Computer Audio Asylum Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Computer Audio Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

RE: Mac with FW dac + external master clock. Anyone?

Posted by audiozorro (A) on August 3, 2009 at 10:30:38

In Reply to: RE: Mac with FW dac + external master clock. Anyone? posted by modena on August 3, 2009 at 02:04:21:

I did not find the Apogee Mini DAC to be a step up in sonics from the Benchmark. At the time I had both, my next step would have been to buy the Apogee Big Ben and build a custom power supply for the Mini DAC and hope those additions would be a major step up from my Benchmark USB DAC1. I decided to pass on that course of action and I returned the Mini DAC.

Of course it may depend on which version of the Benchmark DAC you have. Again, at one time I had both the DAC1 and USB DAC1. Even just using the similar toslink connections the improvement of the USB DAC1 was very noticeable.

I recommend that you contact Steve Nugent at Empirical Audio since he previously provided mods to the Benchmark and he has more experience in using the Pace Car 2 with the Benchmark DACs.

Of course I still feel that if you are using a Mac computer and you want a firewire DAC, IMO anything short of the Weiss DAC2 at $3K will probably sound different but will not lead to significant improvements in sonics.

However, the good thing about the Apogee and Benchmark is that you will usually have 30-45 day period to evaluate the equipment in your home system before committing to the purchase.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Sonic Craft

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---