A DAC that crushes price vs. performance ratio

My problem with the Benchmark DACs, is all of the extra things in them. I don't need a preamp or headphone amplifier, I just want a purist's DAC that is transparent, neutral, and information rich. I also wish they had an i2s input, as I'm dying to take advantage of that output of my Jay's transport.

@lordcloud

The new Benchmark DAC3 B is for you then, no volume control and no headphone out, $1700 I believe.

Measurements of Topping D50:

* SINAD (Signal over Noise & Distorion, more challenging that S/N) of 109dB
* Channel matching within 0.1dB
* Jitter-Test score of better than -125dBFS
* Linear performance within 1dB down past -120dB, so better than 20Bit
* THD below -107dB
* IMD at or below -65dB for content down past -55dBFS, and below -90dB for content down past -15dBFS
* 3rd and 5th harmonics below -115dB for a 1kHz tone


Show me where it audibly colors the sound. Keep in mind even the best rooms only allow for a dynamic range (loudest sound in the music down to the room’s noise floor) of like 60dB to 70dB, which is also why 24Bit usually has no audible benefit over 16Bit (which has >95dB or dynamic range).

Also, I^2 S offers no benefit over traditional connections (just like how DSD has no advantages over PCM), so it’s shouldn’t be a must have feature.

I state I am 98% certain as the Pagoda as effectively no specs and is a tube DAC, so near improbable that it would be as transparent as the DACs mentioned.

The DAC3 B has no AES/EBU input. And while I'm sure the coax is great, I would much rather be using the best output of my transport (which is the i2s, but I'm more ok with the balanced out than I am the coax out).

I'm afraid that measurements don't tell us if something is uncolored or not.  Measurements aren't really the entire picture. There's no way to no if a component colors the sound, without knowing exactly what the source sounds like, and then having a completely uncolored playback system as well, in an uncolored room.

I'm not i2s has no advantage over other connections. I'd much rather be able to communicate with the DAC without having to go through an extra step of conversion, if I don't have to. I prefer as little on the signal path as necessary. It also makes sense to take advantage of the source as untouched as possible. 

When you have empirical proof of the transparency if the Pagoda, or any DAC, versus another DAC, I'm all for it. Again, I want transparency, not "good sound". 

mzkmxcv -

You made the claims as to what DACs sound better than others, I did not.  I've asked you what your claims have been based upon and  guess I now understand that they are based upon published measurements.

@lordcloud

@facten

Coloration from source equipment, source material, interconnects, etc. are all identical regardless of what DAC is used, so if any inherent coloration of the DAC itself are below audible, then there is nothing else to consider.

And again, none of those connections offer any benefit over coax/USB/Toslink. Benchmark set out to make the most transparent DAC without costing $10,000 like some other company’s products, if they believed it made a difference, they would have added them, as it doesn’t cost much to do so, there are DACs less than $100 that support I^2 S, it is nothing special, “bypassing conversion” offers no benefit, it is just marketing. If it were truly the best, every reputable high end DAC would have it, yet it’s a scarce feature.

And yes, my claims are on measured performance, which are way more telling than human reviews. Let me ask you, did you hear Yanny or Laurel, did you see a white+gold dress or a black+blue dress? Our brains are easily fooled. There is also hard proof that people review items better if they like the looks and/or know it is expensive, it’s the same reason people think $5000 Toslink cables are better than $20 ones. 
 
Unless talking tube gear, meaning only solid state, the concept of “system synergy” does not exist, a DAC either performs well or it doesn’t, what speakers you have or what your RCA cables cost is irrelevant.