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ah yes the Holo audio May for those new
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to the nrd party this is the deck that
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stopped me dead in my tracks and
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cemented its place as my go-to reference
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the maak truly is the heartbeat of my
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entire system this stunning music making
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machine seems to peel back every single
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layer of the resolution in the music and
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at the same time sounds smooth as warm
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butter being poured on a biscuit and
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while this dck is still the king as far
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as I can tell there is indeed one
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problem for many folks who crave the
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best and that my friends is the price of
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admission but what if I was to tell you
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that for less than half the price of the
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maak there seems to be a rival that to
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me sounds a lot and I mean a lot like
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the maak and with a warm welcome back to
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new record day let's find out what in
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the what I am rambling
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about all right folks before we dive in
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a quick disclosure denps reached out to
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me with the chance to review their
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pontis 15th deck also they mentioned
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that I don't need to return the unit
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after my review is published whenever I
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receive a product this way it's
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essential to be upfront and for the sake
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of transparency stay within FTC
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guidelines now I didn't specifically
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asked to keep it but I certainly
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appreciate the gesture that said my
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thoughts in this review are 100% my own
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so let's get into it and see what this
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DAC has to
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offer one of the first things worth
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mentioning is that the build quality of
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the pontis is nothing short of flawless
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it's been a while since I reviewed the
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Terminator but it's great to see that
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even with a more affordable deck in the
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den frips lineup you still get a device
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that is built like a freaking tank
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that's right there's no cheap plastic or
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cut corners on this all metal body all
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the buttons are tactile the connections
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are solid and everything feels
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incredibly sturdy for those who remember
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yes I am looking at you Sonet Paia hold
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on like budget oriented okay this is not
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a
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setup so this right RCA jack is actually
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loose a deck that costs three times as
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much as the pontis yet felt like the
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build quality is more of an afterthought
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to keep it short and sweet this thing
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certainly looks the part and I am
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pleased to see denps cares so much about
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the design and feel of all of their
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products regard regardless of the price
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taking a look at the pontis from the
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front to the left we are graded with a
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power button and a bank of selections
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that makes navigating the control of the
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deck very easy with input phase
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oversampling mute and mode options front
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and center folks will appreciate how
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easy it is to get this stack up and
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running without cracking open a user
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manual above these selections you will
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find confirmation LEDs which indicate
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your input and sampling options that are
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currently active in the deck on the
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business end to the right you will find
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a long list of digital inputs USB i2s
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Optical AES and coaxial via BNC are all
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included with the DAC and in my
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listening I used USB from my annos
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zenith along with i2s with Jay's audio
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CD3 Mark II transport to the left of
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this Bank you will find a pair of
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balanced XLR outputs along with
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unbalanced RCA jacks and last smack dab
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in the middle below the ins and outs you
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will find an IEC Inlet for power as for
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sampling options and specifications I'm
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not going to bore you guys with every
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technical detail of the deck and I'll be
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concentrating on what matters the most
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which is of course how it sounds with
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that being said I will leave a link down
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below for those who want to double check
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all of the details and look over the
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nitty-gritty like DSD
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support typically when I walk you guys
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through listening Impressions I set the
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stage of Performance Based on categories
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that are easy to follow and hopefully
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understand whether it's treble mid-range
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or base Impressions I think it's pretty
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easy to pick apart those differences and
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I also believe that with sound clip
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serving as a companion you find folks
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always seem to pick up whatever kind of
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nonsense that I'm putting down so yeah
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in a speaker review this format
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certainly Works however when it comes to
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dacks while there can be differences
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heard in the bandwidth it seems to me
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that a better approach is to unpack this
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from a completely different angle
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starting with the obvious this is an r2r
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deck which like my reference the Mac
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does have a sound to it that to me
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sounds more engaging and for lack of a
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better word more analog listening to the
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pontis it quickly occurred to me that I
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appreciate this stack in the same way
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that I appreciate the May D and getting
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to my point what I'm hearing and
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noticing isn't so much a specific part
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of the bandwidth but more of a subtle
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thing that's quite a bit harder to
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communicate to me the pontis sounds
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refined and smooth but like my Mac
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shines a light on all of the details
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that I am listening for this balancing
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act of giving us the fireworks and at
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the same time doing it without sounding
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edgy forward or in your face is one of
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the things that great r2r DX seem to do
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and it's certainly one of the more
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noticeable things about the pontis
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signature sound now I'll get this out of
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the way right now to me the maak is
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better at resolving every single detail
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in the music and as good as a pontis is
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it's not going to thrown the May de
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anytime soon but and this might grab
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some attention let's compare the pontis
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to the recently reviewed cyan 2 which to
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me is also a fantastic sounding deck
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especially at its price point with both
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of these decks priced under 2K I'm sure
