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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
painter24's avatar
painter24 OP
312 posts
 

@soix thanks for your kind words; extremely generous 😊👍

cd45123
196 posts
 

Bumping this one up. Anyone been able to compare the Cen.Grand against other Denafrips models or any comparable  brand for that matter? I am looking at getting the base model, which would be on the lower side of my budget. I’m also considering DACs from ANK audio kits up to around $3500.

 

 

 

 

painter24's avatar
painter24 OP
312 posts
 

@cd318 I used own the Ares 2, but that's not really a fair comparison with the Cen. Grande. For what it's worth, the distributor I deal with is also a distributor for Denefrips as well as Cen. Grande. 

He feels that the Denefrips doesn't compete with the Cen. Grandes with respect to the Pontus II vs Cen. Grande Standard; the same as you move up the respective lines. 

People obviously want to buy Denefrips from him; they're immensely popular at the moment, but his preferred DAC, and what he uses at the moment is the Cen. Grande Deluxe version 

 

2psyop's avatar
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2psyop
1,611 posts
 

I have never invested more than $600 into a stand alone external DAC, until recently I opted to get the Denafrips Pontus 12th anniversary DAC. It has taken my audio setup to another level. But if I wanted to go the DSD route, I would invest in a PS Audio model, probably used.

audiofilo123
82 posts
 

I have a huge CD collection and a Denafrips Pontus II and would love to listen / read a comparison between my dac and the Cen.Grand, as I am very curious about the red book upsampling to DSD...

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