I LOVE my CDs again thanks to the Ares II and Schiit Urd
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2023
- My CD collection is BACK in rotation thanks to this combo of the Denafrips Ares II DAC and Schiit URD CD transport!
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I had a feeling you were heading in that direction with your rationalization and I am all for it. It makes perfect sense! I’ve shifted my focus on to CD’s as well since collecting vinyl had gotten too expensive for my taste.
I had a lot of great advice here to help me choose!
The problem is the quality of the music production. It's most often crap !
1
I've switched back too CD's exclusively since I paired an Audiolab 6000cdt with the Schiit Audio Bifrost 2/64. Vinyl has become too expensive and I am super happy listening to CD's again. The trick to enjoying CD's is don't play both vinyl and CD's. Your ears will most likely like the CD sound when your ears don't get confused hearing both formats.
Nice!!! I never lost the love for cds. I still love the format. Vinyl is a pain in the ass sometimes. Its rewarding, but sometimes i want the convenience of the compact disc. Oppo player is still dominating
So which I could score an oppo one of these days!
@@ForeverAnalog the 2 units i bought were some of the best audio investments i ever made. One is still Handling my cds, and the other is handling bluray and 4k in the home theater
Congratulations on your upgrade ! I still love the sound of my Vintage Sony CDP-507ESD with the dual TDA1541 DAC chips but the Urd / OG Yggdrasil beats it on bass control, instrument separation and depth. Even digital out from the Sony to Yggdrasil cannot beat the layer separation from the URD. The Cd mechanism is very high end supposedly from Streamunlimited which is on CD transports more expensive than the URD but I am not taking mine apart to find out. Sometimes you actually get what you pay for IMHO.
Thank for you sharing and for watching!
When I think about it, I cant name a single all in one CD player without individual track selection buttons? All mine have had this feature. Before getting the 9000 I had to return a Roksan Attessa for the same failing as the Schiit, and the Roksan was an excellent sounding high quality transport. It puzzles me unless the engineers dont consult with marketing people to see what human beings might want on their CD spinners.
I’ve had both. I sold the Bifrost in favor of the Ares 2. Bifrost was much narrower less separate. Ares 2 has such air and space.
Great to know. Thank you for sharing!
The BF2/64 has better detail than the denefrips. And has equal everything else.
@scottlowel493 Both of these devices
Have been upgraded since I bought both. I put the Denafrips upgrade on mine and the bass and details improved. I haven’t heard the new Bifrost 2/64. For me the original was dense and narrow. I wanted to love it.
I knew a transport as great as that needed an awesome DAC to go with it. I knew this video was coming.
Howdy,
I really enjoy your channel. I just purchased an Urd from Schiit should be here by the weekend.
I just received a Bifrost ll 2/64 that is replacing my Modi 3+, that is connected to an Oppo Bdp 95.
The Oppo has a great chipset in it already but what a stunning experience first listen.
Details and spatial placement is amazing. I’m listening to my favorite cd’s again like they’re brand new.
Possibly my new Rogue Cronus Magnum lll and Heresy lV’s could play a roll in increased sonic delights.
Decided to take it a step further and went for the Urd. I’m intrigued by streaming recently, and look forward to using it as
a hub, with a Bluenode 2i that I picked up used, and trusty MacBook Pro.
Keep up the great content!
What an amazing set up, congrats! Thanks for sharing and for watching!
I have gthe same set up as you do but I did not try the URD with the usb cable(since I did not have it) put connected via SPDIF and work great
Awesome! Thanks for sharing.
I’m extremely happy for you. You get it. ❤
Thank you!
Great to hear! Nice combo you have there, the URD looks pretty darn nice, and many of us love the Ares II. I would pull the trigger, but it would be darn near impossible to part with my beloved Oppo.
I would LOVE an oppo someday!!!
@@ForeverAnalog Quite a few very nice ones out there on the used market... US Audio Mart usually has a few at reasonable prices, and you can always make an offer. Most are adult owned and come with the original packaging and are lightly used in many instances.
I picked up an Oppo 103 second hand several years back.
I love watching blue Ray discs on it.
Also sacd or Blu-ray audio is quite good.
Multichannel audio ri res can be amazing!
