Benchmark DAC1 now available with USB

[The Monkey]

Frankly, if I'm resorting to USB, I'll just use my MicroDAC. My Mac has optical out and the DAC1 handles that just fine.

I'm disappointed that this was their big news. I thought we'd be hearing about a discrete headphone amp in the DAC1.

[Davesrose]

I'd be interested to hear the reviews. I had bought a USB to spdif converter so that I could do computer audio with my DAC-1. At first I thought mp3s sounded great through the Benchmark. Then I got into SACD and could hear a difference with a good CD transport. It's redbook playback for CDs sounds very good...so it would be interesting to see if there will be much 24bit audio sources for the USB version: seems like it might be a way to get 24bit DVD-Audio through the Benchmark. But since most albums out are for CD, I guess I'll just be using my current Benchmark as a CD DAC for sometime now. Would be great if I could get SACD out to it though.

[thomaspf]

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT

Standard windows drivers do not support 24/96, how they accomplished that without any proprietary drivers is beyond me.

Hmm, that is news to me. My Audiotrak Optoplay seems to work just fine in 24/96 with the Windows standard driver.

[Iron_Dreamer]

I guess they got tired of seeing someone making a boatload of money off the fact that their DAC1 didn't come with USB input. Even if their implementation of the USB input isn't as good as it might be, they will likely get quite a bit of sales from this move. Even though $300 isn't chump change, they can still claim that the DAC1 is pretty reasonably priced for what it offers, and USB inputs on DAC's, even if not ideally designed, do seem to be a big selling point these days.

[humanflyz]

wrong thread

[granodemostasa]

I'm not entirely sure what the benefit is of not having to install drivers, other than it makes up less hard drive space. the M-Audio audiophile usb converts 24/96 and doesn't cost nearly as much, all one has to sacrifice is using M-Audio's ASIO drivers.

[gregeas]

I'm a fan of the DAC1 but coincidentally sold mine this week to fund a Slimdevices Transporter purchase.

I would pay an extra $300 for a good USB input on the DAC1. I have a small Dell laptop (XPS M1210) with a 120GB hard drive storing lossless albums, and I love the idea of simply adding the new Benchmark for a high-end two-box solution. I used a Transit in the past, but the extra box (albeit small) and cabling always bugged me. I looked around for a ExpressCard sound card with coax digital output, but none exist yet. (The M1210 only has an ExpressCard slot.)

I can fit the laptop, DAC1, and my E500s in small laptop bag and have 200 lossless albums at my fingertips. Cool.

[gregeas]

>The new DAC1 USB, which begins shipping worldwide on March 1, 2007
>at a price of $1275 USD, also includes high-current output drivers that
>can be configured to mute upon headphone insertion.

What the heck are high-current output drivers?

[Herandu]

>The new DAC1 USB, which begins shipping worldwide on March 1, 2007
>at a price of $1275 USD, also includes high-current output drivers that
>can be configured to mute upon headphone insertion.

Oh boy. More snake oil. The line output is voltage dependent, not current dependent. The input to your amplifier is specified in terms of Volts. Like 2V RMS. SO why do they need a high current going in t perhaps a 47K input on your amp? To blow your amp input up?
I pass.

[The Monkey]

Are there any other balanced output USB DACs on the market?