Denafrips Ares 12th Anniversary Edition DAC Review - Hitting it Right on the NOS

Excellent deep dive describing their sound signatures and staging capabilities! Thanks for the video. Subscribed.

Great, solid review. I ended up with different questions now, you answered many. thanks!

I have the Denafrips 12th-1 and my quickest explanation is that its an extremely resolving DAC with a fantastic soundstage where the music sounds like its just ever-so-slightly burnished. People have said that it sounds like a very expensive SET tube amp. You can listen to it all day long and never get ear fatigue.

Thanks for your in-depth and detailed approach with your videos WT!! For some strange reason, I even enjoy watching the ones that boggle my mind. You know, too expensive. Or, yes this is fabulous product as long as you factor in that you'll also need new cables, a DDC, a balanced amp,... And then there are the confusing ones that make my nose bleed! But hey, great work!!

thank you for the (as usual) great review 😎 i have really high hopes for the hifiman ef600, primarily the dac section. looking forward to your review, opinion on it 🤞🤘

Great review. I'm really curious as to how the close 12th anniversary update takes this to the Pontus II 12th. Are they similar in performance now?

Good review it almost wants me to upgrade my Dac because I would like to try out dsd but right now I have a 2019 bifrost 2 with a topping A90 running bal and running a Lyr+ single ended and I really do like having a strong Bal and single ended performance out of one Dac bur still that Denafrips Ares 12th Anniversary Edition is a nice piece of gear

solid dac, its a gateway drug. just upgraded to the Pontus.

I'm an audio engineer doing "research" for moving permanently from near field studio monitors to headphones. Currently, I have Nuemann NDH30, Sennheiser HD650, and HD 800 S headphones. I plan to buy the Audeze LCD5. I quickly learned the DAC and amp are extremely important. I need a DAC and headphone amp that would be a good fit for critical listening for making mix decisions. All suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Hi firts of all thank you for your great reviews i really like them, i wanted to ask you for the violectric hpa v222 in your opinin wich is better between the Ares 12th and the bifrost 2/64 for the HEK 2 Stealth? Thanks

Thanks for another great review. I'm saving for a new DAC this summer and the finalists are the Aries 12th and the Bifrost 2/64. For a number of reasons, I'm leaning heavily towards the Denafrips. (I'd throw the Gustard R26 in there as well, but the price differential is a lot for my budget and it's rather large for my space.) Actually, the price gap between the Aries 12th and the Bifrost 2/64 is less than it seems, though it partially depends on where you live. Unlike most sellers, Schiit charges for shipping (Vinshine ships free worldwide) as well as NJ sales tax (I'm pretty sure Vinshine does not); this makes the delivered price of the Bifrost just under $900 for me.

The Ares II (non Anniversary) also accepts up to 1536 kHz PCM / DSD1024

The OG ares 2 also received a fpga firmware upgrade. A comparison would be cool.

How bad is the DAC for electronic music where I would need a quicker bass slam/punch? What other options on the market come close to the Ares, but with quick bass punch?

Hi, will you be reviewing the gustard a26?

Has anyone tried xlr to rca cables with this? If so how does it sound vs straight rca?

My bad, not the Denafrips. Just watched the Soekris 1421 and meant to place this comment there. Very nice presentations WT.

Hello :) what are some high quality balanced to single-ended converter that I can use? Are those properly terminated XLR to RCA cables okay? I'm looking at one that is hand-made in the community here.

Hi, have you tried the J2S with akm4499 chip?

Hi, I know a lot of time has past since the review but can you recommend super synergy with amp (max700 usd) and headphones (about 1300 and less)? Thank for "honest" and "thorough" review.