[Chippy99]

Hi

I've recently rekindled a past keenness on hifi and eagerly await the arrival of some new Wilson Benesch speakers

This has started me thinking about the rest of my system, and in particular the DAC/pre-amp. Currently I am using a Tag McLaren AV32R bp192 (with the 24bit/192KHz Burr Brown dac and op amps. To me it sounds pretty good, but it is getting on a bit, having been purchased circa 2002.

I have been thinking about upgrading it to something like the Benchmark DAC-1 HDR. (I don't need all the Tag's AV capabilities, but I do need a remote control, hence the HDR version of the DAC1).

But I am interested in peoples subjective opinions on how much of an "upgrade" this would be? Massive? Signicant? Noticeable? Almost imperceptable? I know this is very subjective.

Although the Tag is old, it does feature decent components and also has some clever jitter-reduction circuitry - much like the DAC1 - that is essential for me using it with less than perfect sources like my Apple TV.

So what's your thoughts? A Dac-1 HDR is going to cost me the best part of £2,000 and that's a lot of money to me for a marginal improvement.

Or have things moved on so much that I will be blown away by a new dac?

Thanks

Chippy

Note: Excerpt from Tag whitepaper below:

"The AV32R uses a twin phase lock loop design to reduce the jitter on the master clock to an absolute minimum. The first loop extracts the clock from the bi-phase encoded SPDIF (or TOSLINK) signal. Due to the nature of bi-phase encoding, this signal still contains some time variations caused by the data encoded in the SPDIF signal. The second phase locked loop is based upon a voltage controlled crystal oscillator which provides one of the most stable clock oscillators possible. The phase locked loop filter starts to reject jitter from the clock signal at 6Hz and it is critically damped to provide good stability and the quickest possible lock time. Should this second loop not be able to track the input, such as in vari-speed applications or from particularly unstable source devices, the system will switch seamlessly back to the first loop and continue playing.

Short term spectral analysis of the clock jitter at the DAC reveals that it is below 10 pico seconds across most of the audio spectrum. The overall, long term, integrated jitter figure is 150ps, which would be state of the art for a CD player or standalone DAC and must be considered exceptional for a system containing so much digital processing and three DACs. This has been achieved not only by a high stability phase locked loop but also by careful treatment of the clock signal once it has been extracted. The clock signal is transferred across the PCB using independently buffered and precisely terminated clock traces to each of the DACs and the ADC. This termination prevents reflections along the PCB traces from causing decision threshold uncertainty which would introduce jitter. Careful circuit design, a four layer PCB and the layout and electrical noise suppression experience gathered in F1 racing by TAG McLaren's automotive division, have created a system in which the clock design is optimised in all respects.
"

 

[mrarroyo]

I personally did not care for the Benchmark sound, found it sterile and un-involving. I prefer the sound out of the Monarchy NM24 DAC which in Audiogon can be found for under $1,000 (slightly used

). Currently I am burning-in a Red Wine Audio Isabellina HPA, it is musical but so far it lacks punch, extension, and a bit of involvement. I am hoping that another 150 hours of burn-in will clear those issues. Good luck!