Hammerstein
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2003
- Posts
- 47
- Likes
- 10
Hello all,
I've been a lurker/semi-poster here for a while now, though I hadn't really been following audio equipment for the last few months. The release of the K701 got my attention again!
Now I'm starting to get back into things. I picked up a Grado SR-225, because I've always wanted to get one and I wanted something that I could drive with both an iPod and with my Gilmore Lite and be portable while sounding good. I already have an AKG K271S, because the isolation plus its pretty good sound was attractive to me, and I had initially gotten the G Lite to drive it.
Anyways, I have a somewhat old Yamaha CDC-506 CD changer...it's your run of the mill consumer level changer with Yammy's propriety DAC that's impossible to spec out but is somewhat thin and bright. But, as the changer has digital out (SPDIF optical), I would like to go the DAC route, since I believe that the changer mechanism itself would make a pretty decent transport.
So, my question is...what DACs these days might be good for say $800-$1000 tops? I have the Benchmark DAC1 in mind as a possible contender, but I'd be willing to consider anything, really. Upsampling, etc, are not a must, but I suspect that a reasonably warm DAC would be helpful, to counteract some of the precision/coldness (matter of perspective, I think) of the Gilmore.
On the other hand, if I'm wrong and I'd be better off getting a new player entirely, I'd be perfectly glad to hear recomendations there. I had considered for a while getting a NAD C542 and stopping there, but I've held off, as I believe that I'd rather either get a better player or a separate DAC.
I listen to acoustic music (particularly Loreena McKennitt), as well as classic (Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, etc.) and some modern rock.
Been thinking about this DAC upgrade for a while (I don't currently use the changer in my headphone setup), but I haven't made the dive yet. I'm hoping to do so by the end of the year.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to any posts that might come!
I've been a lurker/semi-poster here for a while now, though I hadn't really been following audio equipment for the last few months. The release of the K701 got my attention again!
Now I'm starting to get back into things. I picked up a Grado SR-225, because I've always wanted to get one and I wanted something that I could drive with both an iPod and with my Gilmore Lite and be portable while sounding good. I already have an AKG K271S, because the isolation plus its pretty good sound was attractive to me, and I had initially gotten the G Lite to drive it.
Anyways, I have a somewhat old Yamaha CDC-506 CD changer...it's your run of the mill consumer level changer with Yammy's propriety DAC that's impossible to spec out but is somewhat thin and bright. But, as the changer has digital out (SPDIF optical), I would like to go the DAC route, since I believe that the changer mechanism itself would make a pretty decent transport.
So, my question is...what DACs these days might be good for say $800-$1000 tops? I have the Benchmark DAC1 in mind as a possible contender, but I'd be willing to consider anything, really. Upsampling, etc, are not a must, but I suspect that a reasonably warm DAC would be helpful, to counteract some of the precision/coldness (matter of perspective, I think) of the Gilmore.
On the other hand, if I'm wrong and I'd be better off getting a new player entirely, I'd be perfectly glad to hear recomendations there. I had considered for a while getting a NAD C542 and stopping there, but I've held off, as I believe that I'd rather either get a better player or a separate DAC.
I listen to acoustic music (particularly Loreena McKennitt), as well as classic (Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, etc.) and some modern rock.
Been thinking about this DAC upgrade for a while (I don't currently use the changer in my headphone setup), but I haven't made the dive yet. I'm hoping to do so by the end of the year.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to any posts that might come!
