Denafrips Ares upgrade by Ian Canada 

Once again nice video, I'm really curious about the TDA1541A you are working on, I hear good reports about this type of TDA number DAC, I'm really looking forward to it.

Thanks Gab! I would love to be able to learn some of these diy projects, I have designed my own speakers . The main reason why I go the diy route is because of the money savings. I want good sound quality but I'm unfortunately on a budget and this is an expensive hobby. I could never have speakers like this if I didn't design and build myself.

I have aquired the Iris 12th DDC as a bridge between my computer and my DAC and I am very satisfied.

This is interesting, but I would be even more interested in a project about how to take Soekris 2941 system and upgrade it. Sure PSU is not that hard to upgrade, but I would be more interested in how to send an I2S signal in to that board. I think Soekris 2941 is a more interesting project then Ares becasue it is literally 500 Euros with very good performance for the price. I took a look at the layot but does not quite match with Ian Canada's reclock board for I2S.

Hello Gabi, nice video. It's definitely a good option for those who already have the Denafrips Ares. However, if someone is interested in this DAC, they should consider the Denafrips Ares 15th. I already have large-size clocks. Ian board won't be needed anymore.

It's probably economically better to have a local electronics repair shop do the upgrade. Shipping is still expensive, but it's superb that he offers to do it.

The question I have is how would this upgrade compare to adding the IRIS DDC to the Ares 12th.

I hope Ian Canada comes up with a mod for the denafrips pontus as well , that would be awesome !

Brilliant stuff Gabster...now i need an upgrade kit for my pontus II ;)

This s great being able to change clocks on the Denafrips Ares

Wow, I like the chart that shows his ratings in which the Ares upgrade sounds as good as a $2200 Holo Spring 3 (+150 shipping) = $2450 (I have both the Ares II 12th and Pontus II 12th-1, Iris 12th) --- source=Apple Music lossless

Great video Gab! If you are using great clocks in your Ian Canada streamer, do you also need great clocks in the DAC? I believed that the Streamer clock would be the master clock for the DAC. Is this wrong?

Do you consider sharing or selling schematics for TDA 1541A DAC?

as always thank you for all your experiments, one question.....I noticed that on 1:25 of your video you powered 3.3v of the hdmi pro and Q7 directly to your UCPURE that's great! i have it too! but I can't understand why J7 jumpers on HDMIpro are short and not open to Takes 3.3V power supply from J3 ? thank you to aswer to my doubt

But if you play via Optical, does the Aries even use the clock? Or only via USB?

I replaced the clocks and power supply in my eversolo dmp-a8 with Ian Canada . Great improvements 🎉

Your contents are very good. I recently bought Holo Audio Cyan 2 and need a quality streamer with good psu and clock to match price/performance. Upgrading clocks maybe next step for enchancin sound quality. Streamer must be stable and support both Android-IOS remote app's. Thank you.

How do you open the Ares?

are ians clocks better than those in the terminator or the Gaia?

Hi, Gabbie. I find the Ares to be rather thin in the low mids. Does upgrading the clock improve the low end at all?

How would you describe the difference in sound characteristics between the Denafrips and Ian Canada dacs? E.g I’ve seen Denafrips being described as musical, how would you describe the sound of some of the higher end Ian Canada builds you’ve completed on this channel?

I'm interested in this as an option for pontus 2

Will this work/do anything for the new Ares 15th? Just ordered one today and this looks like a nice upgrade.

Hi Gabby . Great video. I have the Ares and while this upgrade looks good. I'm thinking of experimenting with a Tube DAC DIY that that I saw on iiWi's channel, a design by Lukasz Fikus (Lampucera) a take on the Lampizator DAC... I know you use tubes and have high efficiency speakers.. do you have any interest in that realm or have any feedback about this particular DIY direction... I ask since cost for parts, its basically the price of an AresII DAC.

Hi Gabbie! Love your channel. I’m not completely knowledgeable about clocks, but I thought I saw a RU-vid video that talked about how the Dac’s internal clocks are used only with USB, all other digital inputs use the clocks in the source. Could you set me straight on this?

At some point it would be good to see some measurements. I’m not 100% a measurements person, but this is starting to sound like a commercial. Some measurements please to see what diff the clocks make. Cheers and no offense

I am buying a Raspberry Pi for a similar project, I thought a 5, but which one is best 4Gb or 8Gb? A Ian Canada Streamer

decoupling caps on the tda1541a ar best on 1.1uf

thats how is done

Why not go the whole hog and put a Rubidium clock in there?

Greetings from Guelph.☕️🌧️ I just sent an email to Denafrips regarding this upgrade..I’ll definitely be sending it out for the upgrade. Thanks for the video!

Talking about very good recordings, today I have uploaded a Direct Disk 24/96 FLAC 0 vinyl rip with DR16. I think it is ideal to verify the audio system quality. 4K / AAC 192kbps. Bill Berry and his Ellington All-Stars - For Duke (1978) Vinyl ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EX2jQvwau78.html DR Peak RMS Duration Track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR16 -0.88 dB -21.84 dB 4:26 01-Take the "A" Train DR14 -6.19 dB -26.11 dB 4:22 02-Mood Indigo DR16 -1.95 dB -20.45 dB 2:29 03-Things Ain't What They Used To Be DR16 -2.46 dB -23.01 dB 4:54 04-Perdido DR17 -0.73 dB -22.43 dB 3:25 05-Satin Doll DR13 -2.78 dB -22.27 dB 3:35 06-I Got It Bad (And That Ain_t Good) DR17 -0.32 dB -21.25 dB 4:15 07-I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart DR16 -2.05 dB -23.00 dB 4:12 08-Cotton Tail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of tracks: 8 Official DR value: DR16 - Greetings from Tarragona (SPAIN/EU) -

My modest option is that if you can hear a difference only by replacing the clock.....well this DAC is poorly built and not good at all.

I would buy a LAiV Harmony DAC and pay the exta then doing that mod.

"Hights rolled off" isn't an upgrade...

same story with Holo Cayan 2 , connect after Altera fpga and Laiv Dac is .....😂😂😂