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Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it. |
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Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it. |
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In Reply to: PS Audio Digital Link III VS Benchmark DAC1 posted by FezCo on April 13, 2007 at 14:37:38:
I just bought the new Benchmark DAC1 USB which I eventually plan to use with a dedicated headphone amp (HeadAmp GS-1) and is currently on order. I did try the Benchmark's built-in headphone amp, which is actually pretty good but to my ears sounds a little dry and two dimensional, at least with my AKG 701s. On the other hand, the overall resolution of this DAC is really quite amazing and is better than the built-in DAC in the "maxed" out HeadRoom Desktop amp that I bought last summer. Also I don't find the Benchmark to be excessively analytical rather it just reproduces exactly what is on the disc. Admittedly some discs do sound almost too finely etched, but well-recorded ones sound fantastic with this DAC. So what it may boil down to is what other components you intend to use with the DAC. If you basically want a DAC that can do double duty as a headphone amp, the Benchmark will do the job although the general consensus from many folks at head-fi.org is that you would be better off matching the Benchmark with an external amp, which is what I'm doing. The Benchmark also has both balanced and single-ended outputs, which could be a significant plus if you want to directly feed the DAC into a headphone or power amp with balanced inputs. You can control the output volume from the Benchmark itself. I'm never heard the PS Audio or Lavry DACs but I'm sure they're also excellent but would venture they are all pretty much in the same league as the Benchmark.
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- Re: PS Audio Digital Link III VS Benchmark DAC1 - ts 12:28:20 04/16/07 (0)
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