I didn’t have the best luck running optical out to my dac, but I haven’t tried it with a glass fiber optic cable- which did make a substantial difference on a WiiM Pro recently. Also haven’t tried the optical out through an iFi spdif iPurifier 2 with iFi iPower X, which also greatly enhanced the WiiM Pro with my NOS Metrum Octave dac. And enhanced my computer feed to the same dac.
The iFi bits gave me the equivalent of a dac and or source upgrade!
@@ScottoGrotto Yep, hard to beat these old Oppo units, I have their BDP-83, thought of upgrading to one of the newer units like you have, but the 83 works fine for my use, and everything sounds fantastic on it. Why fix something that is not broken?
Hi 👋, interesting, I am thinking of upgrading my amp and I have a budget of around €1300 , is it better to buy one Power Amp at that price or to buy 2 mono blocks for the same price, I need around 150Amps + at 8 Ohm , as I have just rebuilt my transmission line loudspeakers with SAES SPEAKERS , my preamp is a NAD 314 , and it gets hot , as I have to turn up the volume high enough,
Phil from the moulin France .
The visual of the Ares and the Hurd is really cool
Agreed!
As my older age progresses it is hard to part with my highly rated Onkyo DX 7555 CD player with 24/ 192 kHz. Warm sound giving an easy listening experience. I still listen to many albums on my Walker TT. IMO not all album reissues offer an impprovement in sound.
Thanks for sharing and watching!
One more thing. Bluetooth headphones. All one needs is CD transport-> Bluetooth transmitter -> BT headphone. All BT headphones have a built in DAC. So the urd with something like Focal Bathys would be beautiful!
I’ve been using audiolab 6000cdt -> BT transmitter -> Focal Bathys and it’s amazing for apartment dwelling.
That sounds awesome thank you!
The 6000cdt is awesome, been using one for a couple of years 👍👍
I use an Audiolab 600cdt Transport with my Chord Qutest DAC, Banging combo.
I bet so - I would love to get my hands on a Chord DAC! Congrats!
I bought a good DAC from Schiit (Bifrost 2) and rediscovered my CD collection (optical connection to my old cd player). I also might look for a CD transport. 2nd hand CDs are dirt cheap.
Awesome. I’ve really enjoyed pulling out some old CDs from my collection since adding these components!
Nice upgrade !
Thank you!
Fantastic video, can you experiment using the Ares II with older CD and Blueray etc to et an idea how good of a DAC the Ares II is?
Great idea. I’ll try to do so but I sold off my Cambridge player after hearing this combo, it was that great lol!
I love it! I used the same logic with my wife. I told her that instead of spending 8-9 hundred dollars on a turntable and having to re-buy all of our cd's on vinyl, just buy the Ares II/Enyo.
Our new Enyo shipped yesterday. 😁
FYI, the Enyo is replacing a Geshelli J2. The J2 is an awesome dac for the money!
I think I'm picking up a J2 before year end! Thanks for sharing and enjoy the Enyo!
@@ForeverAnalog I have the ESS 9026 which is really smooth, but is a delta-sigma unlike the Ares which is R2R - apples vs oranges. I would recommend asking for a review unit of the new 4499 EX J2 socketed after the Capital Audio Fest. I have not heard it myself, but I hear (see what I did there?) that it is very R2R-like with the Sparkos op amps. All that said, my J2 and E2 make me slap the table every time I hear them as they are soooo good together through headphones.
I think I got lucky... I went straight from vinyl to hard disk storage. It just made more sense than replacing albums with CDs that would later be replaced by computer storage that would later be replaced by streaming .... I've got all my music and movies on one huge hard disk (with backups of course) and I'm pretty happy with that. The advantage is that if everything else went for a crap tomorrow it would be a couple of years before I got bored.
I always have a hard time deciding what to listen to when everything is stored as files!
@@ForeverAnalog
1) It's about how you organize those files. for example I have every billboard top hit from 1960 to 1999. All nicely sorted into folders by year and final position on the year end lists. I do a lot of music searching in those folders...
2) Then I have a folder with nothing but playlists in it... continuing the example, a playlist for each year, each decade, and the whole thing... I don't have to decide, I just pick a year (or artist) then let my software play my lists in random order.
