just wanted to say it’s extremely respectable of you to reply to these all questions one by one. as someone who is new to the hobby watching videos like these are really helping me broaden my understanding of audio. thank you.

The level of detail of your product reviews is remarkable. Fantastic work

Thanks for the link to Dacman. I contacted Stav and purchased the Ares II from him. Great customer service! Stav is terrific to deal with - plus he kept his discount promise when I mentioned ‘Passion for Sound’ - now some 8 months down the track. I love your KZfaq channel, all the best, Antoine

I'm planning to buy this DAC within the week - I really appreciate your thorough review, and I think you are doing an absolutely fantastic job with your KZfaq videos, as I have watched several from your channel and they very well edited and filmed. I'm going to be pairing this DAC with the Burson Soloist 3X Performance Amplifier, and your review on this one was also super helpful. Keep up the great work!

An update video may be worth while. Denafrips released their 3rd firmware update on July 5th, and it's the best take yet. More articulate bass, smoother mids and increased timbre and soundstage with no fatigue. Outstanding sonic performace.

A very good and thorough review, indeed! Appreciate especially the comparisons to the higher and lower price ranges. A big thank you from a new subscriber from Denmark, Scandinavia

It would be interesting if you could review the Ares 12th with all the firmware updates just to see how it stacks up against the Biifrost 2/64 now and Gustard R26, Yggy, etc. This is also your second most watched video so might make sense for you to review the 12th just for that reason alone. : )

I would like you to review the bifrost 2 and compare it with the ares 2 and d90. Great review and I enjoy your content!

This was my first look at Passion For Sound. I thought you did a very good review. It was laid out well with intelligent comments. It was also well paced. Your photography was excellent. Your "B" roll was as good as the "King of B Roll" himself - J. Darko :) As an owner of an Ares II your comments has influenced me to revisit the up-sampling options on this DAC. Maybe I dismissed them prematurely. However, one correction with the price in US dollars. The US price right now is $755. I think you mistakenly referenced the price in Singapore dollars in the video.

I recently bought some new speakers. They are JBL Stage A180's. They are warmer than my old PMC FB1's. I ran the FB1's with the slow filter and that was good. That filter did not suite the JBL's at all. The fast filter is much more enjoyable, changing made a positive difference. Moral: just do the experiment with your speakers and just do not just elect and stick with the slow, warm setting as some have suggested. Thanks again for a very thoughtful review.

For anyone with very analytical speakers like Focal or B&W (I have an a pair of older Matrix 804s) this DAC provides a welcome smoothness in the highs that my tweeters desperately needed. Or at least, I needed.

Outstanding vlog. Really appreciate your in-depth review.

I really enjoy your channel you communicate your thoughts well and get to the point. Peace

My first R2R Dac is arriving tomorrow! Excited to hear it... Holo Audio Spring KTE dac

Great! I have the Ares ii and absolutely love it. It’s only $670 or so here in the US but quite a wait. I am planning to move it into my office with my secondary system and buying the Pontus for my main system.

Top-notch review! Full of relevant information that I enjoy learning and thinking about. Thank you.

I was hesitant to purchase the Ares II, as every DAC I have owned are all clinical sounding to my ear. Listening fatigue set in within a hour, even casual listening, it was unbearable, mid tier DACs, roughly in the $1000 +/- range, Schiit Gungnir was one of them... Well, after so many glowing reviews I bit, and damn glad I did! Huge sound difference to my ears, no more fatigue, music is now enjoyable to listen to and I can play my system all day long now without having to turn it off. I see a Pontus II in my future. I mainly listen to R&B, Jazz and some classic rock. I use my old OPPO BDP-83 and a GeerFab D.BOB to get native DSD to my Ares II, love my SACDs... In fact, my experience with Denafrips was so incredibly good, that I went and bought their Iris DDC, their Hades preamp and their Thallo amplifier. I have the KLH Model 5 speakers and I have to say the sound out of this system still knocks my socks off. And the few folks that have heard it are impressed to say the least, their smiling faces, head bobbing, a hell ya every now and then, along with some serious toe tapping give away their true thoughts.

very surprised to hear that Modius sound close to Ares II. can't wait for the Modius review!

such a great review channel really, you are able to explain things very well, deeply and easy to understand. not an easy ting to do, specially when having to talk audio. Best dac advise around.

