Hi Chris
May I suggest you have a look at JohnW's helpful reply and compare it to your rantings.
I'm sorry if you have a problem with me using a Benchmark DAC1 USB (maybe you have had a bad experience with Benchmark DACS - I would be interested to know).
IMHO, there are a number of very good/excellent DACs to choose from at various price levels and I have no reason to suggest that the MDAC will not be one of them.
I don't believe you would expect everyone to choose the same amps, speakers etc. but you appear to believe that the only DAC worth buying is the MDAC.
I must presume you have listened to the MDAC, and compared it to other DACs, to come to your conclusions so would be interested to know what DACs you used for comparison and full test/comparison details.
Lastly, how does the SQ of the MDAC compare with your current DAC, if you have one (or more)?
absolutely no ranting in anything I wrote in that last post - look up its meaning - couldn't possibly have been written in a calmer manner or state; same with this reply. Unfortunately the written word doesn't allow you to determine the actual tone of the writer, only to guess.
so to avoid me being misunderstood or misinterpreted:
- you said you were "looking for confirmation that my proposed set-up would not cause any problems/degrading of DAC1 USB SQ?"
- confirmation has quite a specific meaning and requests an answer which is without doubt
- degradation in audio is down to personal interpretation - what I determine to be inaudible or audibly irrelevant may be critical to you
- I have absolutely no problem with anyone's use of a Benchmark dac - or the use of any other dac for that matter - it's a very fine device and not surprisingly has been on my list of potential dacs
- it seems to me that in the way that you describe your proposed connection of MDAC & DAC1 that
- overall it would be simpler, be assured of being problem free and approximately the same budget to go for the HDR if you want a Benchmark dac and to retain the benchmark sound and quality
- and if you're connecting the MDAC & DAC1 'together' - the output of one connected to an input of the other, which is how I still interpret your description, then you won't be
comparing them. As I said before, apologies if I've misunderstood your proposed configuration.
None of this is or was ranting. And is just as helpful in its own way
note that John's reply didn't actually provide the confirmation you asked for
And to answer your other questions, assuming you really are interested in the answer
I've heard lots of different dacs and digital replay systems and very few of them have made a good stab at my objective of reproducing real life.
I tend to listen for specific things within recordings as I find it makes it easier to have some form of memory between systems when they can't be compared side by side. Not surprisingly, very few people have been in a position to directly compare the MDAC with any other dac. When I listened to it it was in a system which overall didn't match my tastes, but I could hear things I've being looking for in a dac. And its based on a whole series of principles concepts and details which I've come to believe are highly relevant in digital replay, based on other dacs and systems I've heard, that aren't present in other dacs, and has received particularly good reports in comparison to other dacs by those who
have been in the fortunate position to make a comparison.
Have a wander around the Hifi Wigwam show and you'll get the opportunity to compare all the prime contenders
Test results? Most are go/no-go - or rather most are no-go
...full test/comparison results?
Just make it sound like real life
My current dac, for all its relevance, has been an experiment in upsampling (full control of upsampling rate) and this has helped guide me to the dac I want. It would have been Sabre 32 based - either Buffalo or wyred for sound - and then I discovered John's design plans...
. I guess they'll get round to it in due course.