[Rhydon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by the terabyte Do you not consider the Apogee Mini-DAC to be of the same quality of the Benchmark, then?

I have not tried the Apogee. It looks to be of good quality. I must admit at its price point it is an aception to USB DAC's. I still stand by my ground that at the moment the market is geared more toward highend, be it hi-fi if you will, DAC's. But i suspect in the future this will change.

 

[cosmopragma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhydon I have not tried the Apogee. It looks to be of good quality. I must admit at its price point it is an aception to USB DAC's. I still stand by my ground that at the moment the market is geared more toward highend, be it hi-fi if you will, DAC's. But i suspect in the future this will change.

The future is now, and it's called multi-purpose DACs.
The Apogee is an example, the AQVOX USB 2 D/A is another one.Input interfaces are USB, SP/DIF coax and Toslink and AES/EBU in both cases, output options are balanced and unbalanced operation.
Recently I had them both here for an audition, in direct comparison to the Benchmark DAC1 I already owned.
In the end I kept the AQVOX.I still prefer the Benchmark for my hardrock/Grado rig, but for every other genre the fantastic AQVOX/Stax synergy wins hands down.
All these affordable reclocking DACs are better than anything costing 4 times as much a few years ago, that's what I call progress.

 

[Don Quichotte]

Quote:

Recently I had them both here for an audition, in direct comparison to the Benchmark DAC1 I already owned.

Cosmopragma, seems like you have been listening to all the gear I am torn between and i cannot audition myself. Pretty annoying...

You have posted before precious information about the Aqvox vs. Benchmark, but how did the Apogee fit in this selected company? Isn't it the middle-of-the-way Dac the other 2 Dacs seem not to be, and a good match for the Stax too?