External DAC for PS3

No.... bad idea. It does not give a good sound. Don't know about the Benchmark though cos I am using the Bel Canto DAC3 which is supposedly rated higher than the Benchmark. The sound lacks any form of richness whatsoever with cds. Even Blu-ray sounds lacklustered through it so I only use it for gaming now.
No idea why since re-clocking should have solved of the problems.

That does not seem correct. Have you checked your settings in your PS3? I don't have a PS3 but there are several sound options on my Sony Blu-ray player of which one includes downmixing. I found that it was necessary to get the settings correct or else the Sony BD player did indeed mess up the sound (for example movies came out as stereo).

You are correct that "re-clocking should have solved of the problems." So I would suspect something else. One possibility is that the PS3 being a high powered computer might be inducing a lot of noise on your AC power (switched mode power supplies are notorious) and this might affect the DAC through its own power supply.

FWIW I use a power conditioner and keep my computer equipment well away from the audio gear (on a separate conditioner in a separate wall socket).

Agiaccio,

What you propose is essentially what I do. HDMI out from my PS3-80 goes to my Sony LCD for video; I zero the audio level. Digital out goes to my Proceed PDSD digital signal processor for audio. The result is excellent picture and surround sound.

db

"Sthomas12321":

Your Quote: "Its 2008, you think it takes $10k to get top knotch cd sound?"

My Answer: My answer is NO. While a few years ago, it may have taken at least several thousands of dollars (and yeah...... even up to $10K) to get top notch CD/Digital Sound. Now, today??? That's no longer the case. While my aging Meridian 508.24 (which was a $4K player when it was new...... I got it for about $1,600.00 a few years ago as a used player) is still kicking right now and so forth. But when it finally dies, you think I am going to spend $1,500.00 on it's replacement??? No sir(ee). If and when I finally do replace my Meridian, it's probably going to be with either a Marantz CD-5003 (about $350.00) or an Arcam's new FMJ CD Player (which I understand, will cost no more than $600.00 or $700.00 when it finally hits the states).

Right now...... I got a Wadia i-Transport 170 i-Pod Docking Unit linked to a Cambridge Audio DAC Magic DAC. For a little over $1,000.00 (including an Apple i-Pod Classic (160 GB)), I got a digital playback system that crushes the hell out of my $4,000.00 Meridian 508.24. That's why spending more than $1,000.00 on a CD Player today is considered laughable by today's standards.

Today...... you can do well for a whole LOT less than that. My i-Pod/Wadia/Cambridge Audio Playback System proves that point convincingly.

--Charles--

But what do you think about the latest top of the line offering from Meridian? Reviewers thought that normal cds sounds like DVD-A through it. I believe that it is very true that it cost a lot less to produce good cd playback, however, now that the benchmark has been upped again maybe we should reassess our definition of a good cd replay?
Anyways haha... when I compared the measured performance of an expensive cd player to an affordable alternative of today, it is really laughable. The sine wave output from that high end player several yrs back looked like the jaws of a shark while the current affordable option looks more like real sine wave ( nicely stepped sine wive ). Wonder what the future holds for red book cd replay.