Transport for DAC

I'm not familiar with the jitter suppression capabilities, if any, of the Bel Canto DAC3. But assuming they are not comparable to those of the Benchmark DAC1 which Kijanki referred to, keep in mind that the length of the interconnect cable between transport and dac is perhaps just as important as the dac itself.

See the following thread for a complete explanation and supporting references:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1237611683

It is essential that the interconnect be no less than 1.5 meters long. Longer than 1.5 meters may be ok, but 1.5 meters is generally considered to be the ideal length.

Regards,
-- Al

keep in mind that the length of the interconnect cable between transport and dac is perhaps just as important as the dac itself.

Correction: At the end of this sentence I meant to say "as the transport itself," not "as the dac itself."

Regards,
-- Al

Kijanki -- Do you happen to know if the dac chip(s) and circuitry are identical between the current versions of the dac1, the dac1-usb, and the dac1-pre? Their site has a comparison chart that deals mainly with functionality differences, but it's not clear to me if there are circuit differences in the dac sections. I'm thinking of getting one in the foreseeable future.

Thanks!
-- Al

Good info, Kijanki -- Thanks! In my case, I don't want a warm sounding dac. I'm looking for neutrality and detail, because I have a tube power amp, and also a Classe preamp, which while solid state has a bit of a tube-like character as well.

I don't know the answer to Mapman's question. Anyone else?

MacD -- sorry to have diverted the thread a bit, but I trust you've found my previous answer, and the others that have been posted, to be helpful.

Regards,
-- Al

Al - are you running XLR or RCA?

RCA at present, because that is what my Rotel cdp puts out, but my Classe CP-60 preamp can accept either.

Regards,
-- Al

Kijanki & Shadorne -- Thanks very much for the good comments and info. I looked at the manuals and Benchmark's comparison chart for all three versions of the DAC1, and yes the USB and Preamp versions are the only ones with the "State-of-the-art LM4562 high-current op-amps." The USB version has that op-amp in the output stage only, while the preamp version uses it throughout the analog paths.

A result of that is the 1600 ohm output impedance of the DAC1 with the 10db pad enabled is reduced to 425 ohms in the other versions, although that is still much higher than for the other settings of the attenuation pads.

But I too am mystified as to why the 10db/1600 ohm position should have produced such poor results in Kijanki's setup.

Thanks again for the good information. In my own case, when I make my purchase (probably in a couple of months), I think the choice will come down to the DAC1-USB, or one of two all-in-one cdp's (now there's a way to eliminate transport-to-dac jitter :)), the Doge 6 (tubes), http://www.pacificvalve.us/DOGE6.html or the Sony SCD-XA5400ES, both of which are in the same general price class and have received a lot of excellent comments. It's not worth it to me to go above that price level because around 80% of my collection and my listening is vinyl.

Regards,
-- Al