So an evening of music is like, turn on the computer and amp, click on a playlist then sit back and relax.
Given the size of the collection, I could theoretically listen for over 200 years, non-stop, and never hear the same sequence of songs twice.
My movie collection is organized the same way, by genre, but no playlists. Like you I sometimes have a bit of a quandary about what to watch.
I'm thinking of buying my first piece of Schiit. Most of my equipment I have now is crap.
😂
Most of my physical collection is on CD. Granted, I do stream during the day when working but I still love listening to entire albums whether on CD or Vinyl. It is how I grew up. I also still purchase CDs and have recently bought more CDs than Vinyl for no real reason other than sometime I am in a CD purchasing mood. Do you prefer to buy the vinyl version when shopping?
I like buying a lot at once and have found myself stocking up on cheaper CDs rather than vinyl as of late. But it just all depends on what I find in the store. It’s always the thrill of the hunt for me first and foremost!
@@ForeverAnalog I have this running list of stuff to buy but most of the time I leave with stuff I hadn't thought about. As you said, it's the thrill of the hunt. #truth
The USB on the URD is ONLY for schitt unison usb, so its proprietary to schitt DACs only
Whoa, another Ween fan.. subscribed.
Hahaha love it! Not as a big a fan as my friend with a Ween tattoo, but still love em
Hey Aaron this is John, you weren't kidding when you said in our email conversation that you had a new video about the Urd coming out soon lol
Haha! I told you your timing was perfect 😂
I had same usb issues with denafrips iris, musician pegasus and singxer su-2.
Good to know, thank you!
Love CD’s because on this medium you can buy reissues of music long since deleted on vinyl !
Great point, thank you!
Buy some SACD hybrids and SHM-CD’s. You’ll love it. They are as expensive as vinyl usually, but they sound incredible more often than not. Enjoy.
I use a Sony Blu-ray player, as the DAC in it can decode the SACD.
Does that Denafrips Ares II DAC decode the SACD, if not, then it's worth nothing.
@@johnwatrous3058. No. I believe nothing to be worthless because the CD layer is not inferior to the sound of the SACD layer when you buy hybrid discs. Usually the CD layer is superior because of the non Sony/Phillips copyright data protection issue. Therefore you can pair it with a better DAC. Something like an Ares 2 is going to be or have a better DAC than just about any conventional bluray/dvd player out there. In any case. It is fun to compare both layers based around the quality aspects of the DAC itself. Happy listening 🤝
Ok, big question- how does the Urd/Aries2 compare sound wise to some of your vinyl rigs?
Have you tried the NOS Aries settings?
Which Aries settings do you like the best?
Glad you made another video, and upgraded your dac!
I’d be curious if running your WiiM is better through the Urd or straight to the Aries2?
I think you made some wise choices!
Looking forward to hearing an Urd!
I haven't had a chance to do a true A/B comparison with a vinyl rig, but will try to do so! I did try the different Ares settings and preferred the default setting! I'm working on a WiiM Pro comparison video where I need to use their internal DAC, but once that's complete, I'll pair it with the Ares II for sure!
@@ForeverAnalog thanks for replying!
I haven’t heard the Aries except via CZcams demos :)
Many prefer the up sampled setting and some the NOS.
Do you have the Pro with the updated dac?
These little digital devices seem to benefit from and I’ve heard an early W Pro adopter say that an upgraded power supply helps it a lot.
I never used the included supply, just went directly to an iFi iPower 2 5v, but the iFi iPower X is better which I use on another of iFi’s excellent products.
Happy Listening :)
Regarding Geshelli, more than one reviewer has said there's a significant drop in performance using it unbalanced vs. balanced mode if your system is not real balanced xlr interconnects.
That’s very interesting! Thank you for sharing.
CDs are a bargain, and so reliable 2nd hand. Other issues for vinyl for me are; expense of the system (so many components...), storage(aggghh), clicks and pops in classical with regular low signal levels, and lack of releases in 20-21stC classical where CD is the go-to. Glad you are enjoying the 'Urd' - surely a 'Schiit Stream' is next on their agenda?
A Schiit Streamer would be VERY interesting! Thanks for watching!
