You might find your new secondary system DAC will eventually become your primary system DAC after you try many of these mentioned.
Is there anything other than a Benchmark DAC?
I own the Benchmark DAC3 and love it. I am looking for another DAC due to the addition of a second system. It will either go with a Boulder/Audio Research/(B&W or Vandersteen) system or a McIntosh/Bryston/(B&W or Vandersteen) system. I am looking to try to get something under 3k (maybe 4k) used. I've been looking for a month or so and have seen Bryston (DAC3 wanna be), Primaluna (too much distortion) and a bunch of really old stuff. I have yet to justify any purchase when a DAC3 is sitting there new around 2k with those untouchable distortion numbers. I would love to try a tube DAC tho another solid state DAC would be fine. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Given my DAC3 bias I would love to hear from those whose bias differs from mine.
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Had the Benchmark DAC3 for 7 years. Ultimately found it analytical and too bright in the lower treble for me. I could not unhear a demo of a MSB Discrete DAC and bought one. Added an Aurender N20 and I look forward to listening to this system every day. Of course I ended up spending way more than I intended but those demos really did the trick. I believe the DAC is the most important component and if I was able to justify the expense I’d even move up to the MSB Premier DAC. |
A tube DAC with distortion as low as a Benchmark? That's going to be quite rare if not impossible. I've owned a DAC3 B and a DAC3 HGC for about two years now. Extremely good DACs and hard to beat. Paired with an HPA4 / AHB2 / Revel Ultima Studios. Easily the most fatigue free system I've ever listened to with an extremely quiet noise floor. I recently got some time with an Okto DAC8 Stereo through headphones via a Benchmark HPA4 and was impressed - had a silky quality about it. If you're going with Vandersteen speakers, I suggest trying something from Ayre. I had an Ayre / Vandersteen system for a number of years and the combination sounded quite good. |
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More great stuff thx all. @yyzsantabarbara Yes I run my DAC3 through an ARC tube pre and then to a Boulder amp. It really sounds good, both through vandersteens and B&W's. @cundare2 I do think the DAC3 will end up in my second system. I have run it through my Mac before and liked the results.. @yage I did have an Ayre VX-5 amp for a while with my ARC pre which is also zero feedback with my Vandersteens. It sounded great, I do like the boulder better though. |
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