I have both, and I’d personally choose the Bifrost 2 over the Ares II on your setup. It wouldn’t make a difference between ordering a BF2 from the US and paying the taxes and ordering a Ares II from Singapore and paying the taxes. For repair and warranty you would have to ship to outside the EU anyway, and both end up at a similar price (at least in the UK).
I personally find BF2 has better synergy with the RNHP as it’s a little bit more neutral and less coloured so you keep most of the RNHP’s tonal balance and organicity and naturalness (which is quite important for me personally).
With the SPL (I’ve only heard a Phonitor One) I think the Ares II makes it sound too forward and aggressive.
Also, with the Ares II you can only use either output or get an adapter and use both as SE only at the same time. You can run both balanced and SE at the same time but it will degrade the sound quality.
I do like the Ares II, but I think the sound signature and functionality means it pairs well with a smaller range of things and if this is your first mid range DAC I think it’s better to go for sth a little bit more versatile
Thank you, very interesting reply. I’d be interested in the BF2 however while the Ares is available in the EU nowadays (they now have an EU distributor!) the BF2 is not, making it a couple of hundred euros more expensive than the Ares…
Obviously I don’t know how much VAT is in your country, but in the UK for example, an imported Bifrost 2 is 700USD + 20%VAT + 50USD postage + around 15USD handling fee charged by Fedex making it £670 or 700EUR. An Ares II from a UK dealer is £800.
I that price range given being in Europe probably rules out the BF2, you have the Ares, the Soekris 1421, and I’m at a bit of a loss after that.
It’s a price point I mostly skipped over, I did own a BF2, but it was for a second system, but I know a lot of people on here have had experience with most of the DAC’s in that price range.
The rules changed in July so the cost is higher for sellers that are not VAT registered. This means the BF2 would cost me about 1000 and I’d have no warrantee.
I don’t know how the shipping rules and everything work, but would it end up being any cheaper if one of us who live the US bought it here and then shipped it to you?
There would still be VAT and handling charges to pay on the declared value and delivery costs. They changed the rules to stop online shops outside the EU from unfairly undercutting small shops here.
Falsely declaring the value is a criminal offence so if they work it out they’d confiscate* the package. That all said, depending what it is and what the easily searched second hand value of something is it could still save money.
I really appreciate the suggestion!
*Edit: my mistake, they’d charge me the extra to make it cost the same as a new one and if I did not pay, destroy it.
There’s an EarMen dac in that price range, the Tradutto. It’s a d/s ess thing. It’s new so not a lot of info out there.
Ares ii is a great dac though. It’ll add energy to a system which is the only potential drawback I can think of regarding sound. Everything is slightly more forward from neutral. If that sounds fine to you then I wouldn’t hesitate picking one up.
You could try and look for a used holo cyan pcm, or wait for the new holo cyan ii (I’d just hesitate on the dsd ones), might come out to be similar cost with taxes and import? That’s a step up from either the bf2 or ares ii in some regards. A used mhdt like an orchid or pagoda perhaps? In eu I sometimes see T+A DAC 8s show up for pretty crazy prices that end up at or under 1k
Otherwise I agree with @mochi that the bf2 does have better synergy, but I do think the ares ii could still potentially be worthwhile
You can also get some pretty nice deals on the Project DAC Box RS which should be a similar level of dac to the bf2/ares 2. It also comes in many forms (like the pre box rs digital) so you can sometimes find a really good deal since people don’t realise that’s what they’re getting.
You beat me to it, this is exactly what I was going to respond. It’s a good signature, it’s probably a step above to begin with… the only problem would be finding one. I suspect that that they’ll pop out a lot once the new Cyan is introduced.
Sometimes sitting on your cash and being opportunistic when a deal pops up is a good thing.
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time” – Leo Tolstoy
I think you are right. There is a noticeable shortage of units for sale in the new market, let alone the second hand, right now. I think rather than buying what I can find I am better off waiting to get what I actually want. The JNOG is good enough for now and for what I am listening on that I think I can happily wait.
I’m in a similar boat with you. The J2 is filling in nicely until I pull the trigger on my next DAC purchase. Out of curiosity, how are you sourcing your J2? I’ve gone back and forth between COAX and USB, and I think I prefer the COAX sound. But I don’t have many people to compare notes with around here (on this particular DAC)
[edit] - I don’t know why I didn’t look first, but the ENOG/JNOG thread is active here (just a few months stale). I shoud look before I post
Mine doesn’t have the USB module since I bought it intending to use a DDC. Currently this Audiophonics one. I hear nothing between toslink and coax though. I’d definitely say a DDC - even cheap Douk ones, have given me dac improvements - even if it is only less signal noise. The current one was the cheapest I could find with linear power and it improved everything.
Which J2 version did you get? I’m definitely leaning toward getting something alongside mine. I actually really like the sound of it.
