So....I bought THIS tonight.........

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081B3HQYQ/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ok, so The Beave IS crazy. After all my craziness going through OPPO’S and CD players and recently ending up buying a Denafrips Ares 2 r2r dac, I keep going like a madman.
I’ll admit it, I’m a gear slut, I love messing with my own pre conceived notions of sound.
The Ares 2 was, yes I sold it, an excellent sounding dac, but I’m fascinated with this sub $1000 category of Chi-Fi Dac’s based on the ESS 9038 chip, DAMNIT! I keep going back to that dang chip.

What I learned though in my Denafrips journey was priceless. And I met a few new friends on that thread and that was worth the price of the dac alone. But.......
I’m still looking for the deal breaker and so this thing pops up outta nowhere.
Obviously a new company shooting for the American audiophile market.
They do have measurements graphs on their sight that might lite the sciencereview site, or Amir’s site, aglow. THD through XLR in th e insane zone, now whether this is real or not is to be seen. But damnit I feel like a bit of a pioneer here so I. Took the plunge.
Wish me luck as it uses the cheaper ESS SABRE 9038 chip, not the PRO, but it uses two of them with the ESS power chip ES9311.

So if anybody wants to add info to an unknown product, please do, I’ll be getting the unit this Tuesday, so here we go...........

And thanks again to my friends over at the Denafrips thread.
Beave

 

And the UBER sexy YouTube video.......
WARNING........AUDIO PORN!



BEAVE

 

I look forward to your impressions. Do you still have your Oppo 205 for comparison?

 

Yes you are.

 

Beave, you flipped your Frips? The Beav has the DAC fev. Trying to keep up with you and following you around has me out of breath.
Oh well, might as well follow you down that rabbit hole too.

 

What happened to cause you to drop the Denafrips so fast ?

 

Yes I do! And that’s been my motive in searching for a dac that can sit in my stereo rack while delivering what the 205 does, but in a more aesthetic way.

I’m very interested in this sub $1000 Chinese dac revolution and if it brings anything realistic to the table.

But the engineering does seem to be incredible.
Hopefully others will chime in here, whether it’s good or bad I just want to explore!
If it falls short I’ll be sending it back to Amazon.

But the Denafrips dac was a great experience, but in the end......FOR ME..... it didn’t bring home to me what I want.

Beave

 

Yes I did flip it yesterday. Lost about $50 but that’s ok, I expected that.
The new owner will get it broken in and in new condition, which is what I do, but again, the Denafrips Journey was very educational and I really did like the dac, it’s just that........THAT sound I get from the OPPO 205’S ESS 9038 is still what sticks in my mind........the Ares 2 is a different thing , and it just didn’t EXCITE me like that 9038 did.
But in no way does that take anything away from the Ares, not at all, a state of the art r2r dac.

And I have to be honest, I love the chase, I really do!!

Beave

 

Plenty of people like the Topping DACs, the D50 has the ESS 9038 onboard by the looks ....

TOPPING D50s DSD DAC

 

That chase will make you do some crazy things.
I've been there, done that.
I've got an extra DAC to prove it.

 

ADHD! .......LOL.....
Really though, when I bought the Ares 2 it was for my 61st birthday, I wanted to try out the deck because of the thread Bever70 started, plus I really wanted to learn more about the r2r technology and see if it fit in my system.
But in the back of my mind My reference was and I guess still is that ESS 9038 chip in the OPPO 205.
And unfortunately the Denafrips didn’t exceed that for me, so I gave it a month and now it’s still my birthday month so I decided to try this unit, and just like the Ares, I’ll learn from it and give the community my impressions of it and I’ll try to blow it up by burning it in for a month! Then I’ll see if it hits my buttons, and if it doesn’t then I’ll send it back and the search will continue.

But what I will say is that the Chinese audiophile market is just exploding as I watch it, and I’m having fun being able to try some new gear out and sharing the experience with you......
Very cool trip!
Beave

 

Oh believe me, that’s in my radar also!
Seriously, this really a Journey.
And I’m having fun, which is a good thing.
Beave

 

Too easy ..... well, you should be able to put together a buyer's guide at the end of this anyway.

My Ares arrives later this week.

