Thiel Owners

The 9000 is a keeper for myself or a friend. I have compared the internal DACs for CD conversion of the Benchmark DAC3, Sony SCD-1 and Sony 9000. The Benchmark betters the Sonys, but the comparison is not embarrassing. In all cases the better player has deeper and firmer bass and is quieter / less jittery overall.

Thanks for these equipment leads and for pointing me to Bill T. I had lost track of him after CJ where he and I had the 'same' job - manufacturing system developer, design for manufacturability, and all those 'do it' aspects of product developmemt - each of us for our company's first two decades.

tomthiel

My pleasure. Good to read that everything is going well for you. The Panel will be interested to learn of the Benchmark DAC3 / Oppo combination. A Bryston BDA3 may have stiff competition soon. We have plenty of Benchmark and Bryston fans/owners here. I love a fruitful shoot-out.

Happy Listening!

tomthiel and jafant
Thank you very much for your comments on the Oppo player. I am very much looking forward to the details of your comparison between using it as a transport and with DAC. Myself I would of course have to make do with a normal Oppo, without the upgrade you described, which certainly takes it to a new level. Since the drive in the 105 and the less expensive 103 are apparently the same, I would go for the 103 to use as a transport. Let's see. 

Lloydviii - consider that 105s are younger than 103s. These things do wear out. And compare the connectivity options. The 105 may be the swiss army knife of players. You won't need the Darbee upgrade for use as a transport and plain non-D 105s are a bargain. The Music Room is where I would start asking and looking. TT

lloydviii

My pleasure to offer an opinion on Digital players. The CD and SACD are not going away anytime soon.

Happy Listening!