Anouk

Hi everyone, I am looking for a new dac with xlr outputs and asynchronous usb input as well as toslink input. It needs to have a headphone output because I want to use it with my westone es5. A preamp is nice but not really neccessary because I have an active preamp already. On the top of my list is the new nuforce dac-9 (apparently with a sabre dac chip) or the lavry da11. My concern with the nuforce though is that I am blind and apparently this dac has a touch screen. It also comes with a remote however so hopefully all functions can be used from there. I was wondering if anyone has used or listened to this dac or if there will be a review of it on ca? I have now read the lavry da11 manual but that user interface also doe snot seem too intuitive. Is there anyone who has this dac and who could tell me if it is possible to use it without reading the screen? All the options seem to be activated and de-activated through a menu structure and without dedicated buttons. I havent been able to find any user impressions on the internet. Thanks in advance for any informaiton, Greetings, Anouk,

HEllo Bryan, Didnt I see your username on head-fi as well? I am not sure that ALL headphones could be used for this purpose. It would have to be a very neutral and good one. One that is not limited by its own faults and htat is very well known by the person that uses it. I would for example not really use the grado rs1 (no soundstage) or the akg k701 (too much soundstage). Maybe a beyer dt880 or senn hd600 though.... Greetings, Anouk,

Hello, I am not sure what all this talk about room accoustics has to do with the lavry da11 specifically or how it compares to other dacs, i mean you could just use headphones to get that out of the way. I am not sure if ALL dacs have a headphone dac but the benchmark dac1 and the lavry do. Greetings, Anouk,

Interesting news about the comparative review. I dont think there is much difference between the pre and the usb model. I just really wonder how the lavry functions as preamp. I did read somewhere that the lavrys userinterface is difficult though and that it isnt that easy to setup. Also is it true that the lavry is a nonoversampling dac? I did read that someone found the stello p200 better if he used it in oversampling modes. Also i have a very powerful speaker system standing right next to my desk (i like listening at low volumes) and in my current setup i have to adjust the volume on my computer (in my media player of choice) which i hate because then it removes bits from the signal. I hear that for example with the overdrive dac this would not be a problem because it owuld oversample the signal to a higher bitrate so if you lower the volume it would not damage thse signal. Greetings, Anouk,

Hello, I would like to bump this thread. I am looking for a dac for my macbook pro to feed into a stax rig and into my poweramp/speakers so its preamp functionality must be good. I was wondering if anyone has compared the benchmark dac1pre and the lavry da11 directly? Greetings, Anouk

Hello, interesting! I am afraid though to do this because i dont want my amp to blow up andI dont like software ovlume controls especially since i will be using it not ust with speakers but with headphones as well I always read that its best to use a dac with 100% software volume. Anyway this amp cost me 180 euro and I dont want to risk blowing it up by not using a preamp. Interesting that it works though. Greetings, Anouk

Hello, I am quite happy with the poweramp that I currently have, there is nothing wrong with it, even if there was it isnt excactly easy to sell because it is very big and very heavy so not something you sell over the internet. The only thing is, its not an integrated amp so it will need a preamp of some kind. Thanks, Greetings, Anouk

Hello, thanks for your reply, for me the bel canto dac3 and the benchmark dac1 are the number 1 and 2 choices respectively. Looking forward to the new dac3 version. Will you be doing a comparative review? I hope you will be able to test its preamp functionality. Thanks again, Greetings, Anouk

updated this message to show new choices I found after doing some research Hello everyone, I am new to this forum although not to the subject. My name is Anouk and I am from the Netherlands. I have been active in computer audio for a few years now, i bought my first real 2.0 system 1.5 years ago, it consists of a primare 31.2 2x120w poweramp and audio physic yara ii classic speakers. I had it connected to my computer using my headphone amps which also functioned as preamp and as dac (i have owned the headroom ultra desktop and the meier-audio corda symphony) because I am mainly a headphone listener this suited me well. Recently though I decided to go with a stax setup but the amps for stax headphones dont have a built-inb dac nor can you use them as preamp so here came my problems. I now need an external dac and preferrably one that can also function as a preamp. I heard from people I could also use a passive preamp or volume control but I would prefer to use a dac for all this. I discovered that, while there are many dacs there are very few that can be used as preamp as well. 1. the apogee minidac firewire (would be nice, i own a mac which has only 2 usb connectors so it would be good to use that firewire port) 2. benchmark dac 1 pre or hdr (if the difference between those models is only the remote control thn i will go with the pre in a heartbeat, i dont need a remote control and I would gladly save 200 dollars). 3. bel canto dac3 (I can have this dac modified by underwood hifi so htat it will be even better). 4. lavry da11 (not sure if this one is as good as the benchmark or the belcanto and I dont need its headphone functionality). 5. cyrus dac xp (seems to be a very good choice, i think it has two times optical, new it would be a bit above my pricerange but I am searching on ebay). 6. psaudio perfectwave (does seem to have a lot of functions htat I dont need but I am looking into it). 7. overdrive dac (still need to find more info about that one) There dont seem to be any other options for me that I can find but if you know of any let me know. I am also not at all sure which of the above to choose. My laptop can accept usb optical or firewire but optical only if the unit has two optical inputs because i need to connect my digital tv receiver optically as well. Thanks in advance for any help/advice. Greetings, Anouk