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

@viablex1   I'm copying your post from a thread you initiated:

I ordered an ares and received shipment about a week to ten days ago. Initially it would not turn on. Then I saw lights and eventually sound. Not sure what was going on but it was a prelude to what happened next. I liked the sound very musical but when using the first coax input I kept getting this weird volume problem. when a track would start it would cut almost completely off then go back to the original volume. So I needed to send it back which I am doing but it is expensive because there is no USA support at all. I almost bought the Pontus but glad I didn't since it would have cost even more to ship it back.

I am not saying never buy one or bashing denafrips just know if something goes wrong shipping back is exorbitant

Per Denafrips Warranty policy (referenced below) there should be no cost for you to ship back for warranty work within the first 30 days.

"36 Months Warranty, Peace of MindComprehensive Warranty Coverage: 

All DENAFRIPS products are covered under this policy. Warranty covers non-man-made defects. Customer shall bear the import duties and taxes whenever applicable.

30 Days: DENAFRIPS to bear both way shipping fee.31-365 Days: Customer to bear one way shipping fee. DENAFRIPS to repair and cover return shipping fee.
366-1095 Days: Customer to bear both way shipping fee. DENAFRIPS to repair at free labor and parts at no cost.
1096 Days Onwards: Customer to bear both way shipping cost. DENAFRIPS to provide repair and/or maintenance services at cost."

I'm late to the Denafrips party as I hadn't heard of this brand until reading a review of the Lampizator Atlantic of which I own. I've read from a couple places now that some who have heard both the Atlantic and the Terminator have preferred the Terminator. Here's the link to that review in case anybody hasn't seen this...

https://www.audiostream.com/content/lampizator-atlantic-dac

@t_ramey Thanks for the link.

Alex Halberstadt (of Audiostream) was reviewing the Terminator. Given the new ownership and new editor, I wonder if his review will be published? It would be great to read a comparison with your Lampizator Atlantic.

Referring back to our auditions with the DENAFRIPS products at Vinh’s, I just wanted to summarize a few things:

The DENAFRIPS products, from the Ares all the way up to the Terminator are excellent sounding DACs. I believe at less than $700, the Ares represents tremendous value in the marketplace, and isn’t far from the Terminator; certainly not as far as one would expect. World beaters or game changers? I wouldn’t use those terms. In fact, in comparison with Vinh’s (incredible) vinyl rig, the Terminator did not come close. Would I consider one for purchase? Yes, absolutely. But do I consider them without peer? No.

At this point, DENAFRIPS has NO North American representation. Although Vinh has bent over backwards in helping the brand through efforts like our get togethers and featuring the products at AXPONA, he is not the importer / distributor, and from the time we spoke about it, considered it too big an undertaking for him at this point in his life. In other words, although Vinh is an exceptionally good man (I know that because he’s been a good friend of mine for 20 years), to the best of what I know today, he has no financial compensation in this whole thing. Thus he is not here to help anyone should they require it beyond what he provides through his own kindness and grace. Likewise, there is NO North American repair facility / personnel or product support.

I believe the establishment of a foothold in North America, or not, rests with the leadership of DENAFRIPS finding a capable entity to represent them in this market. If that does not happen, understand that if you consider purchasing the product, you essentially are on your own.

As of today and unless and until what I just mentioned changes, you buy a DENAFRIPS product, YOU assume the risk as well as the responsibility for dealing with the offshore based company if anything goes wrong from A - Z, from the transaction itself to day you or it goes away

trelja,

While I share your frustration regarding the lack of promotion and active presence in the US marketplace from Denafrips themselves, your post reads as if you have an axe to grind beyond what you wrote here. Sour grapes as it were.

Today, quite a few non-US manufacturers have little to no "on soil" representation. Not a desireable thing for us here IMO, but a reality nonetheless. Alvin at Vinshine Audio does a very fine job covering the bases on customer support for Denafrips products across the globe.

As for the differences in sound quality between the Ares and the Terminator, there are numerous testimonials from owners on the Facebook Denafrips Owners Group forum, some of whom have moved up the line from the Ares to the Pontus, some from Pontus to Venus, some from Venus to Terminator, and some from Ares to Terminator that describe very large improvements in sound quality as they moved up, particularly the latter group. Your opinion counts equally, but is an outlier among the field.

I have a close friend that attended Axpona 2018 and spent time in the Gingko/Denafrips suite. He was initially gracious in sharing his opinion with me but it is clear that he found the sound largely underwhelming due to the chosen speakers perhaps. Upon hearing the Terminator in my system, he was in disbelief that the same DAC was in play in both systems. The sound quality from the Terminator was that much better here to his ears.

No doubt that Denafrips and Alvin need to do a much better job with hands-on participation at these shows and also with their promotional efforts in general, but what your wrote above is overly heavy-handed IMO.

Dave