[David C]

SRB, I had the same thought. I don't think I have a mismatch on impedance (I'll check the numbers and if I recall one  wants the receiving gear and the sending gear to have a 10 times difference) , but I like the +6db 60Hz and below bass boost which is an option on the itube2. I'll try your suggestion next week and report back

[maty]

...but I like the +6db 60Hz and below bass boost which is an option on the itube2. I'll try your suggestion next week and report back

With a good equalizer. Equalization affects the phase but the ear only distinguishes the phase variation from 180 - 200 Hz.

Better with good software that minimizes the phase variation if higher frequencies > 200 Hz are equalized.

[occamsrazor]

pstrisik

I think you made an excellent purchase with the DAC 3. In Europe it is more complicated to buy Benchmark hard.

In EU, a great option, from world pro: RME ADI-2 Pro. But it is not a preamp.

https://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/adi_2-pro.php

Indeed, the price differential between North American products such as Benchmark/Mytek for US and EU buyers can be quite significant. I'm currently torn between buying the Mytek and ADI-2. The feature set is a little but different but offer a whole lot of functionality. Have you heard the ADI-2 and/or been able to compare it to anything else? Thanks...

[maty]

No I do not heard the RME ADI-2 Pro, only RME hard when work like AD to make very great vinyl rips.

RME has a GREAT reputation earned over the years in professional recording studios.

I have not found measurements or graphics yet to be able to compare with the DAC3.

In Europe, it is very recent: Benchmark Product Overview

https://www.thomann.de/gb/cat_BF_benchmark.html?oa=rat

The problem, to me, if ALL the chain is very clean. The sound can be great(spectacular (OK with orchestral) but cold, without emotion. That is why I am/was interested in very clean solid state preamp but with the second harmonic preminence and thus be able to get excited with the good recordings / interpretations.

[maty]

OFF TOPIC

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/solid-state/295286-virtual-audition-simple-quasi-mosfet-amp-post5243041.html

I heard ALL 14 amps.

1º F5 Juma. I love the sound.

2º VHex+ . It seems doped. Much bass, some anecoic sound. Maybe is the ideal with orchestral music.

3º Quasi. Sweet, warm. It needs more energy and highs. To listen vocal music.

I think that F5 Juma has the best of VHex+ and Quasi. Problem, to me, it has very little power to move my KEF Q100 speakers (86dB and 4.7 Ohms minimum). Am I wrong?

And yes, your speakers sound very bad with orchestral music.

VHex+ is a very clean power, maybe too much -> anecoic sound. Maybe with a preamp with second harmonic preminence...

F5 Juma (or USSA-5) has this second harmonic preminence like the power amps from Nelson Pass but with better transistors. But only 25 watts.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/168040-f5-2sk2013-2sj313.html

[French] http://www.quebecdiy.net/t815-amplificateur-ussa-5-evolution-de-la-conception-de-la-version-4

better transisitors and......... capacitance multipler too!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitance_multiplier

Capacitor multipliers make low-frequency filter and long-duration timing circuits possible that would be impractical with actual capacitors. Another application is in DC power supplies where very low ripple voltage (under load) is of paramount importance, such as in class-A amplifiers.

http://www.startfetch.com/keantoken/content/Kmultiplier.php

[Johnny2Bad]

My old desktop had an RME digi96/8 sound card (bought in 2004) and it was an outstanding ADC/DAC, either way. It took until the last couple of years before I owned anything that could compare, sonically, for playback (audio-gd, and also TEAC UDH-01). Paid $800 for it, and worth every penny. Also because it was installed in an old IBM PowerPC Mac, could easily do 24/96 live simultaneous (encoding 8 and decoding all 8 channels in real time), never had a single dropout (that's with older ATA drives as well) and I used to continue using the machine while recording (doing spreadsheets, track lists, surfing the web, eMail, writing texts, half a dozen apps open aside from the DAW).

The one thing that shocked me when I bought my first Intel Core Duo Mac 2.0 GHz was the problems Intel chips had keeping up; I had to move away from the machine and not do anything on it while recording, or dropouts ensued (I had always assumed it was Windows that was the problem. Maybe it was, but the Intel CISC instruction set definitely didn't perform like an RISC machine on real-time continuous intensive tasks).

