DAC Recommendation?

Don't listen to him - the Benchmark DAC1 is a wonderful DAC with a 3D sound I've not heard reproduced in any of the DACS I tried.

No harshness, just lots of detail without hurting in a glorious soundstage

 

and on this subject im siding with Zanash

the bechmark has a very etched and exposed treble, the whole thing sounding hard and a bit unpleasant over the long term.

Im sure its an excellent studio tool, but its not the most musical sounding thing out there. I much prefered the smoother and more relaxed balance of my dacX.

For a truly smooth digital presentation the bel canto dac3 takes some beating.

 

It just goes to show that there is no substitute for listening for yourself. A bit OT I know but over the years I have had many recommendations for speakers from a variety of people but when it came down to it I just couldn't live with most of them. Some of the worst offenders I have ever heard being at the Heathrow High End Show (sic) with the odd honourable exceptions such as Vivid and Reference 3A.

It's a funny old game...

 

Don't forget that you can have the digital output of the SB3 upgraded! I'm fairly sure that Audiomods

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/p.bearder1/Audiomods/prices.html

will do this for you as well as supplying a very good quality PSU.

 

Hi,
I don't know what you think recording engineers do with their time but why would any of them even dream of using a playback dac with the effects you describe? The DAC1 does what it says-ads nowt, has very little character of its own-for neutrality its up there with Prismsound converters.
I can only assume it was exposing a shortfall elsewhere in your system.
I use one with ruthlessly revealing Tannoy 215's which are more than capable of exposing any faults in the audio chain, the Benchmark is an honest component lacking only colouration.
For a more hifi-if ultimately fake but very very pleasant presentation try the Lavry.
Cheers
Frank

 

haha the backlash of someone blindly defending a component they cant see past. No im afraid it didnt expose any other weaknesses or shortfalls in my system. My system simply showed the benchmark dac to be a bit of a relentless listen.

A problem i dont experience with a cyrus dacX, bel canto dac3, cyrus CD7Q, roksan caspian, Meridian 508, or indeed even my middle range pioneer DVD player.

but unless your suggesting that every single one of those is at fault, im afraid i stick to my original assessment of the benchmark dac.

 

The DAC 1 is one of those products that polarises opinion for some reason. Possibly because it's a bit over-hyped. Fans consider it neutral - unless you directly compare it with masters I don't know how you claim that, but hey.

People who dislike it consider it sterile, soul-less or harsh.

I have one and consider it very good value for money and better than a lot of CD players, but it is not a world beater or even transport agnostic as some claim. A decent transport (Merid 500) sounded better that a couple of DVD players I tried it with.

The other comparisons I did were with Opus 21 and Naim CDS2 - both of which sounded much better, but were obviously more money. If they do this by being coloured or distorted, then that must be what some people (myself included) like.

Plenty of incentive to prefer the DAC - it's cheaper and smaller but it doesn't perform miracles to my ears.

Steve

 

well said that man

i do agree that it can be a worthwhile product, and at its pricepoint is fantastic value. But its not the saviour many people report it to be.

As you say cables and transports do make a difference to it, in spite of claims that its immune to such things.

Also as you say, spending more money can better it, its not a giant killer, just a decent value bit of kit for those who enjoy the sound it gives.

Im sure there are many who dont like the cyrus dacX much either, but to my ears its a little more refined, and musical than the benchmark, shortly to be mated to a PSX-R to see if it makes the blindest bit of difference

 

Steve, It was quite easy to compare to the master which is how I discovered it in the first place, a studio I was recording in was auditioning it against the Prisms-the sound was close, frighteningly close when you consider the price difference.
This was over some huge ATC's-again none of the treble as described manifested itself at all soooooo. hey.
No piece of kit can satify everyone but the' it's rubbish 'comments are just bollocks really.
As are 'it might be ok for studio work' ha ha -I'm firmly in the camp that thinks things we get well recorded audio because of the engineer and the kit he uses not in spite of it/him as some audiophiles laughingly think.
An engineer needs converters that are as neutral as possible or he wont know his mix from his arse and it is in the pro arena where the Benchmark finds most of its fans-so go figure.
You can hear/or not the Prism converters incidentally on most digitally mastered media.
The alledged hf issue is one I've not come across anywhere in any system I've experienced the DAC1.
Sounds are a very personal thang and whatever floats your boat in my book but it is a trueism to say people don't like neutral....IMHO that isn't blind that's enlightened.
Oh yeah I don't buy the transport or cable agnostic claims for it either I've used Meridian 506/507/G08, Sony7700 Teac T1 numerous Tosh/Phillips players all clearly identifyable.
It also easily reveals different digi cables too-some of which can sound flat, bright, sterile etc......

