Mjolnir 2 tube power amp (not shown), which drives my Mr Speakers EtherC Flow cans. An unbalanced test is righteous as SET amps (one is pending from me for the Nest) are single-ended by definition.

The Pontus is very musical, not a hint of reproduction being digital or shrill - this is exactly what I was seeking. Big sound stage and nice, powerful, organic bass & sub-bass - better than the Schitt in these regards. High frequencies are sufficiently resolved and seem accurate. I don't do technical measurements and perhaps these impressions aren't the way to judge but how it sounds is how I use it.

The thing is really heavy, for a DAC, with a separately encapsulated linear power supply bringing most of the weight (along with a finely built case). Components throughout are excellent. Pontus is dynamic and non-fatiguing despite I can hear everything well. I haven't used oversampling mode but I did test the inputs I intend to use.

I did plenty of a-b compares to the Gungnir MB and I think the Pontus is better in all regards except price. The Chinese are gonna be able to do more strong things in the audiophile realm I'm sure. Pleased. Recommended.

UPDATE... Since I have some time I reinstalled the Pontus in my Schitt stack and did a righteous dive on the other aspects of the Pontus. Here I'm using the balanced (XLR) outputs of the Pontus to the Mjolnir 2's balanced inputs. My headphone setup is balanced all the way to each ear. The Pontus is awesome - I got an even more visceral feel, especially at the low end. It's a lot more fun than the Gungnir MB DAC - I can't keep it in COS though as it needs to center the Nest Theater. On to DSD capabilities...

Holy shit! I have a modicum of material in SACD form which I had ripped to .dsf files, I rarely use it as the Schitt DAC and Woo DAC both eschew DSD conversion... my Onkyo portable plays them well. But now, wow, my Nest Theater will be able to replay these files; it's great! I got the Pontus up to DSD256 no problem and all the DSD files I own sound great - but of course these are great recordings and artists from the outset. It's expensive to buy DSD material but it may be worthwhile in cases where one really likes a recording. Normally I'll still do 96KHz/24bit and be plenty satisfied but it's great to know Pontus goes the additional mile. I played tracks from all these albums and just wow. The only thing I could not do was digitally filter for my headphone frequency abnormalities using DSP ~ yea, there aren't many errors in the EtherC cans anyway so the sound is fantastic. I also tested oversampling mode on normal PCM files - can't say I'd recommend it - seems like potential adulteration to me. I can't wait to get this thing rolling in Silverthorne. PLEASED. RECOMMENDED.

Aural enhancements provided by Arlo.