@Alvin1118 You're welcome. It was great fun showing off the Denafrips. The combination of the Denafrips with Gingko Audio ClaraVus/Triode 300B monoblocks/Wells Audio Commander preamp/DanaCable was magical.
Vinh Vu
DENAFRIPS DAC ---- Owner Impressions, Feedback, General Discussion, Questions and more....
@randyballard Yes we use the same Danacable TruStream USB cable on all Denafrips. We also use the same Danacable Diamond RCA ICs on all four to ensure a fair comparison, although most would not use a $1000 interconnect on a $700 Ares DAC :-) @Alvin1118 You're welcome. It was great fun showing off the Denafrips. The combination of the Denafrips with Gingko Audio ClaraVus/Triode 300B monoblocks/Wells Audio Commander preamp/DanaCable was magical. Vinh Vu |
Congratulations, Vinh! From "Day Two with Herb" by Herb Reichert / Stereophile. "I always enjoy visiting Vinh Vu, president of Gingko Audio and Danacable. He plays music I like, always gets good sound, and helps me understand the sometimes-unusual lineup of products he demonstrates. This year was no exception. The $9000 Made in America Gingko Audio ClaraVU 7 Mk.3 modular speaker system consists of a top-mounted monitor speaker with a 6.5" paper cone bass-midrange plus a 1" slightly horn-loaded silk dome tweeter, combined with a horn-loaded ribbon super-tweeter that Vinh Vu said crosses over at 20kHz. "But Vinh, my ears cross over at 10kHz!" The bottom (bass) cabinets feature compound-loaded 6.5" cones, and stack neatly and handsomely below the monitor cabinets. Impedance is nominally 10 ohms with a specified minimum of 8 ohms. Sensitivity is 85db/1W/1m. The $6500/pair Triode Corp of Japan TRX-P3M amplifiers employ parallel single-ended 300B tubes, which Vinh says put out 20Wpc, and I believe these handsome-looking monoblocks were the core reason every recording sounded so pure and unaffected. The longer I listened, the more I felt these amps were generating some form of distilled magic. Therefore, curiosity roused, I asked for a review sample. The preamp was the Wells Audio Commander ($4000); the DAC was the Denafrips Terminator—a $4500 ladder DAC that I have heard a few times and also rouses my curiosity. The refined-sounding Gingko room system also included a $1700 Gen. III Salk Stream Player and, of course, Danacable's Sapphire and Diamond cabling. Vu's system had one more very intriguing (to me) product: Under the speakers were Gingko Audio ARCHs—compact layered-wood vibrational-control devices shaped like automotive leaf springs. They come in a variety of sizes and thicknesses and look like they might actually work better than pointy spikes, pliant silicone, or hard roller-ball bearings. There was a lot to study and think about in Vinh Vu's room." |
More coverage from Stereophile: From "Jason Time-Travels to Day Three" by Jason Victor Serinus / Stereophile "In case you haven't guessed what I'm going to say, the 15th floor's Gingko Audio system continued the trend of fine albeit warm sound. Whether on a Bach Three-Part Invention by Bela Fleck, Joshua Bell, and Edgar Meyer or the "Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers" from Brian Bromberg, I heard a lively top and all-pervasive warmth. Ditto for a 2L hi-rez track from Britten's Simple Symphony, where admirable liquidity was tempered by sweetness and warmth. Heard: Gingko Audio ClaraVU 7 Mk. 3 system speakers ($9000/pair), Triode Corp of Japan TRX-P3M monoblocks ($6500/pair), Wells Audio Commander preamp ($4000), Denafrips Terminator DAC ($4500), Salk Stream Player Gen 3 server ($1700), Danacable and TruStream cabling, and Gingko Audio ARCH vibration-control devices ($200-$400)." There is also coverage from the Audio Bacon siteVinh Vu |
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Glad to see this level of enthusiasm for Vinh's room, including the DENAFRIPS. Now that there's some distance between the show, I'd like to hear more perspectives. As for me, my opinion remains the four products slot far closer than one would expect or believe. As stated previously, I needed to work at distinguishing them, including the entry level Ares from the statement Terminator. You do get more from moving up the ladder: more solidity, more heft, more extension, more liquidity, more clarity. But the improvements were, for me, subtle, only identifiable in direct comparison, and even at that, requiring my full attention. It seemed to reflect what spending more time, effort, and funds on a power supply typically yields. And after thinking on this, I don't see the value of the four products, and wonder if there's any sense in combining the middle products into a single offering. Finally, I'm not currently up on the SOTA digital, but the DENAFRIPS products certainly show me how much things have improved over the years. Still, to my ears, the sad conclusion is we're still not knocking on the door of what analog provides |