An interesting thing I find about R2R DACs (may not apply to the Ares II, but I own a Musician Pegasus), is that when you turn it on and start listening to it - you might feel that its not actually that striking or impressive sounding. The stage is definitely wide and open, but you're not hit with that clarity and dynamics you get from D/S. Looking at it critically, the background can sound a bit 'grey', the edges of transients feel rolled off - its not 'HiFi' like we imagine it to be. But the sound is presented in a way where once you get past that analytical side of your brain trying to parse what is good and bad about the characteristics of the sound, you can just listen and comfortably enjoy music for hours one song after another. Interestingly enough, I find that I often don't listen to music from start to finish, or I might skip sections more on a D/S DAC, while on my R2R DAC I will just click through and absorb the songs, and might even just let it go play whatever it finds and enjoy it. I feel like R2R DAC's just have this ability to draw attention away from themselves and let you just enjoy the music for what it is, while D/S DACs are going to highlight everything there is to hear and draw more attention to themselves in a 'HiFi experience' way.

Great work man! Amazing review!

Particularly interesting and incisive remarks on the timing aspects.

I did a test of 6 coax cables below £40. Sound signature And quality varied alot on my system. Mogami cable was the best for price and sound in my opinion.amazon brand was better than some costing alot more. Be interesting to know what cable you used for the test. Nice review.

Very nice reviews. I like the style and the detail. They are lengthy but not boring. I think that you could go for a review a step or two up in the Denafrips DAC catalog and get that extra resolution you are missing. I am interested in your point of view regarding the SMSL M400. Judging by the sound samples in another channel looks like it has resolution without the D90 harshness, closer to Ares II maybe (I own the Denafrips and I also notice a little lack of resolution).

Oh well now you've done it - and I was just about to pull the trigger on a Topping D70! Great review by the way, I'm subscribed and it was your take on the little Topping E30 that led me to buy the E30/L30 stack for headphone listening last week - wow, all I could keep saying was - how much did this cost again!! 😊 So for a laugh I took out my RME ADI-2 from the main system and popped the little Topping in... oh dear now I have to rethink price/features all over again! I had to tune down the brightness a bit with Roon DSP with the RME, but the little Topping turned what had been unlistenable glare into some kind of super tweeter detail? DSP off and I'm still listening - hence the thoughts about a D70 to see what that sounds like in my system? Have you heard one yet? All the best Tim

I'm coming from a DS Dac and got the ares because schiit and chord is really expensive here. My first impression is the lack of slam and crunch, though after listening for a few days, I appreciated the 'rounded' off edges. I am able to listen to the music without fatigue and still get a decent resolution.

Great detailed review, thank you. Would love a review of the soekris 1421 dac and a comparison to this ares ii dac since they are at similar price points (and are both r2r ladder Dacs).

I just bought this, and I LOVE IT!! I preciously owned the Chord Hugo, and I enjoyed this better! Does EVERYTHING right! Great Review!

As an owner of the D90+A90 combo, I must admit I was always scpetical when watching your comparisons with the Bifrost 2 or the Ares II, thinking that you're exagerrating the differences. Whilst I haven't heard the former, I have recently bought the latter, and oh boy... It is different for sure. It has made me fall in love with my Utopia once again. Admittedly, it doesn't sound that great with my planar headphones (HE1000se), so you're right about it being a bit soft, it's all about the synergy here. But never before have I really been able to just turn the volume up on the Utopias and get sucked in. Admittedly - a little less punch and incisiveness, but the stage is deeper, more holographic, and instruments sound more real, more corporeal, the sound sounds full as opposed to hollow. I'll paste in below some comments I've made elsewhere in hope they help others watching this video thinking about purchasing this DAC: 1. OS mode with the Slow filter is the way to go. I could see myself sporadically using the NOS mode but only if I wanted to chill out, relax, or listen to music in the background without being moved by it. Otherwise it's just not enough in terms of impact, separation and detail. 2. First thing that struck me was the soundstage holography and depth - the opposite of the D90 which puts everything right in front of me. Ares II pushes music slightfly further away from me, presenting it on a bigger and deeper stage which makes everything sound more like a live performance as opposed to listening to a record. 3. Everything sounds smoother whilst still being clean and quite detailed. I am finding myself being able to listen at higher volumes without being attacked by any harshness (bear in mind that amp volume needs to be higher anyway as the Ares II is quieter than the D90). 4. For anything with real instruments, especially more relaxed tracks - Ares II makes it sound more interesting and more believable than the D90. 5. For everything requiring direct in-your-face impact, I think the D90 still hits a bit harder and can be addictive in its detail, accuracy and speed. Having said that... 6. The more time I spend with the Ares II, the more difficult it is to return to the D90 because, as someone has mentioned elsewhere, it feels a bit like going from listening to a performance to listening to a recording. 7. Ares II turns my Utopia into an easier-to-listen-to headphone, it seems to have a similar effect on the HD800 (the soundstage gets even bigger!). However, the HE1000se does not seem to have a particularly good synergy with it, I think it's because of the nature of the planar driver and its already softer/more laid-back presentation. The Ares II feels like a bit of overkill whilst the D90 gives this particular headphone the punch it needs. It's the other way round with the Utopia. Very, very interesting... :)

