Cen. Grand DSDAC 1.0 (vs Pontus II)

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

Seems like a rip off of PS Audio's Direct Stream and now Direct Stream Mk II DAC.

The Cen Ultimate version of this DAC is $5.3k so not much reason to buy it when you can get trade ins off buying the PS Audio DAC, on any components.

PS Audio and Cen both upsample everything including PCM to DSD, personally I don't think upsampling is necessary with today's DACs. YMMV.

It was $4.7K when I looked.

Without any reviews, likely very few will take the risk, especially as price rises. I believe I was first to take risk with Musetec 005 her in US, turned out well. I'd be more tempted if 005 wasn't producing at such high level, it seems to have never ending resolving and harmonic development capabilities.

Quick update on my OP; I did place an order with the importer/distributor, but not for the Pontus II. I ordered the base (Standard model) Cen. Grand DSDAC 1.0, it arrived yesterday

Just some early observations:

Build quality - nice and solid, weighs around 10kg

Manual came in Chinese only, but the distributor sent me an English electronic copy, rang me and talked me through how to put the DAC in to "direct/fixed volume" mode as it was in variable volume mode out of the box. 

Started playing tracks via my Innuos Zen Mini Mkiii via USB - I was getting some bad hissing on tracks greater than 44.1khz - quickly resolved in the Sense software settings - Sense recognised the Cen. Grand immediately and displayed it as such in the connected devices/DAC's window. The hissing was irradicated by enabling the "Native DSD Support" in the Sense settings for the connected DAC/Cen. Grand.

The hissing made my heart sink until I thought about it logically and explored the settings and did the above - phew! 🙄😜

I put around 8hrs playtime through the DAC yesterday, so early days yet (around 200hrs recommended burn in) but I am quietly impressed. My existing DAC is a hand made, made to order DS DAC built around a Wolfson/Cirrus Logic WM8741 chip which is really nice for £500, and probably punches above its weight, as the manufacturer does not advertise and has no retail distribution costs. I imagine the cost would be significantly greater, should he have those costs. Just for some context to what I had. 

As for the Cen. Grand early impressions: greater separation of track components and clarity of individual instruments and backing vocals when there are any. 

Bass is strong, meaty, palpable with a tiny bit more bloat to it, but the distributor warned of this prior to delivery, and assured me this would tighten up over time. 

Mids and highs have a lovely clarity - resolved but smooth, very dynamic, lovely clarity - female vocals are beautiful (haven't tried any male vocals yet). 

I'm not a vinyl guy at all, so it would be disingenuous to say the DAC is analogue sounding, but I will say it feels like I'm listening to an "analogous" reproduction of the track, not a digital reproduction. Acoustic instruments - guitar, acoustic and double bass, and brass instruments - sax and trumpet are startling in their lifelike, in the room presentation. In a good, satisfying, pleasing way, as are female vocals (recording and mastering permitting of course). 

I need to spend a lot more time with the DAC of course, but my initial trepidation and anxiety about buying an unknown/untested (in the West) brand have dissipated somewhat. The distributor will let me return should the DAC not agree with me, but I'm not at that point by any stretch of the imagination, but will have to live with it and spend some quality listening time over the Christmas Holidays then hopefully have a fully-formed view of it. 

Thanks for reading 👍

I have one, very similar time to you. Just under a week, with about 70hours play on it. 
I have come from a Chord qutest with a separate power supply. The power supply moved it up a level. I was looking for something less harsh, I have a set of ZU speakers and they can punish some recordings. The CEN.GRAND has already really helped that issue. Soundstage has improved, instruments sound better. 

previous experience, from memory, not current side by side comparisons, include Bluesound node, marantz model 40 built in dac, and lyngdorf 3400 used as dac and streamer. The CEN.GRAND sounds nicer than these.

I am going to keep this one. The build quality also feels great.