My newer MacBook Pro i7 Quad Core can keep up but there was about ten years there where I had to keep my old 867 G4 PowerPC machine around for recording. I only retired it four years ago, when for the first time I had an Intel architecture box that could do the job ( a circa 2012 MacBook Pro).

It's a shame Motorola killed themselves and IBM's roadmap had no room for low-power chip development (Apple moved to Intel due to the laptop power issue on RISC; the desktops were fine, the latest incarnation (Power5+ scaling to 5 GHz around 2007. Then IBM abandoned the Power Architecture, going CISC like Intel and AMD).

And as an FYI, I'm not anti-Intel or anti-Windows. Every tool for the job. I've been paid to write Linux documentation, way back 15 years ago and since, for the distro, not some end using corporation or public agency, and trust me, getting money from a Linux distro isn't easy. I currently have seven OS's on my laptop (WinXPsp3, 7, 8, Win10, Linux, BSD UNIX, plus I use the underlying BSD UNIX on the MacOS).

[maty]

Talking about S.O.

Yesterday I have updated my W10 Pro 1511 to 1607 compilation, the last of 10th Anniversay. This morning I have optimized/secureted/... to multimedia and the sound is so good than the old 1511.

Weeks ago I updated to 1709 compilation, the last of Creators. The sound was much worse! After many hours and tests I could not do anything to improve it so I reinstalled the previous image copy of the 1511.

I have read in several places something similar. The problem is with USB 2 and 3.

With Linux Mint 18.2, the new 18.3 and last Lubuntu too the sound is not as good but it is much better than W10 1709! But not as good than my tweaked 1511/1607.

For years it has not made much sense to buy an Apple computer. It is better to make a silent PC with a Gigabyte motherboard (like mine) and install a Hackintosh. Or much better, dual(multi) boot with some Linux.

[Johnny2Bad]

The Mac Mini is an excellent audio device, not expensive, never had or needed a fan. But whatever works for you; I'm not one to push my choices on others.

But it must be said since I bought my first desktop in 1990, I've never regretted using MacOS, and the machines have always lasted a long time for me (6 years typical, the 867 ran for 9). Every one was still working when I sold them, and amortized over the hours I put on them (my first PowerPC machine ran continuously save for OS updates for seven years 24/7, and did things I can't do today with modern hardware ... it was my telephone management unit, answering machine, logging and recording calls, for example, with SW and hardware that came in the box, bought in 1995. It also had a TV tuner and video in/out. I could loop 9 640x480 videos and play them simultaneously, 24/7 if I wanted (at 10, it would start to drop frames, but would still play 24/7). Those are the kinds of things the Intel boxes couldn't do due to CISC until recently).

[maty]

The Mac Mini is an excellent audio device, not expensive, never had or needed a fan. But whatever works for you; I'm not one to push my choices on others....

I do not agree: it has a very dirty SMPS!

Those old days of the first Mac, MS-DOS, Windows 3.11 and UNIX...

************ *********** ************

OFF TOPIC again

AKSA's Lender Preamp with 40Vpp Ouput GB

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/group-buys/315521-aksas-lender-preamp-40vpp-ouput-gb.html

[IMG] http://maty.galeon.com/WP-imagenes/hum/AKSA-Lender-Preamp-SMT-Preamp-20vpp-7kohm-47R-degen-yes-matched-6k8carbon-FB.png

[Johnny2Bad]

I do not agree: it has a very dirty SMPS!

Those old days of the first Mac, MS-DOS, Windows 3.11 and UNIX...

************ *********** ************

OFF TOPIC again

AKSA's Lender Preamp with 40Vpp Ouput GB

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/group-buys/315521-aksas-lender-preamp-40vpp-ouput-gb.html

I haven't updated my Insider Preview version to the latest yet, too busy. Who knew retirement would be so much work?

It's not married to the OEM SMPS, which just plugs in after all.

My Lender boards were shipped out probably yesterday, although I've got four projects ahead of that one, so it will be a while yet for me. That's OK though, I learn something every day, that's bound to help when the time comes

Best part about the DAC-3 (aside from it becoming available) is DAC1s are selling for "start the car, start the car" prices. I'm seeing $C 750 here in classifieds ($US 585) asking.

