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Behringer 2496 dac vs.?

D

Denim Demon

pfm Member
I've now got all my CD collection ripped to NAS and use Volumio on a Cubox i4pro. When I started down this route I sold my Shanling CD3000 and picked up the Behringer to use as a test the water stop gap DAC.

The dac is fed using the toslink output from the Cubox, I'm now wondering if it's worth an upgrade in DAC to something with an asynchronous USB input.

Has anyone any experience comparing the Behringer with other DACs? I was thinking along the lines of a Musical Fidelity M1 dac-a. Current amp is a Sony 670ES and Elac BS203A speakers.
 
I use a Behringer DEQ2496 as DAC in my kitchen system. It certainly improves on the built in DAC in my Squeezebox Touch, and I preferred it to the DAC in my Linn DS when I had that. I'm told it can be improved. However I use an Audiolab MDAC in my main system, and that is notably better.
So, yes, the Behringer can be improved upon, but its pretty good, and amazing value.
 
JemHayward said:
I use a Behringer DEQ2496 as DAC in my kitchen system. It certainly improves on the built in DAC in my Squeezebox Touch, and I preferred it to the DAC in my Linn DS when I had that. I'm told it can be improved. However I use an Audiolab MDAC in my main system, and that is notably better.
So, yes, the Behringer can be improved upon, but its pretty good, and amazing value.
Click to expand...

Cheers, I was staggered how good it all sounded with the Behringer when I hooked it all up. Only pain was the initial ripping of everything onto the NAS.

M-DAC ballpark is pretty much the area I'll be looking in, so that's a great comparison. Thanks.
 
The dac in the SBT is excellent.
We sell modified Behringers but used as a dac they sound no better than the SBT alone.

If a SBT owner asked to purchase one of our 2496s purely to use as a dac, I would have to advise that he saves his money.
 
That's a hell of an endorsement for an SBT. I must admit, I am enjoying the sound of an SBT feeding an Arcam irDAC - but - to be fair - I've not listened to the SBT on it's own.

It would be lovely to say that I cannot hear a difference. Or perhaps a Behringer isn't half as good as an irDAC?
 
I prefer the SRC2496 as DAC above the DEQ2496 (own both). Use "DIG IN" for "CLOCK" (SRC2496), then it doesn't resample and uses its PLL to dejitter (does it pretty good).

I have the feeling that the SRC2496 is also better than the DCX2496 (I heard many time a modified one). The DCX2496 always resamples. I don't know for sure if this is the reason, it is just my feeling that it is the reason.

Now I use a TC Electronic BMC-2; much better.

Hans
 
I had a Rega DAC (non "R"). It sounds different than the SRC2496. And in my opinion the Rega is not better in all area's (more Hi-Fi like Naim (sorry), less neutral).

Hans
 
hans 67 said:
I had a Rega DAC (non "R"). It sounds different than the SRC2496. And in my opinion the Rega is not better in all area's (more Hi-Fi like Naim (sorry), less neutral).

Hans
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Cheers, I think hand on heart that's going to be it...the others are just going to be different and the only way to do it is to try them out in my system and see what keeps me playing more tunes.
 
hans 67 said:
I prefer the SRC2496 as DAC above the DEQ2496 (own both). Use "DIG IN" for "CLOCK" (SRC2496), then it doesn't resample and uses its PLL to dejitter (does it pretty good).

I have the feeling that the SRC2496 is also better than the DCX2496 (I heard many time a modified one). The DCX2496 always resamples. I don't know for sure if this is the reason, it is just my feeling that it is the reason.

Now I use a TC Electronic BMC-2; much better.

Hans
Click to expand...

Just picked up on that you now use the BMC-2 which is a studio piece of kit, in relation to your comment about the Rega sounding 'hi-fi' do you use the BMC for domestic listening? What type of sound/feel have you gone for when building your system?
 
Denim Demon said:
do you use the BMC for domestic listening? What type of sound/feel have you gone for when building your system?
Click to expand...

Yes, I use the BMC-2 for domestic listening.

I prefer neutral.
I like the Naim sound. But in the end it is not neutral.
I use the BMC-2 with a Naim HDX. My amplification is Bel Canto Pre3 preamp with Micromega S120 poweramp and Spendor SR5 speakers.

1st example: The S120 has some crossover distortion, but it is very consistened both across the frequency range and in volume level.

2nd example: The SR5 cannot play loud and don't go deep. But they have a very linear frequency response and low distortion.

The overall sound I have is very neutral overall, but not smooth like tube amps.

Because of the low overall distortion I can hear very easy the differences between recordings. When a recording has a lot of distortion, bad mic placement, etc., then I can hear that. But when on that same recording the musicians play very good music, then that can also be heard very clearly between all things that go wrong.

No, my system is not perfect. But in my opinion I am on the right way (I made the right choices for my taste of music listening). The BMC-2 fits in perfectly.

Hans
 
hans 67 said:
But in my opinion I am on the right way (I made the right choices for my taste of music listening). The BMC-2 fits in perfectly.

Hans
Click to expand...


Thanks for the comprehensive reply, that's pretty much what I'm aiming to achieve. A set up that makes me want to listen more to the music I like.
 
JohanH said:
This might be of interest:
http://www.linearaudio.nl/linearaudio.nl/images/pdf/dcx passive article.pdf
Click to expand...

I know Jan Didden. His DCX2496 is one of the 2 modified DCX2496's that I have heard in the past. I don't remember if he also bypasses the resampler (the other modified DCX2496 that I heard didn't). The modifications better the DCX2496 a lot. But the resampler is still a problem (to my ears). I prefer a standard SRC2496. But a SRC2496 can also be modified.

Hans
 
IIRC they have similar if not the same AKM DAC chips. So a similar mod would also be possible for DEQ and SRC.
 
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