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many of you folks are going to be asking
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this in the comments section anyway so
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let's just answer those questions right
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now focusing my attention on the pontis
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I kept noticing that the body or lower
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mid-range in the music was actually
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closer to what I hear in the maak in
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contrast the cyan 2 was a little bit
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thinner in this region trading it for a
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slightly more detailed and pristine top
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end while the cyan 2's top end
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performance and upper harmonics is
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stunning it was the lower part of the
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mid-range where the pontis seemed to
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pick up some slack and to my ears sounds
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a little bit more fleshed out while it
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could be a coin toss for some folks with
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some looking for a little bit more spark
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on top with the cyan 2 and some looking
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for more meat on the bones with the
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pontis I think the pontis sounds a
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little more meaty and robust in the
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lower mid-range folks who already have
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all of the details that they could ask
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for on top might appreciate what I'm
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hearing in the pontis where folks who
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were searching for a little bit more
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spark in the upper harmonics might be
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leaning in the camp of the cyan 2 either
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way both dacks do sound incredible and
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both of them offer an analog like
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experience track after track now when it
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comes to Sound Stage this is another key
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area where the differences in a deck can
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be heard especially when the room is up
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to task and of course your speakers are
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no less than 367 ft into the room no
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exceptions here folks get them away from
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the walls in the shed I've listened to
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the pontis rendering music and the
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wonderful sounding gallan ts120 into
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some prototype speakers that gr research
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and I are currently working on combined
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with four Subs Two open baffle in the
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front and two sealed Subs to my sides
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this system is about as endgame as it
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gets firing up cobas and making my way
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through my playlist the first thing that
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was obvious is that the pontis is the
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kind of deck that it sounds open it
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soundss deep and it sounds wide being a
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sucker for Sound Stage and it being my
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primary goal when it comes to Hi-Fi this
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is the exact sound that I am striving to
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achieve when putting a system together
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transparent being the key word here and
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regardless of what I'm listening to the
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system never calls attention to itself
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and the music is left alone now look I
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know that speaker positioning is the key
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to achieving this in the room must be in
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order but make no mistake my friends
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even a Dak yes a Dak can crash to Sound
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Stage party in a quick hurry the good
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news is with the pontis 15 I don't think
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that's going to happen at no point did I
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hear anything that sounded forward which
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is always the first thing that gives way
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to Breaking that perfect performance no
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with the pontis it was very easy to
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discern exactly where Mr Chris Stapleton
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was in death row and as for the chains
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dragging and clanking around they were a
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freaking football field away creating a
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sense of depth space and that spooky
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threedimensional atmosphere that's hard
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to believe for newcomers of Hi-Fi so
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while there are some folks who might
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chat about the treble mid-range and base
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performance of this deck I'm going to
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leave that up to them for me the pon 15
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is a straight line and delivers a linear
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presentation I don't hear any issues in
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the bandwidth nor do I hear anything
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that could be pointed at a lack of
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Dynamics as well to me and far more
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important than just tone the pontis 15
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doesn't just put the digital puzzle
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pieces back together again and call it a
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day it seems to keep the soul of the
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music intact as well like my Mac it
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sounds inviting it sounds smooth and it
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sounds transparent and at the same time
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delivers the fireworks that I am
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searching for at a reasonable
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price in today's sound Clips we're going
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to do something a little bit different
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instead of trying to compare dacks being
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played in my system and through speakers
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in a room we're going to hear the
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recorded samples straight from the deck
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into my recorder and to make things a
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little bit more interesting I'm not
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going to tell you which deck was switch
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until the end of the review so yeah
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buckle up their Buttercup and toss on
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those headphones you will hear sample a
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and Sample B and when the clips are done
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I'll do the big reveal you guys ready
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let's do
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[Music]
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this
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engineer where are you
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[Music]
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head and
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engineer where are you
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[Music]
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headed foree
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[Music]
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[Music]
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so you tell me folks trust your ears and
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cast your comments down below did you
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prefer sample a or sample B could you
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tell a massive difference between them
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and if so what differences did you
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notice for me this one is very close and
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it is important to note that I've spent
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a lot more time listening to these decks
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with a lot more material and of course
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everything being played back in my room
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where things open up it makes it a
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little bit easier to hear some of the
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subtle differences but in any event here
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is the big reveal sample a was the mac
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and Sample B was the
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pontis well folks there we have it Den
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frips is conjured up one of the better
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sounding dacks that I've spent time with
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and sounds good enough to easily
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recommend this deck without batting an
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eye the Dack is built like a tank it's
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reasonably priced and best of all it
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sounds stunning again while it won't
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Dethrone my mayak the margins of gain
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seem to be shrinking as these companies
00:14:50
like Den frips are just getting better
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and better and better and with that I'll
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see you dinner FRS loving audio files in
00:14:59
the next video
