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Gregeas, interesting comment. I am planning to move to PC-based audio and am also contemplating the Transporter or a good USB DAC (was considering Stello 220 MkII, now also DAC1). What prompted you to go for the change?
Thanks, Clark
Hey Clark,
My thinking was that the price of the Transporter was less than my Arcam CD33, DAC1, and Squeezebox. So off they went, and now I can use the Transporter as a high-end source for my PC music AND as a DAC for cable box and PS3.
I'm sold on PC audio and have been using Squeezeboxes in secondary systems for a quite a while. But until the Transporter arrived I was not ready to give up shiny disks in my main rig. Frankly, I'm surprised there isn't more talk about the Transporter. Very nice component.
I don't know what they're smoking at Benchmark, but clearly their DAC-1 success has gone to their head. Such baseless, ridiculous hyperbole is sad to witness. It might help if they revealed what exactly is so stupendous about their USB implementation.
Their USB solution sounds like the usual run-of-the-mill USB/spdif chip that supports 24/96 (such as one in M-Audio Transit) that feeds their spdif receiver with the "ultralock" asynchronous upsampling circuit, which will feed their AD DAC chip. Big deal, and NO WAY is it worth $300 premium.
Unless they start releasing some specific info about some new, wonder USB to I2S technology with custom software optimization, the hot air will definitely escape.
worthless to me as well. people buy DAC cost that much are expecting something designed to contribute to the sound quality.
__________________ Source1: EMU 1616M---Monster Cable: Ultra Series THX® 1000 Fiber Optic Digital Interconnect--->Lavry Black DA10 (with Furutech Soundbar FUSE-Rhodium Plated & DIY power cables - Furutech cable + Wattgate 330i+350i) Source2: 1616M Headphone: HD600 (Equinox 9ft cable)->GS1000->ATH-CM7TI Portable: IPOD U2->PSP->sharp MT831 PC speaker: Altec Lansing 6021 AMP1: EarMax Pro EE (-Amperex&Philips 50's D-getter 12at7 or early 50's Valvo T7s or Philips 1953 CV455 or Mullard 1954-1960 square-getter 12at7s or GEC A2900 (Triple Mica) or Telefunken ECC801s or Mullard 12at7 brand Amperex 1957 square getter or Philips 1951 12at7 low noise grade KÜHL Tube + 2* Telefunken 1950's CCa <same batch>)- -Philips 1952-1955 12at7 + 2*Siemens CCa brand Valvo (yellow labels) D getter- )+Nordost Frey interconnect cable AMP2: EarMax Anniversary (#13, lucky # for Cantonese) (-Amperex bugle boy 12at7 "G clef" France made or Telefunken 1950's ECC801s (platinum grade) or Philips 1952 12at7 platinum grade KÜHL Tube + 2*Telefunken 1960's CCa -match curve,same batch- -Genalex Gold Lion 1959 B739 (KÜHL Tube) or Lorenz 1954 ECC81 + 2*Telefunken 1950's CCa <same batch>- )+Nordost SPM interconnect cable Previously Owned: headphone: SONY E888*5->AIWA-553*2->AIWA-557*2->AIWA-741->Bang-Olufsen A8*3->SONY-CD3000->ATH-W1000->SONY-SA3000(with Black Dragon cable)->ATH-A900->AKG K701->ATH-AD2000 source: DZ555->E01->SONY EJ2000->D777*2->D303->D25->D15->SONY D100->Panasonic ST790->iRiver H10->N10->some other MD,CDP players,
Just wanted to add some premature impressions of the PS Audio Digital Link III DAC that my local audiophile friend just loaned me this afternoon....
So far so good... the DAC is indeed a solid upgrade from the sound I'm getting straight from the Squeezebox3, I'm very happy about the improvement! I'm going to listen more to this DAC tomorrow and get better impressions, but as of now, the impressions are very favorable.
I would say that this DAC at 1000$ is a good value especially since it has the USB inputs that many on this forum value. Plus this thing is hefty! Atleast 15 to 20lbs just for a DAC. Not too shabby.
__________________ Speaker Setup:
SqueezeBox 3 server -> PS Audio Digital Link III DAC -> Cary Audio SLP-05 Reference Tube Preamplifier -> Plinius SA-102 amplifier -> Martin Logan Summit -> :) Headphone Setup (version 2):
SqueezeBox 3 -> PS Audio DLIII DAC -> Cary Audio SLP-05 Tube Headphone Amp -> ???? (coming soon!) Previously-owned Headphones:
Sennheiser HD650, Sennheiser HD555, Sony SA-5000 Previously-owned Headphone Amps:
HeadAmp GS-1, HeadAmp Gilmore Lite
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.
I must be completely misreading this post.
Going by your sig:
You're using the Benchmark DAC in your food chain right now to that Maverick SACD player and it only handles CD and nothing else?
Hi there! My name is Elias Gwinn, I'm an engineer at Benchmark Media Systems. I'm glad to see such a lively discussion about the new product!!
I would like to answer some of the questions about the new DAC1 USB.
When we decided to add a USB interface to the DAC1, we purchased a 'boat-load' of USB audio interfaces to test and use. Our goal was to get familiar with the various technologies available and determine what we would want for our solution.
The testing consisted of the 'psuedo-random' bit-test that was mentioned in the press release. This is, quiet simply, testing "what-bits-go-in-and-what-bits-come-out". This is a standard test developed by Audio Precision, the leading audio electronics testing equipment manufacturer. When the Audio Precision (AP) sends a digital audio signal into a device, it checks to see if the exact same bits come out. So, for example, if the AP sends in 101100111000, a 'bit-transparent' data path will output the exact same bits: 101100111000. This was our testing proceedure.
An ideal transport will deliver to the DAC the original digital audio data bit-for-bit without a single bit changed. This is true for CD/DVD transports as much as computers.
Through our testing, we found that USB audio devices with custom drivers were rarely, if ever, bit-transparent. This includes ASIO devices.
Conversely, 'native' (without custom driver) devices were ALWAYS transparent. This was true with Windows and Mac. The problem with native solutions was the lack of 24-bit 96-kHz capablities.
At first we suspected this was a limitation with Windows USB audio. However, Microsoft audio software engineers assured us 24/96 was possible using the native USB driver (usbaudio.sys). Both Microsoft and Apple had a DAC1 USB prototype during the development period and our engineering team was in constant communication with their engineers.
After walking down the long, unpaved road towards a truely native 24/96 USB audio solution, it was finally achieved!!
part of my weariness of direct usb connectsion has been frequent complaints about digital noise and interference. for example, there are plenty of accounts of this occuring on Stello and wavelength products. what does the dac-1 do to keep this from happening?
have you done testing between usb>spdif converters v. your native USB dac?
thankyou
__________________
I'm a JV now, out of the hobby, out of the complicated life, out of this junk....
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