OPPO 83 and Benchmark DAC 1

Awhile back I had the DAC1 mated with aa Oppo 970. I felt it was a match made in heaven. The Oppo makes a good transport, but you will only have 2 channel audio w/ the external dac. The Oppo/DAC1 was an outstanding combination for music. The Oppo will do the sound processing for movies so it was also great for movies in 2 channel.

The Oppo's soundstage was flat and lacking inner detail. I would loose interest in music after a short time and would have to force my self to concentrate. But with the Benchmark I could easily get lost in the music and listen for hours. With the DAC1 the soundstage was deep and wide, had excellent inner detail and pitch definition which kept me looking into the recording for all the things to listen for. It was also the first time in my experience I didn't hear a hint of digital harshness. It was really cool and I think that may be why I could hear deep in the recording.

The DAC1 makes a darn good preamp too, and that is how I used it.

Sorry, the Oppos are ok transports but nothing more. I tried a 970 (or 980?) a year or so ago with my Benchmark DAC1 and it basically matched an older Sony NS 500 sacd/cd/dvd player ($225) I also use. But, no way did either the OPPO or Sony produce as good a sound with the Benchmark as my Mark Levinson no.37 transport. Not as good bass, transparency, drive/rhythm, etc. -- the difference was quite noticeable.

Regardless of what Benchmark says and others believe, there is a difference in sound when using different transports. Others have found the same thing - do a search on AudioAsylum. BTW, power cable quality matters too.

That said, the DAC1 still sounds excellent with cheaper transports.

Dne,
I believe the posting is if the Oppo and DAC1 are a good combo. Hell yes.

Regardless of what Benchmark says and others believe, there is a difference in sound when using different transports.

I "think" there are other factors that can make these differences be different with different setups. (Way to much use of the word "different"!) Whereby one hears differences in transports where another in their setup doesn't experience this, hence disagreements and confusion.

Brian