Nice accurate review. TQ! I had the Pontus with me for a while. It’s got that ‘analogue’ sound. Basically, no electronic sheen. But pairing can be tricky. All depends on your favorite sound flavour. But in terms of build, it’s superb. No complain at all.

Evil Dub is one of my favourite tracks to test gear with. Another one you might want to try is The Sea by Ary... Very dynamic with lots of detail and swirling sounds.

Nice shot out to Hans B!

Amazing review. I am very curious how you think this stacks up against the RME ADI 2 DAC FS for the DAC part obviously. I own the RME but I pair it with an external amp. Would I gain a lot of naturalness in sound if switch to the ARES II?

Looking forward to the Modius review. I have two and love them. beware they take forever to burn in.

Thank you for doing the video. I just noticed that discount not withstanding it is cheaper to buy from the Singapore dealer and have it shipped to both AUS and US.

NOS mode doesn't always mean that you have to feed the dac with non-processed 44.1/48kHz data directly. NOS mode allows you to use your own high quality filters on your computer like SoX resampler.

Very curious to give this a try. I had a chance to home trial a Chord qutest for a few days and was quite underwhelmed. It wasn't bad but I just not impressive enugh for what you pay. I ended up going with a Lumin T2 which I love, very holographic and three dimensional with great detail (especially after adding the S-Booster power supply. Thanks for the review, first video I've seen of yours... Subscribed!

Songs: I'm Not Mad - Halsey / Anxiety (feat. Papa Roach) - Black Eyed Peas / not ur friend - Jeremy Zucker

Great review, totally agree on each and every word you said. Especially the wrap up, as opposed to too many “jaw-dropping” comments I heard and read in the last year or so. ...and I own the Ares II myself.

Another R2R ladder DAC is the Musician Pegasus. It is slightly more expensive than the Ares II - and actually may be made in the same factory. Maybe you can review it at some point? The Ares II is actually doing linear interpolation in what it calls NOS. I don't know if the Pegasus has a "true" NOS mode, but it apparently is the preferred mode for some folks.

Another great review Lachlan. My comparison to Qutest (for what its worth), Ares sounds better, less clinical, quite significantly better slam and more holographic. This to me, is is the best sounding DAC under $2000.

great review & content. surprised how well the modius did against the ares2. Hope you can review the Bifrost 2 soon which is supposed to compete to the ares II (price-wise).

Greetings from México! Congratulations, your reviews are always among the most complete and detailed. It would be very interesting to know your opinion about the Venus II. it´s not as expensive as the Terminator, but many describe it as very close regarding sound quality. It is also in the price range between the Chord Quetest and the Hugo tt2.

