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Cen. Grand DSDAC 1.0 (vs Pontus II)

Hi guys, 

I made an enquiry with a distributer here in the UK, with a view to ordering the Pontus II. However, he's thrown me a curveball by recommending the Cen. Grand DSDAC 1.0 - another Chinese brand, making FPGA based DACs with PCM to DSD up sampling (from what I can make out). There isn't a lot out there on the interweb - reviews, sound character, presentation etc, much of anything really. 

The distributor claims, or suggests that to him the Cen. Grand is "better" than the Pontus II; I've asked him to qualify and elaborate on this, but in the meantime,  thought I'd ask here to see if anyone has direct experience of this brand/DAC. Just for reference/context, the Cen. Grand DSDAC 1.0 is the Standard version at £2500 (the distributer has offered me 10% discount, so £2250).

Thanks in advance 👍

128x128painter24
chayro
2,985 posts
 

There is a lot of stuff on the web about this brand.  It looks like like nice stuff, but personally, I like to stick to products with more of a track record. I doubt anyone here has any real experience with it because I’ve never heard it mentioned.

sns
3,209 posts
 

I too just discovered this dac the other day, Power Holdings in USA has it on Black Friday sale at present. May be perfect time to purchase as loss leader, may be trying to gain foothold in North American market. Haven't seen a single review.

fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,598 posts
 

Sure looks like the same process as Ted Smith's at PS Audio.

Chinese? What do ya know?

painter24's avatar
painter24 OP
284 posts
 

Yep, I think I'll swerve Cen. Grand for now; just not enough to go on. The distributor says he's sold a few of the higher tier versions after taking them to a clients home, and the units have stayed with the client. 

There is a Chinese site, looks like the equivalent of ASR, with measurements of the DAC; Google Translator mangled what was written, but what was legible wasn't very flattering. But there weren't any listening impressions given, only measurements. 

This may well be a hidden gem, just like Denafrips DACs were to begin with, but I'm not going to risk it. The distributer has offered 7 day return if I don't like it, but that's not a lot of time to see if I can live with a DAC, what with work, dogs, life etc so I'm opting for the tried and tested Pontus II

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