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Denafrips Terminator vs other dacs

Hey everyone I have owned the denafrips Terminator in my system for approximately one year and am enjoying it. However I have not compared it to many other Dacs. the only one really being the Burson conductor SL 9018 and the hdv 820 and both of these were with headphones not speakers.
Initially when I was buying I was looking to spend around 4,000 and was deciding between the PS audio directstream and the Terminator and after lots of reading eventually settled on The Terminator.

So in this thread my aim is to get all the people who've either owned the Terminator or heard it to chime in on there impressions of it specifically compared to other dacs. Some of the other dacs I'm thinking of are the chord Hugo 2, tt2, Dave. The bricasti M1 SE. PS direct stream. Metrum pavane. Holo spring l3. And any other dacs that you heard that you have compared to the Terminator.

I realize that there are other threads that discuss the Terminator but I have not seen any that focus on comparing it to other dacs which is what I want this thread to be focused on.
Thank you so much.
smodtactical
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
smodtactical OP

The Denafrips come out trumps on this a/b video by Darko.
https://youtu.be/9tGmD6j8fC0

https://darko.audio/2018/09/a-short-film-about-the-denafrips-terminator-dac/

Cheers George
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,202 posts
 
I have owned s lotof dacs the denafripps, Schitt , Yaggs, Belcanto
ps Audio Best,Meitner, ,just to name a few 
 none are perfect, or fit in well with allsystems ,they all have 
their own strong points the best resolution guaranteeyou Nothing .
personally I would rather give up a bit of ultimate resolution 
if it was more in part and natural sounding. Everyone had their own 
preferences,as in Loudspeakers.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Holo spring l3
I had the Holo Spring Level 2 on loan in my system for 2 weeks and I was very taken with it, even in OS mode, but it was when it was switched to NOS mode that really got me listening, more extension and harmonic detail at both ends and richness to the mids in NOS mode.

Cheers George  
jriggy's avatar
jriggy
565 posts
 
@smodtactical, 
the DS DAC has been said to be smoother (softer / rounded off transients) and the Termi having more ‘pop’ but that doesn’t equate the DS being more analog. The Termi is very natural. I’ve read to many times the opposite re the DS. So some must find it at least a little...what? Synthetic? I don’t know. I learned a while ago that there are audiophiles that don’t actually know natural timbre.
System dependent but I love the Termi. Great blend of natural musicality and resolution, with good presence too. And of course that natural timbre. For the price 
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