Hi, Super review! Im currently evaluating Bifrost Multibit/Bifrost 2 and Denafrips Ares II for my main 'music' listening setup (Marantz 6007 amp + PSB X2T Towers, currently using a topping with ESS9038q2 as dac in the chain) I mostly listen to easy vocals (Ella Fitzgerald), 60/70s rock (Floyd, Led Zepp) jazz, some classical and new age/electronic. Source is through PC based hi-res streaming (Tidal) and some cds. I have a high affinity/preference for smooth and open/airy midrange with precise deep bass and holographic imaging with wide soundstage. Looking for that 'in room presence', black background, rolled off/less sibilant top end with an overall smooth sound signature. In the Bifrost 2 review, you mentioned that the sense of space is higher with Ares II but bifrost has better resolution better. Most reviews of Denafrips mention that musicality, soundstage and holographic imaging qualities. They are around the same price point and offer all features (i need). Only plus i see for Denafrips is the higher bitrate conversion ability (beyond 24 bit 192) compared to Bifrost. The only flip side (rather tradeoff) is that Denafrips may not justice to most electronic music which requires slight more resolution that smoothness. You liked Bifrost more on most tracks than Denafrips (which might be a future possibility for me if i go for the Denafrips) I value your reviews/views enough to be confused between the 2 now :) This is quite a leap for me (as i was earlier considering choosing between the Chord Mojo or Modi Multibit) but realized might as well splurge and close the endless upgrade loop. Any chance you can get me out of this choice pickle!! Thanks mate :D

Great video and very helpful for your notes. Thank you for sharing.

Waiting for your review Schiit Modius. Thanks

Thanks for another great and highly detail video! In this comparison was your D50s fitted with the stock Opamp? You made a great case here for the Schiit Modius, have you compared it to the R2R Modi Multibit since it might be closer to the Ares? Finally, I'm debating between getting the E30 or one of the Schiit DACs (Modius / Multibit) given the price of Denafrips - would appreciate your 2 cents. Thanks!

Hi tere and thanks a lot for the clip and for sharing what you think about the Ares2. I wonder how the Denafrips Venus would compare to the Chord Hugo TT2 regarding soundquality, analogueness etc. I wonder because I tested the Ares 2 and the Qutest... and I was impressed how well the Ares2 did sound for less money. It sounded more analogue and more full bodied to my ears than the qutest. The Qutest won in terms of detail reproduction, transients and holographic imaging, but sometimes sounded a bit artificial. So the Ares 2 is a big surprise for the money.

Buyers be aware because almost all KZfaqrs don’t mention it, this DAC can’t be use for gaming and media consumption, because of a 2/3 seconds delay.

Best review of my actual DAC!!!👍

Curious if you've seen GoldenSound's video on the Ares II where his testing would seem to indicate that even in non-oversampling mode that the Ares II is still oversampling. He doesn't really factor it into the review of the Ares' quality or whether or not you should buy it; it was done more so to test the claim by the manufacturer. If true I would wager the Ares is not the only R2R DAC that is misrepresenting what its non-oversampling option actually means.

In my opinion R2R DAC’s for me are just to Lay back for me . I love clear bass a bit of grit. Rock like Deep Purple and the best of Queen

A very comprehensive review. Thank you.From what I understand you prefer Chord qutest over Ares II.Right?

I have a question regarding all this discussion on dac’s lately (especially delta sigma vs R2R). Do reviewers not put too much emphasis on comparing the Dacs standalone? After seeing a video of Thomas and Stereo I was reminded again on the impact of matching and pairing and the importance of the preamp in the signal path. So would the combination of a good delta sigma Dac with a smooth and airy sounding (tube like) preamp not give you best of both worlds? In particular a preamp that allows you to change opamps? I think this actually is how most integrated amp manufacturers in the HiFi world work, they never use R2R (to my knowledge). And I also think this is how Burson has developed there top of the line integrated Dac/preamp/headphone amp (Conductor series), which uses the ESS9038. On their website Burson claims the following: “Some DAC/Amps claim to give you the front row experience in exchange for less soundstage. Others promise a 3D soundstage in trade for fewer details. The Conductor 3 Performance simply gives you everything in the recording, without sugar-coating, the good and sometimes the ugly.” My current thoughts are that the RME ADI-2 / Burson Soloist combo might actually give me best of both worlds. Because you get all the EQ features from the RME, including the neutral headphone outs for analytical listening and than you connect the Soloist as perfect (pre)amp to balance out the soundstage and smooth things out for enjoyment listening on both headphones and speakers. I would be very much interested to see if that combo would be similar in performance to the Conductor series and also if the Conductor can live up to its expectation set by the manufacturer. From what I have read so far, that might be the case. Also from an economical point of view the RME/soloist combo would be the ideal solution, because in a few years time you could replace the RME when technology and dac chips advances and add new op amps to the Solist when they improve. I will be receiving the RME for tryout later today :)! I currently still use the Aune Magic X8 dac which also has this swappable opamp functionality.

