@audiofilo123 me too. I took a punt on the relatively unknown Cen. Grande, but would look forward to reviews/comparisons as the brand gains a foothold in Western markets.
I've never heard the Pontus in the flesh, so not much use I'm afraid 🤔🥴
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 👍
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@painter24 buying an almost unknown piece of gear is always a risky move but also an exciting one. I bought my Pontus a couple of months before all the hype and choose it instead of a (used-but-mint) Holo Audio Spring 2 Kitsune Edition, very well reviewed. I love the Pontus (and I will keep it for years) but I continue to be curious about other dacs: NOS type: Audio Note, Lab12, Abbas, Metrum DSD upsampling: Cen.Grand |
Just a loosely related add on... Presently listening to both the T+A DAC 200 and Cen.Grand DSD DAC 1.0 (CenD1) and liking the CenD1 more. Bigger sound stage front to back and side to side, detailed and extremely smooth. I like the feeling of the space between notes having their own body and air, and the CenD1 does that, a quality that only my M-10x does (obvious not as well), but that's a different story. So having also tried the Denafrips Terminator, I would again give the absolute nod to the CenD1, I've always enjoyed my Sony headphone amps FPGA DSD conversion and I'm very much sold on what Cen.Grand is doing.
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Hi @ja_kub_sz thanks for your post. I'm glad you're enjoying your Cen Grand. Can't believe mu OP was over a year ago; boy how the time flies Anyway, thanks for your post; your observations certainly match my own. I did however have issues with my first Cen Grand unit, the Standard edition, and eventually had to call the distributor again. I was going to give up on Cen Grand at this point (left channel kept dropping out, after changing ICs, I couldn't get any sound out of it at all). The distributors customer service was top notch. I asked him to order me a Pontus II and I would return the Cen Grand, but he offered me the next up in the Cen Grand DAC line; the Super Clock edition which comes in at £3200, for no further cost of what the Standard version cost £2500 iirc. This was last Spring and still going strong, no problems whatsoever, and the Super Clock just raises the bar over the Standard, more of everything. I've also had a speaker upgrade since the Cen Grand; swapped out my Triangle Comete 40th Anniversary for a pair of ATC SCM 40's, and also brought in a Marantz Model 30 in place of my Atoll IN200. At the moment, not looking to change anything; very happy. Merry Christmas everyone, hope you and your familes all have a great festive period, and a Very Happy New Year 🥳🎄🥳🎄🥳🍻🍾👍 |
I have a question about this dac. If one isn’t interested in DSD, is this dac still a contender for redbook and hi res recordings otherwise? I have a Pontus II and I like the NOS sound. Is the Cen Grand dac something I’d like? Or is it so different from an R2R ladder dac that I’d run screaming from the room? |
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