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On the Benchmark Media DAC1 as an amplifier

post #1 of 6
1/3/06 at 5:18pm
Thread Starter 
In recent weeks I have been searching through the forums to identify a new headphone amplifier for my Sennheiser HD650 headphones. I use the headphones with two different sources, either a modified Exemplar Audio Denon 3910 or with an Apple AirPort Express + Headphone amplifier. I am currently considering the Benchmark Media DAC1 as an alternative to the Ray Samuels Audio HR-2 and SinglePower PPX3 SLAM models. I assume that when paired with the 3910, the aforementioned headphone amplifiers will have a significant advantage over the DAC1 paired to the same source and only using the DAC1's internal headphone amplifier. However I am curious if the DAC1 my reflect better results than the HR-2 or PPX3 SLAM when used with the Airport Express and only using the DAC1's internal headphone amplifier. The reason I ask this question is that I am increasingly using my headphones with a computer and am considering ways to make the computer a more ideal setup as connecting an HR-2 to an AirPort Express is hardly ideal. In other words, is the DAC1's internal headphone amplifier as useless as a snooze button on a smoke detecter?


Best,
iDesign
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post #2 of 6
1/4/06 at 12:08am
I had a DAC-1 for a bit, and returned it, as it didn't particularly impress me. HeadRoom's Micro Amp and Micro DAC (which I bought and kept) sound significantly better than the DAC-1, will work better with a computer (thanks to the USB input), and are about $400 cheaper to boot.
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post #3 of 6
1/4/06 at 1:53am
or how about an apogee mini-dac which has a usb inputs and a halfway decent amp?
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post #4 of 6
1/4/06 at 8:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mkozlows
I had a DAC-1 for a bit, and returned it, as it didn't particularly impress me. HeadRoom's Micro Amp and Micro DAC (which I bought and kept) sound significantly better than the DAC-1, will work better with a computer (thanks to the USB input), and are about $400 cheaper to boot.

Could you be so kind as to tell us how the Micro Stack is significantly better sounding than the DAC-1?

Personally, I think the DAC-1, with use of its XLR outputs, is by far the best sounding DAC for the money. Indeed the internal amp isn't too great, barely better than a cmoy, but if you get your HD650s recabled balanced and try them with the XLR outputs you're in for a surprise.
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post #5 of 6
1/4/06 at 9:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jashugan
Could you be so kind as to tell us how the Micro Stack is significantly better sounding than the DAC-1?

Personally, I think the DAC-1, with use of its XLR outputs, is by far the best sounding DAC for the money. Indeed the internal amp isn't too great, barely better than a cmoy, but if you get your HD650s recabled balanced and try them with the XLR outputs you're in for a surprise.
i'd like an answer to this as well if you please; i intend to get a microstack myself, and am sure it will be lovely, but i'd be very suprised if the microdac could best the dac1. oh, and btw: God bless headroom for this item!!!
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post #6 of 6
1/5/06 at 12:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jashugan
Could you be so kind as to tell us how the Micro Stack is significantly better sounding than the DAC-1?
Not really. I never had them at the same time, so didn't do any direct comparison. But the DAC-1 didn't strike me as an improvement over what I already had (the DAC in the Squeezebox 2 and a headphone out on a Parasound P/LD-2000 preamp), whereas the Micro Stack did.

It's entirely possible that the better amp in the Micro Stack is the primary reason for this.
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