I recently compared the Ares 2 to the Chord Qutest with the Chord running a linear power supply. The Ares 2 isn’t to the level of my Chord Qutest. The Qutest is more resolving and delicate with a lot more air & open, effortless stage while also reproducing vocals and instruments that seem far more realistic. Ares 2 is a more laid back, pleasing sound that would suit my system if it wasn’t for the other many downfalls in comparison imo. Maybe the Pontus or Venus could be ok but the Ares 2 is turning me off trying their higher levels.

REALLY great review. Comprehensive, and intuitive to the nature of why we would be concerned with the differences. Curious as to how the Modius and the Ares II compare to the Airist audio R2R dac. I ended up with the Airist after your review of it, and now love it. But would now be interested in the Ares due to its power supply and outputs (and everything else it offers).

Great review mate. Have you tried the Pontus, Venus or Terminator? Curious. :)

I own the Ares 2 , the Schiit Modi R2R DAC and the Auralic Mini DAC. for me moving to the Ares 2 was an upgrade. I really like the Schiit modi r2r DAC but the soundstage and details on the Ares 2 are way better( to my ears). thestreamingmusic The Soundstage fro DSD is much reduced compared to PCM. The good news is that when I convert DSD via Roon to PCM and then stream it to the ARES2 the music opens up again so that's what I'm doing as setup

I decided to upgrade from the onboard DAC in the DMP-A6 to the Ares II (well technically it's now the Enyo 15th). I was really impressed with the improvement in sound quality, but after 3 days the unit has died. It will no longer power up at all. Tripled checked everything and the unit is most certainly dead. I purchased direct from Denefrips, so we'll see how they respond. It's not a good sign of their quality that the unit lasted all of 3 days before going belly up.

Love your reviews man. In case it helps on certain headphones we can hear your mic touching your chest which adds some muffle I think. Great review regardless

Very nice in depth review I have one and I totally agree with you I just love it best DAC I ever had

Hello, you are making great reviews, very informative and helpful. I have a question and I need you advice if you don’t mind. I have the ADI2 DAC with RNHP amp driving the Aeon flow open/ Sennheiser HD650. I value timbre and tonality most and sometimes the ADI 2 can be a little flat if that makes sense despite that the amp that I have gave a definitely a more organic overall sound boost. If you would have to choose between new headphones or the Aries2 as an upgrade/experiment what would be your choice (best investment)? I wonder how much I will benefit from an organic sounding dac or move to something like ZMF headphones at 1K euro price point... Thank you in advance! Can’t wait for more videos to come.

I enjoy your reviews very much and always look forward for your next one. I was wondering if you are going to review the Beyer t1 gen3?

I wish Amazon sold the Denafrips, but it seems to only be available in Singapore. To much of a hassle for me in the US. Looks like the Topping stack is still my first pick.

Wow great review. Good comparisons with differences. A lot of reviews miss this important information. So does this dac improve the soundstage on your tube headphone amp? I’m after a dac with great detail and sound stage. I wonder if dacs make that much of a difference to tube amps.

Do you have any plans to review the Denafrips Pontus or Venus. I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts given your comments on similarities to Chord. I currently have a Qutest and don't know if I'd consider upgrading to the Chord Hugo TT2 (too expensive at $8.8K). I don't think there is a chance of auditioning either the Pontus of Venus in NZ. The price proposition is very favourable vs Chord. Even the Terminator is $1,500 less that the TT2. Keep up the great work, all the best - Peter.

Shame you didn’t still have the Qutest to compare, I’ve got a Modius since they were released and am thinking of an upgrade. I’ve been looking at these Denafrips units, but it’s very interesting to hear you think it might be lacking in resolution to the Qutest, I really like my Modius but the main criticism I have of it is it’s a bit too rolled off, so perhaps the Qutest is the one for me?! In truth I struggle to hear many/any differences in Delta Sigma DACs, so that makes me very reluctant to spend good money on another DAC with that design, I hope these alternatives are more obviously better. I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts on the Modius video too. (I’m a speaker user not headphone so maybe that’s why I struggle to hear the difference, still, I very much enjoy your content and respect your opinions and consistency on your DAC journey) Cheers

Oregon "Leather Cats" is a great track with some amazing double bass.

