musician aquarius r2r dac any good?

@viethluu Thanks for the heads up.  If the Mercury can provide performance closer to the Phoenix at a price closer to the SU-6 I’m all in.  Hey, it’s nice being able to look forward to adding a DDC in the future knowing you’re gonna get a significant performance boost.  Not many things in audio electronics are such a sure lock. 

there is “Mercury Streamer” that is about to come out, converting ethernet directly to i2s. That product has the potential to destroy all DDC competition in the market. 

There is already the Mano ULTRA mkIII Farad Music Streamer and it is not that cheap at $1000 (without taxes).

I highly doubt it will be easy to beat a dedicated quality DDC.

The Singxer SU-6 is already highly praised. GoldenSound wrote this:

Overall, the Gaia is a great DDC with perhaps the most comprehensive feature set of any I’ve tested.

Those wanting the absolute best performance should still look to the Singxer SU6.

Still the SU-6 was beaten by the Phoenix. In the Musician Phoenix DDC Review Sandu Vitalie wrote:

Musician Phoenix ($1699) VS Singxer SU-6 ($750)

When Phoenix replaced it, I have felt a massive intake of fresh air, like I opened windows towards my music. Micro-details hopped on board and I could better see the contour of the notes compared to the SU-6.

Leading edges appeared by a tiny bit sharper and I could easier follow their trail from inception to decay.

With Phoenix, the key word was focus, as it was moving the spotlights towards the smallest nuances and what was already impressive on SU-6, felt by a hair clearer on the Phoenix.

In my case, Phoenix changed the fate of three high-performance DACs, some were only marginally improved, while others felt like listening to higher tiered versions of themselves.

Besides repelling all types of noise and improving the pace, rhythm and timing, Musician Pegasus became highly energetic, Chord Dave a lot smoother and relaxed than ever before and Aquarius a lot clearer and 3D sounding.

@tjag 

Good suggestion, I will check out the Mano. I do not know a lot pf European product though.

My goal is still conventional DDC through USB connection, so it will be either the GAIA or the PHOENIX.

Check this

The Chinese gods are laughing in the skies 😂

This is the Gaia

And this is the Phoenix

The good part is that the Gaia is available on the used market for about $1500.

@viethluu 

In the Musician Phoenix DDC Review Sandu Vitalie compared the I2S vs USB on the Musician Aquarius DAC.

II. Musician Phoenix + Musician Aquarius via I2S

The audible difference wasn’t only immediate and apparent as it was with a Singxer SU-6, the difference was actually bigger to my expectancy levels.

On its own, Aquarius is a mighty fine sounding DAC, certainly up there with some of the nicest R-2R DACs I’ve tried to this point, but when locking the signal via I2S from the Phoenix, there was a serious jump in resolution and ultimately, dynamic range.

I would never call the Aquarius as muddy, grainy or soft sounding via USB, but it felt that way when I started my comparisons. 

I2S is better than USB in the Aquarius.