Support Head-Fi.org by
starting all of your
Amazon.com shopping by
clicking here.
____________________________________________________________________
Today's Featured Head-Fi Blog: Jude's Blog
____________________________________________________________________
Please help
support Head-Fi by becoming a Contributing Member
CLICK
HERE -- Contributing Members, thank you
for your generous support! --
Elias: I finally figured out how to engage asio with j river and it works nicely. But I got an Opticis SUB extension cable today and what a fantastic cable it is! Before Opticis I was running a short usb into my dac which in turn was driving about 40 feet of unbalanced interconnect (Guitar Center generic cable). So when I began using the Opticis I could now run a half meter of silver KK (1120 or something) interconnect or a meter of mogami balanced cable. I could not believe it but my KK unbalanced sounds better than the mogami balanced. I had the opposite effect on an scd1. I have only about 25 hours of breakin on the Benchmark balanced analogue outs. Could this still be an issue or should I change my xlr pad down from -20 db to 0 db? Or is it possible that the unbalanced outs of the Benchmark are better than the balanced outs? Either way I could not be happier with my Benchmark usb dac.
...I could not believe it but my KK unbalanced sounds better than the mogami balanced ... Or is it possible that the unbalanced outs of the Benchmark are better than the balanced outs? Either way I could not be happier with my Benchmark usb dac.
You will be surprised at how the sound from the unbalanced connection improves when you take care of RCA sockets (see here).
It is telling that Benchmark have addressed this issue in the DAC1 PRE. Good for all you new buyers. Too bad they dropped the BNCs though - my experience indicates it's a better connection for S/PDIF. (...maybe in the DAC1-PRE Mk2 !).
Cheers
Grant
__________________
That's not a toy... It's A TOOL !
You will be surprised at how the sound from the unbalanced connection improves when you take care of RCA sockets (see here).
It is telling that Benchmark have addressed this issue in the DAC1 PRE. Good for all you new buyers. Too bad they dropped the BNCs though - my experience indicates it's a better connection for S/PDIF. (...maybe in the DAC1-PRE Mk2 !).
Cheers
Grant
Hmm...I didn't notice this on the DAC1 USB that I returned. But I just took a look at my Pre, and chuckled. Thanks for the link.
I'm currently trying to decide whether to get a B'mark Pre or a Stello DA220 Mk2 & would be grateful for any input from those that have heard these units.
I'm currently trying to decide whether to get a B'mark Pre or a Stello DA220 Mk2 & would be grateful for any input from those that have heard these units.
I think the most helpful input I can offer is to read through the previous 150something pages here, then compare that info to the thread on the Stello DA220.
Yeah, I know but I supppose what I can't find is a post along the lines of, "I have lived with B'Mark Pre for x weeks now and my impressions are ......"
I could not believe it but my KK unbalanced sounds better than the mogami balanced. I had the opposite effect on an scd1. I have only about 25 hours of breakin on the Benchmark balanced analogue outs. Could this still be an issue or should I change my xlr pad down from -20 db to 0 db? Or is it possible that the unbalanced outs of the Benchmark are better than the balanced outs? Either way I could not be happier with my Benchmark usb dac.
Ted,
The balanced and unbalanced outputs use the same exact same circuitry and have identical performance. The difference you are experiencing may be a result of the differences in output level. With the -20 dB pads, the XLR outputs will be 4.5 dB below that of the RCA outputs. This difference in amplitude will not affect the quality of the sound, but it will affect the perception of quality.
I'm currently trying to decide whether to get a B'mark Pre or a Stello DA220 Mk2 & would be grateful for any input from those that have heard these units.
If you have any questions that I can answer, don't hesitate to ask.
Yeah, I know but I supppose what I can't find is a post along the lines of, "I have lived with B'Mark Pre for x weeks now and my impressions are ......"
In your shoes (and assuming it has all the features you are after), I would buy the Benchmark, and if it doesn't perform as you'd hoped, sell it here in the for sale forum. Nothing like trying it yourself, and you won't lose much reselling it here if you decide to. Surely the ability to try it yourself outweighs the small financial loss you may incur?
Yeah, I know but I supppose what I can't find is a post along the lines of, "I have lived with B'Mark Pre for x weeks now and my impressions are ......"
Well, I've had it for about 5 days. It's too early to draw any conclusions. However, I did have the DAC1 USB for about two prior to upgrading to this unit. So far, I have been very happy. To be honest, aside from features, I can't really tell any difference in performance between the two products. Is there a particular reason why you're looking at the Pre and not the DAC1 USB?
Linear Mode