 

And you will enjoy it, it’s a great dac! All of our systems are unique and what works and what doesn’t work is unique to us. This is by no means a farewell to r2r dac’s, this is just exploring different dac’s, it could very well work out that I go back to the Ares 2.
Beave

 

If you get bored you might want to look at the Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital. It doesn't have XLR but its noise floor is well below audibility anyhow. Also measures well per ASR and Stereophile. European designed and manufactured with dual Sabre 9038 chips.

I recently compared it to the $1700 Chord Qutest and returned the Qutest.

 

Anyone referring to themselves in the 3rd person qualifies as crazy in my book.

 

Congrats with your new kid in dac-town !
What I don't understand is you are selling a dac BEFORE you get the new one?! I only believe in AB comparisons as audio memory sucks, so I would have kept the Ares until your new dac was broken in and then do some AB comparisons. The only way to go in DAC-land imho.

 

Speaking of rabbit holes, check out this original 10 min version of Alice In Wonderland from 1903! :



incredible......
Beave

 

Good to know this! I just bought one, but I really don't know what to do with it!
I have an Oppo 103, should I run that thru it?

 

Very true Bever70, but my rational was twofold, The Ares is excellent, but didn’t better the Audiolab by the margin I thought it would, so I had already made up my mind to part with it, second, I couldn’t buy ANOTHER dac without the wife shooting me if I didn’t sell the Ares first, so I had that money to spend. She already knows I’m nuts when it comes to audio.

I initially bought the Ares due to your thread on it. I also wanted to get some experience with an r2r dac and see what all the fuss is about, and I accomplished that. Again, the Ares is an excellent dac, I might go back to it if I don’t find what I’m looking for, but while I have the means, ie money, to try out some other dac’s, I want to do that. If I didn’t that little stinking devil on my left shoulder would just bug the snot out of me!

But you bet I’ll be keeping an eye on the r2r dac’s and your thread.
Beave

 

I went through the "chase" phase a few years back. It lasted for quite awhile from preamps (tube and SS), AVRs, prepros, players, subs and speakers. I was constantly swapping out gear and doing endless comparisons. I eventually found that I wasn't listening to the music but was listening to the gear.

Now I place more importance on enjoying the music than concentrating on the the slight differences in gear. I'll still consider new gear but at this point my system as it is sounds quite good . Certainly nothing wrong with the "chase" and the thrill of trying new gear. Enjoy!

 

I hear you loud & clear. Everyone has different setups, hearing and expectations. For me I just needed the analog magic in my digital setup to happen and the Denafrips was the first DAC that offered me that (and then some more). I still think you might have sold the Ares a few weeks to soon, as with mine everything just fell in to place only last week (and if I remember right you got yours 1 or 2 weeks after mine).
But I hope you find what you are looking for in your new dac, it certainly offers a sexy frontal fascia with the backlighting behind the glass (?) panel, and it has plenty of inputs.

 

That is cool, looks like it took some serious restoration work. Just think what the world was like in 1903.

 

Bill!!!
Good to have you chime in, and yeah, your right, I think this is my mid life crisis lol....
Instead of a Harley or Corvette I’m doing this!
But if you remember I went through this with the OPPO’S and I learned a lot and got some great gear out of that journey.
Plus being a humble telephone technician I haven’t had until recently in the last few years the money to be able to do what I’m doing, now I can indulge a little, but again look at it, I’m not going for the terminator lol, I’m trying out a $500 unit. If I had $4000 to play with you bet I’d have that terminator here right now! But I have to be happy with staying within my means and that’s ok.

What I’m hoping for with this thread is a continuation of knowledge sharing that’s over in the Denafrips thread that Bever70 started. Maybe someone who has experience with the ESS SABRE 9038 Q2M, not the PRO but the model down from that, will chime in with their experience, there’s so much to explore here. It’ll be interesting to see what difference’s there are between the Q2M chip and the Pro chip in the OPPO.
The other dac I am interested in uses the 9038 PRO chip, but only ONE.
This dac on the other hand uses TWO Q2M chips, does that make a big difference, I don’t know, but I get the unit on Tuesday so if it doesn’t fry when I plug it in we’ll start burning it in and see what we have.

Thanks for chiming in and Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday’s to you and yours and everyone else here.
Boy I am full of Christmas Cheer!
Beave

 

Oh yeah, some parts are just a few frames, amazing forensic work they did on that. And you can tell it was decomposing pretty badly, we’re very lucky they salvaged what they did.

How’s your new dac working out?
Beave