Alvin from Vinshine Audio is THE man! I purchased the Denafrips ARES II DAC earlier this year when it was on back order and Alvin communicated every week or so with an update on the production status and estimated shipping dates. It arrived professional packed (double boxed) in bullet proof foam enclosure.
Hooked it up to my Mac mini and it played straight away with no setup and just kept sounding better and better as it burned in. Definitely as advertised...very analogue sounding DAC. I also have a Benchmark DAC1 Pre USB as my reference which is a very neutral DAC so it was easy to hear the difference in my setup.
I switched it over to another system that used Windows 10 and could not get the USB input to play. I thought maybe the unit was defective, but it was ultimately user error :) Alvin took the time to walk me step by step and trouble shoot over the course of a few days via email until it was working perfect again. Not only did he help, but he taught me a bunch of things along the way with some articles he shared.
For the price and sound of this DAC and the support from Alvin at Vinshine there is no doubt this is the BEST VALUE in hifi audio. If you are on the fence, do not hesitate to do business with Alvin and try out the Denafrips brand. Was a five star white glove experience from start to finish!
Setup:
Yamaha A-S2100 Solid State Integrated
PrimaLuna EVO 300 Tube Integrated
Denafrips ARES II DAC
Klipsch LaScala with upgraded Crites x-overs
Klipsch Heresy with upgraded Crites x-overs
JL Audio Fathom F112 Sub
Rythmik F12 Servo Sub
-- Manning M.
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