New DAC help, please

3 possibles:

Benchmark DAC3B, open box $1400 OBO
Gustard X18 ~$700
Luxman DA-250 used $2250

Only fed with FLAC via USB.

In my system with my ears all 3 should sound excellent.

Leaning towards the Lux for a dumb reason.
Form factor. It is the exact same dimension(s) as my Lux E-250 phono amp (depth might be 5 mm different). Silly, I know. Will stack right on top (or bottom, the heavier will be the bottom unit).

Any others I should throw in the mix.
Pin will be pulled in short order, days, if not hours.

 

Not silly at all, form follows function and it is a Luxman.

 

Done deal

 

It snowballs

JPA-10000i｜製品情報｜ラックスマン株式会社 - LUXMAN

Have one on the E-250
A JPA-15000 on the 509xi

 

Awesome
Easy setup and integration.
Playing as I type

 

Great choice, Luxman is good stuff...

 

It’s all in the analog section


Great choice for sure

 

Nice piece bud!...congrats

 

Awesome looking setup and congrats on the new Dac! You should also post your pics in the Luxman thread on here.

 

I don't think that is silly at all. Aesthetics matter, nice aesthetics increase enjoyment. And as @Tone? said it's all in the analog section (well mostly). Looks nice in your picture! That's not a fluency DAC though, is it?

 

Luxman DAC and phono amp.

Sitting down for my first serious listening session with the new DAC.
30 seconds into Roundabout, lights out.
Big storm.

been off 2 hours
Estimate another 2 until restored.


I want to be upset but that would be insulting to my good fortune.

 

I listened
I loved
I am a happy camper

 

Enjoy your new DAC!!!

 

This thing is awesome.
The signal is much more discrete, instruments isolated, less 'blur'.

Resolution is much higher. For example on a song fade out, even at moderate volume (Yes, Close to the Edge) it is resolved all the way until it fades below room ambient level.

I put my fancy cord on too.
No, it did not make an audible difference as far as I can tell, but so what? I like it.
It is very nice quality.

 

I've looked at their cables on their web site and they appear to be no-nonsense and very well constructed like everything from Luxman though pricy. I would definitely consider them if I were to build a system around Luxman components.

 

not cheap, but not crazy money, ie, $2k power cords, etc. But that is a personal choice, some think $150 for a cord is wacky.

Too bad Luxman can't include them with the gear like in Japan, but not UL listed iirc.
Both the US and JDM cords are ungrounded 2 pin.

 

I have some Rega power cords which are rather nice that I bought when I previously put together an all Rega system but continue to use them on my McIntosh components because of their high quality. I was also using some Rega Couple 2 interconnects that are very nice but resorted to using the phono stage in my receiver because I like it better than the Rega Aria I was using previously which eliminated any ICs from my system. Now I'm only using the captive leads from my turntable and a proprietary DIN cable from my transport to the receivers built in DAC. It's definitely a less is more scenario.

 

Playing with it today I used the FooBar dBpoweramp up sampler.

I set it to 24/88.2 vs 24/44.1 and tried 24/48
I could not tell a difference. The CPU run time varied little, left it at 24/44.1.
I know, if sampled from a CD at 44.1 information can't be added, only greater extrapolated resolution of the data captured.

Might buy a hires download just to 'taste' it.
Blues for Allah 24/96
Grateful Dead, Blues For Allah in High-Resolution Audio
I assume this is sampled at that rate from a tape?