Too bad the Placette Passive didn't work out in your system b/c I have heard the Placette passive sound very dynamic with plenty of treble and bass extension before...
Then again, Placette Active is on my Extremely Short list of active preamplifiers to buy right away if I ever see one for reasonable $$.
But I'm most curious about how Specifically the bargain Benchmark DAC compared to the Dodson, Mad Dog, b/c I get an impulse to buy the Benchmark once in a while on a whim
We missed ya Jon.. At least both the placette active and the dodson are not temporary pieces so they'll be additional chances to listen to them.. hopefully
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The Benchmark DAC is a definitely a bang-fer-yer-buck value DAC, I liked it better than MD's Ptech setup, the benchmark had a very open soundstage, bass was clear and tight (when used with the placette active), the vocals were good. The P-tech sounded more closed in, less dynamic, less detailed. The weakest link in benchmark is the built in preamp, then again for $975 I didn't expect that feature to be a strong point. The built in volume control made the bass thick, midrange wasn't as clear versus using the external preamp.
What struck me first about the Dodson DAC was how silent it was, the background was black and the music just flowed.. details that were blurred by the benchmark snapped into focus on the Dodson. The Dodson definitely did not have a midrange bloom but a good tubed pre $$ or the Son of Ampzilla can give you some of that midrange loving...
