I finally got the time to make a good critical comparison between the SB3 analogue output and the SB3 via digital out to the Benchmark DAC-1.
I will start out by saying there is indeed a difference. The DAC-1 definitely had a more pleasing upper end and better overall soundstage. Are the differences between the SB3 analogue and the SB3 digital via the DAC-1 huge? Well...in a word, no. I would go as far as saying some might not be able to justify the $975 on the DAC-1 if their only use for it was to make the SB3 sound better. However, I find the DAC-1 to be an extremely flexible piece of equipment that can make almost any digital source sound great (from a $49 Wal-Mart CD/DVD player to one that costs thousands). It also has a superb headphone output which in my opinion is as good as some specialized headphone amplifiers costing as much or more then the DAC-1 itself. It also has a volume control and adjustable gain settings so it can even be used as a pre-amp if you have a simple setup (ex. just a cd player). All and all the DAC-1 in my opinion is an audio bargain. In comparing the SB3 analogue to the SB3 digital via the DAC 1 there is one important note to make: The output level on the SB3 analogue is significantly higher then the DAC-1 so this needs to be adjusted for prior to doing any valid comparison. My current amp (PS-Audio GCC-100) allows you set the gain of each input so I made sure they were as close as possible before the comparison, although it is important to mention I had to do this by ear as I do not have the appropriate electronic measurement tools to be able to ensure they were within +-1dB (if any one does I would like to see if you get the same results). Once this was done, however, the differences become apparent. In my opinion the analogue outputs produced an upper end that was a bit on the bright side with cymbals and other high frequency sounds sounding a touch harsh. A bigger factor for me though was that the soundstage of the analogue outputs sounded too far forward and a bit compressed compared with the DAC-1. With that said, however, the analogue outputs on the SB3 are very, very good...much better then any other consumer grade component in it's price range that I recall hearing. In fact, I would say it is better then the analogue out on the Sony SCD C2000es CD/SACD player (in CD mode)that I had on hand. A remarkable feat considering what the SB3 does and its' price. For those who are curious, I could find no audible difference between the coax and optical digital out when fed through the DAC-1. This is not really surprising though as the DAC-1 is apparently designed to eliminate "all" jitter effects. -- rmasson ------------------------------------------------------------------------ rmasson's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2521 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=19850 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
