Which DAC for $1K?Benchmark?Perpetual?????


Have a Sony 333 carousell and soimetimes think I should just bite bullit and get better player.Seems like the $3K Sony SACD players can be gotten with a discount and offer really good perfomance.But have also thought about a DAC at cheaper price point and wondering which one offers best bet.Seems like Stereophile and perhaps others have given nod to Benchmark for $1K.But there is also the older Perpetual combo and one can geta modwright modded combo used for $800.

Have thought if a Muiscal Fidelity or Eletrocompaniet (sic) ECD-1 was worth extra outlay and got me that much more than another $500 in sound I could up the anty.Not only thinking of myself but also for buddy who is loathe to give up his multi kilo buck two box Proceed from early 90's as a player but knows he is getting 16/44 and no upsmaplking etc.It works well but we have kicked idea around of adding new processor.So with abut a grand what would you choose?
Thanks
Chazz
chazzbo
I would want to try the Channel Islands Audio DAC & power supply combo, and the new PS Audio Master Link III, both at or below $1K. Or even the Rega Apollo, a one-box solution for the same price.
try the Lavry D10. A number of discussions on the web call it a Benchmark DAC-1 beater. It is designed by an audio recording equipment firm, not by a high priced high end audio company. There is an recent review of the Lavry Blue on Stereophile. Or try the Benchmark DAC-1, alao made by an audio recording equipment company.
$1k is a hard "stop" in the world of DAC's. I found that once you're willing to hit the $1300-$1500 the sound is truely three time better in detail and bass. It's one of the few times in audio that the law of diminishing returns isn't true.

The Electrocompaniet ECD-1 and Audio Logic units are prime examples.
If you are looking at the Perpetual combo MAKE SURE that you get a Modwright, or other, modded P3 DAC. As for the the jitter aspects of the P1 I haven't seen any comparison to the Benchmark but suspect that it's just as good. The neat thing about the P1 is the ability to load software to correct speaker performance issues. And yes it does work.
Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista Dac or an Electrocompaniet ECD-1 would b be excellent choices. Both sound much better than the Benchmark to me.

Good luck!

Chris
Anyone with experience with the much cheaper Chinese DACs such as Musiland MD-10 or Zhaolu 2.5? These seem to be quite popular over at head-fi forums, and most head-to-head reviews over there find these to sound better than the Benchmark Media DAC-1 or the Lavry similar offering.
What would be the purpose of puchasing the Electrocompaniet DAC and not the CD player itself? It seems that for only about $500 more on the used market you could get the one box solution, no? Just wondering if there are any downsides here...