Benchmark to amp direct question?

Cmk,

"Ok, I've done the RCA and AES/EBU route for comparison...and the winner is [drum roll]..."

One of these is an analog connection and one is a digital connect. I don't understand what you are doing?

I was under the impression that you were asking if it is better to have a DAC (w/volume control) connected directly to an amp or through a pre-amp. In this scenario you would be using analog outputs from the DAC in both configurations.

TIC

Sorry for the confusion, yes its the analog outputs - RCA and balanced (isn't this AES/EBU?) from the Benchmark, directly into the RCA/Balanced inputs on my Sanders poweramp.

After Saki's post, I checked the input/output impedences of both the Benchmark and the Sanders. For the Benchmark, the difference in output impedence between the RCA and balanced is that the latter is double that of the former. For the Sanders, there was no difference in input impedence between both RCA & balanced. Consequently when using RCAs, the sound was double the loudness of the balanced termination.

Since the ModWright SWLP is only line level, no balanced connections, I could only compare the RCA direct vs via the preamp. I'd say its a close call, with a slight preference for going through the preamp.

When comparing sound quality of the RCA vs Balanced direct to the poweramp, there was no contest. The Balanced output is significantly better than RCA. Everything that you would normally associate with balanced - blacker/bigger soundstage, deeper bass, more solid images, is all there with the balanced outputs. The difference is so obvious I was wondering if I had upgraded to another DAC. Not only was I getting more information, it was totally natural and musical. If you are still using the RCA output, you have NOT heard the true potential of the Benchmark.

Bob_reynolds - the output impedance of the balanced outs depends enitrely on the jumper settings. The place that I set them makes the impedance 30 ohms, just right.

steve N.
Empirical Audio