[Johnny2Bad]

{snip}
I am basically flying blind with the volume control on the Benchmark now.  You can see where I added some white electrical tape to the volume knob to try to see it better, but still doesn't work well in a very dim room.  I might have to get a relatively dim LED to illuminate the knob!
{snip}
.......Peter

Use a battery powered standalone LED lamp, or good old incandescent small wattage / size unit if AC powered. An AC powered standalone LED lamp introduces noise.

[Johnny2Bad]

SRB, I had the same thought. I don't think I have a mismatch on impedance (I'll check the numbers and if I recall one  wants the receiving gear and the sending gear to have a 10 times difference) , but I like the +6db 60Hz and below bass boost which is an option on the itube2. I'll try your suggestion next week and report back

I would expect an impedance mismatch is unlikely (it's exactly what a buffer is supposed to eliminate). But the rest of your system is to my mind clearly above the buffer's pay grade.

Okay, I'll shut up now

[maty]

Days ago I commented on him, hence a new link:

[Review] RME ADI-2 Pro Has Arrived  December 2 2017

https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/rme-adi-2-pro-has-arrived.2107/page-2#post-57048

Review & Measurements

-> http://www.audioxpress.com/files/attachment/2631

[maty]

New RME ADI-2 DAC

http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/adi_2-dac.php

[IMG] http://www.rme-audio.de/images/products/products_adi-2_dac_1b.jpg

[JLM]

Too bad that threads can get so far off topic. 

Why can't folks just start a new thread?

[jdoyle]

  any other opinions or observations on the DAC3?

-jd

[pstrisik]

I have nothing but praise for the sound quality from this DAC.  It's one of those components that feels like it's not there, just letting the music through.  Very quiet background. 

I'm not crazy about the ergonomics/visibility, but you can see I've implemented a work around, at least for the volume control which I couldn't see in a darkened room at all.  It's a $10 USB LED with a gooseneck stem (that's clickable if you want to see it on Amazon).  I run it to a switched outlet in the power conditioner so it comes on only when the system is on.  I have some tinted film dots and squares that I use on bright LEDs on the front of equipment.  I used one of those to tone down the light so it is just enough. You can hardly see it in the photo.  It comes up from behind and shines down from the top.  I also have white electrical tape in that arrow shape for visibility.  Just like to see where the level is set for my own orientation. 

However, it looks like I may be swapping the DAC3 out after all this.  I added an AURALiC ARIES streamer/bridge/transport that I picked up used and was blown away with the improvement over my Cambridge Audio Azur 851N (now sold).  I had no idea that the streamer would have such an influence.  I was so impressed with Wang Xuanqian's work that I took AURALiC up on their tradeup offer for the ARIES G2.  Another noticible step up over the previous generation ARIES.  So impressed that I am now working on arranging a demo of the VEGA G2 (streamer/DAC combo).  Crazy expensive, but it has been incremental moving up.  I would take the place of the ARIES and DAC3 both.  That will fund most of it.  That is, if I like it enough to keep.  I expect that I will!

..........Peter

[maty]

Digital Converter Review! Benchmark DAC3-DX Dual-Buss Output DAC: More Output Options, Incredible S/N Performance!

http://everythingaudionetwork.blogspot.com/2018/01/digital-converter-review-benchmark-dac3.html

Inside:

[IMG] https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qk6AkOJhyZI/WmZYzqucufI/AAAAAAAAFYc/ZDXff9-0pNs1FmMT_gdMyhd9fGmd72ioQCLcBGAs/s1600/DAC3DX%2Binside%2B.jpg

[Blu99Zoomer]

One thing that I like a lot with the DAC 3 HGC is I don't have to run a preamp with it with all the input options it allows.  I can run my analog line in from the turntable, digital from a NAS/computer/server, digital or analog from a cd player output, an analog input from a HD Radio tuner, and still have a couple more inputs left to add some other stuff.   I got options!  All inputs get the same clean signal treatment.  I might think about adding a streamer option at some point.  But I don't see that versatility with another product in or near its price point that gets out of the way of the sound like this product does.  If I want to add some tube sound, I can do that with an amplifier.  Options.

Best Regards,

Blu99Zoomer

[pstrisik]

AURALiC ARIES G2 gets way out of the way, but a bit more money.  Pick up the original ARIES with femto clocks, if you find one, for that price range or less used now that G2 is filling the pipeline.  I had no idea how much difference in sound a streamer could make until I got one of the originals and have since traded up to the G2. 

     .....Peter