Squeezebox touch sounds better than benchmark dac1

Thanks. I got a good deal on the Transporter SE. Will give this a try first before getting another DAC

Not a significant surprise to me that the squeezebox's DAC is as good as or even preferred over the Benchmark. I've never been impressed with the Benchmark Dac. I have not heard the Antelope, but have read good things - but then again I also read a lot of good things about the Benchmark and after hearing it couldn't believe the positive comments.

Same thing with the Rega original disc players - lots of glowing comments about how great they are. When I finally had a chance to listen to one, yuck, I couldn't believe what I was reading by others vs. hearing myself.

With DACs, I am of the belief that so many of these "new", latest greatest chip-set dacs are put together cheaply and the key components of a good audio component are just neglected.

Every audio component needs to have a good power supply to sound its best (that means weight and cost). Same thing with other parts and its circuit design. Just having a good chipset doesn't make a good DAC, in fact, I have heard many great DACs with older chipsets (but great power supplies, circuits, outputs, etc. . . ) that just blow away some of these new DACs that only consist of the "newest" chipset.

I would love to know your thoughts on the Transporter SE. I am currently letting one burn in for 100 hours. It has a couple more days....i will then run it into the Pass X-1 on input 1 and a PS Audio Dac III on input 2 and compare the Transport SE with the PS DAC. Just remember to Have fun!

I just got an original (used) Transporter which is identical design save for the front knob and compared to my friends Touch. There was no comparison, the Transporter won hands down when used as Source & DAC, likely due to the improved power supply over the Touch.

You can also get a newer firmware which allows you to change between a sharp and slow roll off. Some say the slow roll off has a more natural sound at the expense of the top most "air". I haven't had enough time yet with the piece to A/B the two modes but I ran the Touch comparison in slow roll off mode.

I haven't had much comparison to any standalone DAC's but I'm curious to try mating it with a Burson DA-160.

Thanks everyone. I've just ordered today so it will take several days for me to try it. Will update my findings.