DACs revisited: NuForce DAC 9, Lavry DA11, Benchmark DAC 1

Posted by John C. - Aussie (A) on July 27, 2012 at 06:11:22

A friend with keener ears than mine finally visited yesterday so we spent some time comparing these three DACs.

I had previously posted I could hear no difference between the NuForce & Lavry. Well my mate detected a difference which was obvious to him. I did some A/B switching between the two (listening with Sennheissr HD 800 headphones) to verify those differences could be detected reliably. To me the difference was very subtle but not to him and that was because he had a better upper range hearing than me.

Conclusions?

1. The Lavry might have better resolving power of the upper frequencies but the result was more clinical than musical.

2. The Nuforce DAC 9 might not be as highly resolving (that I could not detect but he could) but was more musical (and I agree with that) and ultimately more satisfying to listen with.

3. The Benchmark DAC 1, although highly modded, did not compare to either of the above DACs. Listening to either lifted another veil off the reproduction! (Note this is not something I never would have believed possible)

But to get it all in perspective, all are capable of high quality reproduction and the differences might not be so apparent in amp/speaker systems. But I must admit the NuForce is also my preference. But if I had not heard it I would have remained happy with the Benchmark.

Such is audio life!!

John

Enjoying 12,000 mostly classical CDs via Sennheiser HD800 headphones & M2TECH Vaughan DAC -> HeadRoom BlockHead headphone amplifier fed from a Meridian (Sooloos) server system.
The main 7.1 MC electrostatic speaker system is for A/V at night.

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DACs revisited: NuForce DAC 9, Lavry DA11, Benchmark DAC 1

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