Triple test – Denafrips Terminator Plus, Venus II, Ares II

The trio

Ares II

The god of war… that’s quite a name for a converter. So who did Denafrips declare war on? Perhaps the rest of the industry by putting a dac in the market for around 880 euros that just sounds very solid.

The Denafrips Ares II is – of course – an R2R ladder dac. Just like the Venus and Terminator (Plus). The differences are in the power supply, the number of ladders, clocking and of course the enclosure. By simply making everything simpler, but maintaining the component quality, a surprising result can be achieved.

The Ares II sounds very easy going. A touch on the warm and round side, but engaging and remarkably pleasant. Of course, the imaging is a bit smaller than with the Venus II and Terminator Plus. In particular, it is placed a little more backward compared to the Denafrips Venus II. But that is also due to the sound balance which tends more towards the mids with the Venus and is a bit warmer with the Ares II.

In terms of dynamics it is within the price range without question. However, we hear especially less microdynamics compared to the Venus II and especially Terminator Plus. But more about that later. We find the Denafrips Ares II a particularly solid performing product for 880 euros. It shows that we have come a long way in the field of affordable, digital hi-fi.

Venus II

War and… love. Venus… the goddess of love. Love of music? Who knows. One thing is for sure; this Denafrips Venus II looks really great. The housing is unprecedented for this price range. And the connection possibilities too: coax, bnc, I2S, 2x AES (also dual use), optical and USB. What more could you want. We would not know what is still missing.

Internally, the number of ladders has been doubled, resulting in two times a balanced mono signal. Just like the Terminator, by the way. The difference between the Terminator Plus and Venus II, is that the Terminator can be clocked externally. And that it has not one I2S connection (hdmi), but two more (Ethernet).

The musical reproduction of the Venus II is without a doubt different from the Ares II. The sound balance tends more towards the mids and we do not know if we really like that. The imaging, however, is larger and airier, giving more of an illusion of 3D playback. That is indeed an improvement. Yet: we miss some calmness with the Denafrips Venus II. Both with respect to the Ares II and with respect to the Terminator Plus. And that  may sound crazy, but that makes the Denafrips Venus II actually the lesser choice of these three. While the Ares II sounds a little darker and less big; the Venus II has a slightly more restless feel to it. And the Terminator? Well… read on…

Terminator Plus

One of your author’s favorite movies: Terminator and Terminator II. Great… unfortunately the sequels were less successful. But not in this case, because boy: this Denafrips Terminator Plus is a great machine! Tight, precise, rich in detail, but not tiring. And with the possibility of clocking with the Gaia. And yes: that puts even more sophistication in your listening space. Are you looking for a beast of a dac? Well: this is definitely a possible candidate.

You will not be short of connections with this brute. The Denafrips Terminator Plus goes even further than the Venus II in terms of connectivity. We see – besides I2S via a hdmi connector – two additional I2S inputs via an Ethernet connector (RJ45). We do miss bnc. Too bad, because we guess that more people would rather have a bnc connection than three I2S connections.

Sonically, the Denafrips Terminator Plus brings everything together: neutral sound balance, calmness and great imaging. In short: it takes away the restlessness of the Venus II and brings a little more control. And yes: that makes this a good choice in our opinion. We hear a lot back from our own Metrum Acoustics Pavane with DAC3. And that is of course meant positively, because with the new DAC3 modules this really is a beast of a converter (with unfortunately a steep price, but yes: part of the hobby).

The name Terminator should of course not be used lightly, because well: it means that it pulverizes the rest of the field. Whether the Denafrips really does that, we do not dare say, but the fact is: it plays very well. And it is on the level of our own reference: the Metrum…