True Miracle - Part 2 (The sequel)
After my last review, more than 1 000 operating hours passed, which brought about the final sound of the units.
From the first moment the Athena was switched on and started reproducing music, it led me into a sound world where only very expensive units belong, manufactured by very well-established, renown vendors.
It produced such a healthy sound that I described back then with only a few words. In fact, now, with the passing of time, I can only describe it as having matured, like good wine, and what more could it bring?
A lot, in fact.
In my friend's reference system it could and still can hold its own completely (link to True Miracle - Part 1). Practically, I could describe it, in addition and in extension to the words I used in my previous review, as having infinite sound, that is without boundaries. For me, the Athena established that trust that led me to build my whole system from flagship Denafrips components. This purchase was followed by Terminator Plus DAC, the eagerly anticipated Apollo power amp, with its "mere" 55 kgs of weight J and finally, the GAIA.
In my home country, in Hungary, there are quite a few manufacturers and constructors (native to Hungary), such as BayZ, Pillartechaudio, CoreAudio, whose products are used in reference systems the world over. I selected the components of my system from these vendor's products, which I needed and could afford.
The burn in and harmonization of my system did not last long. The components were very soon really attuned to each other and supported each other in all dimensions in the realm of imagination, right from the outset. In my opinion, the difference between the sound produced by a good system and my Denafrips system is when you sit down to listen to music, you don't "go to a concert", as reproduced by your system, but the concert "comes" to you.
You may not understand this but I wish that all of you experience this first hand and then you'll understand, you'll know what I mean.
On the basis of my experience, I can safely say that the sound I so experienced is very different in reality, it far exceeds all expectations and imagination.
By means of my setup (consisting of the Denafrips Terminator Plus – Gaia – Athena – Apollo), such a flowing, natural live sound is reproduced in my listening environment, and hopefully in yours, too, that is very difficult to put into words. All the music’s subtle resonances, messages are able to come through and all is fully conveyed to the listener. It sends the thrills and shivers down your spine and you are overwhelmed with emotion. You can hear the musicians’ mood and state of mind when making music, not where the recording was made and by using what equipment. It can be heard that the musician lifts his bow and then touches the strings, pulls the bow and thus makes the instrument sing on all its frequencies.
Another simile that can make it depict very palpably is when someone exhales the smoke and how the smoke surrounds the object it was exhaled onto.
That is roughly how sound and emotions spread in music in my listening environment. Above a certain level, you just need to forget the conventional words and the description of the proportions. Here we can only speak about emotions and a true miracle. Actually, it also says a lot that the owners of big “exotic” systems are beginning to discern the Denafrips products.
One additional note to those who so far have had aversion to (or avoided) products manufactured in the Far East is that they will be better off considering not only the well-known brands but these products as well, as any potential buyer gets Ultra High-End sound for their money, way beyond its price point, if they fit the Denafrips products into their existing systems or, even better, build their own, fully homogenous system using Denfarips components only. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know how Alvin and his team were able to pull it all off and what else is up their (magical) sleeves.
I wholeheartedly congratulate them for their efforts and success and I also wish to thank KVS Audio and Kamen, who is Denafrips’ immensely fair dealer partner in Europe. Credit: Gabor @ Hungary
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