You could also consider a used Violectric V220 and Soekris 1421 or even 1321.
I don’t have experience with that combo, but I did really enjoy the Cayin iHA-6/iDAC-6 MkII combo when I had it, and depending on sales/used market, it should be attainable in the <$1500 range. I might have slightly preferred the Soekris 1541 to the iDAC-6 for the increased depth and separation, and the more analytical signature was balanced pretty well by the iHA-6 slightly warmer than neutral signature. It required moving up from the V200 to V280 to the Vio V281/1541 stack to convince me to sell the iHA-6/iDAC-6 stack.
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that would cost way more than $1500, though.
You can get them used either within that budget or slightly above when they do come up, would be much more likely to easily begin budget with the v200/1321 or 1221 setup.
last time i heard a soekris was the 1421 and was definitely outclassed by the ares.
The 1321/1421 tends to get recommended for the vio amps more due to how good their synergy is rather than their performance on their own, not that they’re bad dacs at all.
I’d probably place the Ares II / BF2 as between 1321 and 1421. 1421 is more at the level of Schiit Gungir (but also from the point of view of building a system the synergy is really great with Vio amps)
this was well over 7 years ago, though. A lot has changed since then. The 220 or 280 (not the 281, he doesn’t need preamp function) would a great choice if you can find them under the cost of the flux
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The ares was denafrips answer to the growing number of cheap delta signma dacs flooding the market, its a good $300-400 less than what it should cost. I cant say that for soekris stuff, as they have not been updated in a while. Though, they have said there is a new version of the 1521 coming at some point, so that would be worth a listen.
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Gotcha. I know the 2541 comes out in place of 1541 and 1221 at some point in place of 1321, haven’t heard of a 1421 update yet though. At least to my ears the Ares II is still at the level of Bifrost 2 so personally I’d have thought it’s at the 7-800USD price mark (new) and 5-600USD (used)
the bifrost 2 is now awfully close to the gungir mulibit, but at the same price as the old one. I mean, its uses a lot of the same circuity. If it was to scale in the same way as schiits other product line, it would cost at least $900, the same is true with the ares. Because smsl and topping have made such large swings at the midfi dac segment since 2016, these new models had to be priced more accordingly, so both perform way ahead of a d90 or m400 for less than those.
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I’ve seen many comparisons between the bifrost 2 and the ares but couldn’t get to a definite conclusion…
Most say the ares is great but some say it lacks detail and too warm. The FA-22 should also be a bit warm so I hope it won’t be too much… But I think I saw somewhere that @M0N says they are a good match.
I also keep toying with a burson soloist+composer combo cause I read somewhere burson’s stuff sound great with Diana, but couldn’t find other places that talked about it.
one thing to note is you need to run it in oversampling mode. It runs in NOS by default, and that sounds much worse. I found the ares to be very neutral and unobstructive, but not like the delta sigma dacs around that price point that adds a bit too much negative feedback making everything sound too sharp (im exaggerating, but the presentation is on the forward side of neutral). The bifrost is very dynamic and punchy sounding, but is also more coloured, which comes down to personal preference. The thing is, I doubt you would be able to hear any of these differences at the moment since you dont have much experience. I personally think they are better value propositions than some of the cheaper dacs on the market, because they actually give you the characteristics of what significantly more expensive dacs can offer, while the cheaper sigma dacs sound what you expect at the price point. Knowing the difference just comes with time, so i think its a better investment.
Probably preference? I’ve seen most people here preferring the NOS, including myself though.
im talking about r2r dacs. Are you specifically referring to them and the ares? Delta sigma dacs are irrelevant in this discussion.
Referring to Ares II specifically
There is a channel that i trust a lot when it comes to making audio reviews called the British audiophile, and he said oversampling was unequivocally the better sounding mode. Denafrips Ares II DAC Review - YouTube My findings match his. It’s no contest, no idea what you are on about.
Just saying it’s a preference thing, some prefer NOS some prefer OS, not a fact which is better.
I agree. The oversampling mode was a noticeable improvement with the ares.
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What did you hear in the nos version that was an improvement? Remember, reducing the soundstage can lead to things sounding more intimate which is personal preference, but it could instead lead to things sounding more congested, which is (pretty definitely) worse. I think you need to listen to resolve over at the headphone show, when he said “there are lots of preferences for sound that are equally valid, but it isn’t unreasonable to say that there are definitively good and bad implementations of those types of sound, that can be judged regardless of your own preference”.
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