Wish they'd have made the tray faceplate black as an option
I've been buying CDs since '88 and have always loved them. With that said, I almost never actually spin the physical discs any longer. I feed my Pontus II DAC via a MacBook with all solid state drives. I listen to a lot of electronic/ambient music with plenty of very quiet parts and I've yet to find a player that I'm not able to hear over the music...my setup now is absolutely dead silent with no physical parts spinning. I also absolutely love the flexibility of Smart Playlists. With a few typed words I can do things like create a playlist of every jazz song in my library that was recorded between 1959-1963 with Tony Williams playing drums or every metal song I have from 1982-1986 that has the word metal in the title (15 BTW), I'm a nerd like that...I then just sit back in my chair and control it all with my iPad.
What's a good ambient/electronic playlist for working to? I need something different to play at work!
@@ForeverAnalog Do you use Qobuz or Spotify? Do you want super-deep tracks with no/minimal percussion or something a little more lively but still chill? I've been into this stuff for about 35 years so I have thousands of electronic albums and get hone in on a very specific sounds/styles for playlists.
@ericjenkins2737 I have Spotify but prefer Tidal or Apple Music. Qobuz is on my list to try out at some point. I like it a little more lively!
Cd+ exact audio copy-FLAC.. The modi. is a simple delta-sigma DAC. The BF2/64 is a ladder dac. The bifrost 2/64 has been compared to the denefrips and is more detailed than the ares II.
I can see the justification in your purchase since you own that many CD'S. For me to spend that kind of money on the DAC and CD, from this point forward I would only buy CD'S, and LP'S would probably just be used ones. But that's just me. Great video.
Thank you for watching!
On your USB issue, I had the Ares II and found that the digital coax sounded much better than the USB connection. You may not be missing anything. Just thinking, you have the WiiM Mini, I would pick up a WiiM Pro, get a used one, and plug that in to the other digital coax on the Ares II and I bet that will knock your socks off. ;-)
I’m working on a video idea for the Pro now and have one here at the house!
@@ForeverAnalogGreat! I bought one, the Pro after purchasing the WiiM mini, and cannot get over how much better it sounds than other much more expensive streamers I have owned. I have mine running through a PS Audio Gaincell DAC/Pre to a vintage 1970 Sansui 4000 and simply love it. It sounds better to my ear than the $800 Mercury v2 I have hooked to a hot rod Mac mini. In fact, my buddy bought the EverSolo Streamer, and then I turned him on the the WiiM Pro... He is kicking himself, as he likes it better than the EverSolo. It's that built in, easy to use, 10 band EQ in the WiiM units that kick it over the top.
I agree about the coax sounding much better than USB on the Ares. I was testing out a Raspberry Pi/Volumio streamer with a coax output and was surprised that the Ares sounded better than I expected. I use a Bifrost 2/64 on my main system but when I’ve put the Ares in using USB, I’ve really disliked the sound. I’ll have to try putting the Ares into the main system but using coax.
@@larsbunch Agree. The Ares II via USB sounded rather thin and digital, very sterile. The digital coax brought the Ares II to life.
I’ll have to try coax from the WiiM Pro to my Metrum Octave.
I’m powering the WiiM with an iFi iPower 2, using a glass fiber cable from Amazon which helped a lot, then ran that through an iFi spdif iPurifier 2 with an iFi iPower X supply. This refines the WiiM sound substantially in my system.
The bass is so much better, images deeper with very good separation, better freq response, clarity, sound stage, blacker backgrounds and space between images.
Nice App via iPhone which is great!
Using your same cost savings logic, how much money would you save if you skipped the fancy CD player and just got a streamer instead? Or just ripped your CDs
Great question. I love physical media too much to make a full switch so it’s easy to put a dollar figure on it but impossible to calculate how sad I’d be only streaming music.
How much money could you be making if you didn’t sit around playing destiny all day.
@@mikeg2491 oh look, a local crackhead on the internet
GM ☕️from Toronto.
Did you run the Wiim Pro into it?
Not yet! I'm currently working on a comparison video with the WiiM Pro and another streamer and testing their internal DACs against each other so it will be another week or two before the Pro gets paired with the Ares II
Extremely rational thoughts.
