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Denafrips Terminator vs. Venus

I was wondering if any members (non Denafrips dealers) have had first hand personal experience listening / living with these two DACs from Denafrips. The Terminator is universally acclaimed while Venus is much less talked about. I understand physically the Terminator has 2 transformers and better chassis separation.

I found a page on the Denafrips' site with two Youtube videos for comparison, but can't hear a difference through headphones. Anyone been able to compare them back to back in the same system?
divertiti
adg101
1,063 posts
 
Wondering same thing. Mike Powell Audio is the US Distributor and I reached out to him but he hasn’t had a Venus yet. Is the Venus fairly new? Sounds like the Pontus is very close to the Terminator as far as sound quality goes according to Mike. I see Mike's personal Terminator has some bypass caps he’s done from the stock unit, so wondering if he’s messed with the Pontus. Mike follows these threads so I’m sure he’ll chime in.
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
Hopefully Mike and Alvin will chime in.

@adg101 The Venus DAC sits between the Pontus and Terminator and the pricing steps up accordingly.
celander's avatar
celander
1,503 posts
 
Venus appears to have the Terminator front end mated with the Pontus chassis form factor and power supply. 
celander's avatar
celander
1,503 posts
 
Mike Powell had listed the Venus on his website. The Venus doesn’t ship with a power cable, so Mike was offering a variety of power cables as part of the sale package. 
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