audioengr
Responses from audioengr
| Upgrade question Your speakers will not sing with a Denon. You should be looking for a low-impedance higher-power amp and preamp, such as a Odyssey Stratos, McCormack or similar. | |
| Besides the soundcard.... does the computer itself If you use a PCI card, the answer is yes. If you use an outboard USB to S/PDIF converter with it's own power supply, no. The issue is PC clock and PC power. | |
| How good is Benchmark DAC1 comparing to...... Alex - Too bad we could not do the shootout. Guess we will never know now.. Unless you will be at the Denver show in Oct.??? I plan to be there. BTW - your buddy David C. spent some time listening in our suite - he wanted to hear the shootout too.... | |
| How good is Benchmark DAC1 comparing to...... Dne - I'm happy for you that you like it so much. It is better than the majority of DAC's available, however I compare it and all other DAC's to my reference DAC. Here is a post on some mods to the Benchmark:http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/view... | |
| Will the Big Ben improve the 24 MXL? Of the jitter reducers, the Big Ben seems to work the best IMO. Noticable improvement. | |
| Should I buy a DAC? The advantage of buying a good DAC is that you can use it also with a laptop to play ripped CD's. This can be superior to any transport or player. This was demonstrated at CES last week. | |
| How good is Benchmark DAC1 comparing to...... The stock Benchmark DAC-1 has the most pristine and clear highs of any of these DAC's. However, the op-amps used cause the midrange and mid-bass to be a bit thin. This can be improved by changing op-amps or other mods, but the highs will not be qu... | |
| Is 24/192 all hype? Sean and BigKids hit the nail on the head. It's not the chips so much as the implementation. It's the board layout, the power supply, what type of parts were used etc... | |
| Music from hard drive better than CD? Using a USB to S/PDIF coaxial converter or an AirPort Express with coaxial out will definitely outperform any transport on the market, including modded ones. I have compared these. Also, using Foobar2K to upsample to 24/96 is even better. This is ... | |
| DAC for AirportExpress around $1k? Get a good glass fiber Toslink cable and a Benchmark DAC-1, Birdland or dAck!. | |
| Distortion from Airport Express setup? Make sure that you have turned-off all of the DSP functions in itunes:http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93870 | |
| Are Preamps necessary? Preamps provide gain and current drive, both of which are usually necessary with most amps to get the maximum dynamics out of them and ability to control volume adequately. Some DAC's, such as the Benchmark DAC-1 have active volume controls built-in. | |
| Cheap - effective A/D converters? ack dAck! and Birdland Odeon Lite are both very good values stock. | |
| URGENT HELP NEEDED: Marantz Clock Upgrade Bailey - the frequency should be written on the SMT clock. It may be a crystal or a clock generator. Crystals typically have two terminals. These clocks are a bit tricky, especially when they are above 24 MHz. If he is wiring something in place of... | |
| Parasound - Pass Labs - VTL - Krell Amp Selection Good soundstage and presentation of scale.Clarity - natural - openess.Truth of timbre and natural non-fatiguing presentation- it all happens in the midrange for me.Enough bass but not bass that overwhelms the midrange and hides inner detail.Clean ... |