Looking for Better Jitter Reduction in a DAC

Try a Singxer Su-1 or ISO-Gen before purchasing a new DAC.

I have heard good things about Holospring.

Benchmark DAC 3 is wonderful at jitter rejection but very forward sounding.

Benchmark DACs have a smooth but detailed top end. They all have a forward presentation in the mid range. I think this works great for far field listening but might be too forward if you sit close to the speakers. Imaging is excellent if you like a tight precise sound field. The bass is extremely detailed and tangible (but not over emphasized) and this is probably the most noticeable difference versus other DACs.

The DAC3 is similar sounding but the clarity and insane industry leading low noise floor and channel separation is a surprisingly audible improvement provided you use it to DIRECTLY to drive your power amp and speakers. No point in running this device with a preamp that will dumb down the performance.

SNR -128 db
Crosstalk -130 dB
THD +N -119 dB

totally insane specs and I was surprised as I didn’t expect any of this to be audible but it is AS LONG as you don’t simply use it to feed another preamp.

@lowrider57

You have tried a lot. From what I can read between the lines, I suspect your current DAC is working fine just not suited to your taste. This may have more to do with the analog output of your DAC than anything digital you are trying to solve.

@bruce_philly

How old is the DAC1 you are comparing to the Accuphase?

That DAC1 runs pretty hot. I think it might need a recap after 10 years possibly due to the internal heat causing aging of the caps. You should be comparing to the DAC3 these days. The DAC3 uses 512 delta sigma DACs over several ESS Sabre 9028 chips. Basically this design is a hybrid between a ladder R2R and a single delta sigma 1 bit DAC. This type Sabre chip is where performance minded DAC conversion is heading - the best of both worlds - high linearity (from 1 bit delta sigma) and low noise (of ladder style design) - achieving 9 bit resolution and extremely low noise a far cry from old single 1 bit sigma delta methods of the 90’s.

@bruce_philly

If you left your DAC1 on for seven years straight night and day then I think you may have suffered what I observed. A dead sounding DAC due to capacitors aging (higher heat ages faster). I particularly noticed this when I got mine out of storage to compare to the DAC3 and DAC2 recently. I think my DAC had been on for about 10 years straight and as I mentioned it runs quite hot.

There is no way a properly functioning Class A component should sound dead! Stereophile are fairly reliable in their classifications.

@gdhal

Yes - rule of thumb is every 10 degrees Celsius higher in operating temperature will half the life of many capacitors.

Most caps are rated 105 degrees for 2000 hours. At 95 they will last 4000. At 85 they should last approx 8000 and so on and so forth.

So leaving your gear on 24/7 is usually a mistake. Good ventilation is very important

On off cycling causes wear and tear too. Caps left unused for too long will fail too. So there is no single solution that is best.

I suggest you let your equipment warm up for an hour before a serious listening session and for casual sessions don’t worry about it.

Harshness could also be your power amp or your speakers.

@willemj 

Higher voltages on line level devices has nothing to do with making louder volumes to sound nice. (although loud does sound nice as you hear more low level detail as it lifts the low level sounds above the ambient noise floor)

Generally you only see high voltage levels on Class A+ and pro audio equipment. 

The use of higher voltage more expensive components in a line level device is to achieve better THD+N and better SNR. Better performance.

Consumer RCA = cheap crap that is popular because it is cheap manufacture and can often sound OK to non-discerning listeners

Pro Audio balanced is the gold standard = higher signal level and shielded conne tions with signal wires that arent grounded. Expensive and always equal or better than RCA. 

My Benchmark DAC 3 was recently testsd by Stereophile - it delivers 18 volts on XLR at max volume. This high cost high spec analog output circuitry is how Benchmark achieve market leading specifications.

The Harbeth article is a good one for beginner audiophiles. Thx Willem.

Frankly, if an audio enthusiast has never considered the points raised by Alan Shaw of Harbeth, then they are waisting their money by pursuing a high-fidelity hobby without any understanding of how anything works.

This is like flying without a pilot’s license only not as hazardous. This is like scuba diving or sky diving without taking necessary training and becoming certified. These are the type of uninformed audiophile enthusiasts (and there are soooo many) that are easy prey to the "you obviously need another high $$$$ cable" salesmen.

@willemj    


This is why I always say,"If changing a piece of wire cable makes a big audible difference then your system problems run much deeper than mere cabling and it is critical to investigate further"