Hirsch
Why is there a chaplain standing over his wallet?
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2001
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Dave1, Dusty Chalk, CD44hi and thrice have been by at various times over the weekend. I'm not going to post detailed impressions, but some of the highlights that we picked up:
RS-1 vs. RS-2: RS-2 compresses the sound stage. Does not hold up well at all in comparison to RS-1. There's a good reason you don't hear a lot about the RS-2.
Benchmark DAC-1 vs. Wadia 301. HVDX digital BNC to BNC connected the Benchmark to the Wadia. Bogdan Silver Spirit connected both player and DAC to different inputs on modded SHA-1. The Benchmark is good, but it's not that good. Both sounded good, but the Wadia clearly had better definition/clarity.
DAC-1 vs. Ack! dAck! Moved to a Philips 963SA source to use optical output to connect Benchmark, coax to Ack! Voltage output was matched using the trimpots on the Benchmark. At the time, two votes went to the Benchmark, one went to the Ack! However, we later discovered that the person who preferred the Ack! had mixed up the inputs, so the DAC-1 was a unanimous preference. This is an older Ack! and the latest Benchmark, so it may not apply to the dAck! v2.
Dac-1 vs. M-cubed. Native headphone amp of DAC-1 was compared to Rockhopper Audio M-cubed. No contest. The M-cubed is simply a better amplifier. DAC-1 amp sounded muddy in comparison.
iPod vs. Creative NJB3. Battle of the lineouts. Used with the lineout in the iPod dock, the iPod is simply better sonically. Surprised me, as I like the NJB3 line out. However, the iPod has a cleaner sound, and it's not particularly difficult to make a judgement. iPod used was iPod Photo 60 GB.
RS-1 vs. RS-2: RS-2 compresses the sound stage. Does not hold up well at all in comparison to RS-1. There's a good reason you don't hear a lot about the RS-2.
Benchmark DAC-1 vs. Wadia 301. HVDX digital BNC to BNC connected the Benchmark to the Wadia. Bogdan Silver Spirit connected both player and DAC to different inputs on modded SHA-1. The Benchmark is good, but it's not that good. Both sounded good, but the Wadia clearly had better definition/clarity.
DAC-1 vs. Ack! dAck! Moved to a Philips 963SA source to use optical output to connect Benchmark, coax to Ack! Voltage output was matched using the trimpots on the Benchmark. At the time, two votes went to the Benchmark, one went to the Ack! However, we later discovered that the person who preferred the Ack! had mixed up the inputs, so the DAC-1 was a unanimous preference. This is an older Ack! and the latest Benchmark, so it may not apply to the dAck! v2.
Dac-1 vs. M-cubed. Native headphone amp of DAC-1 was compared to Rockhopper Audio M-cubed. No contest. The M-cubed is simply a better amplifier. DAC-1 amp sounded muddy in comparison.
iPod vs. Creative NJB3. Battle of the lineouts. Used with the lineout in the iPod dock, the iPod is simply better sonically. Surprised me, as I like the NJB3 line out. However, the iPod has a cleaner sound, and it's not particularly difficult to make a judgement. iPod used was iPod Photo 60 GB.