Denafrips Venus 1 vs Venus 2

@jjss49 thanks for the advice, this post is 5 months old and I did reach out to Alvin and he answered all my questions. I've been a happy owner of a Venus 2 for many months now. 

@sjsfiveo

just send alvin chee an email he will answer your query with the details

denafrips folks in china like many passionate engineers seemed to continue to incrementally improve their gear over time, while this may not be surprising, this v1 v2 v2a v2b-prime business indeed captures the minds and pocketbooks of some buyers but one must put the real differences in sq in perspective imo

one personal data point i will share is i had a pontus 1 and compared vs a pontus 2, and i could only hear a minute difference in bass transient response, repeat it was minute (much less than changing an rca interconnect, for instance)... just a word to the wise...

@hm1 

Thanks for posting the review

One of our contributors to The Sound Advocate has just finished an in- depth review of the Denafrips Venus II DAC

read it here: ….

 

oh no, the plummeting prices of used terminators will now see new lows and used venus 1's will be thrown out in the trash !!! 😆😆😆

jk... sorry i just couldn’t resist... gotta love it when the manufacturers market the upgraded versions...

good luck with the venus 2... i am sure it will bring oodles of sonic joy!

Per Alvin,

The Venus II is very close to the Terminator reviewed by NRD (https://www.vinshineaudio.com/so/2fNLJQpyD#/main)

Venus II comes close due to the following upgrades done recently:
1. TCXO - Temperature-Compensated Crystal Oscillator. This is the prime performance improvement that brings the Venus sonic performance very close to the Terminator DAC
2. MU Metal Shielding between the PSU and Main DAC board, like one found in the Terminator DAC. A metal sheet is added in between.
3. EVOX MMK caps (White)
4. Germany Film Caps WIMA
5. Upgraded DSP board to support PCM1536, DSD1024 over USB/I2S

My recommendation goes to the Venus II DAC for mid/high end systems.  
Having said that, it also depends on the resolution of your system, and how attentive you listen to the music.

please report back and let us know what alvin tells you... 

i have his reply when i asked for what differentiated a pontus v1 vs v2 a few months back... i will let you get his direct answer on the venus version update

I have looked on the website and it does list the features but it doesn't compare or list the differences from the original Venus.  

but seriously -- they have 4-5 dacs in the line, spaced out carefully by price tier

now they roll out ’improved’ versions... i would suspect the improvement are very very marginal

i wouldn’t hesitate to get a used ’dot 1’ version and save a few bucks if one is available

seems like the western world marketing grist windmill turns on the lights in southern china too!

I think the main differences are (but it's worth checking with Alvin):

Improved temperature controlled crystal oscillator. 
Clock outputs to work with Denafrips Digital-to-Digital converters.
Power supply improvements using higher quality filter caps. 

Earlier this year, I upgraded from a Terminator (first gen version) to a Terminator Plus and added the Gaia DDC. Using the Gaia with an i2s connection to the DAC resulted in a very noticeable improvement. 

Even if you are only looking at the DAC right now, having the ability to add a DDC with synchronized clocks gives you a nice upgrade path for the future. 

I agree with the above post. Please call Alvin at Vinshine Audio. please see link below for contact info:

https://www.vinshineaudio.com

https://www.vinshineaudio.com/contact-us

i would think the dena site will specify the areas of improvement

otherwise a quick email to alvin at vinshine should yield a timely response