New Purchase

[GCSFAMILY]

I just ordered Benchmark DAC-1 ---I'm really interested in seeing what difference it makes compared to my old Adcom GDA 600---I'm using it with Theta Pearl transport----Parasound P-3 & A-21.

All balanced connections for the First time -----Hopefully it will sound Great


I probably should have told my wife!!!!!http://www.htguide.com/forum/newthre...newthread&f=4#
LOL

[Andrew Pratt]

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts...one day I'll join the club.

[David Meek]

According to some of our more knowledgable members that were able to directly compare them, the Benchmark beat out the Musical Fidelity A3.2CR (which I have) sonically, so based on what I heard with my DAC, I'm sure you are going to LOVE what you hear. Keep us posted. :T

[JonMarsh]

Congratualtions, Gary! I think you're going to be very pleased with the Benchmark- I certainly have been. One thing you'll probably want to do right off the bat, once you unpack it and check out the setup instructions, is to pop the top and reset the jumpers on the balanced output attenuation. In the default configuration, it's designed for studio levels, with 0 dBFS at +24 dBv. That will clip almost any consumer preamp on the inputs if you have any active circuitry prior to the volume control. Additionally, it would be much louder and require a lot lower volume control setting. Just set the jumpers for 20 dB attenuation, which is +4dBV FS (full scale), and this will work fine with consumer preamps.

Your Theta Pearl transport should work fine with the Benchamrk- in truth, almost anything works fine, even decent PC card SPDIF outputs produce stunning measred results (<150 ps jitter) from something like an RME digital or Maudio Audiophile card. (Yeah, I've started putting together a music server configuration- just got an Audiophile 192 card for that, but plan to use the SPDIF to the Benchmark- just haven't decided if I'll get a second one, or kluge up a SDPIF to AES-EBU cable so I can just switch inputs on the Benchmark. Probably the latter, as I want to buy Praxis soon this year, and that's a comparable sum of money.

Regarding you wife, well, at least it's a small box, so it would be easy to sneak in, and setup unobtrusively. But the improvements it makes will usually be pretty audible- do't be surprised if you hear something like "Honey, the CD's sound clearer and smoother lately- did you change something in the system?", and you have to "come clean".

Happy listening!

~Jon

[Al Garay]

Jon,

Is putting together this SPDIF to AES-EBU cable as simple as switching out the connector? I have two digital inputs in my DEQX preamp, one is S/PDIF (unbalanced RCA) and the other is AES-EBU (balanced). I'm hoping to use one for my Squuezebox and the other for my transport. Thus I can change input without having to disconnect either.

[mikec]

http://www.epanorama.net/documents/audio/spdif.html

The S/PDIF & AES/EBU protocols aren’t 100% compatible, but in most cases you can convert from one to the other when an appropriate cable is used.

As I already mention to you via email, you may experience other issues attempting to use your Squeezebox with your PDC.

"Reasons for S/PDIF-problems:

In reality many coaxial S/P-DIF inputs and outputs of soundcards and such devices lack such transformers. Maybe those products are so cost sensitive that the manufactures have to cut corners in this way. And, even if the coaxial S/P-DIF output of an audio component is equipped with a transformer, hat doesn't mean that the output is isolated,
because in some equipments the ground of the S/PDIF output connector (RCA-connector) is still permanently connected to the same ground as all the audio connectors instead of correctly left floating.

Usually the absence of isolation in S/PDIF-connection is not a problem in normal use, but can be a problem among with those audio experts who want the best sound quality without humming. Usually the noise and humming problems are the reasons to go to digital audio transmission, and it is quite sad that some manufactures putout products which can't usually fulfill their promises in real life applications, because of the S/PDIF-interface ground loop problem.

Solving the problems with S/PDIF:

If your sound card equipped with optical S/P-DIF (Toslink) inputs and outputs, try to use them instead of coaxial ones. The optical cable will mode the digital audio signals but at the same time provides a complete galvanic isolation between equipments. So optical interfaces are free from humming."

http://www.epanorama.net/documents/groundloop/digital_audio.html

Using something like an M-Audio CO2 will solve the problem.

[ajpoe]

Regarding you wife, well, at least it's a small box, so it would be easy to sneak in, and setup unobtrusively. But the improvements it makes will usually be pretty audible- do't be surprised if you hear something like "Honey, the CD's sound clearer and smoother lately- did you change something in the system?", and you have to "come clean".

Happy listening!

~Jon

Yes, it is in a small box and easy to hide! But, those darn LED lights are blinding! I took a small sliver of duct tape and put it over the LEDs. You can't even see the tape, but since it is semi transparent, it brings the brightness of the lights down to the levels of my other equipment.

Other than that, I absolutely love the sound of my 2 channel setup using the DAC1... I too have it running off the optical out of a music server.

AJ

[GCSFAMILY]

I received the DAC-1 Monday however didn't get a chance to really try it until today. I expected to hear a difference in Sound but I wasn't ready for what I experienced.
I've switched out SpeakeCables--Interconnects---PreAmps---Amps
and noticed some pretty big differences but nothing compares to the difference the DAC-1 made. The sweet spot on the system opened up a great deal--all instruments and vocals took a few steps closer to me. Soundstage deeped noticibly. Imaging improved a lot--Clarity of everything was overwhelming.The new detail I heard was pretty incredible bordering on shocking.
I only had about an hour to play so I'm really looking forward to
getting another chance tomorrow.

I'll keep you posted

[Chris D]

:banana: Congrats... love to hear more when you can.