Thumbs up!
After few years pause I decided time is ripe for some dedicated music listening again, decision resting on suddenly liberated amounts of free time due to corona pandemic. So I got myself Node2i streamer, open baffle custom diy speakers and class A solid state amp.
All I needed was decent DAC.
Took me many hours (should I say days) to get through youtube reviews and forum recommendations and one model was coming up quite frequently - Denafrips Ares II. There were few others as well, such as Topping d90 and RME Adi-2. Being inclined toward warmer and musical sound I was really keen on getting Ares II, but the thing was that they have only direct sale channel via Singapore’s Vinshine Audio, so I thought this could be a complication. I took my chance, ordered via their web page and all went really smooth, with parcel tracking number, so I got my Ares II in a week or so.
Communication with Vinshine owner Alvin was perfect, actually much more professional and faster as we are used to in Europe. No worries whatsoever with support and warranty should someone need it.
Setup is very straightforward, unit has both toslink and spdif inputs and balanced and SE outputs. Sound really develops and matures in some 10 to 14 days and after that it is gorgeous.
Very musical, excellent staging with nice resolution and fast and tight basses. Denafrips offers higher models as well, up to state of the art R2R DAC Terminator plus and also some interesting preamps and power amps that I haven’t hear yet.
My recommendations and kudos actually both to Denafrips for and Vinshine’s Alvin.
Thumbs up!
Credit: Aleš N @ Slovenia
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Great review—especially the practical note about ordering from Vinshine Audio and how smoothly it went. That kind of reassurance is genuinely useful for anyone hesitant about buying direct. Your chain (streamer → DAC → class A amp → open baffles) also sounds like a very deliberate “musical” setup, so the Ares II seems like a natural fit.
Slightly related: in niche markets like this, trust and discovery often come from detailed owner experiences rather than ads. When I promoted my own site, I focused on a few in-depth pages that answered specific questions and kept everything fast and easy to navigate; over time that attracted readers who were actually ready to act. Glad the DAC worked out for you.