Denafrips Pontus II vs Venus II

@stevebohnii 

That cable's specs look excellent, and it's in a significantly higher price bracket compared to my Kimber I2S.  I've been on a tear lately with system upgrades, including an Acoustic Zen Absolute 110ohm AES/EBU into the Hermes, but I'll consider it.  I've got it on my list now, and thanks!

The Hermes reclocker advances my sound enough that I would never think of backtracking to a Pontus II alone. That combined with setting the Pontus II on OS with the slow filter gives me the detail I want.  NOS on Pontus II just sounds hazy to me.

 

@gladmo 

Yeah, I tried the NOS and felt the same way. Just lost the detail the OS provided. I reviewed the Bricasti M5 and it sounds like a very nice streamer. Can I ask if you bought it new or did you find it used?  Also, what power cord are you using for the pontus ii?  The Acoustic Zen Absolute 110ohm AES/EBU specs look amazing and so does the price tag…lol I bet your system sounds great. I’m thinking I will go with a ddc next and then upgrade my streamer. Currently, I’m using the ifi zen stream. It’s okay, but looking to upgrade. Just need my wife to approve. 

@stevebohnii

I want to stay humble and precise, so I just did the old Hermes bypass test... again. I listened to the album "Harp Favorites" by Floraleda Sacchi on Qobuz to test the difference. I find harp recordings to be one of the best ways to test many aspects of sound, including attack, decay, and the whole freq range from very high down to low mid-range and sometimes upper bass. For soundstage, not so much though. Anyway, I re-confirmed that Pontus II by itself outputs a lesser degree of finesse, speed, dynamics, and decay refinement.

I bought the Bricasti M5 new. For a power cord on my Pontus II, I’m using the Acoustic Zen Krakatoa. It has fantastic top end detail, and very fast and thunderous deep bass. However, the mid-bass and mid-range are recessed. When I use an Acoustic Zen Absolute Copper interconnect between my pre and power amp, it totally fills in that freq range with a very pleasing fullness without sacrificing any details. Without having found that synergy, I would have abandoned the Krakatoa. But with it, I’m extremely pleased! None of the power cords on my Pontus II come anywhere as close to the sub-bass extension and speed as the Krakatoa, which is especially revealed by a Rythmik F12G subwoofer + Zavfino power cable.

Maybe this is a better I2S option for the price, as they explicitly state that it uses OCC silver conductors:

 

I have the Venus II and a Hermes combination. I use the Tubulus Argentus I2s between them. I cannot comment on the comparison between then Pontus II and Venus II as I have never compared them. I have removed the Hermes from the system when doing some troubleshooting that later revealed a problem in my preamp which is in for repair now. When I removed the Hermes I found that the soundstage shrunk  a bit and the bass was less defined with less authority. It was good to find that the Hermes was helping it along. I believe this combination is doing a great job and my musical enjoyment is relished each time I listen. I have read that you get amore detail retrieval from the Venus II vs the Pontus II in reviews i have read. It's build is more similar to the Terminator with the better resisters and more of them which helps it's detail  more I think. These DAC's do take a tremendous amount of patience to break in and just keep getting better as the hundreds of hours pile up. Good luck with your decision, I always get the best I can afford to keep from wanting to upgrade and lose on my investments when ever I can.