All Benchmark System Question

@regg Well this thread got me spending some money on gear a bit faster than anticipated.

After my rearranging of my gear last night, I am now listening to the floor standers with my CODA 07x connected to a single AHB2 and DAC3B streamed by fibre optical. This sound is killer. The single AHB2 is not powerful enough for my speakers but damn it sounds great. A little warmer than the HPA4, both are great.

I decided to get the CODA #8 today and made the purchase. I am still waiting on word whether I get SpeakON terminations on the #8. I want a switch on the amp to toggle between the duplicate speaker connectors. That way I can use my RAAL SR1a with the adapter box. My floor standers can also work from the CODA #8 without additional electronic circuitry to the floor standers (RAAL adapter box).

I am not sure about getting the AudioByte now. I may just get another Gustard X26 Pro next month. Due to costs.

My D-Sonic amp and the silver Gustard are working great together with KEF LS50s downstairs entertaining the family as I write this. I returned my first Gustard because it had an intermittent issue when used as a preamp. I have not had this reappear with the replacement DAC.

@regg I replaced the CODA 07x and put in the HPA4 with the same XLR. The gain was a little off so I increased the volume. I am listening to the same album on hi-res that I played earlier on the CODA 07x, Led Zeppelin II.

On the all BM stack there is a bit more detail, such as on the first song. There is also a tiny bit of hardness to the sound that was not there on the CODA 07x.The soundstage also seems a little smaller than with the CODA.

This next observation confuses me. With the all BM stack I feel the single AHB2 is not enough juice for the Thiel CS3.7 (it is pretty good). However, with the CODA 07x I feel the single AHB2 is still lacking a bit of power but the sound itself seems more powerful. Now this is a hard rocking album so the more powerful sounding CODA seems to sound better with the AHB2.

I would not say this is the case all the time. In the past, I had the AHB2 in mono with theHPA4 and the sound was more powerful. I never tested the CODA 07x with AHB2 in mono. I doubt that will happen now that the second AHB2 is my headphone amp for the RAAL SR1a.

Turns out I cannot get a switch on the CODA #8 to select the speaker connectors. So it is the regular #8 I will be getting.

I don’t think I got anything more to add on this.

@regg I'd really love to hear you thoughts on the Gustard too. I've been looking into it as well and what's holding me back is that I would have to either use 1) RCA to my DAC 3L ( I use as a pre direct to AHB2) which seems like a waist when its a balanced unit. Or 2) swap out XLR from DAC to DAC pending which one I want to listen to. Or 3)..... get a preamp with two XLR in's and HT bypass, but  now I'm getting into  $$$$$ for a just an optional DAC.

So, since switching XLR really isn't practical and I don't have the $$$$$ or desire for a new preamp,  that leaves me using unbalanced IC which I fear will have a signifigant SQ drop. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything on its performance unbalanced, but if using unbalance vs balanced IC is anything like the drop off that the Benchmarks had it's definitely won't be an option for me. 


BUT.....if this thing outperforms the Benchmark DAC3 in every regard for you using the XLR!? Well.....maybe I'll give it a trial with the intention of replacing versus complimenting the Benchmark DAC .....and sacrificing HT bypass

@yyzsantabarbara did you by chance try the Gustard unbalanced? Would love to hear your thoughts if you did. Also could you confirm the "replacement" Gustard corrected any issues you had with it serving as both Dac and Preamp direct to amp??

Good luck and Thanks again for the thread
Mark

@mrpsync Since I have 2 preamps I was able to connect the Benchmark DAC3B by RCA and XLR at the same time to each preamp. I spoke to Rory Rail at Benchmark about doing this and he said it is fine and a lot of people use it this way. I also setup the Gustard the same way. The AudioMirror TUbadour III SE that I just sold could not have both RCA and XLR connected at the same time. Vlad told me this and I confirmed it by testing it.

I never got confirmation if the Gustard supported this type of dual hookup. The sound I got from the RCA seemed very similar to the XLR. I never hooked up both the RCA and XLR of the Gustard to the same preamp at the same time. So there is some variation in the signal path from the different preamps. However, one reason that I am looking at another Gustard is that the RCA and XLR both sound good.

On the DAC3B the XLR sounds better but it is also much louder than the RCA so that could be it.
Balanced vs. Unbalanced Analog Interfaces - Benchmark Media Systems

Also could you confirm the "replacement" Gustard corrected any issues you had with it serving as both Dac and Preamp direct to amp?

Yes, everything is working perfectly now. Also note, that the person that owns the Gustard whose review I posted never had the issue I had with the first Gustard.

BTW - I would say that the Gustard is a better DAC than the DAC3B. If I could have only 1 of those 2 it would be an easy choice for the Gustard. It is a really great DAC. However, the DAC3B has perfect synergy driving the AHB2 directly. The Gustard sounded good driving the AHB2 but I would guess the DAC3B is the better fit DAC direct to AHB2.

@yyzsantabarbara this is really promising info on the Gustard in conjunction with the Benchmark! 

If the Gustard can maintain it's SQ via RCA to the DAC 3L connected to the AHB2's via XLR....! Well that's just best case scenario for me! I'll be able to connect the Node 2i to both DAC's and simply select input via my remote for the Dac I prefer on the material I'm hearing :) Hell, if the Gustard is sooooo good to my ears ....I might just religate the DAC 3L for preamp duty only.

Thanks again