There is only so much a R2R DAC can do with DSD, assuming it doesn’t just convert it back into PCM.
I believe many of the higher end R2R DAC’s have an additional “ladder” just for DSD.
Very true about the dacs getting cheaper and better, but from my experience that is with midrange dacs, as the higher end dacs actually still hold on after years (but not too many).
The dac is just putting the final sprinkles on your audio birthday cake, with the speakers being the actual cake, and the amps being the frosting. You don’t have to have that final topping (transparency on a dac would remove the topping), it really just depends on how you want it to taste. God that sounds stupid after I wrote it
You can get a fairly transparent r2r dac if you want
I hope we are talking about strawberry shortcake.
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IMO… like everything else… it’s just about experimenting with implementation and trying things until you settle on a sound you want. It’s not really necessary. People still use tube amps, while playing off Vinyl, where DACs aren’t even part of the chain… as an example.
Sure, whatever works lol
Also as you note, synergy is very important for a refined setup, you just have to find the coloration that work well (along with all the other aspects that lead to synergy)
Because there are certain subtleties you can’t easily introduce or remove after the DAC.
It’s all about synergy once you get beyond neutral is good.
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I think Warm is the single most overused audiophile term, it’s used to convey everything from rolled off highs to the additional wetness tubes can introduce, to reduced transient response and I’m probably only covering a part of the ways it’s abused.
I was trying to find a frequency sweep of them Gungnir, because it appears to increase the fullness of the Bass compared to my other DAC’s, but I suspect it measures very flat in that region as do the other DAC’s. And it’s likely a result of the shape of the transient response, rather than the frequency response.
By warm I mean a bit of increased bass and midrange thickness. Plenty of treble, not really recessed. Actually it might be leaning towards w shaped
First audio purchase for 2020. Well, I lie it will be the second since I’ve decided on a ELAC DS-S101-G as my stream source. I’ll use the built in DAC in that to feed a Freya + preamp. After all the “research” mentioned above, the thought was let me listen to that first see how I like the system as a whole and then come back to the DAC as the sprinkles on it all, potentially next year when they’re cheaper and more options. If nothing else, all of the DACs available to me today will still be there, and more.
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Nice, hope you enjoy it 
I think my point is it isn’t necessarily a bump in frequency response, any DAC with decent linearity will measure flat on a frequency sweep.
There is a texture to sound that goes beyond just frequency sweeps, I think much of it has to do with transient response.
Yes of course
I actually laughed out loud. My wife thinks I’m losing it.
The question is could you have expressed it in a more effective and accessible way? Probably not!
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Also over the Soekris 1451?
And what is it with warming up, do all R2R dacs need to be warm in several hrs to sound their best?
I would say over the soekris, but they are going for a different sound. The soekris is going for a more neutral sound where the ares II is going for a bit more enjoyable tuning. Also I think now the more reasonable price would be the schiit bifrost 2 multibit as I think that has close sound quality (although I like the tuning on the ares ii a bit more) but is actually available lol
Regarding warm up, I don’t know the science behind it but my r2r does legit take like 30 or more minutes before it sounds it’s best. It just sounds better after warming up
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That didn’t make it any easier 
I did look at the Gungnir Multibit, but not the bifrost; and as Soekris is also Danish I was aiming at that over the adi 2.
Lol, well I mean what are you looking to get out of the dac? What type of sound are you after? I would prefer the soekris to the adi 2 imo
I was intrigued by the R2R discussion and how clean they are and if they were in the same price range as the adi 2, then why not.
But the Drop Airist R2R is not available and the Denafrips Ares II is hard to get, so the Soekris kind of made it easier. I want to hook it up to a rnhp.
I’m seriously considering the Soekris DAC myself. There certainly arent a lot of options for R2R dacs at > $500.
Also had someone recommend the Metrum Amethyst, but I know nothing about the Metrum product line.
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