I would still try the Benchmark. I bought it for a friend, and briefly compared it to my own Chord-DAC64 (3200$). The Chord still sounded better, but only by a small margin.
Best DAC for 1,000?
Fellow audiogoners,
I'm in the market for a DAC to be used in my headphone system which consists of Senn 650's with Cardas cables, X-CAN V3, and X-PUS. Sources include my main system (DV-9500), I-Pod using Apple Lossless, and my laptop. I listen mainly to Jazz, Rock, some classical and other eclectic stuff like Frank Zappa. There are so many different DAC options that I'm starting to go nuts so I'm hoping to get some different opinions to get me back on track. Here are the units I've looked at so far:
X-DAC - Great reviews, I have the X-PUS, no USB input and I don't believe it does 24/92
Stello DA-100 - Sounded great at CES for the 5 minutes I listened to it. Upsampling can be switched off, USB input, No local distribution, I have to send my money to Korea, scary.
Bel Canto DAC-2 - See them used, good reviews, small footprint, no USB
Benchmark DAC-1 - Good reviews, includes headphone amp balanced outputs (don't really need either of these), no usb input.
Apogee MiniDAC - Lots of sampling options, ugly, has USB on newer model, ugly, includes headphone amp, ugly, level control goes to 11, would have to hide it so my cat wouldn't puke on it.
Grace M902 - Great reviews, looks cool, lots of sampling options, crossfeed, has usb, at 1,500 is over my spousal imposed limit.
Scott Nixon - no upsampling NOS dac, tubes are cool, looks like a kit
Audio Mirror - another NOS dac, right price
I'd like to hear any thoughts or opinions on any of the units above (or any other recommendations). I'd also like to hear throughts on over-sampling vs NOS DACS and throughts on tube dacs vs. SS.
Thank you for helping me out of the DAC MUCK!
I'm in the market for a DAC to be used in my headphone system which consists of Senn 650's with Cardas cables, X-CAN V3, and X-PUS. Sources include my main system (DV-9500), I-Pod using Apple Lossless, and my laptop. I listen mainly to Jazz, Rock, some classical and other eclectic stuff like Frank Zappa. There are so many different DAC options that I'm starting to go nuts so I'm hoping to get some different opinions to get me back on track. Here are the units I've looked at so far:
X-DAC - Great reviews, I have the X-PUS, no USB input and I don't believe it does 24/92
Stello DA-100 - Sounded great at CES for the 5 minutes I listened to it. Upsampling can be switched off, USB input, No local distribution, I have to send my money to Korea, scary.
Bel Canto DAC-2 - See them used, good reviews, small footprint, no USB
Benchmark DAC-1 - Good reviews, includes headphone amp balanced outputs (don't really need either of these), no usb input.
Apogee MiniDAC - Lots of sampling options, ugly, has USB on newer model, ugly, includes headphone amp, ugly, level control goes to 11, would have to hide it so my cat wouldn't puke on it.
Grace M902 - Great reviews, looks cool, lots of sampling options, crossfeed, has usb, at 1,500 is over my spousal imposed limit.
Scott Nixon - no upsampling NOS dac, tubes are cool, looks like a kit
Audio Mirror - another NOS dac, right price
I'd like to hear any thoughts or opinions on any of the units above (or any other recommendations). I'd also like to hear throughts on over-sampling vs NOS DACS and throughts on tube dacs vs. SS.
Thank you for helping me out of the DAC MUCK!
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- 18 posts total
- 18 posts total