@laoman : that if I recall was the $349 Topping Class D amp. A new product. ASR considers the $3K Benchmark ABH2 amp to be the best in their survey. They rate the Benchmark DAC to be in their top class.
Analyzing DACs
As I am new to the hifi hobby, reading various product reviews and noting the details of the test environment have made me very confused. I understand Stereophile is the hifi bible. In the publication’s DAC published tests the reviewers almost always tested the DAC connected directly to the amplifier. I think I understand why—nothing in the chain influencing the DAC sound. Is that the correct assumption? If that’s the case why incorporate a preamp if the DAC has a preamp section that is a common feature even on high end DACs? I’m in the market for a new DAC. I’m trying to avoid unnecessary components if possible. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.
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@jasonbourne52 do you own any Benchmark equipment? |
It’s great that you are asking a question about a new hobby but you also need to know some of the people you asking and if you should believe them or not. ASR is a joke. Stereophile is a joke, tell me a review of any product that had a negative outcome, every product they review is the best of the best. Also, jasonbourne posts are all the same, if you spend more than $500 you spent too much. Now, to answer your question about if you need a preamp or can you hook up the dac straight to the amp, it all depends. If you go jasonbournes way and go cheap, you are most likely going to need a preamp because they will go cheap on the volume control section and it will be noisy AND the dac might not have the range to control the amps output. If you go with a much better dac (I paid over $8000 for mine), it has a quiet volume control and provides an attenuate button so you can properly control any amp. I sold my 5-digit preamp when I purchased this dac because my system sounded better without it and my volume setting is in the sweet spot of control. |
ASR - Very inexpensive DACs, headphone amps, speakers, and even headphones that measure well. Because measurements alone are the bread and butter of these brands...it is the basis of their marketing material and the primary reason why people jump the gun and buy ASR-recommended gear. Let me tell you...it’s a pipe dream... I have been disappointed my so many of the top-measuring audio electronics featured on that website..! To such an extent that I sold all of them!! From DACs, to headphone amplifiers, to USB C dongles for android smartphones that claim better performance on paper than any high-end stand-alone DAC. You would think that Hollywood studios, Sony Music Studios, and other big players in industry would using or recommending ASR gear by now... High-end audio and the pro audio/live sound industries should have died off since the inception and frequently-posted publications on ASR - The industry as a whole has not adapted; and there are a multitude of reasons why they haven’t. Products from those brands (You know who they are) are all "built to a cost" meaning that costs savings was all-important in terms of the quality of internal parts, design/implementation of DAC chips, the use of OP amps rather than discrete or custom types of FETs, poor quality casework that is feather-light and does not damp the internals properly, soldered-on inputs/outputs, vertical-chip capacitors that are computer-grade, rather than audio grade and therefore much cheaper to buy in bulk, the use of axial or radial capacitors rather than snap-in, the lack of ceramic saftey capacitors, no saftey resistors, and even the total absence of sacrificial fuses that blow in the event of a malfunction; to protect the inputs/outputs, reactive load (speakers, headphones), and the circuit itself. I could go on and on... lol It is so easy to buy the latest DAC chip in bulk, slap it on a PCB, include a cheap crystal oscillator at 10 cents a piece, and have output. Therefore, the measurements are often not the total sum of parts inside the electronics, but the DAC chip at engineering standard itself. And not all DAC chips are created equal. The easier it is to implement/ it can withstand all kinds of substandard parts tolerances and teperature variations/ the worse it will sound. Rather than have all parts when, which measured, do not vary wildly and will compliment eachother to create a high-performace unit. I understand what Amir is trying to do...he wants to be popular online. If you want the total backstory of ASR and why it exists, send me a message. |
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