Help choosing a DAC

+1 @jjss49

Buy used. Re-sell at nearly the same price. You have to bear a bit of risk and hassle buying and selling but otherwise, you’re going to take a lot of $$ hits as you try out DAC’s until you’re satisfied.

About TMR, they will check out the gear before you buy it and will stand behind it working for a brief period. But their prices are a little higher than the other used market (generally) and they have this policy:

"Any returns initiated outside of product defects, the customer is responsible for all Shipping and Handling costs, and there will be a 5% restocking fee taken from the refunded amount."

In other words, TMR offers value-added for those who want more guarantees about the gear’s condition and return-ability. This is a big plus for some folks. But that 5% restocking fee, while maybe acceptable for lower priced items, gets unacceptably high for me once I start considering much more expensive items.

If you bought, say, a Denafrips Pontus II from TMR @$1599 and kept it, shipping would cost you $55 and you’d have spent $1650 plus tax, more or less. If returned  to TMR, you’d pay $55 shipping each way ($110) and about an $80 restocking fee. Almost $200 to try out a DAC for a month.

Alternatively, you could buy that same DAC from a private seller (check their ratings), and pay (in this case), $1299 plus shipping. If shipping was the same, you’d be out $1350 for the same DAC, but without an option to return it.

Here. Get this. If it doesn’t work out just return it.

https://www.amazon.com/Musician-Aquarius-Midrange-Andromeda-Monoceros/dp/B096ZLDG36?th=1

Here’s a review…

https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/musician-aquarius-r-2r-dac-review/

@jastralfu Thank you for the response and link, I agree that you are likely close to the venus, but I was hoping to be at the one box solution instead of two and buy used, if at all possible, honestly I have not seen any Venus for sale. If I go the Pontus route I will likely go the Iris or Hermes route. Does to bother you to have two boxes though?

@decooney I have watched the DAC space now for close to 3 years just to see what this community settles on and I have the sense that this community to a great extent agrees that Denaphris  makes good DAC's. Like @hilde45 so well put the costs, it can get expensive. That is why I try to avoid doing that.

@paulcreed thank you for your response, you are correct, CJ does have a warm enveloping sound. I might in the future try out the PASS Labs line, but that is also only if I get a smoking deal. I know everyone pairs the Pontus with Iris or hermés, so I was hoping to just get done with a single box and get there (hopefully used)

@oddiofyl  thank you for this suggestion, will give it a read.

@jjss49 Thank you for your advise, I have read your posts. I am leaning the same way as you suggest here, if I decide to stick with the Denaphris line.

@arafiq Thank you for your input, Pontus seems to be the sweet spot.
 

@magnuman  Thanks for that suggestion, unfortunately $4500 is a little steep for me. Ideally $2500 is my sweet spot, extendable t $3000, anything more would be a bit burdensome for me.

@newwater it is to this knowledge that exists amongst you all minus any fluff that I have come seeking your opinions. I will defn check the Wyred4Sound out. Not very familiar with them.

@vthokie83  thanks for your input, What you suggest seems to be the consensus here. Please put a post up when you do indeed move to the Terminator, I for one would be curios on the differences.

@veroguy  Thank you for the suggestion, will defn check it out, R2R is the way I want to go.

@hilde45 Thank you for that example with TMR, I had not considered that. Makes a lot of sense to be careful what to try out. I have never bought on the US Audiomart ever, would it be similar to Audiogon?

@soix I have heard of this one, I will check it out, but do you think I can do an honest evaluation (considering burn in etc) in the short time before return to tell me this would be a good option?

shrapnel,

you might find a used Wyred4sound 10,000 verse 3D for around 2500 if you Google Wyred4sound 10th anniversary DAC for sale there might be some around.

@shrapnel Nope having two boxes doesn’t bother me at all. They complement one another actually. I like having the better oven controlled clock in the Hermes and the I2S connection as well, it seems to help clean up the USB connection and any jitter. I just posted some pictures of my system if you want to take a look for yourself and see what it looks like.

+1 for TMR, I bought my Hermes from them. There is a Pontus II and a Hermes for sale there at the moment, at least a couple of days ago there was.  There’s a Venus II for sale at UpscaleAudio, which is much like TMR as they test components and have a return policy.  It’s an older version though, not the 12th Anniversary or the 12th-1 (I’m not entirely sure those aren’t the same).  Might be worth taking a punt on as you can return it if you don’t care for it.