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Deke;

I am looking at the Benchmark DAC. Have you heard it by chance? If its all the reviews say it is, it will be a good buy at $850.

Have you seen the tubed motherboards being made now? There is a new version out that has top of the line components all the way. Someday when I have the money, I'll most likely set up a workstation on my home network dedicated for audio. maybe by then they'll integrate good audio with high performance (in terms of speed) and I can have a very nice audio system within my high performing desktop. Until then, I am pretty happy with my Extigy sound card, and like I said, I'm hoping to integrate the PC and stereo. I just need a long fiber cable (30+ feet)that won't break the bank. If you have any suggestions, I'd appreciate hearing them.

Matt

Matt,

I don't know anyone who has the Benchmark DAC, and it's sold mostly through "professional" channels, so it's not all that easy to get an audition with home equipment (working on it though). I understand that they offer a 30-day if-you-don't-like-it-send-it-back kind of guarantee if you buy direct from Benchmark.

As for the tubed motherboard, I had read a review of the initial effort, and it got ok reviews. Mostly points for novelty and cool factor. Is it safe to say they've made improvements? (Honestly, I did think that it would be really difficult to make it sound good, 'cause as you said before, it's not the most sound-friendly environment in there!)

Cable-wise, I was looking into coax. If the Extigy has it, you might want to look into this guy's claims. At the prices, it seems like a good stop-gap until you find the right one, at the very least:

http://home.new.rr.com/zaph/audio/audio-cables.html

But again, the Benchmark hype seems to downplay the importance of cables used. (Could you imagine if they put out a separate box/card capable of totally eliminating jitter that you could use with the dac of your choice? That would make many, many people very, very happy.)

Be good.