Bel Canto DAC3 vs ARC DAC 7 ? Anyone

Berkeley was great, very detailed, full sound, not bright at all, and the ARC sounded very much like the Berkeley. A buddy of mine took the Berkeley, and he couldn't be happier, and it does sound stellar in his set up.

But with my gear the Bryston had a bigger soundstage, and was warmer than either. A more coherent sound.

Bel Canto was extremely detailed, with a big soundstage, but was a bit on the bright side. Tube Audio Design PreDac, well I didn't like it. Benchmark and PS Audio were VERY bright in my rig.

MHDT Havana was great, warm, nice soundstage (great price), but I wanted just a bit more detail. I would go back to the Havana before any of the others if I decided to get rid of the Bryston, but I am not going to do that.

That said, it really does depend on your gear. I always look for a little extra warmth since I have Maggies and powerful SS amps. I guess that's why I really like vinyl better than digital, and any digital I use I look for warmth.

I replaced a Bel Canto DAC3 with the Bryston BDA-1.

Macdadtexas
Just out of curiosity how did you have your Berkeley connected to your system? Were you able to try the lynx aes16 sound card via xlr aes cable in your comparrisons?

I used the Toslink from my AppleTV. RCA's to the preamp (my Cary SLP98P does not have XLR's).

Macdadtexas

In my deal, the BC DAC3 restructured the sound stage, to a more intuitive one, established far better bass impact, added that higher resolution you mentioned, and gained me more venue ambience and more 'you're there & they're here' events.

No question it's a highly resolving piece, but bright was not my take and I'm quite sensitive to that and reject it outright.

The BNC SPDIF, & AES inputs exceed the optical input by a pretty good ways.

Even when I play the D3 with the HT rig, there's no hint of brightness, etching, glare, etc. Merely not enough texture & immediacy as the (I suspect) lower echelon build of the Onkyo receiver. Those notes account for use with several amps too.

the mix is the deal... as always.

THX for the notes on the Berkley DAC.

I'm thinking of it yet probably will mod/upgrade the BC D3 instead, given the Berkely's price tag.