I use a mid 90's vintage Conrad Johnson transport with my DAC-1 and works great. I also have an Polk XM Satellite receiver connected and toggle between the two sources. Have not tried utilizing the DAC-1 directly into my amp; but is an option described in the owners manual. As long as you do not have any analog sources you could run without a pre. Second the advice of contacting Benchmark Media....very easy to do business with.
Benchmark DAC1
Is it possible to hook up an amplifier to this unit and use the headphone gain control as a volume control? I thought I read somewhere you could but just want to clarify. And If one was to purchase this DAC what would be a good transport? Does it even matter? And am I right to assume that for people who want a universal player but are on a limited budget ($1500) that DAC/transport is the best way to go? Thanks