Got delivery of a Denifrips Pontus II a couple weeks ago and am burning in the unit by listening to music / using the ISOTEK - Full System Enhancer Burn-In CD. Transport is a newly arrived NuPrime CDT-10 transport. Using mainly the I2S inputs, with the stock CDT-10 cable.
Early on there was some congestion is some musical passages. However, that has been removed as the Pontus II accumulated more hours of playtime, probably nearing the 175 hour mark now. Running the CDT-10 source output as DSD 64 via I2S seems the best sound so far with my disc collection (CDT-10 cam upsample on all digital inputs: HDMI I2S Sampling Rates Converter (SRC): 44.1KHz, 48KHz, 88.2KHz, 96KHz, 176.4KHz, 192KHz, 352.8KHZ, 384KHz, 705KHZ, 768KHZ, DoP64, DoP128, DoP256).
Some early thoughts so far: absolutely great and natural sounding detail from the bass through treble ranges. Instrument / voice positioning natural and clearly defined, much like seeing the instruments / vocalists in space. Black / dead-quiet background. Soundstage impressive side to side, and front to rear. So far not hearing much difference from the I2s input when using AES/EBU, coaxial inputs, but I'm sticking primarily with the I2S.
Impressed with Mr. Alvin Chee of Denafrips and the Denafrips company. Unit was packaged well, best I've seen so far. Mr. Chee is wicked responsive to questions. I understand that the Terminator II is supposed to be a great unit; however, my spouse and I are more than happy with what we're hearing / experiencing.
Happy listening!
