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Pardon me if this has been discussed before. I'm about ready to take the plunge and buy a DAC for my Squeezebox. Both of these come highly recommended and I was wondering how people like them. The reviews on the PS audio product point to it being the 'warmest sounding DAC ever.' Of course, the Benchmark product has been highly regarded for some time and can double as a headphone amp. I am completely on the fence with this one.
What say ye... o' audiophiles?
Follow Ups:
I have the PS Audio, it is truely a special machine. I did a head to head A/B against my cousin's Shanling T100 ($2,000) and a PC running Apple Lossless hooked up to the PS Audio and it was night and day. Buy the PS Audio, my cousin did.
Thanks for all the responses. I ordered up a Lavry last week. The support for Lavry both in Audio Asylum and the Slimdevices forums were overwhelming. I'll let everyone know how I like it in comparison to my Denon 3910.With regards to the PS-audio. I have a notion that the innards are going to be fairly similar. Upsampling with a crystal clock. The Lavry intrigued me in comparison to the PS audio since the 'pro audio' crowd raves about it.
Which ever way you slice it, it looks like both products are going to trump the benchmark.
I don't know if going with the Lavry and the SB is the best combo for sound. I just think you may be much better off with a good transport. I have no expertise with the SB but do with the SONOS. And the transport /dac combo was so much better I sold the SONOS.I can certainly understand if you already have a lot of stuff digitized and need the convenience of the SB, but for sheer sound quality, my choice was with the tranport based combo.
Good luck, regardless of your decision.
The German magazine HiFi&Records just reviewed the PS Audio in comparison to the Benchmark, the Mark Levinson 390S, and the reviewer´s three-stack-dcs-combo. He ranked the PS Audio well above the Benchmark, and on one level with the ML. Quote: "The PS Audio shows exactly the same timbre, the same characterisation of instruments, full of body, and nearly identical soundstaging. An amazing show from the PS Audio..."
Regards,
Florian Hassel
There has been overwhelming support for the Lavry DA10 actually. Every post I have put out there, has been met with, 'Just buy the Lavry' since it has been claimed as the best DAC around in just about every price category. I'm actually starting to lean towards that product a little more. To add fuel to the fire, my dealer indicated that Lavry used to work for Apogee (not the speaker) another outstanding D/A A/D company. I guess I couldn't go wrong with either one.
I just bought the new Benchmark DAC1 USB which I eventually plan to use with a dedicated headphone amp (HeadAmp GS-1) and is currently on order. I did try the Benchmark's built-in headphone amp, which is actually pretty good but to my ears sounds a little dry and two dimensional, at least with my AKG 701s. On the other hand, the overall resolution of this DAC is really quite amazing and is better than the built-in DAC in the "maxed" out HeadRoom Desktop amp that I bought last summer. Also I don't find the Benchmark to be excessively analytical rather it just reproduces exactly what is on the disc. Admittedly some discs do sound almost too finely etched, but well-recorded ones sound fantastic with this DAC. So what it may boil down to is what other components you intend to use with the DAC. If you basically want a DAC that can do double duty as a headphone amp, the Benchmark will do the job although the general consensus from many folks at head-fi.org is that you would be better off matching the Benchmark with an external amp, which is what I'm doing. The Benchmark also has both balanced and single-ended outputs, which could be a significant plus if you want to directly feed the DAC into a headphone or power amp with balanced inputs. You can control the output volume from the Benchmark itself. I'm never heard the PS Audio or Lavry DACs but I'm sure they're also excellent but would venture they are all pretty much in the same league as the Benchmark.
By all accounts the warmest sounding DAC in the $1000 price catagory is the Lavry.The buzz is that most of the Benchmarks for sale on Audiogon are being traded in for Lavrys.
..from Bolder Cable. Best $200 I have ever spent. First time, I got a mod and very good experience. Need to get the modded Elpac or similarly good linear powersupply as well. Add that, that is the best $330 I have ever spent in this audio hobby.
I haven't had any mods done on my SB3, and I'm pretty much a skeptic on the digital mods Bolder offers. I did change to a linear, regulated, and grounded power supply -- but heard absolutely no change in the sound on my system. When I read what Bolder does for the digital mods, I'm even more skeptical that this can make much difference in the performance of the SB3.I guess I'm a mod-skeptic on just about all audio equipment.
"the best $330 I have ever spent in this audio hobby". Man, that's some high praise. I'm glad that you hear such massive improvement in your unit with the mods.
I haven't heard either of the two you are asking about, but I'm using a Musical Fidelity X-Dac v3 with my SB3 and I'm really happy with the sound. I used the SB3's built-in Dac for 2 weeks before getting the X-DAC and I found it lacking. But now the sound is much more real. All the usual things are here like better soundstage, extended highs, smoother overall balance and just plain "better" in every way.What ever way you go, I'm sure you're going to be happier than with the stock SB3.
I stayed away from the Benchmark DAC because of two reasons:
1. Everyone says they are great... but very "analytical"
2. You see them for sale used on Audiogon all the time
I own DAC1 and it is the not overly analytical at all. It is telling the truth but not everybody can handle the truth.It helped me fine tune the system. Before I have DAC1, I swap different cable and interconnect to improve the system but the different is small. I got the usual smooth, nice to ear sound all the time. With DAC1, now I can find the difference of the cables and tweaks. With proper configuration, it sounds detail and at the same time musical. The jazz and orchestra just become live now with DAC1.
You found it always in Audiogon as there are more DAC1 user out there than many other DACs.
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