Yeah, once again, it's in the implementation. The $6000 Classé CP-800 had a switching power supply, as does your AHB2. I wonder what it is about a DAC3 that makes it "a little flat" to the ears of someone who likes the other Benchmark products. Those mysteries of audio do intrigue me.
They big time intrigue me as well and that is something I would love to see in some YouTube vids instead of ‘ reviews’ from people who are actually just selling.
I mean do all op amps need a specific amount of negative feedback? from what I understand is the output stage is taking the signal from the DAC chip after the conversion and giving it to the outputs. So it has to amplify it. they have to put an amount of negative feedback or the signal would be too high. But is that adjustable? Or let’s say for chip A you need to have op amp B given this much negative feedback to put out 4.0v at the unbalanced outs. Is that how it works??
All op-amps that I have seen need negative feedback and the amount is how you tune how much gain they have. The second paragraph here should help https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/opamp/opamp_1.html
I have owned pretty much the best AV Processor/Power Amp combination ever made, and it still wasn't great in stereo. That being said, it is very difficult to give up the flexibility of my current AV system. Modest DACs have wiped the floor with my dedicated CD player, the latter being no slouch.
good analogy. not sure what your budget is but I would suggest looking at used Luxman models like a DA-250 on ebay from japan. I did that with my CD player and wouldn't change a thing, analog section galore. just get a decent up transformer like a Nissyo 550 watt model and you're good. LUXMAN AMP DA-250 USB D/A Converter 192kHz/32bit DSD 2.82M 5.64MHz DHL Fast Ship 4958136036065 | eBay
You know man I was looking at that one. It is a bit expensive for me , but I might need to try it. The thing I would want is a bit more sampling rate. Only up to maybe 384 and DSD 256. The reason is that I’ve been using HQplayer for a couple months and it’s filters and modulators and it REALLY makes a difference. I was waiting a bit longer to write a impression/review thread on HQplayer. I normally can’t hear a single difference between DAC chip filters. Because they are so simple in their math/taps etc. But the differences in HQplayers filters and modulators are super evident and been measured by many which show how incredible they are. But yeah my mind definitely went to luxman. I mean the Japanese are experts at digital and luxman are amazing at analog as well. thanks
My friend had the Luxman DA-06 nice Dac. And @Tone don't get hung up on sampling rate not much out there at 384hz.
Yeah, it’s mainly a complexity difference. There are some well-excecuted op-amp designs out there. One can also think of biasing differences for both discrete and op-amp the same way. Class A versus class A/B, and also single ended versus push/pull.
there is the Bryston BDA 3 , but a good friend of mine said Bryston is a bit sterile sounding. But it goes to 384hz and DSD 256. I mean to tell you the truth I could live with 192khz and DSD hasn’t really impressed me much. It super different. But I do think I’m hearing distortion. And my current Marantz plays at 192khz max and with the HQplayer filters it seriously makes the DAC way better. it’s also a fact from measurements that if you sample too high something start to get worse as others get better. It’s overblown. thanks man
Could the sound of the DAC3 brought more into what's wanted by adding a Schiit Loki Max to spice up when needed? Or is that a crazy idea?
Maybe look at the Ayre DACs… though they use ESS. the codex is really well liked as is the qb-9 twenty.
It's even clucky with Roon. HQPlayer is not very convenient software to use. And makes the hardware arrangement of connecting a USB DAC more complicated as well. I find the sound quality improvements using HQPlayer to be worth the additional complications in setup to use it. But that's only because I'm a computer nerd and audiophile nerd willing to put up with those issues for better sound quality.
Oh I’m sorry. yeah through my MacBook Pro. It’s an older model but works perfect with the Marantz 192khz limit. Not like you need more.
The sound quality of the HQfilters are amazing. Unlike built in chip filters which you can hardly tell a difference , the HQplayer ones actually take your DAC to a new level. The Roon ones are also good. Not as good as HQplayer. But really good.
That was my last combination before my present. It was extremely musical and a really great sounding pair. Shouldn’t be overlooked. The DS10 had a “beautiful” sound
depends on what you call acceptable and your taste. many here might disagree with me, but the Marantz HD DAC1 is the best DAC I’ve tried yet. And you can get it used for cheap. So that’s one thing. DACs have just taken a different turn nowadays being all about the measurements and the analog side is cheap op amps , not to mention the power supply. my opinion of course
I have been just looking into different DACs and found this video for an Audio Note DAC pretty interesting. It might not be exactly what you're looking for but it does tick some of the boxes that you mentioned. It might be that your Marantz DAC is a perfect fit for you already and something else in the chain needs tweaking. Hopefully something easy that is not that expensive. Anyway, I hope you find audio bliss in whatever changes you make.
Got it! I’ve had my MacBook Pro since 2007 and still use it for file server management and DSD resampling/playback. In your system I’m assuming your laptop (Roon/HQ Player) is USB-B to your DAC 1? Are you ripping CD’s to drives or mostly streaming from a service (Qobuz etc..)? Also- when using your system (taking it you prefer HQ Player) are you upsampling to 24/192 when listening or just using native playback?
