Braudio7 - I have the cheapest Sony DVD player ($69) with Benchmark DAC1. It is connected with 1 ft 75 ohm coax. In addition TV is connected with Toslink and I'm planning to make another connection to my MAC Mini using Toslink and Toslink/XLR adapter. Advantage of this setup is independence of transport, good sound with DVDs and inherent ability of DVD players to play MP3 (seldom use). Also since Benchmark rejects jitter distance is not important - my 1 ft coax is not even the best choice (best is 1.5m) but it doesn't matter. Benchmark tested connection with something like 1000ft of Cat5 cable and found no sonic difference. In addition DVD players have very good tracking. Benchmark works with coax up to 24bit/192kHz covering other possible formats. There is a new format on DVD called CODE pushed by Neil Young, Mellencamp and few others. It is 20bit/96kHz.
Disadvantage is inability to play SACD direct - only converted to PCM if your DVD player does it. Also Benchmark does not have analog inputs.
I connected it directly to power amp using Benchmark's volume control. It saves me money on interconnects. Possible analog sources like digital camera can be connected thru TV A/V input.
Sound wise it's subjective - some people like sound of oversampling DACs while others like NOS DACs. There is a lot of excellent DACs or CD players and I don't want to suggest that my solution is the best within $1k price range. Why don't you call Benchmark - they have 30 day free rental program. Avoid used Benchmarks. I don't recommend my Sony DVD player since it has horrible logic (displays messages for over 5 sec before doing anything).
Disadvantage is inability to play SACD direct - only converted to PCM if your DVD player does it. Also Benchmark does not have analog inputs.
I connected it directly to power amp using Benchmark's volume control. It saves me money on interconnects. Possible analog sources like digital camera can be connected thru TV A/V input.
Sound wise it's subjective - some people like sound of oversampling DACs while others like NOS DACs. There is a lot of excellent DACs or CD players and I don't want to suggest that my solution is the best within $1k price range. Why don't you call Benchmark - they have 30 day free rental program. Avoid used Benchmarks. I don't recommend my Sony DVD player since it has horrible logic (displays messages for over 5 sec before doing anything).