IanCanada
Denafrips ARES 12th/II R-2R DAC clock upgrade KIT
Denafrips ARES 12th/II R-2R DAC clock upgrade KIT
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Artical: Denafrips ARES 12th/II R-2R DAC clock upgrade beat Spring3
#86A: Clock upgrade KIT only
#86B: FemtoMck45/49 + #86A
#86C: #80A + #80B + #86A
#86D: #86C and upgrading service. Need to ship your Ares to us
Denafrips ARES 12th/II is a decent R-2R DAC at a very good price. One of the biggest differences between Ares and higher grade DACs is the clock. For example, Puntus uses TCXO and Terminator uses OCXO.
By default, the sound quality was good, typical R-2R sound signature, but just didn't impress me much.The middle range was pretty beautiful. But the high range sounds like behind a layer of fog.The 3D image was also not that solid. So I believe there will be a big potential to improve ARES sound quality if use better clocks. Because Denafrips DAC's clocks can not be disabled, the only way would be to replace the internal clocks.
ARES 12th uses 45.1584/49.1520MHz low phase noise clocks as default. I performed a real phase noise measurement on them. The actual testing result was OK but still a bit far from the higher grade clocks. SC-Pure clock is 14dBc/Hz better at 10Hz offset and 17dBc/Hz better at 1kHz offset. So are the rest of the offset frequencies. That's the reason I designed this ARES clock upgrade KIT. After upgrading with two 45/49 SC-Pure clocks and keeping break-in for two weeks, I was surprised to find that the sound quality got a big improvement and the soundstage suddenly opened clearly. And the high range becomes really beautiful feels like there is a golden edge surround the 3D image. That's pretty impressed. It was upgraded at least by two levels, which makes ARES capable of challenging 5K or higher price high-end DACs.
Customer Reviews
When I finished the Re-clock job, first listen sounds improvement, but like a new team member join, after Three days They matching
Sounds Great
I like it.
Matchy Ma
Not the most easy thing to install. (very tiny soldering points) But the patience is rewarded with an instant wow feeling!
This upgrade exceeded my admittedly high expectations based on the feedback available. I have lived with the Ares 12th in my nearfield setup for well over a year so I was quite familiar with its sound/performance. Placing it back into my system after Ian Canada performed the upgrade himself (a service I HIGHLY recommend, very smooth transaction and didn't have to stress the procedure), I held off on doing any critical listening knowing that the clocks were suggested to have some burn-in time. I did give a quick listen and noticed a easily perceptible expansion of the soundstage in all directions.
After approximately 140 hours of non-listening run-in time, I can honestly say it was well worth the cost/effort. Tonality is more or less unchanged (a good thing if you're already a fan of the Denafrips signature tonal characteristics), but in addition to the noticeably extended soundstage there is a much more focused lens into the music although not distractingly so in terms of losing overall musical enjoyment. Detail, imaging, instrument/positioning separation, micro/macro dynamics, and general effortlessness have all gone up enough more than a few notches.
While I haven't heard them to compare, the level of upgrade in all of those areas is what I would expect/hope for moving up the Denafrips line as if the Ares with SC-Pure clocks sits at least on par with the Pontus II/12th if not between it and the Venus 12th. Ian's posted quantified comparison chart checks out for me in terms of the before and after sonic findings with the upgrade so I'm inclined to believe his comparison with his Spring 3.
Take this conjecture with a huge grain of salt given the assumptions being made, but the value on offer here with the clock upgrade has me *very* satisfied to the point where I'm confident that getting better would have me putting out at least 4 times the cost of the clock upgrade itself.
System: Roon/Qobuz > Denafrips Arce (i2s out) > Denafrips Ares 12th (RCA out) > Musical Fidelity M5si > KEF LS50 Meta + Paradigm Defiance V10 (Cables: Audioquest for power and Straight Wire for interconnects/speakers /// Power Conditioning: IsoTek V5 Elektra)
Music Genres: Electronic/Ambient, Indie Rock, Alternative, Jazz, Metal, and some Classical/Opera
Please note this is not a soldering job for the feint of heart, unless your very experienced at micro soldering take it to a shop.
After install definitely quieter better separation/cleaner but a little on the thin side with a slightly harder leading edge. This is on an early Ares 2.
So better in some ways but I thought I had lost some silkyness. I leave my Dac on constantly so thought it was well burnt in but literally overnight it seems after a couple of busy months and not much actually listening time everything suddenly relaxed (50 hours in maybe at most)
Now it has all that good stuff but the smooth nature is back and its great!
Burn in is real! just leave it on AND playing for a while before making any judgements.
The new Ares comes with clocks in DIP package, and there is no room to plug the kit. So I remove the clocks and put the sc-pure instead, though they are a little bigger. The task is not easy because you need to dismantle the case completly.
After 2 days, the SQ still evolves for the better.
