Only about 12 hours for me today. Good luck with the interview(s) tomorrow, pick a good one. The cynic in me says they make the more expensive one be a bit “louder” so if you compare them and don’t pay attention, the more expensive one wins.
Need some sleep, I’ll post the full story that lead me to this point tomorrow.
Thanks all!
There are lots of SOUND METER apps for your phone. You MUST level match to get any reasonable A-B result.
So here is the back story.
I’ve always been a big vinyl guy for serious music. Never had a real DAC until about 2020, when I had some pandemic time on my hands. Figure I’ve saved a bundle over the last 20+ years not chasing DACs. Just TTs, Cartridges, Step Up transformers, tubes and lots of wax.
Research suggested a R2R DAC might be to my liking. I know, nothing should “sound” at all it should not add or subtract anything. I also know if you like tubes you like distortion…not what this is about. So I got me a Denafrips Aries II and was quite impressed. Sounded a lot like my vinyl rig, for a lot less money. The more I listened the more I liked it. Upgrade-itis set in almost instantly and I sold the Aries for just about what I paid for it and got a Denafrips Venus II. Not the top of the line, but one step below…I think the T+ was just coming out so Terminator or Terminator II was top of the heap at the time…but the timeline is a bit fuzzy.
Had the Venus II for a year give or take and was listening to a lot less vinyl. Every time I listened to it I liked it more. I’m not quite sold on burn in, so guessing I just had a shiny new toy and liked it. Nothing wrong with that. Then I got to reading and thinking about a DDC. Purposely being on the digital sidelines for so long and not even looking beyond SONOS for whole house convenience; I didn’t even know what a DDC was or could do…but I figured I needed one. I don’t think it did anything for the Venus II, but it looked cool in the rack right? 
Money spent, might as well keep it. Just in case it is “helping”. Actually it did seem to add a tiny bit if depth and width to the sound stage on higher rez DSD files. Nothing for 16/44 IMO.
More reading reviews, online testimonials, gushing about Terminator/T+/Gaia combos, getting deeper into Roon. RPis with DACs to replace some SONOS connect endpoints…hey you need RAAT for the noisy kitchen, dinner table, outdoors, etc. don’t you? Can’t have an RPi for my office. NEED a Lyngdorf 1120, after all I’m working form home 100%. Man, this is as silly as the turntable stuff. 1-Roon to rule them all! (Gollum voice).
Since my main room already has the Gaia DDC and it did not help the Venus II…the magic beans has to be in the dual clock cables between TII and T+. It HAS to be, right? Oh but the T+ is so much more than that original Aries. A whole digit more. But I had to find out for myself in my room.
So this time I did not sell the Venus II to finance the Terminator Plus like I did when I made the jump from Aries to Venus. Keep reading its about to get good.
On day one I put the Terminator + into my system on its own. I was trying to stack the deck in the Venus’ favor. Rpi4 to Gaia with a “good” (wireworld ultraviolet I bought it used for like $25) USB cable then I2S from the Gaia to the Venus II. The Terminator + got a hand me down computer printer USB cable directly from the Rpi. You know the off white/tan kind that is knotted up in a plastic bin of discarded stuff you might need some day.
As I listened to favorite new gear tracks the T+ CLEARLY sounded better. Oh boy that was with a crappy cable and no dual clock sync cables that I had waiting the wings. I left it like that for a few days going back and forth between hot-rodded Venus and solo T+. I could not wait to hear the difference when I put all the might of DDC and clock-synching behind it.
The moment came and the difference between the Venus II sans-DDC, with crappy cable and T+ with Gaia AND spiffy BNC cables making them work in harmony was EXACTY the same. WTH??? (interesting I just found out you can’t post DoubleyouTeeeEfff on this forum) Queue the sad trombone.
I’ve lived with it for about a month. Every time I switch, the T+ sounds better when I go form Venus to T+. But when I go from T+ to Venus it sounds about the same. Hmmmm, the novelty of newness was wearing off. What was I really hearing? The more I focused the more I thought it was a slight difference in volume. Thus, my post yesterday asking if any of those specs could impact volume.
I bet if I got that Aries II back there would not be any/much difference. YMMV. I truly wanted every step of the way to sound orders of magnitude better. My room is well treated, it is purpose built for music/movies. Live and learn. At least I found out for myself. Next up SONOS connect vs. Terminator +. Any bets?
Sound meter apps aren’t accurate enough. You need to measure the output at the DAC or amplifier connected to the DAC.
I will get out my multimeter and finish off the job. Based on what I learned here yesterday and given the miniscule difference I think I know what the end result will be. We are talking 2.5-3 X the money from the same manufacturer and additional equipment for a negligible if any GAIN…pun intended.
I had a Sonos Connect - blind tested it with a MF V90 DAC against a Resolution Audio Opus 21 2-box CD player.
Couldn’t tell the difference, so I sold the Opus 21.
But just ask the Internet and everyone will tell you a Squeezebox touch blows away a SONOS Connect. I’ve got at least 3 Connects. I think the last one I bought used was $65. Great for repurposing old equipment in the garage and such.
Some people on the internets also swear that the earth is flat, the moon landing was faked and 5G causes COVID…
The Sonos Connect manages about 92dB SINAD with its internal DAC and will give you 98dB SINAD with a good external DAC (it’s limited by its 16-bit resolution here). It’s eminently capable as an analogue source, or as a digital source feeding an external DAC.
True but it’ll get you close. I have the old Radio Shack SPL meter…
I have a digital SPL meter too. If you’re careful it’s probably just about good enough.
For precise level matching though, I still prefer a 1kHz sine wave from a signal generator measured by a true RMS multimeter or an oscilloscope.
IMy main DAC’s variable line out has 0.5dB steps. It’s surprising just how audible each step is.
Hi there!
Here is my story… guess you’ll like it 
Innuos zenith streaming through roon using both usb outputs to 2 DACs on a grouped zone so I can change surge with my preamp remote and do easy a-b test.
Dac1: cheap AliExpress usb cable, Amazon basics xlr cables, stock power cables, Venus II.
Dac2: 1600$ usb cable, Gaia, terminator plus, 500$ i2s cable, 4000$ Xlr cables, 4000$ power cables, 300$ cables for clock sync.
It’s absolutly impossible to hear any diference. Neither me or a any audiophile friend.
When you test first one, then plug/unplug things, then listen again, your brain tells you ■■■■■■■■■ Only instant changes in source is valid for me.
Thats my story… keep the T+ by the way… it’s heavier and more good looking 
Glad you had $10,000 to waste on cables.
I am in the market for a new DAC, seriously looking at the Venus II 12th… Which as of 2019, was actually a Terminator. I think that is why folks are not hearing $1000+ in sound improvement. As far as cables, I use Mogami, for digital and XLR, around .70 a foot, with Neutrik Gold connectors and Amphenol connectors. USB cables, I use Amazon Basic or similar, I have never heard a difference between those and the Audioquest Cinnamon cables I stupidly bought.