Denafrips Pontus *15th* ?

Hi guys,

It’s been almost 5 months since receiving my Pontus 15th and started this thread. Initially I was caught up in the confusion re: Denefrips/Vinshine confusion at the time, but nearly 5 months living with the Pontus, coupled with the Iris DDC, just wanted to express how happy the Pontus makes me.

For reference, when I first received it, it was feeding my Marantz Model 30, but not long after I bit the bullet and tried tubes for the first time with the Heaven 11 Billie mkii.

The Marantz combo was lovely, the Pontus was a big step up from the Ares 12th-1 I had, but the addition of the Billie was revaltory for me, being a tube virgin.

The partnership of Pontus and Billie is just marvelous to me, to the point I found I wasn’t visiting audio forums, or looking at components as potential swaps or upgrades, I was just listening 

I won’t go into hyperbole, I’m rubbish at describing how my system sounds, but as things stand I’m one happy camper.

Despite all the confusion and uncertainty around Denafrips and Vinshine that existed when this thread started, I hope everyone who bought a Pontus 15th are not disappointed; to me, it’s the best piece of kit I think I’ve owned.

Thanks guys, and happy listening 🍻

I am selling Denafrips Since Alvin left on his on venture.

i went into detail on the upgrades ,I told them have 4 decades in Audio that only upgrades 

when substantial , they agreed, the Pontus15 is actually last  years Venus12th,

land the Terminstor-15 is the Terminator+ , just cross reference them..

a New bigger better Venus 15 will be out in a Bigger case ,in Nov 

but no Terminator + 15. Meaning the Pontus 15  is a Great deal, as well as the New Terminator 15. Just go to the website and look at the parts the white Evox capacitors which are 4x as much $$, plus .005 resistor tolerances vs the 12th, .001, and bigger 80va transformers and several other bonuses in the Venus.

the Terminator.15 very easy , it now says Flagship and the dual shielded oven clocks 

say right on them Terminator  Plus , from a cost engineering stand point made perfect sense. The Enyo,Ares, and Venus  were redesigned in the 15 th.  This keeps everything up to date ,the DDC  nothing to upgrade here at the moment.

I bought the Iris 12 from audioman58 (audiophile58 on USAudiomart) and I had no issues and he was very helpful since I had no prior experiences with Denafrips or using a DDC. He also is providing a discount from the list prices (I believe). I have no connection with audioman58 nor any financial interest in his commercial enterprise other than being a one time customer. I'm just sharing this because of the concerns expressed above at the loss of Vineshine as a seller for Denafrips.

I got the Iris because (1) there were posts recommending a USB Bridge/reclocker in between the DAC and computer and (2) I had a promotional $500 gift card from a recent satellite provider switch so it essentially didn't cost me anything. 

Last week, I went to a fellow audiophile's home to listen to his speakers and he was using a cheap DAC off of Amazon and was apparently trying out a few of them along with someone else to see if they were all that was needed. He told me that he had an early Ares as well and I asked him to put it into the system because I had never heard any of the Denafrips' DACs. Once he plugged it in, the separation, sound stage and tonal quality of the music improved by a factor (IMO) by about 3 times and the effect was immediate. 

I'm considering changing my DAC because the Iris gives the opportunity to connect to a DAC with i2s. The Pontus 15th is one I'm considering. 

I seem to recall reviewers describing the Venus 12th as voiced more in favor of upper mids and highs than Pontus 12th.

If in fact the new Pontus is more like the Venus 12th, I’d be curious whether its tonality followed suit.

Every comparison I’ve seen so far implies the Pontis 15th is "better in every way", but in practice, this may depend upon one’s sonic priorities.

I’ve never heard a Venus or the previous Pontus versions so can’t compare with my Pontus 15th, but from what I’ve seen on YT this does seem to be the case.

Jay’s Iyagi review of the 15th popped on YT yesterday; he was of the same opinion. His advice or suggestion was to pair the 15th with a neutral or slightly warm system rather than a system already leaning on the bright side to avoid having too much of a good thing.

This would align with the reviews of the Venus 12th; after all, the Pontus 15th is for all intents and purposes, a Venus 12th transferred in to a new case with a few other upgrades as far as I can tell from what others have posted on this thread and elsewhere.

For me personally, the Pontus gels with my preferences, especially since I moved to the Billie Mkii amp into my ATC SCM40’s