| Originally Posted by grandenigma1 In simple terms the DAC1 is more analytical and the DA100 is more musical. |
| Originally Posted by rumatt How about in less simple terms?
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| Originally Posted by Scrith Thanks for the link to the Soundstage review. That review echoes my own experience with high-end DACs...they really sound very similar. Reviewers tend to overemphasize the differences so they'll have something interesting for their readers to read about. I think the biggest difference between these DACs is probably in the output stage, where the Stello's price tag and size give it a bit of an advantage. I'd still go with a Benchmark DAC1 (and probably pick up one of the PS Audio critical link fuses, which make a huge difference to my ears for just $30) if it were my money. One thing that is nice about the Benchmark DAC1 is that they are very easy to sell on Audiogon when you want to try something else (I've sold two there). |
| Originally Posted by Scrith I did a pretty careful comparison between the DA10 and DAC1 when it first arrived (there's a post about it somewhere here on Head-fi) and found that the DA10 sounded slightly better, with what seemed like more clarity and texture in the higher frequencies (drum cymbal hits, for example). I attributed this to better jitter handling in the Lavry (since I am using a computer as my source, I believe that a DAC that specializes in the way it deals with jitter is going to have an advantage over one using a more generic up-sampling approach, like the Benchmark DAC1...not that it was always generic, but I think a lot of DACs introduced in the past few years have copied their approach). If someone is looking for a recommendation between the Lavry DA10 and Benchmark DAC1 I think I'd have to give the DA10 the nod, but it's not like a night and day difference. By the way, if anyone ever claims there is a night-and-day difference between DACs costing $1000 and up, I would seriously take their opinion with a grain of salt. They all sound great to me. |
