 This is the 4th Denaflips DAC I have reviewed over a short period. The reason for this is simple, each and every model offered more than excellent price performance. Not surprising that I was very curious about the performance of their flagship model, the Terminator Plus. Let's first see where the Terminator Plus fits into your stereo. Since it translates digital signals into analog signals, it needs to be connected to analog inputs on your amplifier that drives a set of loudspeakers. The digital signal can come from a directly connected computer. This is usually done over USB cable, although there are computers that offer speed-if. Usually USB is the better choice. Some audiophile computers offer I2S which might sound better than USB depending on the implementation. If your computer is elsewhere in the house, you can use a network player or network bridge that is connected to the computer over your network and to your DAC over speed-if, Toslink, AES-EBU, USB or I2S since the Terminator Plus offers all of these inputs. Watch how network audio players work for more information. You can of course connect other digital sources too, like the digital audio output of a TV, game console, DVD player, Blu-ray player and so on. The Terminator Plus is a big and heavy device, clearly bigger and heavier than the Venus II I reviewed a few weeks ago. In fact at 19 kilos it's more than two times heavier and it measures 430 x 380 x 105 mm. To make sure you understand, this is only a DAC, a digital to analog converter. On the front we see essentially placed standby button, two buttons to select the inputs, a mute button, a button to select oversampling or non-oversampling, the phase button that reverses polarity and a mode button that is used for setup. The sampling frequency of the input signal is indicated by a number of LEDs that for PCM indicate base sampling frequencies 44.1 or 48 kHz plus multipliers. So if 48 kHz and 4 times are lit, the sampling frequency is 4 x 48 kHz, thus 192 kHz. If 2 times and 8 times are lit, the source material is 16 times the base frequency. For DSD the same goes. When DSD and one time is lit, the input signal is DSD64. When DSD and 8 times are lit, the source material is DSD512. When we turn the DAC around, we see the centrally placed IEC mains input, higher up on the panel we see the USB Audio Class 2 input, three variants of I2S, two on RJ45 and one on HDMI, two AES EBU inputs, one Toslink input, one SPDIF input and two clock outputs. These can clock other gear connected to the DAC, for instance a streamer or CD player. On the left side two single-ended analog outputs on RCA and two balanced analog outputs on XLR. For Windows computers, a high quality driver by TC-Comp can be downloaded. All other computers, tablets and smartphones need no drivers. Denafrips uses about the same construction in every model DAC with, for budget reasons, the exception of the Aries 2. A metal cage holds two O-type transformers, one 60VA for digital electronics and one 250VA for the analog part. Again, this is only a DAC, not for instance an amp. These transformers are automatically switched to the correct voltage, 115 or 230 volts by use of the solenoids. Usually with linear power supplies there is a voltage selector. In these cases the power transformer has two primary windings. For 230 volts these are switched in series and for 115 volts these are switched in parallel. As said, normally this is done by the voltage selector but in the Denafrips DACs this is done by solenoids. By clever design they see what voltage is applied and switch accordingly. The metal cage holding the power supply is mounted open side down in the bottom of the DAC with a mule metal shield on top of it. Above that we find two separate circuit boards. On the right side the digital board and on the left side the analog board. The digital board receives the power over these connections. These feed a comprehensive stabilizing circuit with the for Denafrips usual numerous capacitors. Then the digital input circuitry with the processor and buffer to clean up the input signals. The Terminator Plus can handle DSD up to DSD 1024 and PCM up to 1536 kHz which is 32 x 48 kHz. A bridge board forms the connection with the analog board. On this bridge board the TI ISO 7241M quad channel silicon dioxide isolator maintains the isolation between digital and analog. On the same board we find the oven controlled crystal oscillators in an aluminium housing one for 44.1 and one for 48 kHz based sampling frequencies. Crystal oscillators are very sensitive devices that suffer from poor power supply, mechanical force, vibrations and temperature changes. We have seen the comprehensive power supply. Vibrations are fought by mechanical rigidity of the DAC and in this case the temperature changes are fought by placing the crystals in a temperature controlled cell. Especially short term stability is very good. It is the first time I come across an audio device that uses oven controlled crystal oscillators, OCXOs for short. It is probably the highest quality that can be used practically in audio. Even higher precision can be obtained with Rubidium Atomic or Caesium Atomic Oscillators but it is unlikely we find these in audio. The audio board receives the power directly from the analog power supply and is sent to a bank of high quality capacitors. I