Doug S.,
My pockets aren't all that deep to want to spend $2K for transport and DAC. icon_redface.gif The benchmark would also serve as my preamp in a dedicated CD system. And as I'd hoped, good used transports such as the Sony S7700 or S7000 are available for around $200 that can be modded later on to provide even better performance.
BTW I have a pair of single driver speakers that are rated 25 - 20,000 Hz in room and am seriously considering chip amp monoblocks (again extremely simple designs). And I'm building a house with a dedicated (and hopefully properly designed) sound room. Note that designing insulation, isolation, and proper room proportions up front cost about $800 extra.
So for $1200 what I'd have in effect is a very good CD player in a very simple system (saving on a pair of analog interconnects and a pre-amp).
IMO not getting the source "right" is a big mistake. If the foundation of the house is "off" you'll fight it throughout the rest of the construction and well beyond.
yes, i understand your predicament. and i agree 100% that it's important to get the source right. all i can say is that, for my money, i'm plenty happy w/my source, & i don't have any desire to upgrade. i yust haven't heard anything better at anywhere near the price. of course, in direct a-b comparison, that is limited to the resolution audio cd50. it was wirtually indistinguishable from my stuff in a rig that was optimised for the cd-50. in fact, that a-b was done prior to a coupla tweeks i did to my di/o that *further* improved its resolution and smoothness. sure, i read about the new stuff, but everyone seems to talk about hair-splitting, or small differences in presentation (taste), but no major revelations. none at a price i could afford, anyway!
now, your wanting to use the dac's wolume pot in lieu of a preamp also brings up an interesting issue. the resolution audio cdp is *designed* to be run straight in to amps, its wolume pot is *not* an afterthought, but one of its main features, per the designer. yet it *definitely* sounds better when run thru a decent tubed preamp, imo. (and also in the opinion of its owner.) of course, you could always add a preamp later, & at least have tunes in the meantime. but, if it were me, i'd be looking at a modded art di/o (or ack! or scott nixon or ???), & a tube preamp for that same $1000 instead of the benchmark... in fact, there's two bolder cables modded mensa di/os presently f/s on agon for <$400, and an ack! for $415.
re: full-range speakers that are single-driver, i'd hazard a guess that they are also reasonably efficienct. if so, i'd consider tubed amplification, especially if yure gonna skip using a preamp. while i've heard decent things about reasonably priced chip amps, like the cia vmb-1's, i think something like modded asl wave-25's from response audio would be so much nicer for a cd-only system w/no preamp. and, pricing is similar...
re: your room, *any* upfront costs yure spending now in design/construction will *more* than pay for themselves down the road, imo. this topic came up in another thread, & i strongly believe the room is the most important component of an audio rig.
good luck!
doug s.