Do you consider this a fuller sounding DAC? I’m planning to upgrade from SMSL DA-9 to the Topping PA5 amp which some reviewer recommended to pair it with a fuller sounding DAC. I have the Loxjie D30 DAC which I think not a fuller sounding DAC which I’m also looking to upgrade. On all the DAC that came across your desk which one is a good choice to pair with the Topping PA5. Hope to hear your recommendations. Since I don’t have a streamer yet, I’ll be listening to CDs for the most part. Thanks for the reviews and keep it coming.

Hi, 'm a subscriber to your channel and considering buying a Pontus. However, I have read that improvements from the Ares, which I now have, are accompanied by a loss of warmth. I have Klipsch IV speakers. If there is a loss of warmth upgrading to the Pontus, depending on the amount, it might impact my system's SQ adversely. I would very much appreciate your thoughts on this. Your channel is a must-read for me. Many thanks.

Thank you for the great review ! I have the same experience !! using delta sigma (topping dx7s) and R2R (Audio-gd r2r 11), the topping is more forward sounding, 2D presentation and i find it fatiguing with some speakers; it's harder to enjoy the music, the R2R 11 has a 3D presentation, better tonality, smoother sound, really not fatiguing. (When using upsampling to DSD on the topping, the sound has more depth and softness)

Very nicely done - Bravo

A well defined review. Do also try Aune products they r amazing, again coming from China.Been using their S8 magic dac ,were you can roll the op amps.That was really cool.I tried it with jrc they give along as well as Burson .

Great video. Do you think this Davis better than the Chord Qutest?

Owned the Aries II for a month. Built well and didn't have features I wouldn't use. Got rid of it and went back to the DAC in my Vincent 500 integrated. The sound to me was not engaging, kind of dull. Initially when I got into digital, didn't care for the harshness, The Aries seemed to go too far in the other direction.

I love that hoodie

Thanks!

Oh interesting, so you feel that DSD maybe has the edge in delta sigma dacs; whereas, with this one, PCM was better (not overly smoothed, comparable)? Do you feel, in general, that DSD is a 'better' format/codec, prior to this finding or not? Just was curious. Good video and review 👍🏼

Maybe I am too used to NOS sound signature, but I have yet to hear an OS DAC that sounds _more natural_ to me... Sure the sound get more linear and you pick up some excitement in the high end, but at what cost? If it is a choice of sounding more "live" like or not, then I will always choose the what sounds more like live performance. sorry...

Evil Dub sorts the men from the boys. Try these: Hot Chip - Motion Sickness Monolake - Geometry Engine Dario Cellamaro - Drums for Giampiero Plug (i.e. Luke Vibert) - Flight 78 Zombi - Earthscraper Have you ever listened to a Musical Paradise MP-D2?

Great review! Most detailed to date where it matters and I still understood the lingo

Appreciate the comparison with D50S. Driving a tube integrated amplifier, would you expect any additional benefits with Ares ii vs D50s? Thanks

Thanks very much for your review. I currently own a Chord Mojo and HD 800s and was looking at upgrading my desktop DAC/ AMP combo. I'm considering a hybrid tube amp, either a Schiit Lyr 3 + Bifrost 2 (6.3mm Single ended connection), or a xDuoo TA-20 + Denafrips Ares II (fully-balanced XLR connection). When pairing with the HD 800s and mostly Classical and Jazz music, in your opinion, which combination do you think would be best?

Great review, but you didn't mention what you were testing it with. Headphones? Speakers? Which models?

Thanks for your review. What an amazing coincident. I just started checking reviews on this dac few days ago after noticing this dac popped up few times in the forum and quickly snapped by others. Btw, do you mind to provide link to playlist of albums/songs you mentioned in the video? or maybe just type the name?

IMHO if you are after the most realistic, natural sound out of the Ares II -then go NOS all the way :D Pianos and horns just sound more like they are in the room with me.

Have you tried your chord with a linear power supply? I used a sbooster botw for my chord Qutest and was blown away by the difference and the 3 dimensionality. It is night and day. Try it! Let me know when you do.

Great review and suggestion of music. well done, subscribed.