 

Hi Cooky,

That's interesting stuff about the studio. I agree totally with you regarding the DAC1's quality. It certainly isn't rubbish and your experience of the differences with cables and transports reflects mine too.

I have no worry about liking colouration/distortion - too much accuracy would render some of my discs very unpleasant

Regards,

Steve

 

We're agreed then-ish
I know what you mean, on some discs I wish for a little less 'monitoring' from my Tannoys too.
Frank

 

Quick thread resurrection here....

Are any of the cheap (around the £100 or so mark) DACs worth bothering with? I'm talking NOS DACS, Beresford, Moodlab, unmodified Behringer DEQ2496 etc. here. I've read loads of reviews on the web about this lot and people either enthusiastically rant about how great they are or dismiss them as nowt but hype. The more I read the less I know!

I have a Teac VRDS-7 and would like to try a DAC with it, but don't have much of a budget available. So, do I bother with a cheapo or not? Any 2nd hand DACs around that budget that would be a better bet?

I did try an old Arcam Black Box a couple of years ago, but tbh I thought it sucked the life out of the music, but someone did suggest that the age of the unit and its components might have had something to do with that.

 

I have a little blue lit plastic NOS DAC and am very happy with it!
Most, if not all components colour things a bit. I guess I must have the colour right. I do listen to Blues music a lot tho'!!!

 

I was particularly wanting to know of good NOS Dacs that were quite cheap to see how they sound. Cheap being less than £200.

 

in order of my preference ..unmodded

nos dac
deq2496
src2496
beresford

I've had all through my system .....and modded all of them

ranked in modded form

src2496....gets close to 1k price band
nos dac
berresford
deq 2496

if its fascilities you want you can't beat the deq and the src deq for room analysis etc and src for resampling etc.

The nos needs a better psu as does the berrisford

 

The SRC2496 is very good, though it is obviously not a NOS DAC (good IMO!). The other thing worth considering is that if you got the SRC2496 and liked it, you could have it modified later when funds allow.

 

i know i may sound like a parrot but whoever wants to escape a forensic high-end listening of gear and not the music, should definitely give altmann attraction a demo. it impressed me so much especially influencing the way i am listening now. you just stop listening hifi.

 

Ok, so the general consensus is that there is something to be gained from 'budget' DACs, good!

I'm glad that the Beresford doesn't appear to generate the greatest recommendation as it's a bit ugly IMO. The Behringer stuff; if it's not in the running in stock form then I'll pass on it as I know I'd never get it modified, I'd be much more likely to upgrade to a whole new device. On the other hand, if I can improve one of the others simply by buying a new power supply from Maplins, then that's something I'd probably do.

So, I'll probably go for one of the NOS DACs. The Altmann is a bit of a wild card - I'm strangely drawn to it's naked pcb form (don't tell the missus), but I don't think I'd get away with having a car battery hanging around with young kids!

 

You've got Dynaudio Contours, an OK speaker but certainly not enough to state facts about just which DACs do and don't sound right. In your system context it didn't work, however a good and transparent DAC has a certain knack of revealing things you wouldn't be happy to blame on your system.

I'm with Cooky although I don't own a DAC1 but instead used to have the Apogee DA16x, Now I use 120dB SNR Crystal CS4398 DACs and AKM AK5394 ADC's from EMU. Clean, clear and transparent just the way it should be.

 

A problem I have right now. Speaker that are so accurate as to be considered above and over any passive design by leaps and bounds.

It makes listening to music a love hate thing.

But on quality recordings you get an experience that just isn't possible on less accurate solutions. The focus is instead shifted from the loudspeaker being the weak link to that of the room and recording.

I think it much better to have that level of accuracy in a loudspeaker and be able to actively downgrade(using different filters) the sound for lesser recordings than it is to set the bar lower to start with.