am curious what is inside this aluminium block. The resistor banks look identical to that of the Venus 2 DAC and also here hand selected thin film resistors with 0.005% precision and again two banks per channel for true balanced outputs. The output voltage is 4.4 volts for the balanced outputs and 2.2 volts for the single ended outputs which is less than in the B above Red Book specifications. Operation is very simple. You step through the inputs by pressing the plus or minus button, select oversampling or non oversampling by pressing a button and the same goes for phase. Some might regret the absence of a remote control but that is the only practical limitation I can think of. Things might get slightly more complex if you use a digital source that outputs i2S. Since there is no standard for plugs and wiring, Denofrips offers three variants on this DAC and the option for different ways of wiring. They even posted instruction videos on their website to show you what to do. In my review of the Denofrips Venus 2, I said when you read stereo Nirvana, you hear two three-dimensional instruments and singers that each have their own place in a three-dimensional space that often goes beyond and above the space between the loudspeakers. You could even hear height, some instruments appear to be up higher than some others. The Venus 2 does this impressively good. It makes the sound very natural and relaxed since all the spatial clues make sense to the auditory system. The Terminator Plus does this effortlessly too. It also has the relaxed yet not dull character and the natural voice reproduction. But it's even more transparent over the entire audio band. I deliberately don't use the word resolution for that point to a technical achievement. Transparency is about perception, in the same way frequency and pitch differ. Frequency is the physical phenomenon, pitch is our perception of that frequency. For more information on this, watch my video, our audiophile ears, how our hearing works. The transparency is shockingly good. The first time my wife listened to music over the Terminator Plus, she immediately noticed things in the arrangement she hadn't heard before. She has no interest in equipment and even less into technology. She just loves music, from Albanese to ZZ Top. That's what the Terminator Plus does. It opens up any recording so much more than anything I have heard in my setup 1. But I have to make a note with that remark. Last month I exchanged the Audio Note amp in my setup 1 for the Air AX520. That gave such an improvement that I questioned the outcome of reviews I did on other DAX in this price category or higher. But back to the Terminator Plus. I also noted that playing at lower levels, say 50 dB SPLA, was more involving than with the MiTeX Syntax combo that normally does the DA conversion in setup 1. I searched for words to describe the refinement of the Terminator Plus. It made me think of the three times I had the pleasure of dining at the Berlin Restaurant Margo. They present small dishes and every bite I took surprised my palate enormously. Michelin rewarded this restaurant with a star. Now imagine that you play albums you already played for decades using a wide range of equipment. And yet this DAQ, when placed in my setup 1, presents me with the details I have never heard before. Album after album. Remarkable is that the transparency doesn't come with fatigue. It is rather addictive so I have listened to all kinds of music for hours and hours. From a string quartet playing Bach to Shirazade by Rimsky-Korsakov. From Pantankl to Within Temptation. From Simon and Garfinkel to David Getter and more. And for every album it was a renewed experience. The Terminator Plus clearly is of a higher class than its price suggests. The Terminator Plus is a further development of the Terminator, which in turn is an improved version of the Venus II. Not that the Terminator Plus is a somewhat tweaked version of the Terminator. It is a fresh design that uses design principles that dinner thrips adheres to, but further refined. The only comment I can give is the same I gave the Venus II. A simple remote control to switch face, oversampling and inputs would have been convenient. Even for the comment my wife had, it's rather bulky and shiny, I wouldn't like that in my living. There is a solution since it also comes in a black version. But all jokes aside, this really is a very convincing DAC. The build quality is fantastic as is the large collection of inputs, the clock outs, the balanced and single ended outputs and the simple operation. And then the sound quality. Did I already mention how convincing it sounds? Okay, let's just finish this video here before I start boring you. But no, there will be a new video next Friday at 5 pm Central European Time. If you don't want to miss that, subscribe to this channel or follow me on the social media so you will be informed when new videos are out. Help me reach even more people by giving this video a thumb up, or mention it in the social media. Many thanks to those viewers that support this channel financially, it keeps me independent and thus trustworthy. If that makes you feel like supporting my work too, the links are in the comments below this video on YouTube. I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com. And whatever you do, enjoy the music.