[Lynn]

Does anyone have experience with the Mini-Dac? How does it compare to the Benchmark DAC-1?

Thanks.

 

[StephenFSC]

Let'S consider this one also~~

Mytekdigital Stereo 96DAC~
http://www.mytekdigital.com/stereo96dacspecial.htm

 

[tiberian]

i have the apogee and sold the benchmark.
the benchmark is extremely trasparent with great 'wow' factor because you can hear detail you never noticed before...punch is excellent too. you won't go wrong with it anyway.
the bad: soundstage is a bit smaller (read: not much) than apogee, the high is a bit smeared up and sibilant without a good power cord.
apogee dac has a softer and fuller sound than benchmark. resolution and extension are similar. has usb support. generates less heat.
the bad: doesn't have rca output, can't use aftermarket power cord, not as fast, punchy and transparent as benchmark.

 

[jpelg]

Quote:

i have the apogee and sold the benchmark.

Ditto.

I agree with everything that tiberian said about these units. Although, I believe that the Apogee produces a much larger soundstage. If anyone thinks that Grado's don't have any soundstage, look at their source.

It's about synergy though. If your cans are a bit laid back (ala Sennheiser), you will probably prefer the Benchmark, which will punch them up a notch.

 

[tiberian]

really? i really didn't recall a huge soundstage difference...

 

[dshea_32665]

Tiberian and jpelg:

Down the road I had been thinking of getting an external DAC of the quality of the Benchmark and the Mini DAC. Is the Apogee pretty portable? Could it be put in a computer bag and taken to work or travel? Does it simply plug in the the USB port and you are ready to go? Could I hook up my SR-71 to it?

I listen primarily to classical music so it sounds like a great match as far as the sonic qualities you describe. I am using a pair of Ety 4S's which sounds like it would be a great match. I was thinking of getting some Senns however, but perhaps a different cable could give them some zip with the mini DAC if necessary.

This Mini DAC seems to be fairly well regarded on the Audiogon boards, but I really haven't seen much about it here on the head-fi boards. It seems like for a simple USB solution (I have an iBook G4) that this would be a lot less complicated and perhaps even a slightly preferable sound to the Benchmark (again as you did, no disrespect for the Benchmark which I am sure is amazing). Anyway, any more thoughts from you or any other Mini DAC owners would be greatly appreciated.

dshea

 

[tiberian]

the apogee dac is more portable than the benchmark thats for sure, check out my pics over the headfi photo gallery, also the moon audio website has a few pictures with the apogee inside a bag as a portable source.
the apogee dac can use most typical external transformers as its power source...6V to 14V with a current of 1.25A, so i guess its possible to power it up with batteries.
you need to install the driver from the apogee website in order to use it as a soundcard, and the dac has a mini out so you can easily hook up your sr-71 to it.
the mini dac with usb will cost around 1050...a bit cheaper than benchmark + soundard + cable i guess.

 

[akira]

Benchmark DAC1 is well know by its UPsampling feature and special jitter killer. I heard it always upsample any input. does Apogee mini-DAC have those features? There are not many switches on front but it may have jumper/mini-sw on the board.