Should I go to a Benchmark DAC1 pre in my system?

Cjnolan - good advice: buy direct! I bought my DAC1 direct in spite of lower total price at Sweetwater (same price but free shipping). Buying direct gives better support and most likely newest revision. Buying used is a little bit risky since early Benchmarks DAC1 had some problems (thin sounding amps and very high output impedance on RCA outputs).

The Benchmark is a remarkable converter. Its sound is extraordinarily, achingly clear when used with equal or better-quality gear. It is a presentation that, completely personally, I find fascinating but more concerned with musical details and structure than with musical flow and emotion. Having compared it at a friend's house with my Apogee Mini-DAC, I can say that both have their qualities, and the Mini-DAC's are the ones I would choose to live with long term. This is not to say the Benchmark is a bad unit, no indeed. Far from it, it is quite remarkable and it may be exactly to your taste.

"Far from it, it is quite remarkable and it may be exactly to your taste."

This would be my only concern at this point.

The 30 day home trial would work to address this concern for me giving me a chance to find out for myself.

My gut feel is that I would want to give a device reputed to do things in an accurate and detailed manner a try first, especially if there is little financial risk.

Then if it doesn't float my boat, I know what directions I might go in from there, given that I've heard a variety of both tube and SS based systems that sound different but good, each of which has unique merits.

Also, I run 6 different pairs of speakers in my house concurrently. As long as my source is doing things well, I have some flexibility there regarding what speakers I use in various listening rooms to provide somewhat different flavors of listening without having to change core components in the system too often.

I think if you can try it out, that's the best way to go. I had the DAC1 in silver w/o usb connected to a music server with toslink and my denon 3910 with coax. I have Dali MS4 speakers which are ultr revealing, so the DAC 1 wasn't a good mix with them, since it's revealing to the point of being analytical. This was designed for mastering in studios so it's not going to romance the sound at all, which can be a good thing if your system has romance elsewhere. I sold mine and got the MHDT Havana DAC, which is a tube-based non-oversampling DAC, and I'm really happy with hit, but YMMV. No matter what, I would recommend getting a DAC that has USB, because I love my music server and it's nice having that flexibility; plus, as more people hop on the server wagon, it will help resale value to have that option. The Havana has DAC, there's also the Brick from wavelength, something new from Bryston, and of course the Benchmark. There are a number of others you can find as well. I'll be hearing the Bel Canto DAC3 this weekend, so I'll let you know how that sounds, but it's in a different price range.

To sum up, the benchmark is sonically neutral and very detailed, but with some systems this may be a bad thing. Listen for yourself and screw the reviews (even mine!)

Mimberman,

Well put.

I'm thinking the romance will come from my Ohm speakers in that they have a very natural presentation and are not inherently analytical. The omni design helps "diffuse" sound that might come across as to detailed, strident, or whatever on designs that provide a more directional or focused presentation.

Any comments or observations from anyone regarding matching a highly detailed and accurate DAC like the Benchmark with the Ohms or perhaps other similar design speaks?