j.wales wrote: >> Benchmark DAC1 seems to be a pretty popular DAC - what makes it >> such a stand out?
It is well made and well designed. Has a good power supply, decent controls, etc. I really like mine, but my SqueezeBoxen are SB1s which don't have Sean's coolest new features. I expect, altho I have not done the testing, that there is a step pattern to DACs, I would expect a quality plateau at the $200 level, another at the $1000 level, and maybe yet another at the $5000 level. But the parts within a level are likely to be identical, with the difference being design philosophy, construction quality, etc. I would also expect that the differences between an SB3 direct and using a Benchmark DAC-1 level unit are subtle. I can't imagine that a cheaper unit, such as a Berhinger $200 DAC would have much if any improvement. Of course, Moore's law holds, and my DAC-1 is now two years old, so there is a chance that the SB4 will use a even cooler Burr Brown part, and reverse the comparison. -- Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
