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Denefrips Pontus "burn in" period?

Hello all

 

Now there's a chance I may be a little premature with this, but I've received my Pontus 8 days ago and have had it running ever since, powered up, most of the time with signal going through it, and so far I'm a little concerned. I am aware that with this particular dac it is recommended to run it roughly 10 days before it really burns in, but being only a couple of days away, I can't say the sound has changed very noticeably. Matter of fact, when I A/B with my project S2 plus dac, and even my blue sound node internal deck, I can barely tell a difference! Does burning happen gradually? Is there all of a sudden a hallelujah moment where this thing starts kicking ass? Does anybody have more experience with this particular piece of gear? Current system is rogue audio ST100 amp, rogadio RP1 preamp, upgraded tubes, blue jean cabling, upgraded power cords on power amp and preamp. I had high hopes that this dac that has received so much high praise was going to blow my meager dacs out of the water, and so far not the case at all. I must say, the thing weighs a ton and looks gorgeous, but I'm getting a little concerned at this point that I may end up disappointed. Talk me off the ledge!

 

128x128jin78
sudnh
96 posts
 

The project dac s2 plus is a really good dac at its price. I own it and added the ifi elite power supply and that was a further huge improvement and lowered the noise floor and removed glare (edgy sound) and added clarity. 
 

I recently compared it to a loaner chord qutest (fully broken in). 
While the qutest had a bit more inner detail and expansive soundstage the dac s2 plus had clearer and more extended highs and a more lively sound, less laid back compared to the qutest.  
 

the ifi elite power supply made less of a difference with the qutest as compared to the s2 plus. 

I am keeping the dac s2 with ifi elite power supply for now  

I have not yet heard any of the denafrips dacs.

I recommend you try the ifi elite power supply on your project dac s2 plus  

the ifi elite power supply takes the s2 plus to a new level of sound  

 

jin78's avatar
jin78 OP
37 posts
 

@sudnh thanks for pointing this out, I moved my project DAC to my living room system, so it's still very much in use paired up with some old Dynaco amps. I looked it up, price seems pretty reasonable if it works really good. I wonder if this would work or improve on the Bluesound node that I'm using as a streamer only?

alvin1118
131 posts
 

Since making the change to USB, I am now very happy with the improved sound as compared to my other Dacs.

Glad to hear, @jin78 !

 

Alvin @ Vinshine Audio

gcdrum
62 posts
 

On the Bluesound:

Go to SETTINGS.  Then select AUDIO.  Then you’ll see AUDIO CLOCK TRIM.

Set Audio Clock Trim to OFF.

I saw this somewhere and wanted to pass this on to you. I think it was on the Vinshine website, if I’m not mistaken.

zkidd
103 posts
 

I actually have to wonder about the 100 hours of break-in from the factory and here is why:

I ordered an Ares 15 and from the time of the order to the time it was at my front door was six days....six days. Now either Denafrips has a fair amount of Ares 15 DACs already built and getting broken in / already broken in and ready to ship, or the 100 hours is more a sales pitch for if my unit was to be assembled as I was led to believe, well, 100 hours is a little more than four days so that would  mean my Ares 15 would make it from China, through Customs and to my front door in two days. That is impressive. So I am going with the thought that the 100 hours is not accurate at all and I am getting a unit that is cold and will need a lot of time on it.

Just in case anyone is still wondering about the break-in period...

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