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

Thread for OWNER IMPRESSIONS, FEEDBACK, QUESTIONS, ETC. regarding DENAFRIPS DACs.

DENAFRIPS lists the following R2R DACs:

Ares, Pontus, Venus, and Terminator (in increasing price order).

"DENAFRIPS incorporated in year 2012, focus in developing high end audio equipment at a very affordable price. Throughout the years of intense Research & Development, and continuous improvement of the product lines, DENAFRIPS had finally settled with the current product range equipped with R-2R ladder DAC technology. The reason behind this is the designer strongly believe that R-2R DAC is the best way to reproduce music.

The name, DENAFRIPS, stand for:

D-ynamic
E-xquisite
N-atural
A-ttractive
F-idelity
R-efined
I-ntoxicating
P-ure
S-ophisticated

This mean a lot and it is the house-sound of all DENAFRIPS products." [Copied From Denafrips About Us section]
david_ten
snafujg
34 posts
 
@jaytor , I will be trying with my own files today and will report back later tonight.

@david_ten , thanks for all your hints so far.  I've checked my router and it's on the latest firware.  Same thing with my Blusound Node 2 that serves as my streamer to the Termy.  My Termy was purchased new June 4, 2019.  I did get it used but was told it had the latest DSP board in it.  Is there a way I can check on the current FW installed?  I tried searching around for it but can't find the procedure to see what FW I'm currently on.  
david_ten OP
5,480 posts
 
Perhaps @alvin1118 can comment.

I don't have the unit so I can't actively check. My advice would be to go through the firmware update anyways, that way you will be sure to have the most current version. 

However, I'll repeat what I stated above...Tidal dropouts are more likely being caused by something other than the DAC.
snafujg
34 posts
 
I spent about three hours of listening to my own music last night and had no dropouts.  This was playing from a USB drive I have inserted in the Node 2 running thru the Termy.  Most likely the issue is with Tidal itself as @jaytor suggested.  If I find any other issues I'll report back but I think I'm all good for now.  Thanks @david_ten for your suggestions.  I will try the FW upgrade once I get my laptop up.  
alvin1118
137 posts
 
Good Sunday & Happy Easter! 

The frequent dropouts are likely network related. There are possibilities of deficient internet speed, high traffics volume, streaming services etc. 

A good way to verify this is like what others suggested, try to play local music content, or use a known good source like CDT to cross check. This helps to isolate and pinpoint the issue. 

Stay safe and healthy!

Alvin
www.vinshineaudio.com 
jerseytrain
12 posts
 
Alvin is well aware that there are issues with connections to Tidal and Quboz via the Blusound Node 2i. I bought a Pontus dac with the new DSP board from Alvin and Vinshine Audio in October 2019 and have been messaging him monthly about firmware updates that he's promised from Denafrips. Sorry to air my dirty laundry.

From the beginning I was getting constant skipping and dropouts via a SPDIF cable between the dac and Node. Quoting a message from Alvin in November 2019:

"The issue of skip in split second was due to fifo buffer clock sync with source's clock mismatch by split second, hence the dac skip.This doesnt happen to all source, some sources clock has larger different with denafrips dac, so it will skip when the time sync is out.
I am pushing a firmware fix to address this​"​

​Alvin seems to be like a great guy to deal with but saying its a network issue seems disingenuous. I use a direct ethernet cable connection to the Node and have 200mb/s download speed. It's not Alvin's fault, but him being Denafrips only dealer, there should be a firmware update after 6+ months. I wonder what my system could sound like without all the skipping and dropouts. Skipping happens with every listening session and dropouts have to be resolved by turning the dac off then back on. 

What helped with the skipping and dropouts was me going out the first week and getting an iFi SPDIF iPurifier reclocker. I shouldn't have needed to do that. But the issue still persist on a smaller scale and we still need a firmware update as promised. Hopefully others with the same issue can voice it here.
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