2. digital
  3. 132029-90127

Best DAC for my situation...Read on!

So thoughts and opinions please.
What I have and my idea.
Oppo 105D and Bluesound Vault 2 feeding into McIntosh C48 preamp.
I chose the C48 because it is a nice complete all in one box solution, headphone amp, mm and mc phono amp, lots of analog inputs with 2 sets of xlr inputs AND 5 total digital inputs.
Now I have both the Oppo and the vault connected by analog and digital inputs to the C48 so I can compare modes pretty instantly and I have to admit both cases the analog sounds better.
Which makes me wonder if the C48, although a great all in one solution may be the hold up as far as the DAC performance is concerned.

What I was considering as a trial is a seperate DAC that can handle the digital signals from the units and then output the analog signal via xlr preferably, back to the C48.
At this stage I have no intention of getting rid of the C48 as I really like the analog signal SQ as well as the headphone performance.

Any good suggestions in the range of $2000 used or am I really not going to see much improvement at that price range over the C48 capability?
128x128uberwaltz
mr_m
1,900 posts
 
Try an Ayre CODEX dac. you will be pleasantly surprised.
shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
+1 Benchmark but I would try it without the C48 and at 1600 used I would go higher and grab the DAC3 as it is their latest model.
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
@mr_m 
It does not look like the codex supports digital coax inputs, just usb and an optical input so not going to work for my setup right now

@shadorne 
I could try the Benchmark without the c48 but then I lose the analog input from my vinyl deck so not going to be a viable long term solution
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
The Benchmark DAC3 with the analog inputs looks very interesting. In theory I could try without the C48 and run my vinyl through a phono preamp then into the analog input of the DAC3.

More food for thought




shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
The Benchmark DAC has excellent output and excellent volume control especially the XLR outputs which are very powerful. So powerful you may have to install the internal jumper resistors to reduce the output to an acceptalble level for your power amp.The analog circuitry is all exceptionally low noise as the specs are industry leading.

So I would recommend taking the C48 out of the signal path not because it isn’t a good preamp but simply because every stage adds noise to the signal - shortest paths are best. And a good phono amp might be an upgrade in and of itself.

Alternatively a Mytek Brooklyn DAC has a built in phono and MQA decoding!

There is not so much to choose between in terms of the very high audio quality in many of the latest DACs so a choice based on features may be more cost effective.
More to discover