It's not cheap, but is an acceptable amount of money to spend on a DAC/CD combo. At least by my standards.
Thanks for your content.
Thank you for watching!
I dont listen to CDs all the way through most of the time, I listen to specific cuts and I like having a CD or transport that allows me to select a specific cut via a numbered button. With the URD you have to scan through hitting the fast forward button up to ten times or more and maybe briefly listen to one cut after another I have no interest in.That is a big inconvenience. I bought an Audiolab CDT 9000 that has full numerical buttons on the remote as well as a large screen visible from the listening position. The cost is $200 more than the URD but even their 6000 and 7000 model transports have the button select feature and start at about $500. This seems to be big ergonomic customer fail from Schitt. If you dont want the buttons on your remote at least allow track selection from a phone app.
Very interesting. Thank you for sharing!
What is needed is a vinylizer to make CD's sound like an LP..
I think your reasoning is totally legit. And with a good DAC streaming is also a much more attractive option
Thank you!
I really like vinyl but as other commentators state, it is becoming really expensive. And much was the more recent music (since 90s) was in any event produced digitally so CDs just might make more sense for many recordings
What specific USB-C to USB-B Cable did you use?? BTW.. J Mascis & The Fog!🤘🏼🎸
One lying around the house. Is there one I should buy instead?
@@ForeverAnalog Not sure, but better get one that is USB 3 Compliant just to be sure.. Try your current cable from a Laptop with USB C and stream directly to the Ares 2 to try if it works..
@@ForeverAnalogGet an Amazon Basic 3.0 cable, that could be your issue.
This is the kind of video that makes a ton of common sense.
I don't own a massive CD collection...it's roughly 510 which is quite a bit for me to enjoy, as it covers most genres except
C&W (and I'm fine with that 😜)
I probably have 25-30 digital albums in addition to those CD's.
I then calculated what it would cost me to obtain vinyl copies of all of them, at an average (that's the key word..."average") of $50 per record....I figured $50 takes me into the in-between realm of new & used and the occasional record that would cost more than $50
I calculated a cost of approximately $26,700 US Dollars, not including things like shipping, tax, and any must-have records that could eclipse $70, $80, or worse things like vinyl box sets.
26,700 dollars.
That's a house down payment in several states. That's a lot of money for records that you can also scratch, or break, but i digress.
I'm not doing any of that, quite thankfully. I have a fine CD player/changer and all the stuff to assist that player to play my CD's as wonderfully as possible, hence I'm more than satisfied. I probably have about 50-55 records at best, and in zero hurry to up that number anytime soon, because the cost of new vinyl and a lot of old vinyl isn't very buyer friendly anymore, which is unfortunate but not tragic as I already have what I need, right here, whenever I want it. I suspect more consumers are giving their CD's a second and third look these days, as they should because they already have what they need, all they may lack is a component or two and maybe a pair of speakers to enjoy it all once again.
And that person will not have to spend anywhere near $26,700.00 to obtain those things to enjoy their packed-away CD collection.
That's a lot of money, yes! Thank for you watching and for sharing!
There are no comments on the broken USB link yet. This is the first negative I have heard on Ares hardware so I wonder if the problem is with the Ares or the Schiit, or maybe even the cable? I think Denafrips has made improvements to the USB input on the newer Ares models, but still, yours is the first bad USB I've heard about after reading and watching many Ares reviews.
I wouldn’t assume the usb is broken on the Ares, but rather that the Urd and the Ares aren’t compatible via usb due to Schiit’s design.
I have been enjoying CDs as well and thankfully they are just as good on something cheap like an Oppo DVD player as they are on something this expensive. Spending $1300 on a transport wouldn't work for me because I would be thinking about all the music I could buy with that money.
I completely understand!
@ForeverAnalog What matters is your budget and being happy with it and I'm glad this setup is working for you.
Insult to injury: many vinyl re-issues are made from a digital file.
When the Urd breaks, it turns into the tUrd.
You should check if the Ares will connect to something else via USB, it might be the Ares is faulty.
You know what they say about those Detroit boys; he might be selling your credit card number right now.
:~}
Hahahaha yes! That’s why I pay in cash 😂
I really like the rationale behind your rationalization ;-)
... but seriously: If you'd not have saved thousands of dollars by by investing into new toys, you would have been not acting very sensible. Cheers!
