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Denafrips Ares II DAC vs Topping D90 DAC - My impressions....

Posted by AbeCollins (A) on April 25, 2021 at 21:53:49

I am pleasantly surprised! After letting the Denafrips break in and play background music for a few days it's sounding pretty nice. My initial impression wasn't so good but I'm truly enjoying it now.

The Denafrips Ares II (R2R DAC) leans toward the smooth, rich, and full-bodied side of neutral - if you believe there is such a thing as "neutral". It has a more robust sound compared to the Topping D90 but with less detail retrieval and less transient "snap". The Denafrips produces a more layered soundstage front to back and the overall sound is a bit more relaxed with vocals seemingly recessed in the layer - the opposite of "in your face" forward.

The Topping D90 (AKM chip) non-MQA version is more transparent, detailed, snappier, and extended especially up top in the treble. The front to back soundstage is flatter and vocals are more forward - not "in your face" forward but noticeably more forward than the Denafrips. The D90 is not bright but seems to cover a wider audio spectrum. Aggressive is too harsh a word for the D90 but I would say it's more "alive" and dynamic compared to the Denafrips.

All that being said, I find my old faithful PS Audio NuWave DSD DAC (ESS chip) falls somewhere in between the Topping and the Denafrips.... a little more like the Denafrips than the Topping but with better detail and dynamics.

Neither of these newcomers will replace my PS Audio NuWave DSD DAC but if I had to choose based solely on sonics I would go with the Denafrips Ares II over the Topping D90 in MY system. That's not to say the D90 isn't a wonderful sounding DAC but your choice might also come down to system synergy.

I would go with the Denafrips in a system that tends to be inherently more detailed or bright with good dynamics. The Topping would pair nicely in a system that is already smooth and rich.

My over simplified examples based on gear that own:

Thiel CS2.4 speakers and SS amplification - go with Denafrips Ares II.
Tannoy D500 speakers with tube amplification - go with Topping 90.

Both are excellent DACs. YMMV as your system may vary [ YSMV? ]

Topping D90 DAC | Denafrips Ares II DAC

Denafrips Ares II DAC | PS Audio NuWave DSD DAC

Notes:

The Topping D90 is a full featured DAC with remote control, preamp mode, fixed DAC mode, remote filter selection, sample rate display.

The Denafrips Ares II is a non-oversampling or over-sampling R2R DAC with basic old school LED indicators and front panel buttons. I tried the Denafrips in NOS mode and disliked it.... overly smooth and veiled. I chose over-sampling mode with slow roll off filter which I clearly preferred.

At the time of this writing:
- Topping D90 $700 USD
- Denafrips Ares II $775 USD
- PS Audio NuWave DSD DAC $1299 USD* [discontinued]

* Was typically discounted to $900 USD with any trade-in. In fact, I bought a $12 DAC off Amazon, traded it in, and got the NuWave DSD DAC for $899 USD. But then PS Audio quickly wised up and stopped the "any" trade-in terms.

The setup:
- PS Audio GainCell DAC/Preamp, used as a preamp only
- PS Audio M700 Monoblocks
- Thiel CS2.4 speakers
- Two DIY Raspberry Pi network streamers
- Roon Core on Synology NAS, local files, Tidal, Qobuz
- Roon Remote control on iPad

One RPi4 feeds the Denafrips DAC over USB. The other RPi4 feeds the Topping DAC over USB. Both RPi streamers are setup as Roon Bridges for network streaming. Grouped both streamers in Roon to play the exact same tune at the exact same time. This makes it super easy to A/B switch between the two DACs from the preamp while both DACs are playing the same exact track in sync. I did A/B tests and long term listening.

Edits: 04/26/21 04/26/21

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.

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