Mapman,
I stand by my original statement. I agree that all DACs sound different. I also assert that the connections make a difference, and that the Benchmark is not as immune to inputs as they claim it to be. The overall signature remains consistent, but the inputs sound different. I hear differences with USB cables, spdif and toslink. Furthermore on different cables of the same type and usb converters such as the hiFace- not to mention transports especially. I am not knocking the units at all- I own two, a USB version and the HDR one. I just feel it does a disservice to others perpetuating the myth (IMO) that bits are just bits. Bits are only just bits if they are there at the right time IME.
Bottom line, as with most things in audio, everything matters. Jitter is real, and you are best off avoiding it in the first place, as opposed to "dealing" with it after the fact.
I stand by my original statement. I agree that all DACs sound different. I also assert that the connections make a difference, and that the Benchmark is not as immune to inputs as they claim it to be. The overall signature remains consistent, but the inputs sound different. I hear differences with USB cables, spdif and toslink. Furthermore on different cables of the same type and usb converters such as the hiFace- not to mention transports especially. I am not knocking the units at all- I own two, a USB version and the HDR one. I just feel it does a disservice to others perpetuating the myth (IMO) that bits are just bits. Bits are only just bits if they are there at the right time IME.
Bottom line, as with most things in audio, everything matters. Jitter is real, and you are best off avoiding it in the first place, as opposed to "dealing" with it after the fact.