Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

"So yes the Terminator is a very very good dac and it is priced very reasonably, state of the art not quite, great sound for the money probably."

"The Terminator does seem like an excellent piece on paper and I am sure there are people who will dig its presentation, but there are other issues with a tiny unknown company such as driver compatibility, long term reliability as well."

Unreal. Speculation in its most insidious form.

Audiotroy, until now, I have maintained a "benefit of a doubt" posture while reading through the droves of posts critical to your methods and motives but your statement above suggests a mentality similar to some others here who believe they can judge the sound of a product without actually hearing it by employing some type of mental osmosis. That is forgivable (if extremely annoying) coming from a mere contributor, but not from a dealer soliciting trust from potential customers. Or maybe you are just the type of dealer that feels it necessary to cast unsubstantiated dispersions on brands that you do not sell in order to create an advantage. Either way, you "probably" should avoid this in the future.

The Formula is a top-drawer DAC and one I would certainly place on my shortlist of $14k and up DACs. The Six Moons review of the Terminator implied that the reviewer found the sound quality of the two DACs so close that selecting either for one’s system would be a matter of personal preference, which is an amazing outcome for a new product priced at over $9k less than its competitor.

It is good that Aqua had the smarts to further improve the Formula. Perhaps it will now show why it costs 3 times the price of the Terminator.

As for reliability, it is true that Denafrips is a young company but offers a 3 year transferable warranty and all reports thus far unanimously praise the service and responsiveness received from Alvin at Vinshine Audio.

The Aqua products are not without reports of operational issues. In fact, one Terminator buyer posted that he purchased it while his Aqua DAC was away for repair.

Your implication regarding concerns about the Teminator’s FPGA section is simply fiction. In fact, the Terminator’s FPGA allows for numerous custom I2S pin configurations to ensure compatibility with the multiple I2S schemes from various manufacturers of streamer/renderer/server products. The Terminator also provides both HDMI and RJ45 I2S inputs. Aqua chose to limit its I2S input functionality to its own proprietary configuration.

Lastly. I feel sure that an ultra-credible audiophile like Mike Lavigne would prefer to be left out of your future machinations.

Dave

No Dlcockrum, we haven't heard the Terminator, if it sounds close to a Formula, and then the Formula is then improved that moves the Forumula out ahead doesn't it?

There is no denying that the Terminator may be one of the best affordable dac's but it is hardly cheap at nearly $6k that doesn't mean it isn't a fantastic deal, but as mentioned there are other inexpensive dac's that come close to the best of a much higher price point, the T+A is one, so the the Schitt Yaggy, and I am sure there are others.

The difference between a reference product and one that comes close is difference by degree, and just because something is extremely well made doesn't guarantee you good sound. The Meitner DA2a $25k dac was very well made and employed unique technology from one of the best minds in digital Ed Meitner it still didn't sound as good as the LH Labs or the Formula. 

The Esoteric D03 that we had was a 60lb pure dac at $23k and the $15k Meitner Dac 2xse was better sy $8k less.

The point we are making is that there are plenty of storries of great affordable gear that comes close but still fails to exactly emulate some of the best digital.

Mke Lavigne was mentioned as he was an early Aqua adopter and loved the sound on a very expensive system it took a $90k dac to better the Formula for Mike it took a $35k dac in our shop to better the Formula.

Is any piece of hardware worth it? That remains to be seen value is what we place on an item, a Diamond is a hunk of compressed coal why does a stone nicely polished and cut sell for $30k? 


You miss the point of our last post, we are not saying anything negative, about Denifrips, it is just that they are very new to the scene and are relatively unproven. Their long term stability is unknown, these are all relevent factors.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Charles1Dad, you may not believe it and say that it is hype but we have compared the Dac 8 to more expensive dacs and when driven correctly the sound is really awesome. 

If you check out John Darko's review of the Dac 8 Mr. Darko compared a $4k T+A Dac 8 to the DCS Rossiini and a couple of other expensive dac and his conclusion was that the Dac 8 came quite close.

We do sell way more expensive dacs in our shop it is just how good the dac 8 can sound is why we recommend it so highly, and at this point we have never heard a $4k dac with this kind of sound quality.

A Dac 8 DSD vs the Denefrips would be very interesting.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Dlcockrum, well said and I looked at the price of the updated Formula. The retail is $17,000 now.

Just because something cost more doesn’t necessarily make it a better product especially in high end Audio. 

+1 Dlcockrum

I think that one has the be careful about a DAC like the T&A DSD 8 when most of the sound is from what looks like poorly implemented filters.

I think the fixation on DACs and their sound is a mistake. Get a good high quality tube preamp with the right tubes and create the tailored sound you want. Simply Connect a high performance SS DAC - any number of Stereophile class A+ will do and many others that Stereophile hasnt reviewed.

Carefully crafted optimal sound does does not need to come out of one box and one box alone.

Synergy anyone?

A high synergy 10K system will beat a poorly matched 100K system.