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Denafrips Terminator vs. Venus

I was wondering if any members (non Denafrips dealers) have had first hand personal experience listening / living with these two DACs from Denafrips. The Terminator is universally acclaimed while Venus is much less talked about. I understand physically the Terminator has 2 transformers and better chassis separation.

I found a page on the Denafrips' site with two Youtube videos for comparison, but can't hear a difference through headphones. Anyone been able to compare them back to back in the same system?
divertiti
christianb5s4
237 posts
 

@mact3333 I can't comment on the original Terminator, but went from Venus 2 to Terminator Plus. Everything was a step up and well worth it to me. That said, the Venus is great. In isolation, I was and would be completely content.

dwest1023
218 posts
 

I will offer this opinion. I had the Terminator 12 anniversary and also the Pontus 12.

In my system, I preferred the Pontus. The Pontus had increased midrange bass punch as the Terminator was a bit more refined with deep bass. It was missing the bass punch. The Pontus is the sweet spot in the line. You have to try the dac in your system to know what will work best. Saying that, I would try the Venus.

mikhailark
310 posts
 

I purchased Venus II and then upgraded to Terminator II (not plus). As the previous poster said, Terminator does resolve more details in bass region. I ran both with Iris DDC, with Terminator connected to Iris clock sync.

My previous DAC was Auralic Vega and I also use MiniDSP SHD as ADC for recording LPs.

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