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runrob1258

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  1. Hi all! Yes, I received my Benchmark a week ago and have been listening through my Musical Fidelity M1HPA feeding my Sennheiser HD800's. Unfortunately, it stopped working in less than a week so I have not been able to do some speaker listening. I hit the power switch and I can hear the volume relay kick in, but none of the lights light up and I can't get any sound through it. My initial impressions are that it is VERY detailed almost to the point of being distracting. I am very much into hearing mico-details in the music, but only in the context of the total piece. I'm not sure I get the total picture with the Benchmark. For example, on the Jeff Beck album, "Blow by Blow", the opening track (You Know What I Mean) has some great left-to-right panning on the initial electronic keyboard attack. I currently have a Musical Fidelity M1DAC. Listening with the MF, I get the left-to-right feeling, but still perceive the whole tune. With the Benchmark, the left-to-right effect is so pronounced that it distracts me from the great guitar and drum work also present. Of course, you could say that because I listened with headphones, the channel presentation might be exagerated. But, I listened with headphones through the MF and got a more musical approach. Also, acoustic material (James Taylor, Alison Krauss) seemed to be leaning towards the lean digital side. A common observation of the Benchmark, it seems. On the DSD side, I did download a couple of tracks from Blue Coast. The Benchmark did play them flawlessly with a Mac Mini and Audirvana. It sounded good, but the limited availability of artists and songs makes me somewhat leery to weight a DSD capability in a dac too heavily. I would say that if you are a mixing engineer or really want to hear the janitor sweeping the floor in the recording studio next door, this is the dac for you. Unfortunately, it's not the dac for me. It's going back to Benchmark as my dac search continues. I've narrowed it down to the PS Audio Perfectwave and the Berkeley Alpha DAC 2. Could someone please compare these two in a separte thread? Cris, any thoughts from you? Thanks for listening.
  2. Just got the word from UPS...the Benchmark is on its way. Will report back.
  3. I just talked to Benchmark customer service and they said the HGC should start shipping today (10/24). I have one on order. I heard the Mytek at RMAF and thought it sounded OK through the headphone out. Then I heard it through a Cavalli Liquid Fire and it sounded fantastic. In other words, you'd want a Mytek just for the DAC function. I'm anxious to compare the Mytek with the Benchmark.
  4. Thanks Cris. About 10 minutes after I posted this entry, I found the DSD conversion tab. I'm looking forward to getting my Benchmark to hear what true DSD encoded music sounds like. I was at the RMAF and heard some DSD tunes through the Cavalli Liquid Fire headphone amp. It sounded great. Thanks again.
  5. Hi All, I'm downloading some DSD files in anticipation of my new Benchmark DAC2 HGC. The thing is, I downloaded the files and they started playing in my current setup which includes the Musical Fidelity M1DAC, which IS NOT DSD CAPABLE. I look for some type of conversion in the software (Audirvana) and don't see any. The files sound great (Blue Coast Records-probably great source material), but I know it's not a true DSD playback. What am I getting? By the way, both the readout of Audirvana and the M1DAC say 88.2 kHz. I'll post my impressions of the Benchmark when I receive it. I'll have to figure out if DSD playback is worth it. If not, I may reach deeper into my wallet and get the Berkeley.
  6. Chris, I'm debating back and forth between this unit and the Berkeley Alpha 2. Any thoughts? Also, how is the volume control on this unit vs the BADA? See you at the Rocky Mountain Audio Show. Rob
  7. I'm just back from "Audio Alternative" in Atlanta listening to the Pandora. I listened to the DAC through the USB and the RCA with my Halide bridge. I preferred the RCA/Halide over the USB. My overall impression was a very detailed presentation bordering on a bit too "digital". For example, I listened to "God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise" from Roy LaMontaigne on the Pandora. His voice is very raspy and edgy. The Pandora seemed to accentuate this edginess. As I'm writing this, I'm listening to the same track on my Musical Fidelity M1DAC. On the MF, his voice has the raspiness, but isn't quite so edgy. However, I could hear a lot more detail on the Pandora. I found this interesting because the Pandora has a tube output stage so I expected something a bit smoother. One thing I will add, my playback was done with a Dell Laptop running J. River Media center. I recently bought a Mac Mini running Pure music at home and it has improved my listening experience expotentionally. What I'm trying to say is there are so many variables involved that you'd be best to listen to the Pandora with a system as close to yours as possible. I think I'm going to get a Macbook Pro and reaudition the Pandora. One other thing, the Pandora is a big box with the solid state part on one side and the tube side on the other. If space considerations are part of your equation, this may not be the unit for you. As of right now, I'm still leaning towards the Berkeley Alpha Dac. Great detail and a smoother sound. Hope you get to listen to the Pandora!
  8. I just purchased a Musical Fidelity M1Dac and I’m very impressed with the sound quality. When I use my Pioneer Elite CD player through the M1’s coax input, the sonics are just right. When I use the USB input, the sound is about 90% of the CD. There is just a little less detail and some loss in dynamics. My question is, how can I bring the level of the USB to the level of my CD player? I asked the guy who sold me the DAC and he said that the implementation of the USB was just like the MF V-link. I’m wondering if any type of coax interface between the computer and the DAC would be better than USB. Let me give you some basics about my system and then some solutions I’m thinking of. System: Dell XPS 8300 desktop w/ integrated audio Standard USB cable to a Musical Fidelity M1Dac feeding a Woo Audio WA3 tube amp Listening to Grado RS-1 headphones My possible solutions: *Halide bridge to the coax of my M1 *Wavelength Wavelink to the coax of my M1 (Yea, I know this is more expensive than my DAC, but I do what I gotta do) *A better USB cable (Although I think there are diminishing returns on the interconnect front…in other words, I don’t want to spend $500 on a USB cable) Please let me know if you endorse any of these solutions or have a different idea. I’d especially like to hear from any M1Dac owners. Thanks, Rob By the way, I'm using J. River Media center for playback. Flac files, Wasapi-Event style plug-in.
  9. I'm relatively new to CA, but think it's a great site. I notice on the CASH list that the Macbook air is not listed as a recommended product. Is this strictly because it has no SPDIF audio output, or is there more involved? I look forward to your responses.
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