Hi Alvin,
I am listening to the Denefrips Ares II at this very moment. I wish you could be here to hear this. I love this DAC! It has a very clean, open sound with a deep soundstage. The music appears to be coming from behind the speakers. It’s smooth with no upper register harshness. It’s difficult to describe, but believe me, this is the best my digital playback has ever sounded. If I lived in Singapore or China I would be banging on Vinshine’s or Denefrips’ door for a job. This makes me wonder what the Terminator would do in this system. So far I prefer the OS mode with the slow (less steep) filter.
I’m listening to Procol Harum’s A Salty Dog album.
Pictures of my home theater follow. I spent the evening rewiring my Peerless 30U rack to accomodate the Ares II. On the top shelf is the Primaluna EVO 400 preamplifier. Below it is the Manley Chinook phono stage that supports my VPI Classic I turntable (not pictured). Directly below that is the star of our show, the Denefrips Ares II! Below that is my Sony Playstation 3 Fatboy. Next is an Oppo BD95 Blu-ray player which is acting as the transport for the Ares II. Below that is my B & K Theater Preprocessor. And finally on the bottom shelf is the Primaluna EVO 400 amplifier.
The next picture down shows the front of the theater. For two channel stereo I have the Focal 1028 Be speakers. For theater and for multi-channel music I have Genelec speakers, left channel, subwoofer, center channel, and right channel. The screen is a 93” diagonal Stewart Grayhawk.
The picture below that shows the surround Genelec speakers which are actually mounted on the rear wall. And you can see my Sony VPL-VW200 projector.
I ordered some Belden 1800F cable and Neutrik connectors. I’m going to make some balanced cables to interface the Ares II to the Primaluna preamp.
If you have any potential customers who are undecided, tell them to contact me for an independent assessment.
I will send you pictures of my third system soon.
Cheers,
John M.
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