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In Reply to: Newbie Questions about USB to SPDIF Conversion/Benchmark USB1 Experiences posted by Mister Pig on March 21, 2007 at 08:40:19:
How many hours of break-in do you have on the dac? What is the rest of your setup, from computer down through the speakers? How does the Dac-1 USB sound to you, and can you compare it to anything directly? I'm very interested in buying one, just a CDP sale away from a purchase, actually :), and am curious to get some feedback on it, as there has been no reviews online that I'm aware of...If nothing else, getting rid of another box (usb/spif converter) and the digital cable and power supply for the converter would seem like it would have some change on the sound versus a simple USB directly to the dac via i2s connection, I'd imagine, with the more direct route I'd assume being better, but...Also, where did you buy the dac from? I'm looking for a dealer offering the best deal, maybe tossing in a free set of vibrapods or whatever, and checking the audiogon used market for the USB version...but not holding my breath on that ;)
Follow Ups:
Couldnt reliably tell you hours on break in, but have had the unit playing 24/7 for a 3 weeks before I made a direct comparison.System consits of
Electra Print 300 DRD amplifiers
Electra Print PVA transformer based passive pre amp
Aeltier Audio First Horn speakers BLH w Fostex driver
Audio Magic Illusions 4D speaker wire/interconnect/ and digital cable
Audio Magic Stealth Mini Reference power conditionerComputer is Dell Insirion 1100 w Western Digital 250G external hard drive. Using I-Tunes as server software.
I do a bit of writing for an e-zine. This unit is a review sample to me. My personal DAC is a Audio Magic Kukama.
Personally I was very suprised that the Phillips DVP 642 sounded exactly like the computer. Benchmark claims its the clocking system they use. There are other differences between the DAC1 and the USB DAC1. Eventually I will get a review written on it.
I suggest you plug your PC and DAC1 to the power conditioner together. Power noise may go through PC to DAC1. Just my guess. My PC source improved significant when I power it through the same balanced power supply.Did you try fit digital coaxial from DVP to drive DAC1. Any difference?
All three pieces, PC,DAC, and external hard drive were run through the power conditioner.Yes I used the coax output of the Phillips DVP642 to drive the DAC1. It sounded exactly the sam as the PC. Which is consistent with what Benchmark has measured in their facilities.
It is strange, my DAC1 sound better than my CDP which is 2.5 times more expensive. I don't know why it sound the same as DVP in your environment. May be there are other factor in the audio chain which cannot let DAC1 perform its best.
DAC 1USB with Computer front end sounds exactly the same as DAC1 USB with Phillips DVP642 as the transport.Benchmark states that this will be the case with a good DVD player as a transport. They can be "bit transparent" also.
I am not comparing either combo against a standalone CD player.
Regards,
Mister Pig
Thanks much, and nice system! I'm pretty surprised about the cheap DVP vs. PC comparo too, and I'm very much looking forward to your review, especially between the DAC1, DAC 1usb and your reference. Please post a link to the review here when/if you can!
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