Benchmark Dac1 vs Ack dAck


Anyone compare these two over-acheivers? id be interested in your impressions of both or either of them...
mbacinello
I own the aCK! and I can say after owning the Classe DAC-1,Theta GEN Va and the Dodson 217 MKII that it is the best DAC I have owned.It is very open, smooth and has the least glare and fatique of any DAC I have heard.Good luck. Mark
Get hold of an Ack! dAck! is what I say. The thing that realy stood out for me was the immense improvement in dynamics, making music come pretty close to 'live' music. Relatively low price, built like a tank. Shame about the long waiting list, but quite understandable.
I just finished auditioning both of these, and the punchline is, the Benchmark went back for a refund and the ACK! is staying!
The Benchmark is a great DAC, no doubt - I can see where it garners rave reviews. It is highly detailed, very transparent, very exciting listening. But after awhile, its relentlessly detailed presentation gives you the proverbial digital headache. I started listening less & less. It would be great for studio use though.
The ACK! on the other hand reminds me more of my trusty VPI turntable and records - everything's there, and everything just sounds right, just like music should. No glare, sweet but not sugary, nicely balanced, dead quiet. And, you can listen for hours on end - you have to drag yourself out of the listening room because it's time to go to work. Bonus - it's half the price! Worth the wait.
In my modest system - Quicksilver monos, B&W CDM NTs, McCormack passive pre - it was no contest at all. Good luck & good listening!
p.s. If you love good female vocals, check out Christine Kane's latest CD at www.christinekane.com Fantastic!
I'm using with an old JVC XLZ 1050TN, a cheap Sony DVP655 SACD/DVD player, and an Adcom 750. With the Sony, there is some slight popping sound out of the speakers when you load a disc, otherwise the three sound virtually the same to me - I can't tell any difference. The Ack does not seem to be picky about transports!
I also have a dAck! and am delighted with it. It's much less hashy than the EAD DSP 7000 III that I had, which is no slouch in this area; beautifully silent background and no power cord to upgrade. I'm using it with an EAD T1000 with a Mapleshade/Insound Zepher dig link which is naturally open yet gorgeously smooth. It doesn't work at all with my Alesis Masterlink as a transport. The SPDIF output of that is not a true SPDIF and the ack doesn't see it at all. I did upgrade the output coupling caps, replacing the 3.3 mF AuraCaps with a pair of 5 mF DynamiCaps bypassed with a .01, totalling 10 mF per channel. This totally ameliorated my reservations about the bass of the stock unit and improved everything else as well.