At my age I'd be very surprised if I can hear anything over 8kHz, so 20kHz is long gone. Nevertheless I can still enjoy my music and get as much out of it as I ever did. I have quite serious tinnitus but this has never fazed me or forced me to abandon listening. I've only just gone down the dac rabbit hole and my preference I think is going to be r2r. I own a Marantz CD6004 which uses the apparently reasonable CS4398 D/S chip. I used to own an ancient Adcom CD player with TDA1541 X 2 chips, which I now understand to be a superb chip, much sought after today even if it went out with the dinosaurs. Wish I still had the bugger.... My only dip in the water so far has been a super cheap TDA1543 dac which sounded really nice to me, until it failed after a day. It sounded definitely different to the CS4398, more aggressive possibly, a quite raw sound but with odd details evident I hadn't heard before. These extra details reinforced my growing belief that there just might be something to using an outboard dac, especially r2r. I don't think my budget at the moment will stretch to a fairly expensive dac like the Ares, but if I progress on this journey with r2r I could stretch things. I've got a MUSE Mini dac on order with 1 x TDA1543 as opposed to the 4 x TDA1543 Muse that is currently out of stock. My fear is that of spending big $$$ for something I'd be unable to appreciate with my tinnitus, so 60 Aussie mung beans delivered for this Muse dac is more appealing in case it's all for nought.... No real questions for you dude. I've enjoyed the few videos I've watched thus far and subscribed....

I think the d50s with the muses02 opamp and p50 power supply gives it that 3 dimensional experience that r2r dacs generally give. The soundstage on the d50s with muses02 is very accurate on placement of Instruments also. I’m only comparing it to a schiit modi multibit though. Are you using the muses02 in the d50s or the original opamp?

Thanks for creating your DAC reviews, I enjoyed watching them. Have you tried a proper digital front end like Antipodes Audio? I am in Melbourne if you want to have a listen. My perception is that it is night and day compared to an average computer set-up. I therefore don't know whether the DAC matters much after that - until convinced otherwise, I'm of the view that a better front end is the foundation before you go further down the chain

I've got the schiit bifrost multibit, love it!

I currently own a Chord Qutest and although I love the sound that comes out of the unit, I am really curious about R2R DACs and was wondering if it would make sense to purchase this one to see what all the fuss is about.

Great video and very interesting information. I recently bought the Loxjie D30 after seeing your video presentation of the Loxjie and I would like to know if you think the Ares II is worth buying considering that it costs almost five times the D30. Thanks so much.

Great video. Thank you for your wonderful input. I've been looking at the Ares II as my endgame dac. Question though, have you tried the SMSL SU8 vs the Modius? One of those 2 will be my next dac. Thanks again.

Hi Lachlan, love all your videos. Just a quick question. I'm thinking of getting the Ares II / ENYO 15th. I currently run a Mojo 2 as a DAC only through a Burson Composer 3XP as a desk headphone (Focal Celeste) setup. Is the Denafrips ENYO 15th a step-up compared to the Mojo 2 DAC only if I'm chasing a more spacious, holographic sound stage, or is it a sideways move? I'm waiting for the Qutest 2 to come out (it's been 5-6 years so I'm sure there's new version in the pipeline) and would love to have that. All the best and thanks in advance.

I'm wondering how this DAC would sound paired with the Singxer SA-1. I am planning to pair it with a pretty aggressive headphone so I hope the Ares II and SA-1 pairing would smooth the sound without sacrificing the details of the music.

Great review, I have a Airist Audio R2R dac. It is my first R2R dac and it's sound really good. Do you think the ares II is a nice upgrade? Can you compere it with the Airist Audio R2R.

Lately I've been enjoying Chesky Recoreds Great Audiophile Voices 1 and 2. Also Women in Song. Down loadable from their website or cds available on Amazon. Pristine recordings made in a church and not trifled with. Also, have you ever heard the Proprius recording Catante Domino. Again choral music recorded in church. Beautiful voices and ambience. Lachlan, It would be interesting to get your take on the Schiit Gungnir Multibit. My current Digital/Analog mangler.

Wonder how it sounds against the Metrum Acoustics Octave Mk ONE which uses UNnamed NOS Industrial NOS DACS which I have and sounds excellent.....great bass, nice midrange and smooth but detailed treble. I use it for CD's only with a CDtransport. Cheers. UK