Should I upgrade DAC, speaker cables, ICs, or PCs?

Obviously upgrading your front end will make the biggest impact on your system. Bad in = bad out no matter how you look at it. So the better source you can start with the better off you are.

Remove the noise from your system and there lies the music... there's no magic there. I'd look at the Mojo Audio DAC or the Zardoz ultimo Transport, both are two of the best DACs on the market and easily competitive with the Berkeley Alpha and Stahltek vekian for right around $1500. I currently use a Prism Sound Orpheus for my front end.

If you're looking for cables Mojo Audio makes the most neutral, noiseless cables on the market. Ben does a good job from the standpoint of understanding that music comes from removing the band-aids in your system and removing distortion and noise. He's a good guy also. Send me an email and I'll hook you up with Ben directly if you're interested.

Just to add fire to the conversation here...

Interconnects currently make zero difference on my system. They used to make a huge difference. Interesting how things happen.

If you're interested in a computer as a source then look at Spatial Computer. It'll trounce the other components I mentioned, and is currently what I am using. The website is all mumbo jumbo, but I worked in recording for a number of years and now in audio post for film so I can help you out if you don't understand the BS on the website!

I've owned the Havana, Benchmark, and DAC3... you can do better for the money.

The Zardoz Ultimo Transport starts around $1k and goes up to around $4k depending on the upgrades you want. It's a superb DAC and will also allow you to send music wirelessly from your Mac Mini (cuts off the source, feel free to message me if you don't understand how network transfer works).

The Other option is the Mojo Audio DAC, which I've been somewhat beta testing over the last 6 months. It's better than the Z, but it'll cost right around $2k.

There are other options in the pro-audio realm, the TC Studio Konnect 48 is a stellar piece of gear for $700-1k. If you aren't familiar with routing and using pro-audio I can help with that. But the TC is lower noise than the Mojo Audio and Z. We can get a little more expensive also into the $4k range and skyrocket into the $30k+ performance range.

Of the three units you mentioned the Havana is by far the most musical. The problem is that the tubes are noisy. The Benchmark is VERY bright and analytical. You don't want any oversampling DACs. They destroy the emotional content of the music and give an artificial sense of detail. Oversampling uses an algorithm to correct for information that either isn't there. That algorithm creates jitter, which means timing errors. So you may have a more detailed sound, but you loose the proper time tune and tone of the music.

So I'd recommend going with a good NOS DAC. All of the DACs I mentioned I have owned or had in my system for a good length of time. I currently own the Prism Sound Orpheus.

You can't go wrong with any of the DACs I mentioned. They are all in the top tier of performance.

What NOS DACs are you comparing these DACs to? Because it's not entirely fair to compare the Berkeley to a $300 NOS DAC.

The Z and the Mojo Audio DACs are nicer than the Berkeley IMO. But the Berkeley is no slouch by any means. The Mojo Audio DAC is currently a NOS DAC. But Ben is doing tests on the Sabre 24/96 DAC chip that will allow you to natively handle files up to 24/196 without SRC. The Mojo Audio DAC sounds as good as it does because it has a beefy power supply... well 5 power supplies, one for each output, one for the DAC chip, one for the crystal oscillator/DSIX, and one for the digital input. Audio is fairly simple, it's us dorky audiophiles that make it complicated.

So I agree with you that the latest technology OS DACs are actually quite good. The Prism's oversampling and SRC is stellar. But the Prism Orpheus is a different animal altogether. I wouldn't go as far as to say that all modern OS DACs are better than NOS DACs. Your evaluation of the Benchmark, BC, and Havana are quite accurate. I just encourage people not to use components as tone controls. If you remove the bandaids from your system you will be much better off and have much better music.

Rather than getting a warm DAC to cover a bright amp, remove the bright amp instead. Brightness is a boost caused by distortion in the 2-4khz domain. It is often caused by mechanical vibration, cheap capacitors, or a weak power supply.

With live music there is no such thing as warm or bright. Music is just music. If you stop thinking in terms of "what will fix the brightness in my system" and begin thinking "how can I make my system more accurate" you will get much larger gains in enjoyment from your system. If you go listen to live unamplified music it will give you a benchmark to start from. Music is warm, it is bright, it is bold, it is intense and it is subtle... it is all of these things. Music is Music is Music is Music. It doesn't matter if it's tubes or solid state. If you do it accurately all components will sound the same. Listen for proper flow, listen for time, tune, and tone. Coherency and inner detail. EMOTIONAL CONTENT. Ok... sorry for the rant, gents!

I don't think all equipment has a warm or bright bias when it is made neutral. Brightness or warmth are just distortions -- either attractive or otherwise.

I also disagree that digital is bright compared to analog. The better that analog gets the closer it gets to digital. The better that digital gets the closer it gets to analog. While entry level vinyl will sound considerably better than entry-level digital, to say that digital is bright compared to analog is just not true. I used to listen to a Walker Turntable and a DiVinci turntable, both stellar pieces of analog gear. But my digital has surpassed the performance of both of those turntables.

Ultimately it doesn't matter how you get there (vinyl, digital, tubes, solid state). Music is just music. If done correctly in any of these areas you will have accurate music that isn't bright or rolled off. It's non-fatiguing and has all the emotional content that goes along with it.

Fun FACT: Almost ALL modern vinyl recordings are just 24bit DIGITAL masters. I worked in recording for 4 years and now in the film industry.

It is also true that redbook CDs don't have any information above 15khz, and most have no information above 10khz. 95% of harmonic information is contained below 5khz.

In terms of jitter, the benchmark and bel canto are much higher jitter than the weiss or PWD. The Weiss is a very nice DAC, but if you're looking in that price range you're better off going with a TC Studio Konnect 48 or a Prism Sound Orpheus (which is what I own). The TC and Prism are leaps ahead of the other DACs listed in terms of jitter reduction and clocking... granted, they will take a little more work to play audio (well worth it in my opinion). I heard the Stahl-Tek Vekian the other day, which is an awesome piece of gear and personally preferred my Prism's more natural, less "hifi" sound... detail retrieval was identical between the two units. I did not do a comparison side by side, however, so the comparison isn't 100% fair.