DENAFRIPS DAC ---- Owner Impressions, Feedback, General Discussion, Questions and more....

@twoleftears You are likely correct regarding the Border Patrol DAC SE

@shadorne You are likely INcorrect regarding the Devore Fidelity Super Nines

At the end of the day, we should buy whatever we like but there is zero chance John Devore works on and designs a speaker over several years that doesn't get the midrange right. Zero. That is his wheelhouse.

Your assertion that the speakers were flawed makes no sense.  The consensus of the group was 2 of the 4 dacs sounded exceptional, 1 dac sounded great and 1 sounded not so great.  I'm not saying their conclusions are right but rational people might buy in and believe the Terminator was not broken in or warmed up but to assert the Terminator was the only one of the four that actually got it right is not credible at all.

I own none of the products/brands under review/comparo and I hope the Denafrips is a stellar piece since you appear to be about to buy it unheard. The only brands mentioned in this review that I have heard personally are Devore and Pass Labs and they are both fine brands and are well known for their musicality. Warm regards.

+1 on your questions to Alivn shadorne, looking forward to his answer.

Cheers George

@ghasley

Sorry to burst your bubble but a 7inch mid range crossed over to a 0.75 inch tweeter means a big hole in the mid range. The Devore Gibbon Nines will sound pleasant even when pushed because of the recessed mid range. This anything but high fidelity but it is exceptional cabinetry using OEM scanspeak drivers. Also plastic drivers (polypropylene) have a nasal woody character (Mission developed the polypropylene driver about 40 years ago and it is not highly regarded any longer). Using such a colored speaker for evaluation is not useful even if many folks love that old 80’s sound - “highly musical” is a good way to describe it. A good speaker to suit certain tastes just not ideal for reviewing electronics.

@shadorne I remain exceptionally impressed by those among us who know how something sounds without hearing the item in question.

In the case of polypropylene drivers, I generally agree with you. I'm not a fan of those utilizing poly I have heard, but I haven't heard them all.

By the way, the Devores in question use paper drivers, NOT polypropylene but you must have looked at a picture, assumed they were poly because they kindof look shiny, and determined how they would sound. I don't know if they are awesome or not as I haven't heard them nor have you.

I will reiterate that I'm sure the Denafrips is a really cool DAC and I hope everyone has alot of fun with it BUT, your credibility on the Devore assertion is non-existent.

I have owned many great speakers over the years with wonderful midrange from Soundlabs to Silverline. My current Living Voice OBX RW speakers excel in midrange with two 6.5 inch drivers. Not merely good, but excel. Depends on design. Never judge a book by its cover. Yes you can get wonderful mids with a 6-7 inch midwoofer design. You will not get the deepest bass.