🔷 Denafrips Ares II

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories [Official] DACs
121

2541 no question imo, much better synergy an also higher preforming technicality wise than the ares ii. Although that will tilt the system more neutral with a hint of warmth than anything, if you wanted to lean harder into the more smooth, relaxed, and warm and thick range, the ares ii will do that, but imo it gets a bit too far for my tastes

1 Like
122

Ok thanks :pray: I’m using the bifrost 2 right now and I have a itch to change things up. My hifiman Arya should be in today.

1 Like
123

Gotcha, than the soekris makes a ton of sense for sure

Niceee, curious to hear your thoughts on it :+1:

2 Likes
124

Hi Mon, well I guess I dragged my feet on the Soekris I was about to order and now they are sold out. Is there anything readily available that would be a good match for the vio 280 and Arya or would it be worth the wait to hold out till they are back in stock?

125

I would honestly hold out imo, there are other good matches but they tend to be at higher price points or are hard to find on the used market

126

Ok that’s kinda what I thought. Thanks Mon!

127

So it turns out the reason my 789 and ares 2 weren’t playing nice is because they didn’t like being connected balanced to each other. Via singled ended, they sound fine. I still have a FA-12 on the way so I guess I’ll find out if this is a fault of the 789 or ares 2. I Double checked the wiring on my balanced cables, and they’re fine.

128

Hmmmm, that’s weird. There will be a performance hit from using single ended, which could actually be beneficial in this case I guess to tone things down? Not sure

1 Like
129

I don’t know, but it also seems like there’s a really high frequency fatiguing sound coming out of the headphones over balanced. It’s not audible, but it’s perceptible within seconds even with no music playing and regardless of the gain setting.

Does it matter if the actual neutrik connectors are grounded for the 3 pin XLR connectors? I think pin 1 already sends the ground over the shield?

130

Hmmmmm, so if you unplug the usb or coax from your ares ii, while it’s still plugged in balanced to the thx, do you still hear it? It could be ground noise but that’s uncommon with balanced

Uhhhhh pin 1 should be ground/shield, 2 is positive and 3 is negative

2 Likes
131

That’s the odd thing, I’m using optical in to the ares 2, so no ground noise from there, and yes its present even without the optical in plugged in. Maybe Josh Valour was right when he said the 789 is a noisy amp.

Maybe something to do with it’s not truly balanced topology?

132

That’s really odd then

idk

1 Like
133

Do you have both the XLR and RCA connected to the Ares II?

Only one of them should be plugged in at a time as the output is shared, the signal will be transmitted to both even if one of them is not on.

1 Like
134

Ah yes that’s something I didn’t think about, you really can’t have the xlr and rca connected at the same time and it won’t sound great

1 Like
135

No, I usually only have balance connected. I did have both connected for some A/bing for the high frequency noise for a bit though.

136

Hi Mon I just saw that there is a 1421 available but not 2541. Just curious if that would be just as good but without xlr. Or should I hold out for 2541?

137

No, that would also be more inline with the 1541 than the 2541, and the 1421 was a slight step down from the 1541

138

Ugh ok thanks as always🤝

139

Has anyone else had a problem with an optical cable becoming disconnected when the connector moves around in the socket? It seems when my cable is plugged into Optical 1, the weight of the cable causes the head to move up resulting in my signal being disconnected. The same result can be achieved if I lightly push down the cable. It seems to make the cable become “unaligned” as it sits in the socket. I pretty new to using optical, I only started using it once I switch to the Ares II under a month ago. Is this “how optical works”? I don’t think this is a problem with just my unit.

140

Hello,
If the optical cable has a plastic housing, it tends to wear out and no longer holds in the guide.
I would first replace the optical cable and try again.
If it is not better then there could really be something wrong with the socket.
But the last thing I would do is send the device in.

1 Like