[PleasantSounds]

[..]

To make thing worse DAC are advancing much faster than amp technologies and any investment you make today could be worth very little next year.

 
The path I have taken to become somewhat immune to DAC upgraditis was to put my bets on professional gear. Compared to your typical audiophile DAC this has the following benefits:
- longer lifecycle, better support
- usually much better reliability
- this stuff is used in the music production cycle, so getting anything "better" hardly makes sense
- no BS impacting the price
- balanced I/O is a given, not something you pay double for
 
A couple of examples that belong in this category and are mentioned here occasionally are Dangerous Music Source and Lynx Hilo.

 

[MacedonianHero]

  Great/excellent! Yes but pinnacle could be a little strong... 

  Have you tried HD800 on Liquid Glass?  If yes, what's your opinion?  I haven't so I am curious.  Thx.

 
I have not heard the LG. But I did used to own both the LF and LL and let's say, I had less than great results with them. 

 

[Zoom25]

   
The path I have taken to become somewhat immune to DAC upgraditis was to put my bets on professional gear. Compared to your typical audiophile DAC this has the following benefits:
- longer lifecycle, better support
- usually much better reliability
- this stuff is used in the music production cycle, so getting anything "better" hardly makes sense
- no BS impacting the price
- balanced I/O is a given, not something you pay double for
 
A couple of examples that belong in this category and are mentioned here occasionally are Dangerous Music Source and Lynx Hilo.

+100 on everything.

   
Picking a neutral DAC is a bit more complex than just examining the frequency response chart. Most DACs these days have very flat FR, yet they sound different. Other parameters that impact the sound quality are either difficult to measure or just not provided, i.e. dynamics, resolution, detail level, phase response across the frequency range, jitter, etc. Price is not necessarily a good indicator of how well these parameters have been managed.
 
The downstream gear (pre-amps, equalizers, amps, headphones, speakers) has its own characteristics that either play well with these factors (usually by masking the flaws) or expose mercilessly all the shortcomings. In other words all the components of the signal chain must work together like an orchestra.
 
It's your choice whether you decide to build your system around your DAC, your amp or your headphone. To me the most critical component is the headphone, as it has some additional characteristics which do not impact the rest of the chain yet are critical to me i.e. wearing comfort.

 
Oh yeah I know exactly what you mean. I got lucky with the Source as it's neutral in it's FR, but more importantly neutral in it's presentation (soundstage, vocals, attack, decay, bass control) - something I wasn't expecting at this price.
 
What I meant to say was to find a DAC that is balanced in both FR and presentation and then mess around with amps or headphones/speakers.

 

[pearljam50000]

The path I have taken to become somewhat immune to DAC upgraditis was to put my bets on professional gear. Compared to your typical audiophile DAC this has the following benefits:
- longer lifecycle, better support
- usually much better reliability
- this stuff is used in the music production cycle, so getting anything "better" hardly makes sense
- no BS impacting the price
- balanced I/O is a given, not something you pay double for

A couple of examples that belong in this category and are mentioned here occasionally are Dangerous Music Source and Lynx Hilo.

Is the Benchmark DAC1 still a good DAC even though it's old?

 

[koiloco]

   
I have not heard the LG. But I did used to own both the LF and LL and let's say, I had less than great results with them. 

Thx for honest answer.  It will help me narrow down my choices when the time comes. 

 

[62ohm]

After several auditions and asking around, I finally made up my mind for my new amp and the Sennheiser HDVA600 triumphs from my three candidates (HDVA600, BHA-1, V200).
 

 
Now, time to upgrade my dac I guess 

 

[koiloco]

  After several auditions and asking around, I finally made up my mind for my new amp and the Sennheiser HDVA600 triumphs from my three candidates (HDVA600, BHA-1, V200).
 

 
Now, time to upgrade my dac I guess 

 
Oh my my!  That looks sharppppp.   Gratz...
New DAC by next week, right?  

 

[62ohm]

   
Oh my my!  That looks sharppppp.   Gratz...
New DAC by next week, right?  

 
Thanks mate! Though I suspect I would go through the same process with DACs as I did with this amp, taking a very long time auditioning and asking around before jumping into a decision 

 

[PleasantSounds]

  +100 on everything.
 
Oh yeah I know exactly what you mean. I got lucky with the Source as it's neutral in it's FR, but more importantly neutral in it's presentation (soundstage, vocals, attack, decay, bass control) - something I wasn't expecting at this price.
 
What I meant to say was to find a DAC that is balanced in both FR and presentation and then mess around with amps or headphones/speakers.

 
I was seriously considering the Source, but at the time there was very little info available regarding how it plays with other gear. When I went to audition it, my supplier was out of stock. In the end I went with the Hilo and am very pleased with its performance. 

 

[koiloco]

HD Dune album by Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra sounds particularly wonderful tonite on HD800.  

 

[palmfish]

Is the Benchmark DAC1 still a good DAC even though it's old?

Is it older than 5 years? DAC's go bad in 5 years.

 

[nephilim32]

After several auditions and asking around, I finally made up my mind for my new amp and the Sennheiser HDVA600 triumphs from my three candidates (HDVA600, BHA-1, V200).




Now, time to upgrade my dac I guess 

My god. How beautiful is that amp!?
Question. Doesn't the HDVA600 already have a DAC built in it? If you got another DAC you would be over sampling the analog signal unless there is a way to bypass the DAC in the HDVA and use it as a dedicated SS amp? I'm not sure, but that 600's DAC I would imagine to be very good.
It's not 2000$ for nothing.

 

[62ohm]

My god. How beautiful is that amp!?
Question. Doesn't the HDVA600 already have a DAC built in it? If you got another DAC you would be over sampling the analog signal unless there is a way to bypass the DAC in the HDVA and use it as a dedicated SS amp? I'm not sure, but that 600's DAC I would imagine to be very good.

It's not 2000$ for nothing.

 
The one that comes with a dac is the HDVD800, the one I'm getting is the HDVA600 which comes with no dac.

 

[nephilim32]

Agh

The one that comes with a dac is the HDVD800, the one I'm getting is the HDVA600 which comes with no dac.

Agh of course! Forgot they made one without the DAC. Hey. Better move getting the 600 then cause now you can have fun searching for a wonderful DAC. I bet that amp will be every bit as good as possible. A sure thing really. Really excited to hear what you'll have to say about it. Oh one more question, is the 600 amp 2 or 4 watts per channel? Not that it really matters.
As for DACS. What do you have your eye on?
May I suggest ARCAM irDAC. It's amazing for the money and completely high end. 2013 Whathifi.com's DAC of the year!
It's under 750$. A steal!!

 

[62ohm]

Agh
Agh of course! Forgot they made one without the DAC. Hey. Better move getting the 600 then cause now you can have fun searching for a wonderful DAC. I bet that amp will be every bit as good as possible. A sure thing really. Really excited to hear what you'll have to say about it. Oh one more question, is the 600 amp 2 or 4 watts per channel? Not that it really matters.

As for DACS. What do you have your eye on?
May I suggest ARCAM irDAC. It's amazing for the money and completely high end. 2013 Whathifi.com's DAC of the year!

It's under 750$. A steal!!

 
I'm not sure about the power output. As for DACs, currently I'm having a good time with the pairing with Cambridge DM100, so I'm thinking of just upgrading it to the Cambridge DacMagic Plus. Another candidate I have in mind is to get an Astell&Kern AK100 Gen.2 and use it as my DAC, which will be handy since essentially I'm getting 1 item for 2 purposes