Columns Retired Columns & Blogs |
May 26, 2007 - 3:04pm
#1
USB DAC Decision - What do YOU think?
Loudspeakers Amplification | Digital Sources Analog Sources Featured | Accessories Music |
Columns Retired Columns & Blogs |
Loudspeakers Amplification Digital Sources | Analog Sources Accessories Featured | Music Columns Retired Columns | Show Reports | Features Latest News Community | Resources Subscriptions |
I was under the impression that USB digital streaming was to be avoided...at least until the Benchmark USB recently came into being. I eagerly await JA to test it and tell us where the jitter spec falls.
Benchmark claims to have solved the issues of USB jitter and I have no reason to doubt them since they make one of the current rave DACs out there.
What some think is a low jitter specs is not what audiophiles or JA call low jitter. It is easier to write ad copy than do the science. I would have a tendency to trust the folks at BenchMark.
The DAC-1 is a very good DAC for the money. You could spend five times the money and not get a better DAC.
There is a huge thread on the Benchmark DAC-1 over at HeadFi and two or more of their engineers are involved. Including Elias Gwinn, Electrical Engineer, Benchmark Media Systems, Inc.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?s=64fde23e6913390af8aa00dd8d580bfc&t=225363
I'll try 6X and get better than OK? How did you arrive at the 5X figure? The formula is what?
I checked them both out. The Citypulse says it supports 24bit 192khz digital file archives through USB 2.0. That's clearly a nice feature. Especially if you can get PCM files of the same nature into the DAC through that USB connection.
I went with a USB -> Toslink converter which then goes into a Bel Canto DAC2. PC Audio blows away any transport I have heard costing under $10,000 away.
The USB variant of the DAC-1 was just reviewed by Pro Audio Review. They conclude that the USB input is as good in all respects as the other digital inputs. They do include various measurements along with the review.
I'm looking forward to learning what Mr. Atkinson finds upon his analysis of the unit.