My $50 sound improvement

[Music4Life]

I bought a used Behringer Ultramatch Pro SRC2496 to integrate it to my system's chain:

Sony S7000 (transport) -> SRC2496 (upsampling) -> LITE DAC AM Supreme EX edition -> Preamp -> Parasound A21 -> ATC SCM7 II.

I can say, that is the most significant and noticeable $50 upgrade that I made in my system. I changed cables (spkr, rca, xlr, coax) in the past to get somehow a little upgrade and those are like 5X or more. But no audible upgrade I can fully back up.

NOT ON THIS ONE! If your system is similar to mine, this "additional gear" will bring your whole system to a higher level.

[Peter Nielsen]

The only conclusion we can draw from this is that your "LITE DAC AM Supreme EX edition" happens to work better with the upsampled signal. Other DACs may work exactly the same regardless of the input signal (16, or 24 bits or 44/96/192).

My take on this is that you will experience an even bigger improvement if you take out the SRC2496 and replace the DAC with an better model...

(The upsampler should make no difference. If it does, there's definitely room for improvement on the DAC end...)

[lbstyling]

i agree with peter- go and get yourself a cambridge audio azur dac magic and change the op-amps for bursons (or get it done) and you will have a big leap there- i had a lite dac-ah with every mod under the sun done to it- its a excelent example of technology - just 20 years ago. honestly as recently as the early 90's -that unit would have been near reference, but dac-s have come a long way with upsampling and algorythem tech, the larger companys have access to the resources like anagram technologies ect that small chinese companys dont, but the small chinese companys are fitting better parts, the dac magic is a high tech bit of kit with cheap analogue parts- swap em out and youve got a awsome bit of kit!!-cheap too.

[Music4Life]

Actually, my DAC is nothing compare to other higher or better models. Adding the "upsampling" seems to bring the DAC to another level (higher of course). This is just a temporary, I am actually looking at this unit for quite sometime now.

http://www.belcantodesign.com/Belcanto_CD2_CD_Player.html

[Music4Life]

The only conclusion we can draw from this is that your "LITE DAC AM Supreme EX edition" happens to work better with the upsampled signal. Other DACs may work exactly the same regardless of the input signal (16, or 24 bits or 44/96/192).

My take on this is that you will experience an even bigger improvement if you take out the SRC2496 and replace the DAC with an better model...

(The upsampler should make no difference. If it does, there's definitely room for improvement on the DAC end...)

You're right Peter, my DAC works perfectly well with the Behringer. It's like it's the missing circuit to make it a better unit.