Denafrips Pontus *15th* ?

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

@painter24 

Yes. I watched that same Jay's Iyagi review last night. 

It makes sense that tube amplification would be a good match with the Pontus 15th. 

I'm committed to SS amplification so, for me the fact that even current tube DACs seem to be moving in the same sonic direction as the Pontus 15th is frustrating. In fact, this seems to be true of audio as a whole. But that's my problem, not yours.  Enjoy your new DAC!