Thank you for watching and for sharing!
I do not stream, I listen to my CD collection, or DSD vinyl rips. SACD is also good, but a number of choices is limited.
Yeah I think I’ve given up on sacd lol
Life is short and you enjoy it. I totally get it. I buy movies weekly and I probably shouldn’t lol. I’ve wanted some Schiit stuff for a while but don’t need anything at the moment. Current setup is Sony sscs5, smsl su1, Fosi audio tb10d for desktop pc. For office it’s elac debut 2.0b62, Jbl 550p, Denon receiver, Sony 4K player, and fluance rt82 tt and fluance phono preamp. And an onkyo cassette deck from Huntsville thrift store 😂.
We’ve talked about Huntsville before, right? I grew up there etc.
@@ForeverAnalog oh yeah nice. I go some. I’m in Murfreesboro so most of what I go to thrift wise is Smyrna and Nashville and here.
I don't think, as rationalizations go, your take is all that out there. Digital sound quality has only really come of age over the last 10 years. To get the most out of it you have to spend a little bit. (I like 1 box solutions so I went with a Technics SLG-700, which was $3k when I bought it. Not cheap, but worth every penny.) Once you got the gear getting digital content (streaming, CDs, etc.) is very affordable. I still love my vinyl rig, but I limit the number of LPs I buy to select all-time favorites (or new stuff that is vinyl only.) For someone starting from scratch and wanting to build a physical media library... you'd be crazy not to add CDs into the mix.
Great points, thank you!
Aren’t you gonna have to change the channels name now?
Nope!
My opinion (and we all know the saying) is that big money spent on a CD transport could be much better utilized in other areas of a HiFi system. I'm running a sony bluray player from walmart as my CD digital transport. It reads the 1's and 0's perfectly and passes them on to my DAC.
It’s a fair argument for sure!
What model DAC?
As a side note. Aside from the tactile pleasure of having and handling physical format, wouldn't a music server setup be cheaper, just as sonicly effective and take up a lot less space? Just askin'.
And CDs are super cheap these days. Discogs is great.
Oh yeah!!!! Agreed
You really should have gotten the schiit Bifrost 2/64 instead of the ares II.
Hmmm. Out of curiosity, do you have any specific reasons why?
@@ForeverAnalog i admit that i have not personally used the Ares II, but over the years i've used multiple different DACs from different companies. Three months ago i finally bit the bullet and got a Bifrost 2/64 and it was a surprisingly noticeable upgrade to my system. The reviews i've seen for the Ares II are ok, but the Bifrost 2/64 is in the same price range and there is nothing mediocre about the sound. It blows away every other DAC i've listened to. Now, i also have to admit that i've not used any $2,000 - $3,000 DACs like a Chord or a Pontus II or a Yggdrasil, but in its price range the Bifrost 2/64 is the way to go in my experience.
For your library of classic rock music, I think the Ares II is a good choice. It’s a more laid back smooth analog-sounding DAC whereas the Bifrost 2 is warm and still smooth but also much more fun, dynamic, and punchy. The 2/64 is more digital and glary sounding compared with the original and I don’t recommend it.
Thanks for the info! Very helpful.
Thanks for sharing but I try not to make definitive statements that one piece of gear is better than another until I’ve actually heard both. Reading reviews is fine but how do we REALLY know until we’ve listened?
you'll buy the vinyls anyway... so...
I don’t know…I still gotta lot of gear to buy lol
@@ForeverAnalog hahah same here, there's no cure for us
I feel you made this video for your wife to justify the spending :D
She’s cool so maybe it’s for my mother in law lol
spending any money on a hifi transport is a complete waste of money. they do not reproduce music any better than a cheapass dvdplayer. its not the stone age of digital signals anymore.
Thanks for the feedback. You’re really not gonna enjoy my next video then where I compare two cd transports lol.
@@ForeverAnalog even if jitter was a problem (its not with any modern dac) price has nothing to do with it, audiophiles just assume more expensive is better without any facts to back it up. they would never be able to pick up the difference in a blindtest...
I'm fixing to buy a separates amp and pre amp then maybe next ares 😅