Thiel Owners

I own the DAC3B and sold the HPA4 recently. I made money on the sale and no longer needed a headphone amp. I also bought the Benchmark LA4 preamp a few days ago. The DAC3B and HPA4 work great with the AHB2. Nothing I have had is as silent.

However, if your system is a little on the bright side of things (sources, speakers, cables). Then the DAC3B and HPA4 may not be a great fit. Check out a Gustard X26 Pro at $1500 which is a little warmer and also works nicely with the HPA4.

Saying all of this I do like the DAC3B, especially with hard rock.

Happy Friday! All

tomthiel

Thank You for the SCD-1 update. What a shame? Did Bill expound upon the aspect(s) that are non(un)- repairable?

On the other hand (OTOH), there has never been a better time to purchase a CD/SACD spinner. Of course, I will suggest Accuphase, Ayre or Marantz, for openers.

Regarding OPPO, I found the 105 too smooth for my taste. Most of these players will playback discs and files. Something for all Audiophiles.
I have not heard a PS Audio disc spinner to date. The newest one is advertised as their best technology to date. Paul offers beta-testing, this could make for a gateway to ownership.

Keep me posted as this talk is right up my alley.

Happy Listening!

tomthiel

2nd Note:
most OPPO players will act as a Transport as well. Check out AVS Forum where there are many, many, happy OPPO owners representing this brand.

Happy Listening!

@tomthiel

Some considerations when looking to use a disc spinner as a SACD transport:

The PS Audio solution is pretty much limited to coupling their Perfectwave Transport to one of their own DACs via a fairly proprietary I2S connection. It’s an elegant solution, although rather expensive.
I have a friend who has this setup.

Otherwise, the approach I would consider would be to employ the Geerfab D.BOB (Digital Breakout Box) which is a $1000 item that sits between an SACD spinner with HDMI out (like an OPPO) and a DAC supporting DOP (DSD over PCM) via its COAX or Toslink input. The Benchmark DAC3B is a compatible DAC.
Note if connecting a spinner directly to a DAC via COAX or Toslink, you will not be able to access an SACD’s DSD layer (only the CD layer of a hybrid SACD).

An alternative solution, and the one that I employ, is to rip SACDs to my music server, and then use Roon to play them (you could do this with JRiver or some such as well) using a DAC that supports DOP (in my case a Chord Qutest). The ripping process is somewhat involved, so won’t get into that here ... but if interested, can provide guidance.

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me directly.