2. digital
  3. 148850-117859

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
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 
Post removed 
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
jriggy
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.

So true jr, the discrete R2R Multibit dacs like the Terminator the Holo, MSB, Total ect ect have a life and a boogie factor to the music that DS dacs lack, and yes they do show up bad recordings.
The good DS (delta sigma) dacs that aren’t hard or harsh, are a bit of a yawn, and lack bringing out the life (boogie factor) of the music, but in a good way are kinder to those bad recordings.

Cheers George
smodtactical OP
982 posts
 
Thanks a lot guys for the great comparisons. Anyone have thoughts on how it compares to Bricasti M1 SE?
firstnot's avatar
firstnot
248 posts
 
At 3 x the price?
More to discover