With some of the lesser known products available from overseas, you have lots of options to choose from. You may want to check out Pacific Valve and Electric. They offer a wide range of DACs that are real giant killers and won't break the bank. Regarding the Benchmark DAC-1, I have not heard one, so you can take the following comments as you see fit...
I seriously considered the Benchmark, and was convinced it was just a question of when not if I would order one. But as I did more homework on the unit, I found 2 things that ruled it out for me: in nearly every shootout I saw where the Benchmark was compared with other DACs, the Benchmark always seemed to come out on the bottom. Second, many folks complained that, while revealing, the Benchmark was clinical sounding and was not something they could live with long-term. As I was looking for something that approximated the sound of vinyl, that pretty much ruled out the Benchmark for me. That said, I know the Benchmark has a loyal following, so if it's your cup of tea, you can usually find them on Audiogon for $200 - $300 under retail. Lastly, zanash mentioned the Behringer SRC2496. As he noted, it is supposed to have pretty respectable DAC; but equally important, it upsamples to 24 bit / 96kHz and provides jitter control, all for about $129 online. I have been researching this unit recently and will probably add one to my system, using it upstream from my Musiland MD-10. From what I've read, the jitter control and upsampling can make even a budget-priced DAC compete with the big dogs like Lavry and Benchmark. -- Videodrome Two-channel System: SB3, into Musiland MD-10 DAC; Outlaw 970 Pre/Pro; McCormack DNA-125 amplifier; Quad 11L speakers; Sota Sapphire ttbl. w/ Grado Ref. Platinum Cart. into Rolls Bellari VP-129 tube phono stage; Marantz 10b; Nakamichi RX505; Cables Used: DH Labs, Van den Hul, Distech, Monster, many more. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Videodrome's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=11727 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=36480 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
