music_man
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2005
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i got a benchmark dac-1 on loan. i didn't think it would show up today but it came late. both the benchmark and presonus central station have hundreds of hours on them.
i a/b'd them 5 times and then just listened to each one for half an hour. i tried the benchmark with aes and spdif. as was reported to me a couple of days ago that made no real audible difference to the benchmark.
my conclusion:
the benchmark has me looking for a tube inside the central station.
the cs is like vinyl through tubes compared to the benchmark. my personal reference will remain the cs powering k701's at this point in time.
the benchmark is revealing,precise,accurate,unforgiving,edgy. digital.
i think if you read between all the posts here regarding these two units you will find that this is basically what has been said.
look at all the posts of the people that favor each unit and look at their sig systems. these are for two different types of listeners.
when it has been said that the benchmark is better that is only partially true i believe. the benchmark is technically superior. it is technically more expensive to design and build. it sells for twice the price of the cs.
i am feeling that the benchmark is an outstanding analytical tool for engineers.
that was it's original intent. it just so happened to catch on here.
as did the cs. the cs by it's very virtue of having a less expensive dac stage tends to be warm and fuzzy. how much money do some people pay for warm and fuzzy tubes and vinyl?
i do not see one as being sonically better than the other at this point. i think as far as the audiophile crowd goes they will appeal to two very different types of listeners. it depends on what your preferences are.
i think the dac-1 is a close approximation of the truth as it exists on the digital source feeding it. whereas the cs is a pleasingly colorful rendition of that truth.
i did not realise that the very reason i so love the cs is due to it's warm relaxed nature. the benchmark is much more crisp and faster. i may have originally reported in the cs thread that the cs was highly precise. i now see that much more precision can be had. this, at the cost of being hard,cold,edgy,fast and bright.
as many of you know the cs replaced one grace 902 at my work. it will not be unseated by the dac-1 at this point. indeed i am convinced you can hear more, more clearly with the dac-1. however, doing this 10 hours a day can become very fatiguing. the cs is not in the least.
to the highly critical analyst i could recommend the dac-1. to the casual enjoyment listener i'd say the cs is worth a listen.
one intresting experiment may be to run the cs through a tube buffer. of course this completely negates the very properties that the benchmarks proponents seem to find so desireable.
overall, this is not seemingly another glowing review of the cs and a putdown of the benchmark. as i said, they are two very different machines. neither is bad. they are both at the top of the heap. they are simply put, very different sounding.
(as always what i have said here is solely my opinion. my opinion is subjective to my ears. my opinion may change. ymmv!)
music_man
i a/b'd them 5 times and then just listened to each one for half an hour. i tried the benchmark with aes and spdif. as was reported to me a couple of days ago that made no real audible difference to the benchmark.
my conclusion:
the benchmark has me looking for a tube inside the central station.
the cs is like vinyl through tubes compared to the benchmark. my personal reference will remain the cs powering k701's at this point in time.
the benchmark is revealing,precise,accurate,unforgiving,edgy. digital.
i think if you read between all the posts here regarding these two units you will find that this is basically what has been said.
look at all the posts of the people that favor each unit and look at their sig systems. these are for two different types of listeners.
when it has been said that the benchmark is better that is only partially true i believe. the benchmark is technically superior. it is technically more expensive to design and build. it sells for twice the price of the cs.
i am feeling that the benchmark is an outstanding analytical tool for engineers.
that was it's original intent. it just so happened to catch on here.
as did the cs. the cs by it's very virtue of having a less expensive dac stage tends to be warm and fuzzy. how much money do some people pay for warm and fuzzy tubes and vinyl?
i do not see one as being sonically better than the other at this point. i think as far as the audiophile crowd goes they will appeal to two very different types of listeners. it depends on what your preferences are.
i think the dac-1 is a close approximation of the truth as it exists on the digital source feeding it. whereas the cs is a pleasingly colorful rendition of that truth.
i did not realise that the very reason i so love the cs is due to it's warm relaxed nature. the benchmark is much more crisp and faster. i may have originally reported in the cs thread that the cs was highly precise. i now see that much more precision can be had. this, at the cost of being hard,cold,edgy,fast and bright.
as many of you know the cs replaced one grace 902 at my work. it will not be unseated by the dac-1 at this point. indeed i am convinced you can hear more, more clearly with the dac-1. however, doing this 10 hours a day can become very fatiguing. the cs is not in the least.
to the highly critical analyst i could recommend the dac-1. to the casual enjoyment listener i'd say the cs is worth a listen.
one intresting experiment may be to run the cs through a tube buffer. of course this completely negates the very properties that the benchmarks proponents seem to find so desireable.
overall, this is not seemingly another glowing review of the cs and a putdown of the benchmark. as i said, they are two very different machines. neither is bad. they are both at the top of the heap. they are simply put, very different sounding.
(as always what i have said here is solely my opinion. my opinion is subjective to my ears. my opinion may change. ymmv!)
music_man